16.55

Erwin McManus

To Create the Future…

We need to become the cultivators of human potential.

• Nurture the creative capacity in every human being.
• Moses was no ordinary child.
• Were you born great or are you attaining greatness?
• There has never been an ordinary human being ever born; most of us die painfully and tragically ordinary.
• The Church needs to nurturer the human spirit.
• What if followers of Christ were known as the epicenter of creativity?
• People live their entire lives being beat down.
• The moment you meet Jesus Christ, something comes alive in you.
• Imagination that was lost comes to life.
• The church is filled with people in need of someone to come and liberate the dreams inside of  them.
• What is spiritual leadership if we do not set the human spirit free?
• If we do something extraordinary and beautiful the world will ask us what fuels our motivation.
• The Church needs to reclaim its place as the incubator of God given talent and potential inside of every human being.
• There is no better way to live, than to redeem the image of God in every human being.
• There is no conflict between human creativity and the glory of God.

Be the Narrators of the Human Story

• We used to be the best poets in the world.
• We used to tell our story with authenticity and transparency.
• There is no book that explains the human condition better than the Scriptures.
• The Scriptures have an uncanny ability to bring life and health to anyone.
• We’ve taken on a false narrative in the Church: we are afraid to tell who we really are.
• We need to reclaim the truth-telling power of the narrative of Christ.
• We need a revival of great storytelling.
• Whoever tells the best story shapes culture.
• A lot of times the truth is lost in a bad story and falsehood is spread through a good story.
• It’s not that hard to bring people to Jesus when you tell them a story they find themselves in.

Closing

• We are a mosaic… broken and fragmented pieces brought together by the masterful hand of an extraordinary Creator.
• We are a creative class in a new creative order.
• Jesus is coming.
• He makes all things new.

15.39

Patrick Lencioni

• People need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed.
• One of the ways we manifest humility is by being vulnerable.
• Vulnerability requires transparency, openness, sacrifice and selflessness.
• Vulnerability is powerful and rare.
• Being yourself is liberating.
• When he started his firm he said, “let’s be naked with our clients.”
• Let’s be totally honest.
• The trust, loyalty and commitment from their clients was undeniable because being naked is so rare.
• There are limitless rewards for being vulnerable but they are not guaranteed.
• Pain, suffering, discomfort and sacrifice are counter-cultural.
• Following Christ is counter-cultural.

3 Fears of Being Vulnerable

1 – Fear of Losing the Business

• The fear of being rejected.
• Christ was rejected.
• We have to exercise our willingness to be rejected.
• That is how we will draw people to us.
• Enter the danger [TV show - Who's Line Is It?]
• The best improv comes into walking into the middle of a moment.
• As leaders and service providers, we have to enter into the danger.
• Churches have terminal niceness… we are afraid to tell the truth.
• We sometimes have to be rejected.
• The activist doesn’t tell the kind truth, neither does the brown-noser.
• Clients, leaders, and people in our churches are desperate for people to tell them the kind truth.
• We have to speak the kind truth.
• Kindness comes through empathy.
• Many leaders don’t like to tell the kind truth.
• Wusses don’t tell people the kind truth.
• It takes courage to enter into the danger with people and tell them the kind truth.
• Paul told the Galatians… I’m a God-pleaser, not a people-pleaser, I have to tell you the truth.

2 – The Fear of Being Embarrassed

• When we are serving others we have to do things that embarrass us.
• We have to ask the hard questions that no one else is asking.
• Our job isn’t to look smart it’s to help other people do their work better.
• When you edit yourself to protect your image people don’t let you in.
• Ask dumb questions.
• Celebrate your mistakes.
• We all mess up.
• The best leaders admit their mistakes
• When we acknowledge our humanity, people will listen to what we have to say.

3 – The Fear of Feeling Inferior

• We don’t want to put ourselves in a lower position and have people look down on us.
• Do the dirty work.
• Put yourself in a lower position.
• Show people you are willing to do whatever you are asking them to do.
• That’s what Jesus did.
• People won’t always reward you for doing the dirty work.
• Honor your client’s work.
• Be more interested in them than they are interested in you.

Why Do We Do It?

• Being vulnerable is not easy.
• It involves suffering and pain.
• We are called to do it because we serve the most humble and vulnerable leader.
• We have to answer that call.

14.58

John Dickson

12.49

Dr.Henry Cloud

• Every leader has “this guy…”
• Wherever you are, God has called you to be a steward over a vision for the specific reason of changing something.
• Will you allow “this guy” to stop your vision from moving forward?

What Does a Person Do When the TRUTH Comes To Them?

• What does a person do when reality comes to them?
• All systems of leadership will tell you one of the biggest first tasks of a leader is to discover what the reality is.
• Where your maturity isn’t strong enough to do something, add external structure.
• Feedback is not easy to hear sometimes.
• We make assumptions as leaders.
• We are kind and responsible, but when someone gives us feedback we listen.
• We take feedback and adjust, are thankful for it and get better.
• The problem is that we lead like that and think that other people are like us, too.
• Not everybody is the same, therefore you cannot deal with every person you lead the same.
• Diagnose who you’re talking to and deal with them appropriately.

3 Categories of People: Wise, Fools, and Evil

1 – Wise

• When the light comes to them, they adjust themselves to match the light.
• When the truth comes to them, they change.
• Correct a wise person and he will be wiser still – wisdom
• When you confront them, they smile.
• They thank you for correction/feedback.
• A righteous man will strike me and it will be a blessing. – David
• Leadership Challenge with the Wise: Make sure they are a match for what you need.
•  Talk to wise people. Talking helps because someone is listening.
• Coach them. Give feedback. Resource them.
• Keep them challenged appropriately.

2 – Fools

• A fool may be the smartest and most gifted person around the table.
• They are where they are because of what they do and who they are.
• BUT, when the light comes they adjust the light.
• They are allergic to the light and try to dim it.
• They try to adjust the truth.
• They excuse it.
• They minimize it.
• Or, they shoot the messenger.
• “If you would just…”
• They deny that it’s reality. They minimize.
• They externalize it.
• They aren’t happy when they get feedback… and get angry.
• They have meetings after meetings.
• One of the most important feelings you can have as a leader is hopelessness.
• A nice, responsible leader has hope that a fool will start listening.
• You’ve got to get hopeless.
• Fools do not owner issue…so it can never be dealt with
• Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting results.
• Do not confront or correct a fool, lest you incur insults upon yourself. [shoot the messenger]
• Stop talking… they’ve stopped the vision.
• You’re no longer in charge of the mission.
• Your job as the leader is to take stewardship over the vision and stop the insanity.
• Stop talking.
• Talk about the problem that talking about problems doesn’t work.
• Take the talk above the weeds and talk about the pattern.
• Express your hopelessness.
• When you’re hopeless, you’ve got to protect the vision.
• Strategy =Stop talking about the issues and start talking about the issue.
• Set limits.
• Talk about the pattern…
• Limit your exposure to problems.
• You cannot afford to lose much more.
• This is where you can get soft and loving.
• Maybe they are foolish because of reasons related to shame and insecurity.
• People want feedback in different ways. Find  a way that works.
• Define how you should give them feedback.
• Next, ask “What will we do if I do what you want and nothing changes?”
• That’s when you can get specific about the consequences.
• Fools change when the pain of not changing is greater than the pain of changing.
• There is great hope for fools.
• It takes guts to do what leadership requires when you’re dealing with a fool.
• Leadership Challenge: Limit your exposure. Be clear about the consequences. Give them a choice. Follow through.

3 – Evil

• Have destruction in their heart.
• They want to inflict pain.
• You’ve got to believe that there are truly bad people in the world.
• Reject a divisive person after a second warming.
• We have to go into protection mode with evil people.

God has called you to lead people.

• It’s not always about the plan but getting the people to work the plan.
• Take the leadership challenge to not let someone’s character problem stop the mission God has called you to from moving forward.

12.13

Michelle Rhee

• Experts blame failing schools on failing neighborhoods.
• However, research is showing failing schools are leading to failing neighborhoods.
• Michelle loved her job in D.C… getting yelled at was just a part of my job.
• If you wanna yell at me have at it.  But I can’t have this on my watch.
• What you have is because you were lucky enough to be born where you were.
• Being a public school teacher is really the hardest job you could possibly have.
• There’s no quick and easy way to do something.
• Instill a hard work ethic and hold extraordinarily high expectations.
• Missed opportunities and unintended consequences.
• There was a myth that there weren’t enough teachers to go into under-performing schools.
• When they ran an aggressive recruitment campaign they received thousands of resumes.
• The problem didn’t lie in people’s interest, it lied in the school district’s bureaucracy.
• Suburban schools have much less mobility; urban schools have a high turn over rate.
• She initially declined the offer for overseeing the Washington D.C. school district.
• It is hard to describe the situation she stepped into. Everything was broken.
• The core problems she felt she needed to address were the core issues related to staffing.
• Their theory of change and action was focused on human capital.
• They closed 23 of the schools, about 15%.
• Cut the administration in half.
• Removed 2/3 of principals and about 1,000 of the educators.
• I wanted to create a different culture in the school district where every child and family was treated like my own.
• If it wasn’t a policy I wouldn’t want my children subjected to I wouldn’t enforce it.
• You can walk into a classroom you can recognize a great teacher quickly.
• She wanted teachers who had valued-added.
• Valued-added means evaluating teachers on the basis of how students are growing.
• Performance evaluation of the adults vs the scores and development of students
• You have to put a system in place where educators are responsible for what sutdnets were learning.
• Value-added measures a group of children a teacher is assigned to at the beginning and end of the year and ensure there’s growth between the year.
• It makes the system fair for teachers.
• I would rather have a room full of people who disagree with me instead of dealing with people who are apathetic.
• I would rather deal with anger over change instead of apathy.
• Change is an essential part of leadership.
• Incremental change isn’t an option when drastic change is necessary.
• If you look at the education landscape in our country, the agenda has been driven by people who have outside interests.
• There were no advocates for children.
• Started StudentsFirst, a movement of everyday people who know our education system isn’t serving our children well.
• Your job is to represent all of your constituents.
• If all you do is give your attention to where the yelling is the loudest you’ll turn your back on what’s most important.
• Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.

10.30

Bill Hybels

• It’s easy to romanticize leadership.
• We love to talk about the feel-good success stories: Apple, Microsoft, etc.
• We love rags to riches leadership stories.
• We need to be careful that we don’t get trapped into the idea that more success in leadership means more money, influence, etc.
• What if God was calling us to important work that was going to unlikely be a success?
• What if God was calling us to lead an organization that would require drastic self-sacrifice and no guarantee of success?
• Would you sign up for that?
• If we aren’t careful we can become addicted to the narcotic of success and growth.
• Beneath the veneer of all of us, most of want to step into leadership that brings success, influence, growth, etc.
• We love being leaders because we get to lead things that are successful and glamorous.
• We can get hooked on the narcotic of success and growth.

Wes Stafford, Compassion International

• This world is not our home, it’s just a campsite.
• We follow a different drummer.
• We belong to a different Kingdom.
• Our world is upside-down.
• Leaders serve, the greatest are the least, etc.
• It’s possible for a follower of Christ and not pray all day long in the USA.
• Christians in Ethiopia risk their lives to meet together.
• It’s worth the risk because they need each other.
• During their oppression, the church had grown 5x.
• Churches are the channel into the Middle East today.
• Revelation 7: all nations, tribes, and tongues.
• May God grant that we are worthy to stand beside them.

Mama Maggie Gorban

• Mama Maggie’s Ministry in Egypt is named Stephen’s Children after the first martyr of the church.
• Stephen’s Children employs 1,400 staff serving 7,000 families providing holistic care for children in Egypt’s garbage dumps.
• Mama Maggie is referred to as the “Mother Theresa” of Egypt and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times.
• Mama Maggie attributes all of her success to God.
• We don’t choose where to be born but we choose to be sinners or saints.
• We choose whether to be a nobody or a hero.
• If you want to be a hero do what God wants you to do.
• 25 years ago I heard my “tough call.”
• When God wanted to promote me, He sent me to the poorest of the poor.
• Everyone who carries the fragrance of eternity has to experience the dark valley of death.
• To be elegant comes from the inside.
• True love is to give and forgive.
• To give until it hurts.
• Forgiveness is not between you and another, forgiveness is between you and God.
• God holds our accounts.
• People laugh when they hurt.
• We are forgiven much but live so little.
• With God’s grace I left everything and found Him waiting for me with a crown of love.
• When you die to yourself you discover the beauty and power in yourself.
• Who are the poorest of the poor? The children.
• Children are hungry and starving… for love and affection.
• They are naked… lacking dignity
• When one has nothing God becomes everything
• When I touch a poor child, I touch Jesus Christ.
• When I listen to a poor child, I’m listening to God’s heart beating for all humanity.
• We build a church in the heart of every child we reach in a country where it’s not always possible to build a church.
• Silence is the secret
• To be in silence is to be fully inside your own self.
• It’s not easy, but there you discover the taste of eternity.
• The Kingdom is within you.
• The silence is the secret – the first step – to finding treasure.
• There are secrets in silence.
• Silence your body to listen.
• Silence your tongue to listen to your thoughts.
• Silence your thoughts to listen to your heart beating.
• Silence your heart to listen to your spirit.
• Silence your spirit to listen to His Spirit.
• In silence you leave many and be with the One.
• If God has chosen me, believe me when I say I’m the least of any of you here.

Bill Hybels

• Jeremiah received a tough calling from God: to speak God’s word to God’s people.
• The words God wanted Jeremiah to speak were words of warning to shake them up and wake them up.
• Nothing goes well. No one likes what he has to say.
• God tells him to keep speaking so he does.
• He gets beaten and put on display for shame.
• In Jeremiah 20, he tells God how he feels.
• “You sweet talked me… and I bought it. This isn’t what I had in mind.”
• He was torn between being faithful to his calling and his ache for success.
• Give up the ache to be successful in the eyes of the world and go with what God is calling you to do.
• Jeremiah wrote his lament down… it’s in our Bible.
• At the end of his lament he had clarity: throughout all of it, God’s mercies were new to him every morning.
• “I have had very little hardship carrying out what God has called me to do.”
• If you watch one episode of the evening news, you know our world is broken and it’s getting worse.
• The fixes that are going to be required for the ills of our society are not going to be easy assignments.
• They won’t be short-term assignments.
• God is looking for some strong-shouldered leaders who are available to take on tough callings.
• “I stand in awe of leader who receive tough assignments.”
• Do you have the courage to listen?
• What is your tough calling?
• This world won’t get fixed unless leaders like us are available for tough assignments.

17.09

Steven Furtick

• Paul said to not let anyone look down on you because you are on.
• I’m an expert on the idea of being dumb enough that God can do anything.
• Anything that is written in God’s Word is possible for anyone who believes.
• Audacious faith is the chorus of his life and ministry.
• “I despair at the thought that my life might slip by without God showing Himself mighty in my life.” – Jim Cymbala
• 2 Kings 3:9-20 – an incident in the life of the prophet Elisha.
• Elisha is an under-rated prophet.
• Elisha did miracles everywhere he went.
• There’s is nothing God can’t do.
• We can position ourselves, learn and get training, but only God can make it rain.
• After we’ve done all that we can do, we have to remember that only God can send favor, mercy, salvation, and healing.
• Only God can make it rain.
• Proverbs 3:5-6… in ALL your ways acknowledge Him.
• We can’t expect God to show up in our work unless we do our work God’s way.
• Events like this are awesome… when you are here.
• You can do it.
• You can make it.
• In at atmosphere like this it’s easy to get fired up, be inspired, motivated to act, etc.
• Praise God for inspiration, but how will you get from inspiration to implementation?
• Having good ideas doesn’t make you a visionary, it makes you a daydreamer.
• The difference is having the audacity and courage to act.
• God gives you the faith to get started.
• If the size of the vision you have isn’t intimidating to you there’s a good chance it’s insulting to God.
• If you want to see the land filled with water, dig some ditches.
• Dig ditches in preparation for how God wants to use your life.
• You may not see rain or even see clouds, but don’t wait to get to work until you see the evidence of God’s blessing.
• Faith believes it before it sees it.
• Pray for God to start a groundswell.
• Don’t let time talk you out of your dreams.
• Life can beat the audacity out of you.
• God is not done with you yet.
• Do it or die trying.
• True faith has a bit of ambiguity to it.
• No leader is ever 100% sure that they’ve heard from God.
• Keep digging ditches.
• One of the reasons we struggle with insecurity is because we are comparing our behind-the-scenes with others highlight reels.
• If you will dig the ditches God will send the rain.
• If you will do what you can do God will do what only He can do.
• Sometimes it doesn’t seem like anything is happening, but you don’t know what God is doing behind-the-scenes.
• Faith is the evidence of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen.
• Expect God to do great things through your life.
• Don’t dig one ditch… make the valley full.
• Noah looked stupid building a boat until it started to rain.
• When the vision you see around you doesn’t match what God has spoken to you, you’ve got to close your eyes and hold on to what you’ve heard.
• Be a ditch-digger.
• Believe for God to do great things.

15.54

Seth Godin 

14.56

• In 1986, Brenda and her husband were invited to England to talk about the African-American Church in America.
• Redundancy in the church has happened as a result of industrialization.
• “Where have you been? Why didn’t you come sooner? Didn’t you know what we were going through?”
• A catalytic event is a game-changer.
• It’s a moment that changes everything.
• It will broaden your experience, humble you, and expand your worldview
• Catalytic events are never nice, easy, or comfortable.
• Catalytic events cause you to hang on for dear life.
• Words can fail to communicate feelings in catalytic events.
• In 1947, Captain Chuck Yaeger broke through the sound barrier.
• Many other people tried what Chuck did and failed.
• When the severeness of the shaking was at its most intense, Chuck resisted the temptation to pull back and he moved forward.
• Most of us have been impacted by huge demographic, economic and cultural shifts that have changed our world o ver the past decade.
• It’s shaken us at our core at the speed of light.
• These catalytic events are unprecedented.
• Young leaders have grown up with the shaking around us beneath their feet.
• The new generation is global by default.
• Technology has made it possible for the world to be connected.
• We know what’s going on?
• How have you responded to that as a leader?
• Are you suffering from information over-load? Has it immobilized you?
• Or, has it challenged and spurred you forward?
• Acts 1:8  was the catalytic moment that birthed the Church.
• This text defines our mission until Jesus returns.
• Everyone who receives the apostles’ teaching become witnesses of the Kingdom of God.
• We are to take it across geographical, economical, and racial boundaries.
• We need to lead the church forward into a global future.
• God has created us for globalness.
• There is a movement outward.
• We have to break through one cultural barrier after another.

1  - We must begin in Jerusalem

• Jerusalem represents our home turf, our comfort zone.
• It’s a place where we are known and people understand us.
• It’s where we feel most comfortable and connected.
• It’s a place where people are most culturally like us.
• It’s a place where even if they don’t like you they have to let you in.
• At first glance, any leader could make a church work in a setting like Jerusalem.
• It takes courage to be a catalytic leader.
• If you really think about it, it takes courage to be a catalytic leader in Jerusalem.
• It’s not… it forces us to look at our own bigotry.
• We have to take on the risk to talk to our own family, our own people, our own kind.
• We have to have the courage to address the systems that aren’t inclusive.

2 – Judea

• Judea is the place in your world that is close to home but is not quite home.
• There are subcultures that require acceptance and flexibility.
• There are cultural differences expresses there are tough to navigate.
• They are subcultures that divide us.
• We are all from the same place but we are speaking a different language.
• It’s like one generation talking to another… we need translators.
• Ministry in Judea requires catalytic change and prophetic leadership.

3 – Samaria

• A place nearby that we avoid.
• Represents people who are hostile to us.
• We don’t relate to them at all.
• They are the “other.”
• Samaria’s worldview is different than ours.
• Like the neighborhoods we drive through and lock our doors.
• It’s a place of sex trafficking.
• It’s a place of child soldiers.
• It’s a place of corporate greed.
• It’s a place of environmental injustice.
• We are called to be witnesses in Samaria.
• It means moving outward and experiencing the otherness of those around us.
• It’s not easy.
• It takes an extraordinary leader to go to Samaria.
• Requires leaders who have extraordinary thinking.
• It moves you beyond your natural affinities.
• Jesus said, “you shall receive POWER…” to push us out of our comfort zones.
• Samaria forces us to contend with the complexities of our differences.
• You can’t escape it.
• Requires unorthodox methods.

How Do We Move From Where We Are to Where Jesus Calls Us To Be?

• We have to have a catalyst.
• Without a catalyst we stay stuck in our safe space.
• We have to have something that pushes us from where we are to where we are supposed to be.
• Acts 2 is the Catalytic Event.
• People were bewildered by what they heard and were amazed.
• The accuracy, authenticity and credibility of what people heard was undeniably clear.
• A mutli-national, multi-lingual, multi-racial church was born in Acts 2. It was a global movement.
• It’s amazing and confusing
• The Church is called to be counter-cultural.
• It’s meant to confuse and bewilder the world.
• Like Peter, we need to be ready to answer the question of what the catalytic events in our day mean.
• As catalytic leaders we have to be willing and ready to interpret the events of our time through the eyes of faith, not fear.
• Maybe globalization  God’s way of getting people who have been isolated have to learn how to partner together and collaborate.

Do you want to break your sound barrier?

How To Be a Catalytic Leader

1 – Pray for Divine Mandate

• Catalytic events are not things we can conjure up.
• They happen when God breaks through with something new
• We can’t do something about everything, but we can do something about a few things.
• Ask, “what things need my name on it?”
• The most dangerous prayer you can ever pray is, “God, break our heart for what breaks yours.”
• It’s not what we can do but what God can do.

2 – Name Your Catalytic Event

• Stop and ask God, “What are you doing?”
• We need Christian leaders that view catastrophic events as catalytic moments for the spirit of God to break in.
• God is not dead. He is still able.
• The Father has always worked.
• God is at work in our world.
• Our job is to find where God is at work.
• Look for the catalytic events that will set you up for success.

3 – Mobilize people to go!

• Faith without works is dead.
• The creative tension in collaboration is what God had in mind for the Church.
• It takes courage to have conversations across the aisle.
• Don’t stop there.
• Push forward to Samaria… the area where we are culturally, politically, and ethnically different.
• Don’t go to help. Go to learn.
• Learn the language of the people different than you.
• Learn to speak with authenticity.
• Immerse yourself in the culture even when you want to run.
• Don’t practice voyeurism… get engaged and become a part of what is going on.
• A PhD and Doctorate mean nothing if they aren’t relevant to people.

Where is Your Samaria?

• That is where God is calling you to go.
• That’s where you are supposed to be.
• We need to experience our own Pentecost.
• What you decide right here and right now may be the spark that lights a fire to transform your church.
• God wants to interrupt our previously scheduled program.
• We need to lead past every boundary that has ever held us back.
• We need new languages to speak with authenticity and credibility.
• We need to become the global church God has called us to be.

12.33

Cory Booker – Mayor Newark, NJ

• Stand up for something.
• You will always face outrageous adversaries.
• Regardless of the storm you must be willing to stand.
• Before you can stand tall you have to understand you the result of a grand conspiracy of love.
• You have a choice: will you grow dumb, fat, and happy as you feast on what was provided for you.
• OR, will metabolize your blessings and stand up and use them for what they were intended for?
• What will you do?
• Everyone is born an original, sadly most die copies.
• You were born unique.
• Don’t let the world defeat you or seduce you into mediocrity.
• In the midst of people who seem to be reaching higher than you, head for the roof!
• Abraham Lincoln said we are all born unique…however, most die as copies
• You have a divinity within you.
• You have access to untold opportunities… you must claim them.
• Don’t let the world tell you who you are.
• Don’t accept your existence as it is.
• We are the result of those people who did not see the world as other people saw it.
• In the midst of slavery they saw freedom.
• In the midst of denial of basic rights they saw suffrage.
• We were here because of people who had extraordinary vision and courage to do something about it.
• Your attitude about the world says nothing about the world, it speaks to your character.
• The world you see outside of you will always be a reflection of what you have inside of you.
• Never let the world outside of you dim the courage and hope inside of you.
• Be the change you want to see in the world.
• The only way to make change in the world is to start with one’s self.
• If it’s supposed to be, it’s up to me.
• If we live our values we can create radical transformation.
• History is a perpetual testimony to the achievement of the impossible.
• Before you tell me what you want to teach or preach, show me first how you choose to live and give.
• Who you are speaks so loudly that people can’t hear one thing you say.
• There are so many distractions from the profound potential to do God’s work in this world.
• Right now, in this moment, YOU can change the world.
• God is not done with me yet.
• Don’t miss the opportunity God has put right in front of you to show your truth to the world.
• You have one choice: accept circumstances as they are or take responsibility for changing them.
• Many of the stars we see in the evening sky…have long sense gone out…but we still see the result of their lives…
• We are stars… if we don’t live life brilliantly, we won’t leave a legacy of light and illumination.
• Don’t dim.
• Bring light into the darkness.
• Turn barriers into blessings.
• We have the power to transform the world we just get caught up in our own drama.
• Don’t trip over people God has put in front of you for a reason.
• Are we evidencing our truth?
• You should do something.
• Let us stand because people stood for us.
• Let us stand.

11.56

Len Schlesinger, President of Babson College: #wcagls

• Leaders get incredibly sold on a position and then don’t realize that most people are comfortable right where they are.
• There’s a standard vision speech heard all around the world. Do you know it? It’s the Martin Luther King, Jr. “I have a dream” speech.
• Bill Hybels defines leadership as the art of moving people from “here” to “there.”
• You can’t get people “there” without being very clear about aspects of “here” that you personally find unacceptable.
• Find out who your customers are! Find out what they want! Give it to them!
• What they don’t tell you in leadership school is that MLK spent 3-4 years smashing the current reality he was in to adopt a new reality.
• Engage in dialogue with people who share your vision for where you want to go, or getting there will be a very tough challenge.
• Entrepreneurs have a passion for discovering opportunities. Once they do, they act.
• Millennials are the first generation looking towards a future less attractive than their parents. This is unacceptable.

 Believe in the Future By Creating it First

•  If all you do is think, you are less interesting as a person. Action trumps everything.
• Entrepreneurship helps us create the kind of future we desire to have. Believe in the future by creating it first.
• I get asked: “How do you ever teach people how to do [entrepreneurship]?”
• When we look at the behavior of successful entrepreneurs over time, the really good entrepreneurs are good at reducing & spreading risk, not looking for it.
• An entrepreneur sees how to do something better. That’s it.
• Babson’s purpose is to educate leaders to make and find opportunities to create economic and social value everywhere.
• Entrepreneurship and ministry are not mutually exclusive.
• You cannot ride one business model for the entirety of your career. You must reinvent yourself 3-4 times during your career.
• The half-life of what you hear on the news won’t withstand the half-hour broadcast you watch.
• We need to develop mechanisms in entrepreneurship that allows us to address sustainability.

 Experts and Schooling

•  Most of what you hear about entrepreneurship is almost all wrong. It’s simply about discipline.
• We are all entrepreneurs, so few of us get to practice it, however.
• Venture capital isnt’ necessary to be an entrepreneur. You simply need to unlearn everything you’ve learned your entire life in school.
• Most of what you hear about entrepreneurship is all wrong. It’s not magic. It’s discipline.
• Schooling is based on cause and effect, or results. The future is an extrapolation of the past. What happens then? You become paralyzed.
• Successful entrepreneurs realize that you can’t predict the future. You simply see what is available to you and you act.
• Treating an uncertain world as if it were predictable only gets you into trouble.
• In face of unknowability, what would irrational thinking look like? How about sitting and thinking. You can’t think your way into an unknowable future.
• How do you create movement?
• Take small steps, not big leaps. Take a small step with what you have at hand
• Minimize the risk with each step.
• Build off what you find in each step.
• Maximize the results by utilizing the resources of the people around you.

Creating Movement

•  Where do you want to find opportunity? Do what you want to do. Let’s start there.
• Entrepreneurs are always doing what they want to do or what they think will get them what they want.
• Pick something that you want to do and then act on it! It’s amazing how that works.
• Most people get completely caught up in what they’re trying to do. Which most people don’t know. Instead, focus on what you want to do next. What do you want to do next?
• We are deathly afraid of taking action because of failure. We have been educated to believe that failure is a dirty word.
• Smart people, with your money, fail 60% of the time. That’s up from 35% in the 80s. In other words, failture does not spell the end of it.

 How to (Not) Guarantee Success, But Get You Moving

• If you try and try and try, you get more times at bat and increase the amount of times you succeed.

Further Thoughts

•  “Don’t give up. Keep trying.” We all have an entrepreneurial streak inside of us, but so few of us ever take that risk. Why? Because we’re fearful. If the future doesn’t exist, why don’t we work hard to try and create the future we want?

10.48

Bill Hybels - Opening Session

• 150k Leaders – 80 Countries
• When leaders stop learning they should stop leading.
• High bar of challenge

1. What is your current challenge level at work?

• (Are you under challenged, appropriately challenged or dangerously overly challenged?)
• Where do you do your best work?
• “Research shows you do your best work just above the ‘appropriately challenged’ level.”
• “If you are under challenged, step it up… If you don’t challenge yourself, your leadership gifts will atrophy.”
• “Leaders have to take responsibility for replenishing their leadership bucket.”
• “People who are under-challenged will leave.”
• “I think it’s possible to over-rev an organization. And, I think it’s possible to under-challenge an organization.”

2. What is your plan for dealing with challenging people in your organization? [Line exercise]

• “Willow’s future is totally tied to the people we can attract and develop.”
• “Our future is also tied to the people who are no longer fantastic.”
• “How long are we going to let ‘Fantastic Fred’ spread his poison in our organization?”
• “C’est la vie…which in in English means, ‘It sucks to be a leader in France.’”
• Willow immediately moves in and gives people 30 days to clean up their bad attitudes.
• “How long do you live with someone who is no longer carrying their weight.” (“No longer worth their hire.”)
• Willow gives people 3 months to turn around performance.
• “No one questions a leader when you fire someone for a clear values violation.”
• Willow gives 6 to 12 months when the organization outgrows the capacity of the leader.

3. Are you naming, facing and resolving the problems that exist in your organization?

• Acts 2-6
• “Why can’t we call problems ‘problems’ and turn over Heaven and Earth to resolve them?”
• “Nothing ‘rocks’ or ‘booms’ forever. Everything has a season.” Life cycle – acceleration – booming – deceleration – thanking
• Bill talked about a recent consulting process that helped them identify “problems” at Willow. They have built teams around facing and resolving those problems.
• “Part of your job as leaders is to look problems straight in the eye.”
• [Define reality - offer hope]

09.03

We’re at Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit today & tomorrow. I’ll be tweeting you the best of the conference IMO #wcagls – Craig

06.03

Up early…getting ready to go…stay tuned