2018 Global Leadership Summit

Thank you for joining us at the 2018 Global Leadership Summit (about, faculty, schedule). We are collectively and collaboratively taking these notes so that you can enjoy the event itself and come back later to revisit all that you experienced. Everyone is invited encouraged to contribute! You can make comments, edits, improvements or suggestions… and please share this document with others who would find it helpful. Don’t let this be a two day leadership conference, but an opportunity to be encouraged and equipped, together. ^[a]^[b]^[c]^[d]^[e]

If you have any questions about this material, please contact the editors:

Nick Skytland | nicholas.g.skytland@gmail.com | @skytland
Ali Llewellyn | adllewellyn@gmail.com | @adllewellyn
Ginny Olson | ginnyolson7@gmail.com| @gsong

Jessica Vos | jessica.r.vos@gmail.com | @jessicaraevos

If you are looking for notes from past summits, you can find them here:

2018 GLOBAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT NOTES

Craig Groeschel 4

Angela Ahrendts, Interview by John Maxwell 9

Danielle Strickland 32

Nthabiseng Legoete 53

Simon Sinek 56

Craig Groeschel 60

DAY 1 | THURSDAY, AUGUST 09

SESSION 1 | 8:30 AM - 10:15 AM (CT/PT)

Craig Groeschel, Introduction

Who is ready for two power packed days of leadership?
Leaders from 750 cities; 130 different countries; translated into 60 different languages.
<shoutouts to various locations>

Author of Hope In the Dark, Creator(?) of YouVersion
We want to help one another become leaders … ??
Leadership is simply influence. You have influence so you have the capacity to be a strong leader.
As a parent, you have influence. You are a leader.
If you are a friend, you have influence. You are a leader.
If you are new in a job, you have influence. You are a leader.
One of the biggest myths is that you have to be in charge to lead. You do not need a title, you do not need to be in charge. Leadership is never about title or position. It’s always about trust and influence. You are a leader.
This is the “talk before the talk.”
Before we dive into the first session, let me say a few words to you. If you have been here before, let me state the obvious, I’m not Bill Hybels. This would normally be his session.
Bill was the founder of the Summit that started in 1995. He and this organization had a bigger difference in my life than I could ever put into words.
As a leader, the only way I know how to deal with difficult situations is head one, with transparency, and truth.
I’m going to say this as straight-up as I know how. Earlier this year, and as a recent as a few days ago, recent news agencies reported allegations against Bill of sexual misconduct. Bill stepped aside in his roles as Senior Pastor at Willow as well as leading the summit.
As a friend to this church and organization, like many of you, I’m grieving greatly. The realm of emotions I’ve went through -shocked, disbelief, sadness, anger, sickness. It hurts me and I know it hurts you too.
I value leadership more than you can imagine. Long before I’m a leader, I’m a pastor. I’m a husband and a father. And I’m a brother to a little sister who suffered severe sexual abuse. [emotional pause] So I have deep compassion for everyone involved. I have reached out to the women involved and connected with them.
Listen to me leaders - we have to remember we are entrusted with power. And we must always and only steward that power for the good of others. Any misuse or abuse of power is sinful, hurtful and reprehensible.
We must stop making excuses. It’s time to step in and lead boldly and lead courageously.
It is my honor to stand here today and I’ll offer additional support this year.
Some would say that my involvement would diminish the voice of others. I’d disagree. We need bold, integrity infused leaders. People are longing for leaders who will unite, instead of divide. The world is hoping for someone that will stand up, when others sit down.
Jim Collins talks about Level 5 leaders - leaders that have a powerful mixture of profound humility and furious resolve.
No matter what your spiritual background, you are welcome.
You are welcome even if you do not sing verse 3. Even if you are from one of those churches where your worship leader uses too much hair product and wears skinny jeans.
I only ask that we show respect everyone today. If you don’t believe in God, please offer those of us that do the same respect as we will show you. And perhaps even open.
If we respect one another, we can all become better and grow in our leadership.
Let’s devote two incredibly power packed days. The fire hydrant is about to open and you are about to drink from the living water more than you can ever imagine.
What will we do as leaders? We will lead with profound humility and furious resolve. We will cast a vision for a brighter future. We will inspire others to do more than possible. We will strive for excellence. WE will ask for the wisdom to make difficult calls. We will apologies when we get it wrong. We will confront injustices and speak up. Have the courage to stand up when others sit down. And we will get better - because when the leader gets better, everyone gets better.
You are not here by accident. At the end of our time together, your leadership will be strong. Your vision sharper. You heart larger.
<prayer>

Prayer for those who are hurting; that their would be healing.
Prayer that we can become better leaders to make the lives better of those lead.
Prayer that we open, stretched over these two days.
Prayer that we believe you will do great things and that you will be glorified.

Craig Groeschel

Co-Founder & Senior Pastor, Life.Church

Ok. Game on.
How many of you have ever worked for a leader you have loved?
How many of you have ever worked with someone where you would love to give them some advice to be better.
I remember my first job in sales; he would yell at us and then tell us he loves us.
Then I went to work for a man that I respected and was honored to follow. He executed, trusted us, gave us feedback. I felt empowered, loved, valued, trusted.
I read an article in Forbes, by Brett Steenbarger [need to confirm: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettsteenbarger/2016/04/09/becoming-the-kind-of-leader-you-would-want-to-follow/#65d7d2135dc5] who cited a study of 4,000 about what you think you need to be a better leader. Answers cited a) managing better at finances and b) technology (twitter, facebook, etc.).
For pastors, it might be vision casting, caring, preaching.
For startups, it might be fundraising, etc.
Then the pollsters interviewed the employees about their bosses and asked how they need to improve. The things they did not mention where finances and tech. I wish my boss would be better at a) leadership and b) emotional intelligence. She doesn’t really know how she treats us - we all think she needs counseling.

Leadership - where are you taking me?
EI = Emotional intelligence = HOW are you treating me?

They wanted from their supervisors to get better at something they didn’t even know they needed to get better at, or know about themselves.
How do we become a leader that people love to follow? Not a leader that everyone loves, one that everyone loves to follow. There is a big difference between one that is popular and one that is respected.

You may be popular if you are respected.
You will never be respected if you are only trying to be popular.

If you are under a great leader like that you felt three things:

You always feel valued
You feel inspired - you know you’re using your gifts to make a contribution to the larger vision.
You feel empowered. You know that someone trusts you.

What values do you need?

Need a heart to care

You’ll never be a leader that others love to follow if you aren’t a leader that truly loves people.

Maya Angelou - people will forget what you did or what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

**4 very important words**

I notice.
You matter.

Look at the person next to you and say “I notice. You matter.” Now look at your second choice, and say it again. Out loud. ;)
“I notice what you do and what you do matters to me.”
Good employees don’t leave organizations. They leave bad managers.
#1 reason people leave companies is because they don’t feel valued.
Appreciate more than you think you should. THEN DOUBLE IT!

Story… We are a church that has locations in 30 places in 10 states. Friday is flex time for the church. He ended up getting thank you notes from the spouses of the folks that stayed late on a Friday, whom he had recognized with a knuckle-bump (“gold star”).
Played video of him with employees delivering the Gold Star on Fridays :)

As leaders, what do we need?
1) We need a HEART to CARE.

SAY IT. SHOW IT. WRITE IT. Never rob your team member of them knowing that you notice and you care about them.
The difference between “me” centered leadership and “you” centered leadership.
I’m so glad you came here and you’re here for a purpose.
I notice. You Matter. We are never me-centered leaders
Some leaders will make you think that THEY are important. The best leaders make you feel like YOU are important.

2) We need a PASSION to INSPIRE. (note that inspiring is different from motivating).

Inspire word comes from “in spirit”
Pulling out what is already inside of them, rather then pushing them in a certain direction
Employees who describe themselves as inspired are 2x as productive as those who call themselves “satisfied.”
The good news is that charismatic speeches are only one tool to use.
Bain? Surveyed 2000 employees. They found 33 different consistently different attitudes that inspired. [Bain Inspirational Leadership Model graphic] August podcast that deals with this.
HIghlights of this model:

If you have an optimistic outlook when things are hard, you believe we can lead and make things better- this inspires peoples
If you have a posture of humility, humility inspires
Setting the tone: here’s the vision
Someone who consistently follows through inspires people.
Being generous with recognition inspires people
Being consistently empathetic. Caring about their personal lives. Genuinely.
There is one quality that stands above the rest that inspires above the rest: a leader who is “Centered.” Secure, stable, confident, “s/he’s not thirsty.” Not trying to prove anything, not trying to impress anyone. Internal alignment with how they lead.
A centered leader is guided by values and obsessed with the mission, the absence of it demotivates, the presence of it inspires.
Good news is - you don’t have to have any one set quality to inspire.
Out of the 33 traits, all you need is ONE or TWO well-developed strengths to inspire!!
Business people: Inspire your people, you’re connected to something that’s bigger than us.
We are not spiritual consumers. We are spiritual ….?
We will never insult God with small living or safe thinking.
A PASSION is a CALLING.
When passion meets inspiration, an obsession is born.
Willingness to empower. The best leaders unleash higher performance through empowerment, not command and control. If control is your approach you will be the lid to your organization.
You can have CONTROL or you can have GROWTH, but you cannot have BOTH.
If we delegate tasks, we are creating followers. If we delegate authority, we are creating leaders.
You’ve told them what to do, but you haven’t given the freedom to create.

How do we do it?

As leaders we are going to make the decisions that only we can make. We are going delegate the decisions deeper into the organizations.
Two of your favorite words should be: I trust you. You decide.
Some people have never been told to make a decision . They will freak out.
The better you become as a leader, the fewer decisions you make. You delegate the rest to your team.
An assignment for you literally might be to make 25% of the decisions you are currently making. Push the rest deeper into your organizations.
The strength of your organization is reflected by how deep into the organization people are empowered to say yes.
Scaling requires being able to make a decision outside of one room.
Let me read your mind: Some of you are thinking, “I’ve seen him before, but I’m not sure I can trust them. What if they don’t get it done? What if it’s not up to the quality standard? What if they don’t deliver.”
Here’s the answer: You have to trust them where they are. The best way to find out if you can trust someone, is to trust them.
What if I don’t trust them? If you don’t trust your team, you are either too controlling or you have the wrong people. Either way, the problem is yours to solve.
What do you need to be a leader that people love to follow? A heart to care, a passion to inspire and a willingness to empower.
You can’t just separate Jesus from who I am - allow me to talk about Jesus through the lens of a Leader. Think about the qualities of Jesus as a leader:

Heart to Care: Jesus would come and sit right next to you. He loves to sit next to the worst of the worst, lowest of the low. He would speak and truth and love, through grace. He had a heart to care for those that religion rejected.
A passion to inspire: It’s not about me, I didn’t come to be served. I’m the son of God, I could command it, but I came to serve others. To lay down my life as a ransom. Level 5 leadership. Humility and resolve. I’ve come that you may have life - the best kind of life. And life to the fullest. I didn’t come for the healthy; I came for the sick. I didn’t come for the righteous; I came for the sinners.
A willingness to empower: He selected people that everyone else overlooked; a fisherman, tax collector, the “sons of thunder.” He cast vision that people would leave higher paying jobs to go change the world. He gave feedback, trusted them, coached them. He empowered them. He trusted them with a how.

So here we are 2,000 years later. So many of us, still following him.
Fourth point (risky and it’s not in my notes - ha!): What do you need to be a leader people love to follow? In addition to the 3 things mentioned above - You need a courage to be real, transparent, vulnerable, not always know all the answers, stand up in humility and try to get it right, step into the role that you have because you believe you are supposed to be there, and you believe this is what you are called to do. We’re all here trying to do the best we can and can do something together much better than any of us can do on our own.
As leaders we feel so much pressure to be perfect, strong and right. People aren’t looking for that. They are looking for honesty, integrity, and vulnerability. (centered leadership)
This has been a painful time. I am serving around some leaders and all of us have made some mistakes. But we all care and we all want to do it right. We’re going to give it away and keep on going because the stakes are very very high. And this time in this broken world it’s time for us to stand up. You don’t have to be like John Maxwell, or Angela or TD Jakes. You don’t have to be smart or perfect or always get it right. But you do have to be real. People would rather follow a leader that is real, than a leader that is right all the time.

Judge Paul Herbert: Human trafficking. Focus on Columbus OH
96% are runaways before they enter prostitution.
CatchCourt (https://www.catchcourt.org/)
Instead of saying, “What’s wrong with you?” I learned to say, “I wonder what happened to you.”

Angela Ahrendts, Interview by John Maxwell

Senior Vice President of Retail, Apple

We wall want to get better so we can help people get better and add value.
About 10 years ago we did this together at another conference. I want you to know that you life inspires me. The values you have flesh out in all that you do.
John requests audience to take notes for him since he has to do the interviewing.
Look at your neighbor and say “you are about to learn something” and “why do you think I brought you here?”
Angela thanks for coming to be with us; it’s so exciting to watch your leadership career and what’s taken place. You’ve worked in different environments and have some leadership practices that transcend those environments and hold you where you need to be. Can you talk to us about those leadership practices that work for you regardless of the environment.
Craig was incredible and it’s a hard act to follow. He was brilliant and so many of the things were similar and resonated. Last time I was in the midwest was when the Michigan Ave store opened.
My midwestern core values. They are the foundation of everything you believe and who you are:

Love one another as others love you.
Do unto others.

They are not a box you tick, but the foundation of everything you are. You hire, fire and lead that way. The core values are mission-driven. I’ve always been a purpose-driven human.
I don’t like the word “work”; I want to make an impact, to make a difference. Very purpose-driven.
How do you unite across every culture, country, language, around a higher purpose. Tim at Apple calls it our “north star.”
Moderator: I had the privilege of having John Wooden (former UCLA basketball coach) mentor me; he pulled out a piece of paper that was given to him by his father when he was 12, now he is 94.

He said I read these and ask myself and God to help me to always live these values.
Isn’t it true that when we have our core values that are our strength, that we are more valuable to others.
It’s a stability that centers us and others.

You always end up putting yourself in the other person’s shoes. Whatever you give you get 10x in return. I think the most important thing in business; the higher up you go the more you need to never forget; the more you need to connect and over communicate.
We are just people and our job is to gather, unite, align and inspire and knit together things that are unbelievable.
Moderator: You do such a great job of walking slowly through the crowd; you haven’t allowed the roles to influence you so much. As you’ve been a leader your responsibilities have increased; how do you keep being the leader with all the changes?
It’s stressful; sleep is a luxury not a necessity. The budget meetings; board meetings. I tend to give myself an extra hour every morning to have my cup of coffee and do my morning readings and listen to Dr. Charles Stanley podcast (he has been a messenger for 40 years). When I do that it puts everything in perspective. I have a very deep mental / spiritual routine that I go through every single morning.
Moderator: Isn’t it kinda like I’m going to take care of myself, so I can take care of others.
Yes, so I can be open and hear better and feel better and listen clearer. I think that as leaders our job is to connect and to communicate and to celebrate. God gave us incredible instincts to use.
Our job as leaders is to put platforms in place for others. Communicate daily. Our job is to keep pace with everything else around us, whether we like it or not. It’s a SnapChat, Instagram, WeWork world. What are we doing to ensure our team members are remaining just as mobile. We took that and now we do videos every week to the team members that gives them the daily things they need to know (via an app that says hello!) and inspires them. They can also share their ideas with us through another platform. It’s a constant loop and circle of how we get better and better.
We as individuals, as leaders, need to shine our light and also we need to keep pace. We need to put the technology in place. We have to keep evolving everything to keep pace. It’s going to keep moving faster, it just is. As leaders it’s our job to do everything we can to keep our teams…
How do we continue to be successful and keep our talent? We flattened our organization.
Moderator: I love the fact that your videos communicate well with them; I love the loop that they can come back to you. Isn’t it true that as leaders, the more successful you are, the farther you are away from the people. It can be a bad thing to be so separated from where the people are. This allows you to hear from them directly.
To see them, to feel them. There is nothing better than the 1-to-1 human connection. You gotta look backwards before you look forward. What made it successful? Why did they launch that?
At Apple, Steve told the team members that they were never to sell, but to enrich lives through education. I loved his road sign, it’s not just about technology married with liberal arts that impacts humanity and makes our hearts sing.
You take all the things from the past, talk to all the smart Bains and McKinseys about where the world is going, and then we unite and have impact.
Moderator: You are a giver of so much energy. You talked about hiring. Can you talk more about that - it’s so essential.
Angela shared on LinkedIn - article about hiring: How I Hire: My Guiding Principles https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-i-hire-my-guiding-principles-angela-ahrendts/
There are a couple of things I always look for in people:

Are they a “me” or a “we” type of person. Is it always about them? You were raised to go there: is it me or we?
It’s important, not just their IQ - so I lean into their EQ. How do they respond?
I’m a big whole mind person: right brain is more compassionate, left brain is more linear and analytical. We’re building a team, and it’s about how you are building that
Are they yesterday, today or tomorrow people? We hire great visionaries - and great historians. None of us are perfect; none of us have everything. These are my CliffsNotes to know who they are and be sure I am putting them the right place onto the team like a chess game.

Does intuition play a high role in this? When you are going to bet on or not bet on a person?

Yes. I did a TED talk years ago called ‘Human Energy’ on trust intuition and belief. Trust is the foundation for any relationship. Without it you can do nothing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZNlN31hS78
Intuition is the greatest God-given gift that every single one of us has… yet we’ve trained it out of us, rely less and less on it. Don’t trust it anymore.
Intuition is being squeezed out.
Our highest intuition is in our area of giftedness.
When I interview them: do I innately trust them? Do I see how they feel? Do I acknowledge their beliefs? Not just religious beliefs, but how they see the world. This resonated with me when I came into Apple.
What about giftedness?

Know what you know -- and what you don’t know. You’re just a member of a team - you’re meant to be part of a herd, and everyone has a role to play. Instincts allow you to pursue the possibilities instead of just protecting the probabilities.
As we look forward, if you believe that change is going to happen, you have to build foundations of empowerment.
When I worked at Burberry, my partner Christopher was 10 years younger than me. He was the bridge to the future. I saw myself as executing his vision and no one was allowed to say no to him.

You’re giving us so much.

Moderator: Let’s talk about branding. You do this so exceptionally well. The brand will outlive all of us. We want to brand ourselves and our products and the business better.

Burberry was 150 years old when I started. Imagine the batons that have been handed off. Most teams have an average tenure of 10 years. “Our job in this time period is to do everything to ensure the relevance of the brand over the next 150 years” - so it’s as great as possible when we hand it off eventually.
Brands are bigger than cultures. Cultures create the brand.
It’s like Apple Park; Steve knew it would outlive him. It’s bigger than an individual or even a team. We do a great job if we know it will make an impact long long after we are gone.

Moderator: What about someone just beginning their business. What are 1-2 thoughts to help them get started??

Why are you doing it? Simon Sinek: start with why. What’s the deeper purpose? Why you are doing this needs to be a core value of the company, and will become the thread that long outlives you.
How? How with the types of people I’m going to hire, and how with the kind of leader I am going to be. How will I entrust them, empower them, unlock what’s inside of them?
These are the deeper questions I would ask because of enriching lives. And then I turn around and say, “Are we doing it?” How do we know we are doing it? We need to put some analytics behind it; we decided that as we looked back and looked forward, maybe it was our job, with the locations and the contact center, our job was to

encourage human connection,
inspire human learning,
unlock creative thinking,
always in a positive environment

We’re measuring are we making an impact. Getting incredible MPS data. Their job is not to sell; it’s to educate and to inspire. That purpose will so long outlive us.

Moderator: Let’s talk about motivation. How do you move people from where they are to where you want them to be?

Craig said we’re supposed to inspire people, not motivate them. [crowd laughter]
Reframe: So how do you inspire people, Angela?

I carry my whole life with me so you get Mom and Dad quotes. “I can teach you anything but I can’t teach you to care.”
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou
How can you look someone in the eyes and have them know you care? You have a voice and I want to be sure you are heard. So if you do care, talk to them - not above them. I started at a retail store too. I always put myself in their position. What do I want to hear from the leader?
It’s celebrating, it’s consistency. Say thank you. Then amplify it. Ask yourself: “What would I want someone to say to me?” and then SAY IT.
80% of executives say they are constantly complimenting people; only 20% of employees say they are.

Moderator: How do you let your light shine as a person of faith?

I read, I listen, I pray every day that the Spirit fills me, moves me and shines my light. It’s not up to me really control anything. I’m the third child from a tiny town in Indiana who could not have made up her life.
God lead me, guide me, help me make a difference - and then I hold on for the ride.
If anything I would love to rebrand religion. [crowd laughter] My TED talk on human energy was really about the Holy Spirit. I feel sad for people who don’t tap into that. My life has not been my own since I was 16 and I am blessed. I wish others would take full advantage of it. It’s ours to drink or not.

SESSION 2 | 10:45 AM - 12:15 PM

Juliet Funt, CEO, Whitespace at Work

Daniel Pink - New York Times Best-selling Author - stepped down 48 hours ago
Juliet presented at GLS17, here are the notes from her talk last year.
It is lovely to be back. Last year i taught you how to reduce busy work. How do de-crappify your workflow.
You all went home and slayed the dragon and no one is busy anymore [laughter]
This fortuitous act of fate allowed me to join you again this year.
Story: Cuba. Her husband? Story about Marcos.

Hot water heater was broken. Marcos installed an electric shower. “I don’t think those words should go together.”
Sprouting from the side of the rolls of electrical tape are wires. Viola - the electric shower!
“The electric current is broken in between the drops…. You are not electrocuted.”
Rock Paper Scissors for who is going to take the first shower. The water went on and all the lights went out.
“A Widow Maker” colloquial name for it
Why was a willing to step into it? Everyone around me was very casual about it.
This is what casualness does to us: We acquiesced to all sorts of things
Illogical workflow; unhealthy culture; casualness can pierce your resolve and make you compliant.
We talked about how companies are drowning last year. But there is this persistent casualness. It’s killing us.
It takes 9 people to sign a piece of paper to get things done? Owell?
Our mission is to take you by the shoulders and pull you into things that matter.
Pull you out of casualness and into ?
The future of work is going to be simpler
They are tackling the culture of simplicity.

1. Technology systems
2. Reorganizations

There is so much transformation going on in industry that it’s like a Hogwartz reunion.

3. Lean 6? Or Standard work (not sure about this one)

These are bricks in building the house of simplicity; but they are missing the mortar between these bricks.
We are going to hang out in the mortar right now: the human behaviors (habits and mindsets)

Conformity
Compuslity
Control

Symmetric inertia

Conformity

Her father was the host of Candid Camera! <clip from that show>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgRoiTWkBHU&frags=pl%2Cwn
Man walks into an elevator where everyone is facing the wrong direction. He tries to maintain his composure, but then slowly turns to face the wall as well.

Social conformity has a name.
Whitespace 50/50 rule.

Everything that bothers you at work is 50% your fault until you ask for what you want.
Solomon Asch: 1 person going against conformity can reduce by 80%
1 small safe contrary action

Compulsivity: If you give a younger person a cookie, they will eat it. No impulse control. But honestly, the rest of us aren’t much better. It’s like business terets :)

We have no filter.
Creates a lack of focus and wastes time

I need all the ladies to lean in for a moment. We have a certain and unique pain from the splattering of all that random communication. We think we have human connection, but really there has been no emotional connection. In the old days we’d get together and talk and talk and talk and then there would be a quilt. Assignment, for women with a gift for the men: Find a wonderful girlfriend for whom you can drain the well. Laurie, can I vent? Yes, of course. She will hear you without an expectation for a point. Then you go the man in your life. You say “hello... I have nothing to say to you.” ;)
Unnecessary communication at work: compartmentalization
2d vs 3d communication

2d: simple yes/no. Medium: Texting chatting.
3d: complex and nuanced, Medium: phone, places where we can be together.

If you push 2d content into 3d medium you ….? (cheapen the experience)?
If you push 3d content into a 2d convo you waste time
Use this terminology with your team to decide on how and when to communicate.
Urgency: The yellow list is a document you keep with each of the person you work with. Before you communicate with them, you ask, does this need to be sent right now? If not, then you put it on the yellow list. You then debrief with them when there is enough stuff. If you can get everyone to do this, your email inbox will look like a ghost town.
On Control: The more we have our fingers in things, the slower our organization will execute.

Title of a breakout session: “Control freak let go.” “I prefer Control Aficionado.”

This guy was a motivational speaker and said you must just do one thing over and over: “You must do others do things wrong while they do nothing.”
Ugh, blah. I would rather eat a frog than do that! But I tried, and failed, tried and failed, etc.
Now it’s Christmas at my mother's house. For those of you from last year who wondered how Jewish I am, this should clear it up. I’m very Jewish. My mother and brother are two people that never fail to make me look competent Is that a fair way to get it out there? They purchased new pinking shears, scissors that are encased in horrible plastic. I, as the wise and competent member of the family, had a thought: ‘get another scissor and cut the top of.” But the seminar guy popped into my head and I just took a seat and I just watched. They were biting the package and using a fork and all I wanted them to do was “cut the top off!”. Then this wonderful thing happened, they got it open and nobody died. This was freeing. It became my new hobby. I would wonder through airports looking for stupid people doing things wrong so I could not be helpful to them.

Leaders, hands off! Hands off! It’s not a brilliant rocket science teaching. Just practice it.
Also practice, second tier delegation. People you trust but don’t control. In delegating to the second tier, you allow them to participate and grow and become who they need to become.

Compliance: There is actually a fourth C, but I don’t have time to go into it.

Where everyone says yes because nobody knows how to say no.
I’ll give you a take home tool. Take out your phone.
21 Refusal Strategies go to whitespacegls.com

I can do this for you this time, but I can’t do it for you every time.”

Ease a demanding person back slowly from their expectations.

“May I take 24 hours to get back to you?”

Buy yourself time to work through your feelings and options.

Decide that saying nothing to a request is not an option.

Ghosting is a classless act and truly the coward’s No.

“It does not/will not work for me to...”

This clause is a marvelous neutral beginning to any No. Be careful not to be harsh in your delivery.

“I have something on my calendar.”

Make sure you write the actual word “Something” on your calendar in spare moments so you can be honest when you use this phrase.

Stay out of other people’s heads after you say No.

It’s not always a safe place.

“If I’m too busy to see my mom, I’m too busy to do this, and I owe my mom a visit.”

A tidbit from the wonderful Marie Forleo.

The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say No to almost everything.

Use this quote by Warren Buffet to inspire your bravery.

“I can’t, but here is another option for you.” (No, plus a substitute.)

Share a substitute or suggestion in place of your being able to help.

“It’s not good for me this time, but let’s look ahead in our calendars.” (No, but next time.)

Be careful you are not using a delay to avoid a necessary No.
Of course, if timing is really the issue, then push the commitment back.

“Can I rehearse a No with you?”

Ask a colleague or a No-buddy to let you role-play an upcoming No before presenting it.

Are you the only person who could do this?

Ask yourself this before responding to a request.

“Sweetie, please take the No.”

To use with children asking for the 43rd time if they can do or have something.

“Mother/sister/brother/honey, I’m going to give that one a pass.”

Use family to practice No when the stakes are low.

No feels so good afterwards.

Remind yourself the freedom of your post-No liberation.

“Please take me off this thread.”

This email No will save you hundreds of hours a year.

“I don’t” instead of “I can’t”.

This shift in phrasing is great for sticking to diets, commitments, and other self-promises.

“Thanks for your directness.”

A phrase to use when you’re on the other side of the No.

An invitation is not a subpoena.

One of my favorite reminders before a social No.

“My availability this summer/quarter/year is going to be a bit limited.”

Set up this pre-No to those who might ask for discretionary time commitments.

“Sorry, but No.”

Yes, it’s a complete sentence.
Make sure to smile and then say nothing more

SHARE THIS!

Favorite Candid Camera Video: Kathy the Little Girl

How many of you have hired that temp?
You know memory is a funny thing. There will be some point where the only thing left will be people’s memory of you. That’s called Legacy.
Legacy is the story that is yet to be written but you hold the pen. Don’t be complacent about this.
Seek simplicity. Use the bricks, but don’t forget the mortar!

T.D. Jakes

Founder and Senior Pastor, The Potter’s House

I’m excited and delighted to be here. I’m confused when I came out on the stage before the video played and you pulled out your cameras so I thought you were taking pictures of me.
I’m overwhelmed at the magnitude of brain power and influence of who has been on this stage. It’s amazing and a blessing.
I was thinking about how when I come to conference like this and how do I translate all this information into my situation.
I want to spend a few minutes to talk to those who don’t have enough to get there. Enough time, or money, or support, or energy, or enough life left. You are running out of time and thinking about how I’m going to get it all done.
A vision can be tormenting - it should be aggravating and annoying and frustrating. If you have a vision that everyone believes in, it’s too small too. You want a vision so big you have to pick who you tell it to. You need it to be achievable, not believable.
I have to tell you something - I’m the son of a janitor and school teacher. My father was a janitor; my mother was an educator. My father was honestly whatever he needed to feed our family. I want to talk to you about what my father taught me. He started a business in 1960 with a mop and bucket and a borrowed truck. It sounded ridiculous until he did it. Five years later I learned to believe in crazy stuff.
If you don’t believe in anything crazy it will not energize you enough. You need to have a vision that goes beyond your provision.
I recently did a ton of research for a book I wrote called Soar, and researched the Wright Brothers. Can you imagine how stupid it must have sounded when they talked about building the first airplane.
You need to think about something that scares you. You need to think something that you can’t pay for. Way beyond your means. So that it gets you out of your comfort zone and scares you to death.
The problem with most of us is that we must see our way clear before we get started. But the greatest things that have ever happened, happened with people who didn’t have enough, but they thought deep enough, so they could build beyond what they had.
You must have a vision that goes beyond your provision. A vision bigger than your circumstance. It doesn't matter where you start; it matters where you finish.
When we started a production company, the first three plays almost made us bankrupt. It really wasn’t going well at all. But we kept fighting. We finally did a play that got attention and acclaim.
Tyler Perry and I started a play and went all the way to Los Angeles. We met a guy who made it a movie that ended up in the Santa Barbara festival. We won the festival and then Sony offered us a contract that changed the next 15 years of our lives. “I want you to tell stories and I’ll pay for it.”
Things happen out of small places. What started in Dayton, Ohio, ended up in Kindey Hawk. They moved the plane because the wind was right. Sometimes you can have a great idea in the wrong place. If you build the idea and don’t consider the environment you may be bound to fail because the wind is not right. You don’t have the wrong idea, you don’t have the right wind.
Imagine with me if Kernel Sanders started KFC today. He’d go bankrupt because the world is different. If you came out with a friend chicken business we’d want those things in gluten free.
So much of what we learn is about winning; but what really stimulates growth is losing.
You will learn more through losing, then you ever learn through winning.
It is the things you learn through your failures that set you up for where you are getting ready to fly. Imagine learning to walk without tripping.
Never count your failure as wasted time; it may be the thing that inspires your success.
The thing that inspired the Wright Brothers was eagles. Eagles make love in the air; they nest on cliffs; and after they hatch their eggs, they kick the kids out of the house. When you kick the kids out of the house, learn to fly.
Eaglets don’t learn how to fly by flying; they learn how to fly by falling.
When the eagles throw the eaglet out of their comfort zone, out of what is safe, out of what nurtured them, they throw them out into the unknown. The eagle is simply trying to survive as it falls, and it flaps and falls and flaps and falls and then slowly (quickly?) realize they can fly.
What did you learn from your last failure and how has it prepared you to soar?
If you have more notes than you have money after this, I’d like to talk to you.
If you have a mop and a bucket, and a huge idea, I want to talk to you.
To believe that something that others would laugh at is possible is what makes greatness.
To believe that the excuses can no longer be fences for limitations is what produces the mystery, the majesty, the infinite power of possibilities.
To believe that you can stand on the ground but that you belong in the air, and that if you keep flapping and falling until you can barely make it no more…
After awhile you’ll get your rhythm, and they may laugh at your start, but they will take pictures when you finish.
Soar, it’s your time!
The one that is coming after me is mightier than I, with shoes I’m not worthy to latch into.

Strive Masiyiwa

Founder & Chairman, Econet Group; Philanthropist

Interview moderator: T.D. Jakes

Jakes: What a pleasure it is to be with you on the stage. Last time we were together was in Accra.
SM: Thank you for bringing me to this wonderful house of God
When you think about 25 years of building Econet, a major corporation built in a country of desperation, you started out and the start was tough. I don’t think you can enjoy good times until you survive the bad times. So many people think if they run into failure ...you stick to it and fight thru it.
SM: born in Zimbabwe, left when about 6. Returned in my 20s. Telecommunications engineer trained in England. All telecommunications around the world was provided by government (except US).

75% of the population had never heard a phone ring on the african continent

Robert Mugabe was not amused particularly when I filed in the constitutional court. I saw it as an Infringement of the freedom of expression. They saw it as a political battle. We went to court an they fought back. The court said I was correct and pulled down the monopoly. It echoed across Africa.
TJ: You had a 5 year battle over principle. You could’ve paid them off. This epitomizes what leadership is about. It is about paradigm shifting. You could've been making money but you fought back.
SM: On the eve of when I was starting the business is when I became a Christian. June of 1994. I sat in the church and you couldn’t move me. Only 2 documents for 5 years: my Bible and the Constitution of the country. See you on Monday, because they like to keep me in the prison over the weekend. The cops were great, I’d preach the Bible to them
TJ: You were the Mandela of your country
SM: as the battle took place, others in other parts of Africa were doing what I wanted to do. The gov’t tried to compromise. You can proceed but we choose your partners. I said, “No way.” I stayed the course. There was a company that had no operating experience so I decided to take it public. All my money was gone from fighting the battle.
TJ: What was it in you that was the driving force, with no money.
SM: That deep faith. Mark 10:29 is one of my favorite passages. I was holding onto the gospel. There’s a 100% return on this. I’ll hold on. Eventually, I was forced to leave. 2000. I’ve never been back. Today, it’s a 3 billion business. I went to South Africa with no money and started again. This time I build for AFrica
TJ: In America, we see colors more than culture. They see two Black men. But I’m an American and you’re a Zimbabwean. If you have a company that’s going to grow beyond its culture. We have a tendency not to understand culture, but today, if you’re going to go global, you have to be a respectful of other cultures. What did you learn about respecting other cultures?
SM: When you come from an AFrican country, you have tribal issues. White colonialists (not sure if I got that right?) 50 nationalities
Values are universal. Can take your values beyond your own faith. That does not mean you’re not going to work with people beyond your cultures and values
Show up as a champion for universal values.
TJ: You can’t have a global reach if you don’t have a global brand. There must be diversity in the boardroom.
In order to embrace diversity, you must forever be the student never the teacher. Always learning never assuming.
SM: Curiosity. You have not visited that country until you have been in the home of someone in that country. Away from the resort. I’m quick at getting in because of my curiosity. That’s where the innovation comes from.
TJ: Respecting our differences but building on our commonalities. Explore what is common amongst us. Your business solves the problem for millions of people.I
SM: 75% of Africans have a telephone. More mobile phones than US and ? put together.

Guiding principle: T. L. Osborne - “If you want to be a success, identify a human need and reach out and solve it “

TJ: Find out what people need. Oprah said, biggest mistake in business is assuming that you are the customer.”

You turned the culture around without succumbing to culture. You turned the numbers around. Out in the bush, people are doing business by phone. You have changed how Africa does business. Other countries around the world are seeing the potential in Africa. More importantly, Africans are seeing the possibilities, (< not right). (He lists his many qualifications.) You’ve been in 3 countries in 3 days. What are you taking dude?

SM: It’s called the Holy Ghost brother [laughter]
TJ: Philanthropy: You’re on all these boards, but you give back. You have a different twist. Let’s talk about that.
SM: HIV-AIDS. We (my wife & I) keep the orphans in school. We have about 40k we are assisting at any given time (over 250,000 total so far).

Education is Ground Zero.
We call these children History Makers. FDR ran the US from a wheelchair. We tell them your story. They are not disadvantaged. We select 100 of the brightest high schoolers 2 years of boot camp then university. 353 at Ivy League schools.

TJ: I don’t think our country always sees these as philanthropic investments but rather charitable causes.
We’re currently raising the people who are going to nurse us when we’re old.
SM: We have to train and invest in the next generation. We must invest in education.
TJ: The intellectual prowess of the next generation is what we’ll be depending on when we’re old. Story of his mother with Alzheimer's. My own 5 kids: I’m raising them to think for me! I look at our kids differently. Regardless of their color, we cannot afford to become intellectually bankrupt.

People will become what they see.
A dream dies when it is shared amongst people who have not been exposed to what you have.

SM: We are not exposed to each other sufficiently. Americans don’t know each other well enough. Need to make sure we don’t allow the technology to divide us… it’s just a tool.
TJ: How do we take the technology that we have… but we have lost the art of speech. The craftsmanship and artistry of speech…. How do we get that back? Don’t you think it begins with this? With conversation? We learn about each other without talking to each other. Can’t change the culture without changing the conversations.
SM: The Living BIble. One verse (Luke 6:45) made me go buy it. The passage: from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The wicked man gives away his heart. It locates him. We have entered a time where every word we put on social media is now out there. We cannot delete it. We cannot alter it. It’s about the condition of our hearts. What’s coming out of our hearts. What’s important is not the methodology but what is coming out of our hearts. We must fill our hearts with the foundation of the Gospel. What did the Lord mean, “You are the salt of the earth. The light of the world” ? We are the flavor, the preservative. We have to go back to the foundation of our values.
TJ: Let’s talk about if you’re an orphan whose parents died of ebola or a Harvard grad: let’s talk about self-esteem. Everything takes longer than you think. How do we identify short-term and long-term wins? When I think about it, God didn’t wait til He was finished with creation to applaud himself. Everyday, he applauded his unfinished creation - it is good.
SM: You have to be careful who you are telling your vision. What separates the long vision and short term wins is “consistency.” I said a few years ago, I’d like to connect all the African countries by fiber. We connected Zimbabwe and SA, then Zambia. Then 15 years later we arrived in Cairo. Now you’re ready for us to connect to Lagos.
TJ: You knew the long-distance strategy, but you spoon-filled it to the team. You can choke your staff if you give them the full dream. How important is it to applaud the mid-term wins? Time+tools+talent. How important is it to celebrate those successes? How important is it to evaluate?
SM: Consistency is what marks your second part. I have very short-term investors. They cannot live with the big vision/strategy. Your people must believe in you. You must have a core that believes in you, that challenges you, that asks questions. You must be affirming them. Yes there’s a vision, but there must be signposts along the way. Affirmations remind people that the journey is forward not backwards.
TJ: Pastor. Father. CEO. They all think differently. Not what you leave to your children but what you leave in them. What would you tell your children, what made you who you are? How do I catch your mantel of tenacity?
SM: Different roles. You must know where all the lines are. I cannot interact with my children as the chairman of my company. I try to remind my children all the time: respect the people who work for us. Almost reverent in their respect. These people come to flfill the vision. They are volunteers. They could be anywhere else in the world, but they came to us.
TJ: I watch how you treat people you think you don’t need. If you treat them in a disrespectful way, I’m next in line if you don’t need me.

SESSION 3 | 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM (CT/PT)

You’re here because you want to grow your influence and bring change.

To help bring your leadership to another level, we’re exposing you to new leadership ideas with “Leadership Shots” taken from the newest thinking.

Leadership Shot

These are from “Alive at Work” (Daniel Cable) focused on the neuroscience to help people love what they do.

Seeking System: leads us to venture into the unknown. Responsible for our curiosity and drive at work.
Triggers to activate the seeking system

Self expression

There are some really easy practical things we can do - try this: think about your best traits. The things that make you unique and valuable? It might sounds simple, but you just activated your seeking system. This simple exercise in self expression can transform an organization or group.
New hires were seperated into groups. The first group was asked to reflect on a time they had a positive impact on the group - it was about self expression.
The second was given a impersonal training.
After six months, customers reported a 11% higher satisfaction ratings and higher retention rates among group 1.

Exploring new things

{Build a culture of curiosity where employees feel encouraged to play around with their intrinsic interests and personal strengths within the frame of the organizational demands. This leads to more flexible thinking that most leaders today say they want in their employees, and that most employees would love to exhibit. The result is not just better products and services, it also is more enthusiasm and zest.]

Finding a sense of purpose

[Because purpose is personal and emotional, it can be difﬁcult for leaders to instill in others. But that doesn’t mean that leaders can’t help instill purpose in others and encourage them to ﬁnd greater meaning in their work. When we personally understand and believe in the why of our actions, we have greater resilience and stamina. Our sense of purpose ignites when we can offer insights to our team about the environment and what might work better or experience first]

Carla Harris

Vice Chairman, Managing Director and Senior Client Advisor, Morgan Stanley

Appointed by Obama to chair the national women’s council.
Author of “Expect to Win” and “Strategize to Win.”
Carla’s pearls of leadership:

Hard earned after being a woman on wall street for 31 years.
Thrive in seat that you sit in and aspire to sit in
Carla’s ideas: for powerful impactful influential leadership, all summed up in the letters of the word LEADER

L = Leverage.

There is no monopoly on intelligence. You won’t always have the right or best idea, but someone on your team will have what you need to successfully complete the objective.
How do you create the environment to inspire others to want to contribute their best ideas? If people think there will be retribution for their out of the box ideas, they will not share them (psychological safety).
As a powerful leader, show those who are working with you to access other relationships to be better leaders.
Your job as a leader is to create other leaders.
Leadership is a journey from execution to empowerment
There is no more powerful feeling that to empower someone else.
They more you give away your power, the more powerful you will become
He gives it. I get it. I give it away. And it comes back around.

E = Efficiency.

You must be clear about what success looks like. Without this, you create an immense amount of frustration along the food chain. Creates unproductivity. Team won't’ move forward because they are unclear.
DEFINE WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE.
When people know what they are playing for, they will outperform that which they are playing for?
When you make mistakes - celebrate the mistakes!
Mistakes are just as valuable as successes
Mistakes are altering. They inform success and influence the next attempt.

A = Authenticity.

This is at the heart of you rpower. It is at the heard of powerful, impactful, influential leadership.
Last thing any of us should ever do is submerge that which is uniquely you.
You’re using valuable intellectual capacity to co-create with the person on the other side of that conversation.
Most people are not comfortable in their own skin
IF they see you “owning you” - they will absolutely want some of that.
When you bring your authentic self to the table, people will trust you. And trust is at the heart of every relationship.
I’m a singer. (Concerts at Carnegie Hall) But I didn’t want anyone to know that about me or talk about it… until she say the reaction from the clients!
“The meeting before the meeting” about her singing allowed the clients to hear her with a different ear.
Your authenticity is your distinct competitive advantage. BRING IT TO THE TABLE.
We are ALL multifaceted. They key to bringing all of you to the table all the time is that you must spend some time JUST WITH YOU.
Spend some time getting to know WHO YOU ARE. Do this a couple of times a year. Especially when huge life changing things have occured.
Don’t have to have all facets of you on display at the same time. ;)
Meet people where you are. You will motivate and inspire others to bring their authentic selves to the table.
Up for a promotion. Someone asked her to help sing at a Christmas party. LIttle voice (that she knew well, and knew to listen to no matter what), told her she should do this. She did it, and it ended up being an opportunity to have a heart to heart chat with the head of the promotion committee. (she had no idea). “That was definitely my Scooby moment.” [crowd laughter]
All of the important decisions in your career are made behind closed doors without you in the room. So someone is always on your behalf.

D = Decisiveness and Diversity

The price of inaction is greater than the cost of making a mistake.
If you are a powerful, impactful, influential leader you must be comfortable making the decisions.
Your team is depending on you to make decisions.
You can not be so afraid of making a mistake that you fail to make a decision. Your team will sense the insecurity and it will slow everyone down and create a lack of productivity because they start to lose trust in you.
Part of being a leader is making a decision, even in the face of incomplete information.
Use your resources (relationship resources), your people.
Trust that you have what you need to make a decision.
I believe where God Guides, He Provides. If He Brought You To It, He’ll Bring You Through It.
What did I learn in my training? What experiences do I have? Who could I call? Who do I know who knows about this? In the end - Make a Decision!
Every experience will give you either a) blessing or b) a lesson. Both are valuable. No matter what make a decisions.
Diversity. Every single industry is competing around innovation. Innovation is the dominant competitive parameter across markets.
To be innovative, you need diversity to get to that one idea that will allow you to succeed.
Ideas are born from perspectives.
If you need a lot of perspectives in the room, you need a lot of experiences in the room.
If you need a lot of experiences, you need a lot of different people.
That’s your business case and value proposition for diversity.
To get to that one innovative idea you have to start with a lot of different people in the room.

What does it take to have a successful diversity program, you need three things: Intentionality, accountability and consistency.

Intentional:

Even if it means keeping the job description open just a bit longer. We are absolutely not talking about lowering the bar. There is no person or woman of color who would ever want you to lower the bar - that devalues their contribution - why would people want that?
You need to go outside of your organization to get new leaders; the piece of advice I’d give you is to guard against “organ rejection.”
Whenever you have a kidney transplant the surgeons give you 20 drugs simply so your body will hold onto the kidney. It will naturally dispel that which is foreign.
When you bring new people into the organization you have to overly work to help them be successful. To get to a leadership seat you have to go through 15-20 interviews; so I refuse to say the organization made a prudent mistake. Something is happening in the house if the person didn’t make it. Clean up the house. It takes a lot of time and money to recruit senior leaders.

Accountable:

People must be held accountable to get diverse teams. Ask the questions. Partner with organization that can get you the candidates.

Consistency.

In most situation diversity is a bull market phenomenon. When markets are tight, there’s not the same focus. If you want the outcome you have to keep the consistency.
The next population of professionals - millennials - care a lot about this. They have grown up in multicultural worlds; they don’t see women in leadership positions they will not come, and definitely not stay.
In most organizations your human talent is your most important talent.
You have to have an organization where they will come and stay.

E = Engagement

Most people are motivated by 1 of 3 things:

1. Money
2. Public “attaboy” (encouragement)
3. Platform/promotion

Inclusive leader means engaging with people to get everyone moving in the same direction … “I hear you” , “I see you”
Relationship engagement. This is going to be the differentiator as technology and AI expands in the workplace.
Transformative leaders are:

Tenacious
Transparent
Thoughtful
Transcendent

Get everyone’s fingerprint on the plan. Make everyone feel like they were the architect. When they touch the plan, everyone is invested in its success or failure.

R = Risk

You MUST be comfortable taking risks.
Why don’t we take more risks? We’re SCUUURD (SCARED).
Fear has no place in your success equation!
You have to have a sense of taking risks… which takes COURAGE!
It Takes COURAGE to be intentional about Diversity. To bring your authentic self to the table. To leverage other people’s intellect. To speak truth to power. To call a thing a thing when it’s ugly.
“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7

Danny Meyer

Restaurateur; TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People”

Interview, moderator: Elaine Lin Hering

Setting the Table: The transforming power of hospitality in business
Moderator: You are one of Time’s magazine’s most influential people, you have restaurants, etc, what’s the real story?
When I come home they run the other way :)
Moderator: At what point did you know what you wanted to do with my life?
The night before my LSAT’s, I was out to dinner and was grouchy and my uncle said “what's wrong with you.” And I said I had to take my LSAT’s and he asked me this question (in 1984): Do you realize how long you will be dead? I don’t know either, but a heck of a lot longer than you will be alive, so don’t spend these precious moments of your life doing something you don't want to do. You love restaurants, go do that.
Back then it just was not anything that had crossed my mind. I was grateful to find a calling that I could take a topic I love (what’s the on the plate, what’s in the glass) and share that with others.
Moderator: You didn’t invent food, but you’ve really set the standard for restaurants. Restaurants are opening and closing all the time. 19,000 if you exclude the restaurants in NYC. What's the difference for you that your restaurants stand the test of time?
The road of success is paid with mistakes. Restaurants are a lot like a sailing regatta, it takes 20 years and there is no straight line. It takes the people in the front of the boat to tell me what the conditions are. The only way I can get to that place is to truly listen to the people in the front.
Moderator: How do you decide who is in the boat with you?
I continue to learn the hard way, but we want 100% employee. We all come short, but if you can segment into two ingredients they would be: 49 parts technical proficiency and 51 parts hospitality skills. Technical = mastery. The max score for perfection you can get is 49, which is failing. So you need more - you need an amazing distinctive quality that works everywhere, which is hospitality.
When I grew up, it was “service, service, service.” When I fully appreciated that service is a subset of technical performance, did we say what we are going to do, did we get the coat back without losing it, etc. That’s good service. Service does not touch hospitality.
Hospitality is how did we make you feel when we delivered that service? Good hospitality is measured when you feel that we are on your side. Enlightened hospitality.
Service is all the technical things we do. We must innovate in how we do service well. For example, when hotels give free shampoo - they all do it today and everyone copied it when it first happened and was novel. All these innovations of how you technically deliver your product must move forward. But they get copied today within a minute.
The shelf life of innovation is two minutes. We need to focus on thoughtful things. Thoughtful is always a conjunction of thinking and feeling. Actions you can not plagiarize. I can not take a picture of how you make me feel. If you can make me feel better than the next guy with just as good chicken, you’ll come back to my place.
Moderator: In the hospitality industry the customer is always right. Is that true? Thoughts?

I learned this lesson the hard way. I had an investment banker bring 7 guests to Union Square Cafe. I wasn’t sure what they did, but knew they bought expensive wine. The guy says, “bring me your best chardonnay”. Back then the wines were really inexpensive. I bought a $42/bottle and the guy looks at me and says, that’s not a chardonnay.
I knew he was wrong, and responded “yes sir, it’s 100% chardonnay”. But then went and brought him a bottle of CA chardonnay and he said “now that’s a chardonnay”
It’s completely irrelevant who is right and wrong, but the customer must always feel heard. I should have just said “yes, it sounds like you would like a California chardonnay.”
Dads are not always right. Husbands are never right :)

Moderator: Feeling heard seems like good marriage advice as well. Your wife didn’t ask me to say that to you. A wise philosopher named Danny Meyer said the road to success is paved with mistakes well-handled. Tell me about your mistakes.
We are wired to make mistakes. What if we looked at mistakes as the greatest natural resource? We need mistakes like a surfer needs waves. What if mistakes themselves if embraced and handled in a profitable way could land you in a better spot than if you didn’t make the mistake in the first place.
Five A’s of mistake-making:

Awareness: Be aware that you made it.
Acknowledge: I see that I spilled on you.
Apologize: I feel really bad about that.
Act: Fix it, do something about it. Let me get you a shawl for you. Let me handle the cleaning bill.
Apply Additional Generosity: If I were Elaine and was spilled all over, what would I expect them to do - then do even more. I know you will tell the entire world what would happened. Once the mistake is made, you can’t make it go away. All you can do is write a great next chapter.

We encourage our staff members to be professors of our own mistakes, so long as it's a mistake that didn’t lack integrity. An honest mistake.
Moderator: In your book setting the table you talk about making some memorable mistakes.
Since setting the table, there was an occasion where we were hosting an event for a very famous clothing designer from Italy. He was showing his new line of silk in Manhattan. They were having a celebratory dinner and it was a big honor. The room seats 18-20 and they were bringing 16. We really like to find a yes, and 16 became 20. At 3:00pm 20 became 26. We now have 24 chairs that match and go upstairs to find a few more chairs. At 9:00pm, we were up to 34 people. I was one of the guests invited, so we begged to not be there to give up our seats. So we decided to have a family style dinner and everyone is very tightly packed in. In slow motion one of our servers is clearing our bread basket in which olive oil is pouring into the back of a suede Calvin Klein dress. This person is two people away and she can’t see because it’s on her back. Before I said anything to her, the person to my right gasps. She asks what happened and so we are going to confront this thing. I talked to the woman to my right who owns an art gallery. I get our general manager to get a shawl. She then calls Calvin Klein to find out the cost and it was 4x the revenue of the dinner for 36 people. I promise that this story will have a happy ending and we will turn it around for her. There was exactly one dress left. It was waiting for her in her apartment that night. The next day we delivered a basket with pretty much everything from our restaurant - and an additional $500 gift card. We do these things all the times, and hopefully they aren’t all this expensive.
It’s the mistakes that lack integrity that I have a tough time with. That’s when you pull out your family values.
Moderator: Talk to us about family values; a family meal is shared at a restaurant. Often family is a reason for turning a blind eye for not addressing the issue. Can you address that tension?
It is a great job to work in a restaurant because it is a family and you play a role, almost like an ant colony. For a lot of people who work in the industry, it’s almost an adjunct family given the hours and sometimes it’s a replacement.
It’s a strength of our restaurant that they can compete as siblings - sibling revelry. That being said, it was a big comeuppance for me when I realized my biggest failure as a leader was that I could take the family thing too far. This is a business, not a family. And you are holding on to too many people who are not holding on to your values. In a business, you can’t always give fifth/sixth chances like you can in a family. If someone is actually getting by because they are good at what they do, even when they aren’t good at who they are, then I have to stop making excuses for that.

There is nothing worse than when someone leaves because I wasn’t walking the talk.
Moderator: Others are watching for your action or inaction.

The minute one becomes a leader the two things that happen are: a) every word is heard through a megaphone and b) everything is watched through binoculars.

Moderator: You have talked about your team as volunteers.
I learned that in Chicago as a 22 year old working for John Anderson (independent politician). I was the Cook County Field Coordinator for his campaign and had 30 people reporting to me as volunteers. I had very little to motivate them. It was a great gift because for 8 months the only currency I had was the higher purpose of trying to work for the candidate. They were choosing to be there, not because they were trying to make a living, but for a bigger purpose.
Truly, most of the people working for me were older than me, and I wanted to have people working for me that could be good as they could be. That leadership style worked really well to attract top talent.
I owed them more than just a paycheck. I started to develop my values, purpose and the reason the company exists to be a motivator as well.
It’s absolutely not an excuse not to compensate people.
People are looking to belong to where they work just as much as they want to belong elsewhere. They want to trust where they belong.
Moderator: You are just one person, how have you managed to scale your impact without compromising values or integrity.
The thing that motivates me more than anything is how to scale culture.
We all read books about scaling systems - such as Ray Kroc (McDonalds) to consistently produce the same flavor everywhere.
How do we scale the way we make you feel. When you dine with us. It’s doable but it’s not a part of business people prized 50 years ago, but today’s its the single most defining factor.
It’s about making it clear from the minute we interview someone what our company stands for.
We almost invite people not to work for us because they could take their skills anywhere. They must want to really work for us and we want to call on the gifts you have.
At a very high level you have six emotional skills work dramatically towards making people better.
Moderator: What are the six emotional skills?

Wait until you see how hard it is to do obvious. To be intentional when greeting someone and then afterwards.
Emotional skills can be celebrated, but not taught
1. Kind hearted and optimistic: Hope is at the root of hospitality. People who believe that their actions make the world a better place. THis tends to predict success. Kindness. Kind eyes is a good summary. You can tell if someone has kind eyes. That works 95% of the time.
2. Curiosity We want to work with people who want to discover something new. Finished books tend not to do well with us.
3. Work ethic. It’s one thing to teach someone how to do the job, but another about caring about the job.
4. Empathy. People who are empathetic and can imagine what it’s like to be in your shoes and who are aware of how they are making you feel. Imagine each of us is a boat going through water and leaving a wake in our path. This is very true at the leadership level. What wake am I leaving? Am I making the waters easier for others?
5. Self Awareness. We want to have people who know what their own internal weather report is. It’s not bad to wake up nervous or scared or grouchy, but people who are self aware do what we all do. They look at the weather report and decide what to wear. Knowing that hospitality is a team sport. I have to take responsibility not to be a skunk at work - I don’t want to spray the thing that is afraid - everyone else has to smell that. That's not self-awareness.
6. Integrity. Someone who has the judgement to do the right thing even when no one else is looking and it’s not in their self interest.
If you give me three amazing pasta makers, I’m always going to want to hire the one who is primarily cooking for the pleasure it will provide you. All these emotional skills add up to someone with a high HQ - a high hospitality quotient. If we could all be like that - imagine if you had a car that the more you drove it the more it filled itself up with gas. If that’s your calling you don’t work a day in your life.

Moderator: What advice do you have for the people struggling with wanting to leave right now.

Push your reset button and see if it works.
I’ve done this 14 times in my career. It’s like reading a book.
When you read a great book, have you noticed how you dawdle over the last two chapters because you don’t’ want it to end? Maybe you dawdle for months?
There is a point when it’s time to say that was a great book but there is a library over there and it’s time to check out a new book.
Sometimes people read a book they don’t like and are doing nothing with it.
It takes a lot of courage to put down the book when it’s halfway done because it’s not doing anything or the courage to put the great book down and move on.
Sometimes that really helps burnout quite a bit.

Moderator: Grateful for you insights and experience.

SESSION 4 | 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM (CT/PT)

Danielle Strickland

Pastor; Author; Justice Advocate

Intro to Danielle [dramatic monologue]:

Wagner opera on an old radio: it was a historic moment. In 1864, James Maxwell theorized that electromagnetic waves could travel through the air… by the end of the century, wireless telegraphy. The system that enabled the Titanic’s SOS. And soon radio would change everything. Soon there would be one in homes around the world.
In just a few decades, we’ve gone from wondering if it were possible for waves to go through the air, to filling the bandwidth with so many waves of every kind. And we wonder what to tune into.
The air around me feels very crowded. A thousand signals telling me how bad it’s all become.
Interspersed with that, and the signals in my own head and heart on repeat… the ones that tell me to be afraid. I shouldn’t even bother, because I’m going to say it wrong or do it wrong. I should disengage from the world’s brokenness so I don’t risk a broken heart.
I want to hear the voice that spoke everything into being. That says there is something better for this world, something better than better. Can you hear it?

Danielle Strickland

Introduction

We’re at a strategic cultural intersection. Where the relationships between women and men are eroding - a whole lot of ambiguity.
Global movements of women around the world are exposing the pain of sexual harassment - and have reached a tipping point - thank God.
And it will set us free - but it disrupts us. And we don’t like disruption. So we identify or blame or hide. Knee-jerk reactions. Find a person to blame, as though the problem is outside of us.
But for those who want to be transformational leaders, it’s a moment we can discover and create a different world where we are better together.
Women in Sweden: how did you change a nation’s mind? Two things necessary for mass social change: 1) be able to imagine a better world, and 2) to understand oppression. I think she was right.
My eldest son came home from kindergarten and said it was boring. All we did during the day was tell stories of what we had done over the break. I wanted mine to be really good so I made one up. “Do you remember when I was riding the go-kart… and it exploded into a motorcycle… and I got the big gold trophy” No. He put his hand on my head, paused, and then said, “Do you remember now?”
The thing my son was after is what we are all after: we want a better story.
Although my son in his childhood naivete chose a crazy story, I have a story that’s possible: men and women are better together. We desire this because we’re designed for it.
The oldest origin stories are in the book of Genesis. God hovered over chaos and creates a beautiful shalom-filled world. The first version is a man by himself, in charge. And God says “this is not good!” :)
Then he creates woman - an ezer - a savior or helper - because man needed it. Man couldn’t work in isolation. Humanity will be better if they lead together. The question is how do we do it?

Step 1: We have to believe that it’s possible.

The McKinsey Global Institute Report suggests that women’s equality, where it’s not possible, if it became possible it would add up to 28 trillion dollars to the economy.
Talk to Muhammad Yunus, who created the Grameen Bank, who said the way to break the back of extreme poverty was women’s empowerment.
The UN imagined this - gender equality was a fundamental human right as well as a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, good world.
Believing that it’s possible is to refuse despair. It’s to believe for the future to change.

Step 2: Do not be afraid.

So many women are not optimistic - many believe it’s impossible all together. And it’s just fear.
Gandhi: “We think the enemy is hate, but it’s always fear.”
I was reading Exodus for a blueprint of how to set people free like God wants for them. I knew Pharaoh was a bully, that he abused people. If you’re afraid of a bully that’s how you get oppressed. But did you see? “Because Pharaoh was afraid of the Israelites he oppressed them.”
If our dreams are fear-based we will either be oppressed or be an oppressor. Fear is the currency of oppression.
I came across this article by Seth Richardson. He had two concepts: difference and mutuality.

Difference: we are not the same. This is how you get caught. To be human means to be unique; part of our humanity is difference. When we overemphasize one difference over any other difference it leads to the distortion of our humanity. On the other hand, denial leads to just as much distortion. Difference through the lens of faith is an opportunity.
Mutuality: the sharing of a feeling or relationship between two or more parties. Nelson Mandela taught on ubuntu: I am because you are. Human connection and sharing. We need each other; your success is my success, your failure is my failure.
What are the enemies of mutuality? Power and sex. Let’s talk about sex. 35% of women globally have experienced physical or sexual violence. 1 in 4 North American women.. Is it any wonder they are fed up? They should be.
We hear the pain and trauma of women who have suffered this on every level. Your story matters. And the truth you are telling matters and is essential to moving forward and making a better world. Thank you for speaking up.

But stats are not the way to look at oppression alone. 1 in 6 internet searches are for porn. 1 in 5 phone searches are for porn. 60% of men admit to viewing porn once a week. What do you think happens to the way you view gender if the lens by which you view it objectifies and destroys? It needs to be confronted by a generation who will not be afraid to tell the truth.
Objectification is the opposite of mutuality. You can’t do them both.
Let’s talk about power. [I’m on team men - and team women. Truly believe we are better leading together.] Power is the ability to influence others or the course of events. We all have influence. What does abuse of power look like, and how do we use our power for change?
Some of us have great power - some of us have a little. But how we use our power is the measure of our leadership.
I’m going to use this duolithic model.
Coercion and Threats (negotiation and fairness) [slide]

Are you kind to those you lead?
Are you fair in decisions that impact them?
Do you seek mutually satisfying solutions to conflict?
Can you accept change? Are you willing to compromise?

Misuse of power = coercion and threats, isolation, poverty (disempowerment)
Good use of power = negotiation, trust and support, honesty & accountability, economic partnership & compensation, shared responsibility
Are you kind to those you lead? Are you fair in those discussions? Do you cut people off when they are talking? Do you dismiss ideas? Do you value and actively listen to others? Do you show regard for others’ traditions or ideas or experiences?
Emotional Abuse (respect) [slide]

Do you value and actively listen to others?
Do you show regard for other people’s traditions/opinions/feelings/experiences?
Are you emotionally affirming?

Isolation (trust and support) [slide]

Do you encourage people to think and act widely?
Is there room to grow and participate in self improvement?
Do people feel included in decision making process?

Isolation is a misuse of power. Trust and support is a good use of power.
Minimizing, Denying and Blaming (honesty and accountability) [slide]

Do you accept responsibility for yourself?
Do you acknowledge when you’ve been wrong?
Do you communicate openly and honestly?
Do you have people in your life who can challenge your behavior?

Do you accept responsibility for your own action? Do you communicate openly and honestly? Do you have people in your life who will challenge your behavior? Is everyone economically compensated fairly and equally? Are women invited to be part of your big decisions? Do you define the role men and women play in your culture or community?
Economic Abuse (economic partnership) [slide]

Have you mutually agreed with others about fair distribution of work?
Do you make decisions with others?
Is everyone economically compensated fairly and equally?

Poverty is not about economics - it’s about power. Because how you use your power is the measure of your leadership. Great leaders use their power to empower other people.
Jesus was super clear about the empowe
LISTEN. LEARN. LIVE. Start now (today), and start with YOU.
Example of the banking industry, learning how to do things differently to avoid losing some of their best employees (women who recently had become mothers).
To make the world a better place, you must NEVER EVER EVER GIVE UP.
Achieving gender balance is a …?
Real freedom is a long walk in a different direction.
What’s required to make the world a better place is an entire lifetime of doing things a better way
Awkward conversations, every day
rment principle. He was very good at this. He was the most empowering person who ever lived, and nowhere was this clearer than how he interacted with women. He invited them to become disciples.
When Martha wanted Mary to come back into the kitchen, it wasn’t about the dish load - it was about the social stigma.
The world say scandal - Jesus saw promise and potential.
Jesus invited women to be part of a system called the Kingdom of God that was going to be dismantle other systems, where power would be used to empower other people.

Step 3: Start now. Start with you.

How? I am a part of a movement called Amplify Peace. We create change: we listen intentionally to voices we don’t normally hear. We learn about people who are different… and then we repeat
I was speaking at a women’s banking conference. Why do you have a women’s banking conference? They were losing women out of the workforce. 80% of them were women having children and their lives had taken a different tone, because the long hours and inflexibility. So they sat down and got some better practices… and implemented them. They lived differently and ALL those managers came back plus more.
It’s not rocket science. But if you find yourself in a room full of people who look and act and think like you… start to live a different way.

Step 4: Never ever give up.

Morgan Stanley wrote a manifesto about gender balance as a long term objective that requires constant progress.
There’s the Disney myth: some fairy godmother will come and sprinkle dust on us and we’ll be changed.
Real power and real freedom is a long walk in the same direction. It will require a lifetime. Decisions that we make every day. Apologies and awkward conversations. A long walk to freedom.

I had the privilege of visiting Robben Island. The hardest thing was leaving it. I came into this prison broken, angry, and furious. Wanting white people to die. I met some white men in this prison who taught me about a better future, where I didn’t have to hate. Where we could be reconciled. They told me about it - and I believed them. The hardest day came when I had t leave the company of those men and live it out in real life. I’m dreaming about a bunch of leaders in THIS cultural moment who start to imagine a better world and believe it’s possible. They start now and start with themselves. And commit themselves not just to a vision: but to a reality and a way of life that you live out and never give up on.

John Maxwel

Leadership Expert; Best-selling Author; Coach

Today has been an amazing day. Every conversation, every interview… I’ve learned. I’ve wanted to adjust some things. The spirit of God has spoken to me. He’s pleased with the effort, the energy, the focus. Well done Danielle.
I love leadership and I’m going to share what all leaders have in common.
All leaders have vision. What all leaders have in common: They see more that others see and BEFORE others see.
Fast Forward theme. It’s never been faster than before. It’s not going to slow down.
When I think of forward, it’s shorter. It’s never been shorter than before. We used to have a 10 year a short was 2 year. Now 2 years is an eternity.
1980s there were no leadership books, only management books. They didn’t start appearing until the early 90s. Why? Fast is faster and short is shorter. You can’t manage speed.
How do we see More and how do we see before.
Seeing before others see.
Story: Dinner with Gail Deevers, decorated athlete. I wanted to have some fun with her, “If you and I were in a 100 yard race, I think I would win.” She was about ready to race me… “...If you gave me an 80 yard head start.” I spent the whole meal thinking about the 80 yards. I wanted to say 70. :) It wasn’t speed; it was getting started first.
How can I increase my More? How can I have More More and More Before?
1. There is more “More and Before” out there. Think abundance. Creativity and flexibility.

Creative people: there’s always an answer out there. That gets you in the “Before” dimension.
You increase the before when we get creative.
Flexibility: usually more than one answer.

When I was younger, I had more certainty. I had answers. Before I had children, I was really good and certain about raising children. :)
As I’ve gotten older, I have fewer ceritttainities. But what I'm certain about, i’m really certain about.

Leadership vision is …?
There is MORE MORE out there for you

2. Develop a process for finding more “More and More Before”

The cycle: Test. Fail. Learn. Improve. Re-enter.
All those steps are essential for discovering More More and more before.
The way we find more more is to test.
We ought to do an autopsy on success.
Some people: Test. Fail. Re-enter. They don’t succeed.
Must have Learn and Improve as well.
Attitude process: advance attraction. Once I know what I’m really dreaming about, once I have this set, here’s where I’m going. When you know what you want for your future, your mind will start getting you to where you need. Your heart will start getting what you need. Then they begin to come to you.
Have an attitude of abundance.

3. Put yourself in places and with people who will inspire you to see more More and more Before (expand yourself).

Indebtedness to the GLS. Add value to more people.
Story: 50th High School Reunion. They were old. ;)
We’ve all been around people who we have to drag. You want to get around people who can lift your sights.

4. Intentionally grow everyday so you will have capacity for more “More & More Before”

The only guarantee that tomorrow will be better so that we are all growing today
Revision of his book ?
If you’re still excited about what you did 5 years ago, you’re not growing.
Earl Nightingale: 1 hour a day for 5 years on 1 topic, you’ll become an expert.

I took up the challenge: leadership
½ way through the journey, I stopped asking how long it would take, and instead started asking, “How far can I go?”
At 71 I’m still asking “How far can I go?
Nike’s right, there is no finish line.
Expanding your mind is a beautiful thing!

Story: with dad. 96 years old. “The greatest possibilities are still in front of me. I will live until the day I die and not ever confuse the two.”
That’s what intentional daily growth will do to you.

5. Always have a vision gap that requires you to need “More More and More Before”

Chris Hodges: Vision Gap = the space between what you are doing and what you could be doing.
“I can keep going.” Seeing more allows you …
How do you solve/close the vision gap?

1. Ask God to send you the right people
2. Ask God to do for you what you cannot do for yourself.
Eph 3: 20 (the Message)
This is what is called “God Room”

His mentor told him: Do something so big that people who know you say, ‘That’s beyond his capabilities and only God could do that.’

See you all tomorrow!

DAY 2 | FRIDAY, AUGUST 10

SESSION 5 | 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM (CT/PT)

Rasmus Ankersen

I wanted to start by showing you something you would find familiar: old school Nokia 3310. Once called “the greatest phone ever produced” - almost all of you had one. Never ran out of battery, you could play Snake on it. Indestructible. If someone drops it, the floor breaks. In many ways it embodied what Nokia stood for: resilience, quality and innovation. Products like this made Nokia so successful - and became a case study.
Nokia is not just a story about success; where they could get people to follow them with religious conviction. 50% market share to 3% in less than 5 years. They lost their mojo completely.
So let’s talk about the lessons that follow success.
The evolution of corporate vs human life spans - humans are living longer and longer, and companies are living shorter and shorter.
As leaders we have to think more than ever about how we keep our orgs relevant and fresh, avoid complacency, and rethink orgs from a position of strength instead of weakness.

If it can happen to Nokia, it can happen to you.
When an org becomes successful, it has to fight itself - not just it’s competitors.
Outcome bias: the assumption that good results are always the result of superior performance.

Story: football club called Newcastle United. They play in St. James’ Park. Every other week 50k supporters flock there to watch their team. They have all the right pieces of the puzzle to be awesome - but they’ve gone from disappointment to disappointment. Finished 5th in the English Premier League
The management thought this was a new era. They rewarded the coaching staff with an 8 year contract and did everything they could to keep the squad together.
Next season: they were 16th. Same players, same staff. What changed?
Background: in football, there’s an expression: the league table never lies. It assumes that justice prevails. After 38 games, it assumes you get what you deserve.
Matthew convinced me that this was a lie. He’s a gambler. I’m talking about the pros, guys who use sophisticated math models that calculate where to bet. This guy won so much money he bought his childhood football club:: Brenford. 3rd on the table.
I asked Matthew: will you promote this year: “at the moment there’s a 42.3% chance of this.” He thought differently about the game.
We started to talk about how to run a football club differently. Can you outthink the competition with big data and analytics?
One day Matthew said he was thinking about buying another club. He bought Midtjylland and made me the chairman. We became famous because we beat Manchester United and won the trophy. This was a big deal: the moneyball story of football.
The mindset of the gambler can really teach us about organizations. And they teach us that the league table always lies. There is a lot of inherent randomness in football. There is not a lot of goals in football. The more goals there are, the more time there is for the randomness to even itself out.
The best team wins less often in a low scoring sport.
Ask any statistician: 38 data points is a very small sample size. At the end of the season… the commentators thought Newcastle was a fragile bubble that could burst anytime.
When he decides where to bet, he is looking for underlying performance indicators - not just record.

Goal difference is the more important thing. It indicates an effective goal distribution. Not all goals are equally important.
Shot differential is the differential between the number of shots the team and the opponent produce
A positive goal difference with a negative shot differential was a bad sign. Newcastle was like a high share price and low customer satisfaction.

Question now becomes why didn’t Newcastle see this? Did they not have the data? Did they not know how to interpret it? They assumed that it was about them. (Outcome bias).
Success turns luck into genius. When an organization fails, we ask good questions, but when we are successful we don’t ask why. Circumstances? Good market conditions?
Successful organizations must treat success with the same skepticism as failure.
What does this look like?

Lego: Produced a police station, 30k sets, sent to the stores and bought by the consumers. Realized that one brick was missing from every set, and it was so crucial that you couldn’t do anything without that one brick.
How many people do you think reached out to Lego about the missing brick to get a new one? 2%. 98% did nothing.
They realized when we hear from 5k complainers it really represents 1m. It made them change their procedures in consumer services.
Never trust success blindly.

Lack of Urgency: we hesitate to improve until we have a burning platform.

I was watching Dibaba run at the 2012 Olympics in London. [quotes others who ran and also medaled] The interesting thing is they were all in Ethiopia. These 4 athletes come from the same village in Ethiopia. A tiny village of 17k people in the middle of nowhere. And they have won 32 world championships and 10 Olympic gold medals. If you win the training session on Tuesday, you’re probably the fastest man on the planet.
The best sprinters on the planet come from Jamaica but they came from the same club outside of Kingston.
Golfers from South Korea, alpine skiers in Sweden. What’s the secret? What can they teach us about high performance culture?
I went on a journey to find out and discover ‘the gold mine effect.’I wrote a book about it: https://amzn.to/2OrBupj

Gold Mine Effect

This is Usain Bolt. They say “there must be something in the water in Jamaica that makes them fast.” This is what we say when we can’t explain it.
There’s very weak scientific evidence that it’s genetic - so the next argument is it must be the yam potato. So I went to the local cafe and had yams - they were normal.
A lot of the best ones came from the same club. I drive to the training ground at 5am. What you expect to see at MVP Track and Field Club is not what you see. No running track; a big grass field. 10 minutes later a guy arrives: Mr. Steven Francis. World’s most successful sprint coach.
As you can see, he doesn’t look like a sprinter. He graduated in statistics from U Michigan. Got a job at KPMG and was bored, so came back to Jamaica to see if he could build excellent sprinters.
One of these ideas he had was about facilities. All I see is a gym from Jane Fonda days with rusty weights and a grassy field. Where’s your proper facility? “When I see great performance facilities, they are all focused on being comfortable.. These should be designed for purpose (hard work), not for comfort.”
Who cares the most? Who wants it the most? If you really want to improve, this is the best environment in the world.
When we become successful in organizations we often become comfortable and quit improving. [photo of gym with escalator entrance] How as leaders do we keep enough discomfort to keep moving forward?
Back to Lego. Very successful organization. Jorgen Vig Knudstorp (then CEO of LEGO) said: Well done, but here’s the question: are you that sure we are competing in the toy industry? If a boy goes to the store and doesn’t buy Lego, what does he buy? If his alternate is an iPhone, then we aren’t competing in toys, we’re competing for attention. Which industry are we actually competing in? We reached the top of this mountain - but now we have a different one.
Coke did the same thing. What if you aren’t competing in soft drinks, but for all liquids that go in the human body? Then we don’t own the market. And they started producing water.
Are you the fat cat at the top of the mountain? Or are you making the world bigger and yourself smaller?
Principle 2: Re-thinking your potential [final slide]

David Livermore

Story - experience that happened a few years ago in China
3 days in (out of 10) started to find his stride. Started presentation feeling good. Interpreter was not sharing HIS story with the audience, however. Instead she was saying “like most Americans - he’s telling a story that he thinks is funny.” and ended up inserting her own dialog and then cued the audience to laugh at the exact perfect funny part of his talk.
It’s our mistakes that teach us how to improve and lead than our successes.
CQ = cultural intelligence. The capability to work and relate effectively in culturally diverse situations.
1st characteristic of culturally intelligent leader:

Curiosity!!
CQ drive - Your level of interest, persistence, and confidence during multicultural interactions
Not about right/wrong - it’s about “let me see if I Can i see this from your viewpoint first!

Exercise perspective taking: (ask yourself) To what degree can I explain this situation from their point of view?

We need leaders who are not fearful of difference but LEAN INTO IT and ask how can I make this better
CQ knowledge: your understanding of how cultures are similar and difference
Different leadership styles: direct vs indirect comms. How do you compare?
Cultural values profiles
Orgs themselves have cultures and values and objectives.
Also have personal beliefs and values that fall alongside the cultural values and differences
E.g. Different Christians have different interpretations of the teachings of Jesus
Doesn’t matter what we THINK the reason is - what we care about is what did Jesus actually say!?... but wait! In the scripture is would seem that ALL answers and interpretations are correct.
Often skewed by our own culture when we attempt to understand why things are the way they are. Need to appreciate other perspectives and interpretations as leaders.
Need to learn from the differences.
CQ Knowledge: Your understanding of how cultures are similar and different.

Convene a diverse group of leaders to discuss a leadership topic together. (e.g. making a presentation, trust building, decision-making, etc.)

3rd capability: most specifically relates to leadership - CQ strategy: channel their curiosity and understanding into a strategy that works.
Eventually have to MAKE A DECISION and move in a direction of improvement.
Eg high level drive (curiosity), some knowledge, no strategy: (humorous video about cultures)
Research shows that D&I training about JUST the differences actually does more harm than good. Puts people in boxes all over the place.
Impacts how you conduct a performance review with someone, etc.
Back to intro translator story:
Organizers had been trying to tell him that his story about self-deprecation wouldn't go over very well with the audience in China
CQ Strategy: Your awareness and ability to plan for multicultural interactions.

Sketch a brief plan when doing routine tasks with an unfamiliar culture. (e.g. performance reviews, interviews, meetings.)

CQ Action: Your ability to adapt when relating and working in multicultural contexts
To adapt or not: Is it s a “tight” or “loose” culture?

Loose cultures are comfortable with the difference perspectives/approaches

Will adapting compromise the org or me?

Want to stay true to personal and organizational values

Will retaining the differences make us stronger?

Want to maintain effectiveness

Starbucks example in China:

Difficult internal environment, products, vibe - failed by OVERadapting to the culture

“Diversity leads to Innovation” -- we’ve all heard this. Problem is - It’s NOT TRUE! Have you ever been on a diverse team?

Studies this - found that homogeneous teams were more innovative than the diverse teams, except if the team members/leaders had a high CQ! Then they were 3x more innovative than homogeneous teams.

Self-assessment of CQ is available at: culturalQ.com/gls/ Free for a short time for GLS attendees.
Research proves:

EVERYONE can improve their CQ! (coaching helps)

Studied experience of short-term travelers.. To what degree can we expect them to adapt to the cultures they are exposed to. Studied journals of these travelers.
Shared a highlight of a journal entry from US high school student who visited peru over the 4th of July… in the end it ENDED UP being HIS OWN personal journal!
He was the epitome of the ugly american!

Desperately need leaders with influence who have a heart of compassion and a curiosity that ….. (insert other great positive words!) ….and make a difference in the world.

Segue: William Close and the Earth Harp: http://www.earthharpsymphony.com

Sheila Heen

http://stoneandheen.com

You know those on again, off again relationships? Where people break up and get back together repeatedly?
I had friends in HS who did that; I swore I would never do that. I was in law school and new from the beginning this was not the relationship for me. There was no kindness or compassion. But I kept being talked into giving it one more try. I was a negotiation person already; why was I having such a hard time negotiating myself out of this relationship?
What makes these hard conversations so hard?
We spent years writing the book Difficult Conversations. And what sustained me was that we would figure this out, get it published, and then we’d be sent on a book tour. Big hometown auditorium, everyone cheering. It happened - at the end.
On that night, we show up at the venue. And there are 18 people there. 11 of whom are related to us. One who came was my co-author Doug’s sister Robby and her 3 kids. About halfway through the talk, the 1 year old gets fidgety and she slips through the side door. Charlie, the 5 year old, looks up at his mom outside and says “mom that stunk!” And his older brother says “Charlie, it was supposed to stink!”
It was traumatizing. That experience stuck with me because it reminds me how we often feel about difficult conversations in our lives. If I was smarter, or more assertive, or had a thicker skin, or if that person had a personality transplant.
We all have these hard conversations. All the time. They are part of being human and being in relationship - and a big part of leadership.
Your job as a leader is to have these conversations, and how you handle them day in and day out defines your leadership.
And here’s the bad news: they’re supposed to stink.
It tells me about you:

1) you care a whole lot about what you are doing, and
2) you care a lot about the people you are doing it with.

Can you think of at least one stressful situation in your life right now? At least one difficult person?
So what are some of the themes - other than money and hiring/firing

Finally standing up for myself
Disappointing someone
Working across cultures/functions (every function has their own culture!)
Telling my boss they are wrong (talking up)
Helping my peers with their self-awareness

So what new insights might I get in my own life now?

The most important thing about understanding these conversations is that we have to look beyond what we’re saying to each other. We have to look at our internal voice.
We all have an internal voice.
Difficult conversations is when that internal voice is turned up to full volume. It’s busy and has loud reactions. You need to discover what it’s saying.
Drama: I’m going to introduce you to Monesha. She and her friend Paul founded a firm, but she’s also starting to realize that friends don’t make good business partners. Paul is great and talented - he just doesn’t understand the concept of budget, and they have yet to turn a profit, and sometimes struggle to pay the bills. He forgets about partnership meaning making decisions together. [conflict around new opportunity]

Sketch
How’d that go? Do any of you have singing internal voices?
What can we learn from this? As you listen…

Internal voices are often preoccupied with very predictable things every single time. Although on the surface the conversations feel like a mess, they have the same internal structure
If you learn that structure, you can get some landmarks and actually move forward.

Let’s zoom in on the puzzle: what happened, what is happening, and what should be happening?
For the WHAT HAPPENED:

1) Who’s right? And what are they right about? I’m sure I’m right about what feels safe. “Paul should have consulted me first… and I’m right about the budget.” See how soon we get into blame?
2) Whose fault is it? “Obviously Paul.” Whose fault tells us who the problem is.
3) Why is the other person acting this way? What’s motivating them? “I can’t figure out if he’s irresponsible or just clueless? We can’t operate at a loss just to keep the client happy. Money doesn’t grow on trees.”

Monesha, you never said “I feel frustrated” - but are you? “Yes, and ignored and dismissed. I’m worried about the project succeeding too. His out of the box ideas have sometimes saved the day in the past. So I’m confused.”

So we have a pile of complex and often conflicting thoughts and feelings on our plate. What are your feelings - and the other person’s. Those strong feelings create a dilemma for us; in North America we try to not bring our feelings to work. We stay task oriented at work and take our feelings home for our spouse to enjoy.
We have feelings and we can’t pretend that they aren’t there. They leak out in our tone and body language. Here’s the rub: by the time it becomes a difficult conversation we have the surface problem (the business decision), AND the underneath that is how we feel treated by the other person. And it will come up again, and again, and again.
At the deepest level is what we call identity. It’s the story we tell about who we are. It feels like something about you is at stake; am I confident? Am I a good person? Am I worthy of respect?
This is what drives our strong feelings and what colors our story of what happens. Maybe you don’t want to be “that kind of person” who brought up money or something else.
In that on again off again relationship from the intro, what I was most resentful of was what it said about me.
Thanks for being so honest with us - and with yourself.

Identity gets tripped and colors our reactions. When this is what our internal voice says… so we start to feel like our job is explaining to them “why we are right” and it comes across that if they were fixed we wouldn’t have a problem.
Is it any wonder that people don’t respond well to being lectured and blamed and fixed? What’s invisible in the moment is the other person’s internal voice - and their own sense of rightness.

From Paul’s perspective… Monesha is the one who doesn’t get it. They are in two different conversations. Two topics, two talkers, zero listeners.

What do we do? Change the story in your head. Align it more closely with reality.
Instead of asking ‘who’s right’ ask ‘what do we each think this conversation is actually about?’
Rather than ‘whose fault is it’ ask ‘what have we each contributed to this problem?’

Blame vs joint contribution- Blame is looking for who is most at fault - and tends to assume that someone did something wrong. Contribution includes things that might have been totally reasonable and just didn’t help. Maybe the client expectations changed - and they haven’t learned how to deal with scope creep.

Change from ‘why are you acting this way’ to separate intention from impact. We cannot know. Don’t assume anyone’s intentions.

You might want this to be a success… but there may not be a good impact. Speak to the impact your partner is worried about.

Joint contribution is the fuel for learning - it takes us from where we are to where we want to be.
Your purpose in the conversation can then shift from telling others that you are right - to understanding where they are coming from.
Transparency increases the power of your conversation. You want to influence other people, be open to influence yourself. Be transparent about what you are thinking and feeling.
We’ve talked this week about talking at vs talking to, and this takes us toward talking with. What could that look like in practice?
What if we stopped holding our identity as either/or, good/bad, saint/sinner? What if we could see more like God does: that we are fallible but worthy of love? Who sometimes misunderstand and misinterpret, but who need each other? It doesn’t change everything, but it does mean we could not be stuck.
Researchers once told students they had a talk in another building in 5 minutes; planted a ‘person in distress’ on the way to see who would stop to help?

10% stopped.
These were seminarians. The talk they were told to go give was on the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Those seminarians are us. When we take time out of our busy lives to reflect, you have good advice for yourself. But when we get back to real life, and with distractions and busyness… will you even see the opportunities to walk your own talk? When the seminarians were told they had 20 minutes until their talk, 50% stopped to help.
As you take a break, see the opportunity. Leadership is about showing someone a better future that we will co-create together. Good luck.

SESSION 6 | 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM (CT/PT)

Erwin McManus

Third-time GLS speaker. Pastor of Mosaic in Los Angeles

“The Last Arrow”

It is an honor to be here today. I want to focus on something different. THe greatest battles are the ones within us.
Most of us are here, inside of us are afraid that there’s greatness inside of us that we can’t access. That we might drown in mediocrity.
I’m not Irish, but I’m as Spanish as they come.
My step-dad from Chicago, was involved in creative underground economies. He needed a new identity.
My journey: search for identity.

I needed a new name that wouldn’t get me beat up
Grandfather named me after Erwin Rommel, German

My step dad about me: your dad was just average. His brother was exceptional. But he was just average.

When I left that day, I had a haunting struggle within me: he was exaggerating, I was always below average.

That terrifying realization that we may never live up to everything inside of us.
So I began writing The Last Arrow: save nothing for the next life.

The Last Arrow is your roadmap to a life that defies odds and alters destinies. Discover the attributes of those who break the gravitational pull of mediocrity as cultural pioneer and thought leader Erwin McManus examines the characteristics of individuals who risked everything for a life they could only imagine. Imagine living the life you were convinced was only a dream.

Life isn’t about talent or intelligence.
When you become who God created you to be, you will never be like anyone else
How to conform, how to belong,
How to actualize the full call. To break the status quo.
2 Kings 13: Elisha put his hand on the king’s hand and shot the arrow through the window.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could overcome what you’re facing in your life?
The king strikes 3x.
Elijah becomes angry. Why did you only strike 3x and not 5-6 times? Why didn’t he tell the king to strike more often?
I’m amazed how many people need permission to get started. But almost no one needs permission to stop.
How many of us have confused those moments in our life where we thought we failed but we actually quit?
We never had confidence in how we were created and so we never pushed ourselves?

Life Insurance: I couldn’t qualify.

It’s not really life insurance but death insurance
I kept failing the tests.
In Dec, went to the doctor. Waiting for a clean bill of health but heard “You have cancer.”
Two weeks away from Christmas. I had it for so long that it was advanced. My book would be my last book.
Dr Kallilli (?) was my surgeon. 6.5 hours of surgery.
Told my community that I had cancer.
Bottom of page 93, read a sentence. “I need to tell you before you hear it from anyone else, I’m dying.” Wrote it a year before.
“But so are you.” That’s the reality. Most of us live our lives as if we’re not dying.
You don’t get this day back. This is a moment you need to treat as sacred and essential.
I gave myself permission to feel whatever I’m feeling.

I never felt bitter. How could I be bitter when I’ve lived such a great life.
I never felt angry.
I never felt afraid. What’s wrong with me?

I remembered when I was new in my faith journey. I was driving a yellow Pinto into a tough neighborhood. “God, I need you to help me. I’m afraid.” I kept waiting for a verse I had memorized.
The one that came crashing into my head: to live is Christ. To die is gain (Philippians 1:21). That’s not encouraging.
If you just die right now, I’ll take you where only dead men can go.
I had dealt with the fear of death.

**Your freedom is on the other side of your fears.** The freedom can only be accessed if you can step through your fears to your freedom.
Death has a lot of companions: fear of instability of the world, of everything around you Death is supposed to be behind you.
I know a lot of people who say they are believers but are paralyzed by fear.
When you believe in a Creator of the universe, death is behind you and all that you have in front of you is life
I know I’m supposed to be speaking to secular and faith leaders, but before you’re a CEO or a pastor, you’re a human.
I had people wonder if I would be here today. Some people think you can only lead when life is at peace and easy.
Leadership is about facing your fears and going through them.
Leaders don’t run from the fire. They run into the fire.
**Your greatness is on the other side of your pain.**
Fear has no power over mylife.
What you fear has mastery over your life. If you’re afraid of crowd, you stay alone. If you are afraid of heights you stay alone.
Fear establishes the boundaries of your freedom.
It’s only God that sets you free.
A lot of need to understand that
Michael Jordan. Derrick Rose made basketball look easy.
The incredible discipline and pain that is needed to for that achievement
Your pain is the boundary of your greatness.

Woke up from cancer surgery. I had 6 holes in my gut. I’m going to get up and walk.

Argument with wife and the nurse. “If you’re going to get up and walk, let me get you painkillers.”

”No. B/c if I can stand up in this pain, I can face anything else.”

I stood in that moment. The pain was excruciating.
What we need to learn more of is how to walk in our pain.
When you don’t know who you are or who you belong to, you learn to walk in your pain.
Pushing to go home early. Snuck out of the house with the catheter.
Asked his surgeon: What’s the world’s record for how fast a person can play basketball after this surgery? 3 months later.
I had a friend who was an atheist. “This might be the one thing that drives me to pray.”
My cancer wasn’t for me. My recovery wasn’t for me.
Atheist: Where is there any proof of life after death? Answer: If you’re not alive before death, you’re not alive after death.
Their pain is not the limits of their life, there’s greatness in every person. But you have to be willing to go through the pain?

For many, pain will define them.

When God was crucified in the most humiliating fashion. Jesus’ greatness was on the other side of the pain.
I don’t think that God came to give us a way out of pain, but a way through the pain.

Your future is on the other side of your failures.

People want to define you by your worst moments.
God defines you by your best moments
He sees in you a future you can’t even imagine.
McManus Productions:

mega-pastor: “You better not fail.”
In talking with (other artist?), they asked about what I was doing. I explained it and said, “But it might fail.” I owned the story I was given.
The other artist: It’s impossible for you to fail. You already have a story.

When you’re living a life beyond your own, failure just enhances the story. It makes the story more exciting.
He wants everyone to be overwhelmed by the beauty of what he’s doing.
Our business collapsed. I watched the money disappear. Me: “I lost everything.” Wife: “I thought I was your everything.” “...I lost my other everything.” :)

I couldn’t eat for 30 days.
We had to take a million dollar loan to pay for unfinished projects

In the middle of the collapse, my son Aaron (who had run far from God because of the vitriol of the Christian world), God got ahold of him.

Dad, you’ve been operating at 60%. It’s time to get back.

We’re led to believe that somehow faith makes life easier. It doesn’t. It makes you stronger.
I had a life-changing encounter with the Creator. Before, I was terrified I would drown in my own mediocrity.
I want you to know there’s a life waiting for you. Take the arrow and strike and strike and strike. And when you die, let your quiver be empty and your last arrow be in your hand.

SESSION 7 | 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM (CT/PT)

Nthabiseng Legoete

Unable to attend due to health challenges, but participating in GLS via video recording from South Africa
Overwhelmed by the insights and energy by this conference.
When I started PoliHealth I wanted to democratize healthcare so that everyone has access - no one dies when they shouldn’t, everyone has a fair shot at life.
However, as the organization grew the role was moved into something else - I was becoming the leader. That’s not what I signed up for or what I saw myself as.
I’d like to talk about the downside of leadership and when you fall short of a leader, when you make mistakes, when you fall short.
I’d like to start with a quote by Theodore Roosevelt.

The Man in the Arena, an excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic" delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

This poem touched me because it encompasses what my journey has been, especially in 2017-2018. It’s about how you forge your way out of seeming defeat, failure, how you forgive yourself for errs you have made. How do you move on?
I’d like to share with you what happened in 2017 - and how we moved passed that to turn into something greater.
2016 was a triumphant year; we had patients and a lot of accolades. Suddenly everyone understood and saw the potential impact. We attracted funding and opened more facilities.
A few month slater, things started going south. We faced cash flow and profitability challenges. We did not want this to be a non-profit because it’s not sustainable, or scaleable, and is dependent on donations from people on the outside. It’s hard to continue.
I’ve focused on building a for-profit business with purpose, but it wasn’t working. It needed a lot of introspection, of me stepping back and asking what is going on.
The tendency with those kind of situations when you find yourself in a place like that is to disregard the situation; disregard the concept. I fell victim to that for a few weeks.
Then in my quiet time I started to see what I had done wrong. This brings me to the first insights.
Key Point 1:

Focus on WHY you started.

In that, there was the noise that was causing all the issues.
It had to do with the operations and how I structured the organization.
I had to seperate the two - challenges does not mean the dream is not working.
I had to see challenges for what they are. When I was focusing on the challenges and not what I was doing.
When I was focusing on what it was I set out to do at the beginning it made sense again.
This is something we don’t discuss often as leaders; when we are discussing our dreams; we are too consumed with our challenges; we lose the focus of why we are there.

Be FLEXIBLE on HOW you get to the goal

While the focus has to be on what you set out to achieve, flexibility needs to be taken into consideration.
Poor access to healthcare is a global problem. It’s a problem many have.
How I get there may not be originally how I envisioned it. Changing the how is not changing the WHAT and the WHY.
You have to learn how to separate the what and why from the how and
The how might change quite drastically.
I had to develop patience and realize that I’m potentially solving a problem that has existed for thousands and thousands of years. This will not be done in six months or a year.

Collaborations and Dissociation.

This will actually not just be solved by one organization alone - even that would undermine the scale of the problem. It CANNOT be solved by just me.
It requires collaborations with parties who are aligned.
Be relentless in what you want to achieve, but not in how you get there.

Key Point 2: Recognize that you will face defeat and not be surprised when we face defeat, challenges or resistance.

The tendency is that when you have a vision
Especially if you are someone who walks in faith you may have a tendency to believe that visions from God walk unopposed. That’s not true.
Challenges are part of a purpose-filled journey.
Challenges spur us on.
I realized that with a company that is not structured I had to many people who were not leading us to the goal.
The goal was to provide healthcare as cheap as possible to those who require it.
For this to happen we had to be profitable; for that to be possible costs had to be less and more efficient; most of the costs came from people who were not leading us forward.
Therefore, one of the biggest challenges I had was to let people go. That was a huge challenge to me.
First I had to forgive myself for the mistakes and decisions I had made. I learned from that.
2018 begin with a restructuring, cutting and restructuring and fundamentally rethinking the organization. It was a painful process; because you suddenly had to deal with not being liked, with critics.
This is NOT about you. But I had to get to a point that it was not about me; it wasn’t if they liked me or not; I had to focus on the vision.
This was all just noise and I had to just focus.
I had to ask myself and break down the questions to simple things like “did you start this organization for people to agree with you and like you? No.” Did you start it to provide healthcare? Yes.”
This propelled us to be more efficient. It was hard and difficult.
There is not great leader without pain; without challenges; without doubt.
Don’t let the surprise paralyze you. Do not be surprised by these.

Key Point 3

Tied to my faith. With this comes letting go of yourself and how you see it panning out.
Everything works together for good, if you let it happen.
I needed to see that. I needed to look intently at the situation and ask God what he is trying to teach me.
I was so fixed on people being the reason for success that when certain people started falling off it distracted me in that I thought it wasn’t working.
But we were still providing healthcare for 500+ people in a way that they could afford.
A vision can not be tied or dependent on any one person - the vision must drive itself.
This thing encompasses more than just passion and purpose - it moves you and takes you out of these painful situations; self doubt; challenges that look like they are going to defeat or overwhelm you.
That thing is what keeps you going and keeps you alive and moves you to greater heights.
When looking at statistics on entrepreneurships about failure I have to wonder if the failure is due to us not anticipating the challenges. That we are so bombarded with his victorious lifestyle of entrepreneurship.
But we have to adjust the how we achieve our goals; maybe if we can stand and take in all the criticisms, more would succeed.
I talk about the dark times, not because I want to discourage people from entering into it, but I want to inspire people to stay. There are a lot of people who are doing amazing things and questioning if it’s going to work out.
My answer is to ask if you are doing what you set out to achieve? If you are doing that, everything else is just noise.
When you next meet me, how ever long, what will be unwavering is the WHY I started and WHY I will continue on this journey.

Simon Sinek

Note: Simon Sinek introduced this concept in his keynote address at our recent Blanchard Summit. Source
January 1968: the North Vietnamese attack the American and Allied forces. They were in town celebrating the festival of Tet. There was a tradition of no fighting during Tet. But this year they broke tradition with the hope of overwhelming the Americans. (Known as the Tet Offensive.
Americans overcame every single attack, losing less than 1000 troops. The Vietnamese lost more than 35k. The Vietnamese ended up losing 3.5m vs. x number of Americans. And America won most of the battles of the Vietnam war.
If you can decimate the enemy, and win most of the battles, how do you lose the war?
James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games. In the book, he defined 2 kinds of games.

Finite: known players, fixed rules, and agreed objective. Like football.
Infinite: known and unknown, rules change, game doesn’t end.

Finite vs finite or infinite vs infinite are stable games. On the same terms. Though people may drop out, it still continues. There is no winning
FInite players play to win - infinite players are playing to keep the game going. This is what happened to America in Vietnam. America fought to win; Vietnam fought for their lives. America didn’t lose - they dropped out of the game.
We’re surrounded by infinite games. They are part of our existence. And most of us don’t know how to lead in an infinite game.
I had an experience that captured this. I spoke at an education summit for Microsoft and Apple. At Microsoft, they talked mostly about how to beat Apple. At Apple, they talked about how to help teachers teach and students learn.
At the end of my Microsoft talk, they gave me a gift - a new Zune. It was a fantastic technology. So I’m sharing a taxi with an Apple executive when I left there, and mentioned that Microsoft gave me their new Zune. “It’s so much better than your iPod touch.” “No doubt.” The conversation was over. [audience laughter]
An infinite player knows that it’s not about better or worse product, you are just ahead and behind. Your real competitor is yourself. There’s no best and no winning, because no agreed upon objectives or timeframes. Using sports analogies in business - it’s not the same!!
The 5 Thing You Need to Lead an Infinite Game

1. Have a just cause, a vision, a purpose

From his blog: More than your “why” or purpose, a just cause is what motivates you to get out of bed in the morning. It’s the passion or hunger that burns inside that compels you to do what you do. Your just cause is what powers you to outlast your competitors. It propels you forward in the face of adversity and empowers you to persevere when you feel like giving up.
If we listen to the vision of orgs, how are they written? Be the best, be #1. What are the metrics of that though? A true just cause is something we would sacrifice for. Sometimes it means taking less money, having less time.
One of my favorite just causes is in the Declaration of Independence. “All men are created equal and endowed with these inalienable rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Winning the finite games that are part of the infinite games is how it works. When they wrote those words they were talking about Protestant white men; and decided to include Catholics. GW disallowed organizing against Catholics because he wanted them to be included. And now so many others. We want everyone to be part of this and we will die trying.
Does your organization have a cause so just that others will sacrifice for it?

It has to be in the affirmative - what you stand for, not against.
#1: It has to be resilient. Will it withstand cultural, political and technological change?
#2: It has to be inclusive. Anyone who wants to contribute can have a place to play. Vision statements are often based on engineering. Anyone who believes in it should be able to play. Some vision statements make others in the company (e.g. non-engineers) feel like they have less value and influence.. (and it’s implemented that way too).
#3 It has to be service oriented. The primary benefit has to go to others than the contributor. If we go to our boss and ask for career advice, it should serve us, not them. It has to flow downstream. The primary benefit of leadership must always go to someone other than the leader. The primary benefit of the company must got to those who buy those products or services. The greatest causes are driven by service, and the greatest organizations are fueled by it. The benefit we derive is secondary.

2. Trusting teams

I stayed at the four seasons in Las Vegas. It’s a great hotel because of the people who work there. You feel like people are there because they want to be and saying hello because they care (not because someone told them to say hello to you).
I bought a coffee there from a barista named Noah. I asked him, do you like your job? He said “I love my job.” This was significant to me. Like is rational. Love is emotional. It’s a different standard. What is the Four seasons doing that makes you love it? Throughout the day managers walk through and ask me how I am doing - any manager. I also work at Caesars Palace, because there the managers come around to be sure that we’re doing the right thing - but there I keep my head down and try to stay off the radar. The experience was totally different.
Leaders have to create an environment where people can be their best selves. “How do we get the best out of our people” is the wrong question. They aren’t a towel to be wrung out. A better questions is: How do I create an environment in which people can naturally be their best selves? I can’t tell you what not trusting looks like, but I can tell you what it feels like.
If you do not have trusting teams, what you have a is a group of people who show up to world lying, hiding and faking. They will hoard information because sharing it makes them vulnerable. They will not ask for help. That will be your culture and things will break.
I was on a trip where someone tried to board early. Which we all know is a felony. [audience laughter] Gate agent: “Please step aside until I call your group.” Simon: “Why do you talk to us that way? Why can’t you just talk to us like we’re human beings?” Gate agent: “If I don’t do this, I could lose my job.” She’s more preoccupied with protecting herself from her own company - not serving the customers. People love flying Southwest because the employees feel safe in their own organization - so they can look out for the customer instead of themselves.
We don’t trust people to follow the rules - we trust people to know when to break them.
The infinite game is bigger than the goal - more will and resources to stay in the game. You have to have teams that trust each other.

3. Worthy rival

You have to have a worthy rival.
There is another writer in our space, with high quality work and it’s exceptionally good. I agree with it all. I just hate him. I check my Amazon rankings, and then I check his. If his are higher, I feel …[insecure?]. If mine are higher, I feel smug.
We spoke together at the same event. An interviewer thought it would be funny if we introduced each other, so I went first. I started, “You make me insecure. All of your strengths are all of my weaknesses. You remind me I have a lot more to do.” “Funny, I feel the same about you.”
I had mistakenly viewed him as my competitor - and created a finite game where there was none. Because we shared the same cause. From that day, I view him as someone pushing me to make me better… my worthy rival!

Reminder: the only true competitor in an infinite game is yourself!

People who are better, stronger than you - who make you better. The value is like a pacer in a race. We run our best time in a race. The thrill of competition. If we’re obsessed with winning we do everything we can to win. Isn’t it better to lose the game and come back again and again?
Kinds of rivals

We can have personal rivals, individuals that push us to be better selves.
We can have tactical rivals, companies that do something better than us so that we improve our product. E.g. Universal Studios with the Harry Potter ride. 1.5 hours in line for a 2 minute ride. US made the line a super fun, happy experience. Disney has the same line, same wait, but people were tired, hot, screaming children. Suddenly DIsney is looking at what US is doing and saying “ah man… that’s good!” And then starting to improve their park experience in a tactical way.
We can have existential rivals, the ideological rivalries where someone’s worldview is so different and inspires you to keep going. US vs Soviet Union. Keeps us focused on a just cause. Keeps us obsessed with clarity on what the opposite looks like.

For me it’s the business practices of the 80s and 90s. We can outlast them :)

4. Existential flexibility

You may never have to go through this, I hope you never do, when your entire business model is challenged, are you willing to blow up your business?
Steve Jobs had a just cause; to help individuals stand up to giant corporations. They are coming off of the Apple 1 and 2. Touring at Xerox Park and discover the Graphical User Interface, and Steve thinks it’s amazing. As they leave, he tells his team “we have to do this.” The team says no, we’ve invested so much in the Apple 3. We can’t. Steve said “better we should blow it up than someone else.”
His cause was more important than the company. And it led to the Macintosh.
Kodak did the same at the advent of the digital camera. They licensed out their technology to other companies. The industry blew them up as soon as those leases expired because they didn’t blow themselves up first. Kodak went bankrupt in 2012 because of this fear.

5. The courage to lead.

The pressures around us are overwhelming. It takes great courage to believe in something bigger than myself. I’m willing to let others push me, and I’m willing to make massive change, to do the right thing for the long term.
That’s how you lead in the infinite game.

One last question: What does it mean to lead in an infinite life? Goes on with or without us. We can live our lives by finite rules - or infinite.

Finite rules: driven to be the richest, most famous, get ahead of everyone. And when you die, you just die.
Or we can choose to live lives as if we understood why the infinite games exist. With an infinite game perspective: We care about others, we care for our family. And when we pass, others will say our orgs were better because we were here. And our influence will carry on far beyond our actual lives.
This is what it means to lead in the infinite game.

Segue: dramatic monologue Playing with car oil as a kid. Sin makes an ungodly mess. Makes an internal mess of ourselves and those we use to try to hide or cover up the mess. Will do that until we finally give in and ask for help… call out to Jesus. He has the stronger stuff! (Mercy).

Craig Groeschel

I mentioned yesterday, that I don’t believe any of you are here by accident.
We came to get better at leadership. Maybe you came to get better about something else.
We all mess up. We all feel dirty or ashamed.
I promised I wouldn’t push anything on you, but I cannot stand here without telling you. I have to tell you about Jesus, who is perfect in every way.
If you simply call out to Jesus, he will hear the cry of your heart. Not because of what you’ve done, but because of who He is.
If you feel lonely or desperate, there is One who hears. You may just want to call out to him.
We continue in prayer and in song…

[song continues]

Can everyone just breathe in deeply for a moment? When you exhale… *whew*!
We’ve taken in a lot
Where do we go from here?

Anticipatory Leadership

Story that changed the trajectory of our organization. We want to eradicate Bible poverty. There are people who don’t have access or don’t know how to use it.

WE created YouVersion.com. Goal then; kind of Facebook, YouTube. No one used it, including us.
We were 2 weeks away for pulling the plug. Someone said, Apple is coming out with something called an app and it might be something.
What about if we release an app?
We came across a 19 year old p/t employee at the church. Can you build an app - “How hard could it be?” He build the YouVersion app.
It launched the first day apps came out. 81,000 people had downloaded the app.
On Monday, the 19 y/o had a full-time job.
10 years later ⅓ of a billion people have downloaded the app

Everyone say “What if”
How do we anticipate what’s happening
Anticipatory Leadership: The difference between a good leader and a great leader is one who learns to anticipate rather than react.

Wayne Gretzky: How come you’re so great? Most players skate to where the puck is. I skate to where it’s going to be.
The life-span of your current structure is diminishing as we speak. What you’re doing now will not last forever. Just ask Borders, taxi companies, Kodak
What do we need to do as leaders/
What you “know” may be wrong. This might be the biggest point of your vulnerability.

Life Church:

We were at the beginning of something new.
Because of technology, we’re able to do church at multiple sites.

The Curse of Confidence: what you know might be wrong. E.g. Twitter. I was convinced no one would care. Instagram even more so. Therefore, I am significantly behind in social media.

Those who are overly confident:

#1 | Find it difficult to receive feedback
#2 | Often answer more questions than they’re asking
#3 | Assume to much and stop innovating.

How do we learn to anticipate the future

1 | Develop

Develop situational awareness. We can assess the true current state of our organization.
We need to understand our own leadership first. “He does not know what he does not know.”

E.g. hand signals when he’s speaking: carrying the box, flying “c”, chopping wood, prayer hands

Self-awareness is incredibly difficult. Organizational awareness is difficult.
Dunning-Krueger Effect - When you’re not self-aware.

Definition: The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people of low ability have illusory superiority and mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is.

Those who rank themselves as the most skilled are the least skilled. Lowest in competence are highest in confidence.
The inverse is true as well: the most capable often don’t know it. They assume that what comes naturally, easily to them, is easy for everyone. Is it genuine humility, not misplaced confidence?
Organizations need to look honestly at themselves. Nobody lies like leaders. Look at the culture and health of your team. Work hard to get accurate feedback.
Churches: Look at the small groups, look at the Front Door, the Back Door, how are we assimilating people, do we have diversity of impact?
Dive in: if something is not working, why? Tell the truth! Wrong leader, wrong time, product died two years ago.
Also ask: Why IS it working? “If you don’t know why it’s working when it is, you won’t know how to fix it when it doesn’t.” Andy Stanley.
Ask 21 questions

Story of doctor who asked a lot of questions. “I’ve trained myself never to go with my assumptions. I’ve trained myself to ask 21 questions.” “Why 21?” “It’s one more than 20.”

You’re not asking questions to confirm your bias, you’re asking to get deep into the root of your bias.
Kodak: they failed because they didn’t know why they had been successful. They weren’t in the film business. They were in the memory business.
The person... Emerson quotation

2 | Discern Future threats and opportunities

Big Box decline. Threat if you’re a Big Box corporation. Opp if you’re a multi-site church looking for a new location.
You want to develop the muscle in your brain of projecting forward, you want to practice outside your field. They help connect the dots inside your field

You want to start creating theories.

E.g. theory: younger generation is going to start rejecting social media: they hate the comparison, feeling bad, older generation is on it. Theory on higher education: take out loans and owe 10ks or do something different. Cost benefit is tilting.
Theory: Car ownership will decline. Church building with lots of parking > means we have to rethink how we design our churches.

5G is coming. What does it mean?
Train yourself to think outside of your field.

How do you approach it?

Embody healthy skepticism

LEGO in 66 years never had a down year. Suddenly, everything changed. 1998 profits plummeted 186 million to 148 million. They underestimated the impact of the digital revolution. Overnight, the 66 year run ended.
What could go wrong? Things are changing fast.

Lead with bold optimism.

Fear is a choice and so is faith.
We will always face obstacles. New obstacles = new opportunities.
Lucas Films: proposed making a Star Wars LEGOS movie. LEGOs president: over my dead body. Grandson of LEGOs founder signed the deal. Now, LEGOs makes their own movies. They are singing, “Everything is awesome!”
When you see a problem, you train yourself to think opportunity.
Limitation: innovation is born out of limitation.

E.g. Life Church multiple sites because we didn’t all fit in one location.

Innovation is seeing what everybody else sees and thinking what nobody else thought. Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

3 | Disrupt what is with what could be

Break some rules. The greatest innovators break the rules. The greatest hotel business that doesn’t own real estate.
What do Jobs and Bezos and Sandberg have in common? They see possibilities before others see them.
Do you have a hunch, a burden, a conviction? Is there something you see?
Perhaps we can connect all of Africa. Perhaps there are moms coming out of prison who need to connect with their children.
New app YouVersion Bible Lens - The app allows you to take a picture then posts you picture with the verse. Allows you to access your camera roll and apply scriptures to all your past photos.
Disrupt what is with what could be.
People ask “Craig, what do you see as the future of the church?” Caveat: American church.

Theory: churches in my part of the world have been making the Gospel cool. They want more Jesus and less cool. We’ve been trying to make it contemporary. Contemporary is the new traditional. Style is never the key. Substance is always the key.
We need to get them there on the weekend to engage them. Shift from the one hour of the week, engage them the rest of the week. Go to where they are. People need to be needed and they need to be known.
One of the greatest forms of discipleship is to express it through community. Less me. More we.
You’re not just saved from your sins, you’re saved to a purpose.
In-process conversion.
A safe place to belong even before they believe. Don’t have to conform behaviors before they believe.
The best days of the church are coming.
We are far better when we are united than when we are divided.

What do we do from here? Three Big Questions

#1 | What is the true, current state of your organization? Your leadership? Why are you successful? Flat? Struggling?
#2 | If you were staring now, what are you currently doing that you would not do? Why are you doing it?
#3 | If you were starting over today, what would you attempt? When are you going to attempt it?
Don’t complain about what is. Create what is suppose to be. If you wait until you’re 100% sure before you try something new, you will always be late.

I’m speaking to locations all over the world. Good leaders react. Great leaders anticipate.
Where do we start? Our world needs strong, bold, integrity-filled leaders. This is your time. We will lead with profound humility. We will boldly cast vision for the future. We will have the courage to be honest, truthful and vulnerable. We will give our best and demand our best. We will apologize when we were wrong…. We will advocate for those who have no voice…. We will fight for injustice. You are strong in the Lord, You are strong in His power. You are confident in the Spirit. You are a leader. Go do what leaders do. With God’s help. Leaders change the world.

[a]Hi all, just a note to those who are unfamiliar with Google Docs. You don't need to copy and paste the whole document. You can go to the File menu (top left) and select 'Download as' and your preferred file format.

[b]HI, do we have a 2019 GSLS link? :)

[c]Thanks Hugo! I just sent an email to Ali hoping for the same!

[d]Hi everyone, unfortunately Ali and I couldn’t participate this year so we are unable to take notes like in years past. We hope that others will consider starting a document and sharing it! We would love to follow along!

[e]Anyone up for 2021?