Month: May 2018

The Most Important Challenge for Successful Companies—Rasmus Ankersen—GLS 2018 Faculty Spotlight

Posted on May 31, 2018 by - News & Updates, The Global Leadership Summit

The Most Important Challenge for Successful Companies—Rasmus Ankersen

What’s the secret to success? As leaders, we want to know how winning organizations achieve it and continue to remain on top.

We’re excited to announce that Rasmus Ankersen will be joining the 2018 GLS faculty to help us understand how successful organizations can continue to grow and remain successful. Take a look at the short video to learn more.

Do you remember the Nokia 3310? It was once recognized as the greatest phone ever produced. This was back in the days when people didn’t buy a mobile phone. They bought a Nokia.

But today the Nokia 3310 rests in peace in the gadget graveyard, and it’s become a reminder to all of us that it is much harder for a company to remain successful than it is to become successful.

Nokia went from owning 50% of the global market to 3% in less than 5 years. And when people try to explain how Nokia fell so far so fast, usually the iPhone takes the center stage.

But I don’t believe Apple killed Nokia. I believe that Nokia killed Nokia. Decades of success had created a complacent culture that blocked Nokia from reacting quickly enough, until it was too late.

And this is the point I’m trying to make: When companies become successful, they don’t fight just their competitors anymore. More than anything they fight themselves, and they fight human nature.

To beat human nature, you have to act counter-intuitively. So, when the results are better than ever, you have to ask increasingly skeptical questions. When no one thinks there is a need to change, it’s the right time to drive change.

When you’re number one in your industry, you have to act and think as if you’re number two. This is the paradoxical nature of creating Hunger in Paradise, and it is the single most important and most difficult management challenge for successful companies.

 

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TGLS2018-Rasmus-Ankersen-Rasmus Ankersen is an expert on performance development and a trusted advisor to businesses and athletes worldwide. He is chairman of FC Midtjylland in Denmark and director of Brentford FC in England, two of the world’s most innovative football clubs, recognized for using big data to drive decision-making. Ankersen’s recent book, Hunger in Paradise, tells how organizations can remain successful by eliminating complacency.

The Summit Provides Hope For Leader Living His Own Option B

Posted on May 30, 2018 by - Because of the GLS, North America, Resilience, Stories, Wellness

Steve Annis, banking executive from California, was surprised and profoundly touched by the interview with Sheryl Sandberg during The Global Leadership Summit in 2017. Her journey of intense grief after the loss of her husband resonated with his own intense grief after the loss of his daughter. He found insight and hope in Sheryl’s story as he reflected on his own “Option B” and how it has impacted his leadership in the 17 years since his daughter’s passing.

“My wife and I very unexpectedly lost our oldest daughter as the result of a ‘simple’ medical procedure gone wrong,” says Steve. “I have been living my own ‘Option B’ for all these years, trying to cope, as best I could, with this new version of life – a life without our daughter.

“During Sheryl’s presentation, it was obvious that much of the experiences my wife and I have endured are not unique to us. To say I empathized with Sheryl would be an understatement. She provided me with a renewed sense of understanding and hope, even in the face of terrible tragedy.”

The loss of Steve’s daughter also impacted his leadership in how he relates with others experiencing grief, and how his trust in God’s faithfulness through tragedy has deepened. Here are six things he’s experienced and learned in the process that were affirmed as he listened to Sheryl’s talk:

1. You don’t know what another is experiencing, so don’t put yourself in their shoes.

“I have learned people generally do not know how to treat someone who has just experienced a crushing loss,” says Steve. “They don’t know what to say, but feel compelled to say something and end up saying things that are either inappropriate, hurtful or ignorant.

As a result of my experiences, I explain to pastors, co-workers and friends the simple concept: we don’t know what another is experiencing, so don’t try to put yourself in their shoes.”

2. Don’t be intimidated. Be caring and understanding.

“I am no longer intimidated or uneasy when I approach someone who has experienced a severe loss,” says Steve. “Nothing you say will bring relief to someone suffering from intense grief. I attempt to be caring, understanding and simply say the words that mean more than anything else in those moments: ‘I am so sorry for your loss. My wife and I are praying for you.’ You don’t need to say anything else. Knowing someone actually cares about you, does bring comfort and a sense of hope.”

3. The WHO of God is more important than the WHY.

“When a terrible tragedy strikes, we are likely to ask, ‘Why did God allow this to happen,’ or ‘Why did God cause this tragedy to hit my family?’ I have learned the ‘Why’ of God is not important. The important thing to understand is the ‘Who’ of God. He is sovereign and just, and He loves us.

“God’s view of our circumstances has an eternal perspective, a perspective that we cannot possibly comprehend. This is where walking by faith comes into real focus in our lives—we must have faith to believe that no matter how bitter the tragedy may be, God can and will use that tragedy for good in the long run if we will allow Him to do so.”

4. Ask God to use what happened to you to help others and bring glory to Him.

“During this tragedy, we have consistently asked God to use us and use what has happened in a way that would bring help to others and bring glory to Him,” says Steve. “Our prayer has always been, ‘Father, please don’t let our tears be wasted.’

“It is amazing how many couples who have lost children have been brought into our lives so we might be a comfort and support for them. Having lost a child, God put us in a unique place to help other parents who are struggling with the same loss, and we have seen a number of people come to accept Jesus into their lives because of what happened to our daughter.

5. Draw close to God’s love as you remember His own grief (John 3:16).

“As a human being, Jesus experienced the same thoughts, emotions, hurts, pain and suffering we do,” says Steve. “When we go to Him with our hurts and concerns, he is in a unique position to understand exactly what we are going through.

“During the horrible days following our daughter’s death, God clearly impressed upon me the importance of John 3:16. I used to look at it from the standpoint of the enormous sacrifice that Jesus made in order to become a man and to suffer the cross on our behalf. But God revealed the enormous sacrifice He made when He sent His Son to this earth to die for us. For me, that verse became one grieving Father relating another grieving father.

“For the first time in my life, I personally understood what it would mean for a father to willingly send his son to a certain death, so the world could be saved. Now knowing the personal horror of losing a child, I cannot comprehend the love that would be required to willingly send your own child to his death in order to save someone else—but that is exactly what God did for us!

“Understanding the enormity of God’s own grief and suffering caused by the sacrifice of His Son is overwhelming to me, even now. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…”

6. Do not go through grief alone.

“I encourage people experiencing their own grief to recognize they are not alone (although that is probably one of the most intense emotions they will experience following a severe loss),” says Steve. “I would also encourage them to seek help through an experienced grief counselor, or through a grief support group, such as Grief Share.”

Let the Summit surprise you the way it surprised Steve Annis.

“Nowhere else will you receive the instruction and insights from such a diverse group of world-class speakers, in such a condensed period of time, as you will at The Global Leadership Summit,” says Steve. “It is truly time well spent. Let it surprise you the way it surprised me.”

A 3-Step Plan for Turning Weaknesses into Strengths

Posted on May 30, 2018 by - Articles, Confidence, Conflict Management, Culture, Emotional Intelligence, Leading Yourself

Yan Wang, the former CFO of VitalSmarts, didn’t survive Mao’s China by taking outlandish risks, such as questioning those in positions of authority. As our CFO, she did impeccable work with the highest ethical standards. But challenging the status quo was deeply unsettling to her—especially if it meant critiquing the actions of one of our company’s owners.

She was literally trembling one day when she suggested to my colleague Al that the few dollars he was bringing home from selling copies of our book at public events was hardly worth the time it took our accounting team to process them. She fumbled around the issue until Al said, “So, what are you suggesting I do, Yan?” She gulped an enormous amount of air and finally confessed, “It would be smarter to just give them away.” Al agreed. Yan was almost always right. It just took a while to figure out what her opinion was.

Fast-forward a decade. Our company had grown tenfold, and so had Yan. She had become the backbone of accountability in our company. No one, including major shareholders, was off-limits when it came to maintaining standards and creating a culture of good fiscal stewardship. Her team was at the forefront of identifying ways to maximize our margins.

Yan’s story is not uncommon. Our research shows that 97% of people can readily identify a career-limiting habit they have. We’re unreliable, lack empathy, avoid conflict or fear risk. While we’re clear that our weaknesses cost us both personally and professionally, few of us make any progress in turning them into strengths. In fact, managers report that after giving people feedback in a performance review, fewer than 10% of them look any different a year later. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Like Yan, we can make substantial change in relatively short order.

The keys to improving most weaknesses are these 3 things:

1) Identify Crucial Moments

Chronic weaknesses are usually not due to simple cognitive or behavioral gaps in our abilities. When you’re sitting in your office with a daunting presentation to prepare, and you keep checking your inbox and returning calls instead, it isn’t because you are bad at prioritizing. Rather, you are playing out a deeply habitual and practiced response to feelings of anxiety, inadequacy or fear. Most of our bad habits have this same nature; more is going on than meets the eye.

The way to make progress is to identify the nature of the moments that provoke these ineffective responses. Pay attention to the times, places, social circumstances, moods, physiological states or risk perceptions that incite you to act in ways that lead to bad results. These are your crucial moments. The good news about crucial moments is that they shrink the size of your problem. Change seems daunting when you think it requires eternal vigilance. In fact, it’s usually about handling just a few minutes each day better than you have in the past.

Yan became aware that her crucial moment was when she felt a need to disagree with someone who had greater organizational power. She was pretty blunt with peers and direct reports, but speaking up to the owners of the company contradicted her every instinct. She felt encouraged when she realized that she didn’t struggle with candor in general—only in those specific circumstances.

2) Design Deliberate Practice

The Swedish psychologist Anders Ericsson has shown that our learning curve steepens the most when we engage in what he calls deliberate practice. These are brief episodes of intense focus where we practice a skill under relatively real conditions. If these intense practice episodes are coupled with immediate feedback, learning accelerates even more. Psychologist Albert Bandura refers to this as guided mastery and found that we can overcome profound emotional barriers to success if we engage in this kind of skill rehearsal, under circumstances with the right mix of safety and challenge.

Once you identify your crucial moments, do what Yan did: Identify moderately challenging situations where you can practice the target skill. For Yan, simply framing these occasions as “practice” lowered the stakes and increased her motivation to attempt them.

Following each attempt, she did a mental debrief, rating her effectiveness and stress level. Over time, she found the first rating went up and the second went down, which gave her a greater sense of competence and confidence for the next round. She was careful not to jump into the deep end of the pool on her first attempt.

Yan began by challenging business owners who were late in turning in their expenses. Later she addressed concerns about their spendthrift tendencies—something she felt even more anxiety about.

An important element of deliberate practice is the focus on a discrete skill. Yan studied up on skills for crucial conversations and decided to focus on one—creating safety.

She opened a conversation by making an overt reference to the common purpose she hoped she shared with the person she was confronting. In her first attempt, she found this gave her a sense of confidence by suggesting a script with which to begin. But her confidence grew even more when she saw how it put the other person at ease and reduced defensiveness.

3) Develop Emotional Competence

Be sure your plan includes the development of skills for managing the inevitable emotions that accompany confronting a weakness. Simply forcing yourself to attempt a terrifying or uncomfortable behavior is not a success in and of itself; provoking these unpleasant emotions will simply reinforce that this is an act to be avoided.

You must seek out tactics you can use to make the unpleasant act more pleasant or at least manageable. By doing so, you gradually retrain your brain to change its formula for predicting how you’ll feel in your crucial moments.

Yan found that her emotions calmed if she took a moment to clarify her motives prior to opening a crucial conversation with a more powerful person. Before scheduling the conversation, she paused, took a deep breath, and asked, “What do I really want?”

Historically, her desire was to avoid conflict with powerful people; but this conflicted with her deeper values. As she pondered what she really wanted, she connected with her desire to be a person of integrity and strength. This awareness helped her subordinate her fears to something more important—and quieted them significantly. It gave her a feeling of focus and determination.

One of my most cherished memories of Yan is the day she let me know that I had wronged her. She told me with great conviction that I had been unfair in the stock award she had been given, relative to others in the firm. She tactfully expressed her disappointment and laid out her case for a different calculation. I ultimately agreed with her argument. But more importantly, I was struck that the person who admonished me that way was markedly different from the one who trembled out a suggestion to Al just a few years earlier.

You can change your own career-limiting habit if you identify your own crucial moments, seek out brief and intentional opportunities for deliberate practice, and build skills in addressing emotional barriers to your progress.

Don’t let fear or inertia hold you back.

4 Summit Takeaways Renew Passion to Eradicate Sex Trafficking in Dallas, Texas

Posted on May 29, 2018 by - Because of the GLS, Diversity, Nonprofit, North America, Stories

“The two days out of your year attending The Global Leadership Summit are guaranteed to change your life,” says Mandy Goodall, program director of Poiema Foundation. “If you give up this opportunity, you might never know the potential you could have unlocked in yourself. It is that good!”

Mandy was invited to attend the Summit by the Poiema Foundation’s executive director, Rebecca Jowers, who applies the leadership lessons learned to her mission to eradicate sex trafficking in Dallas, Texas. Mandy is so enthusiastic about the Summit because she realized it is a critical reason Poiema is successful.

“I came along at a time when Rebecca needed a director to develop her safe house program so she could focus her time to educate and create more awareness of this issue,” says Mandy. “Since being here,  I have developed and now run the safe house program, liaise with outside organizations to offer and schedule counselling, therapy, healthcare, education, etc. I train staff and volunteers to be trauma-informed enough to coach residents and empower them to reach the goals we encourage them to set for themselves.”

What Rebecca hoped would happen when she invited her new teammate to the Summit, happened—Mandy gained renewed drive and passion, and applied many of the lessons she learned to the mission.

“I truly believe God connected me with Rebecca and she sent me to the Summit to give me the drive and understanding I needed to do this work,” says Mandy. “The Summit renewed my faith and drive. Now when I’m told something cannot be done, I ask myself, How can I do this? Or, What can I do about this? And I pray for God to show me, and he always does.”

These are Mandy’s four biggest takeaways she applied in the last year:

  1. Encourage growth

“Sheryl Sandberg discussed post-traumatic growth, which really helped me recognize we need to actively encourage growth in our staff. It’s not just about empowering survivors to grow, which is important, but growing the team of staff around the mission we are building to best serve those in need.”

  1. Be uniquely better

“I loved what Andy Stanley had to say about what makes your organization unique. I have done a ton of work on this since then, and found that we individualize our staff training to offer support that fits each survivor’s needs. In this way, we are able to offer the best possible support for each individual we serve.”

  1. Lead by example

“Fredrik Haren, Marcus Buckingham, and Sam Adeyemi encouraged me to lead by example by thinking differently about how to approach a problem. I chose to listen to the survivors’ experiences in order to look at what really works. I began to think outside the box, and outside the conventional ways of working with this population to structure our program to be sustainable and flexible.”

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

  1. Don’t give up

“The Summit reminded me to keep going and to trust God in His calling, no matter how ill-equipped I think I am. God always shows up when He has called you. Once He shows me something, I know I cannot turn away.

I cannot tell you how many times I have actually said out loud ‘Oh why did you shown me that!”’

Inspired to work harder to make a difference

“Before coming to the Summit, I have to admit, I used to think that what we were doing was just not enough,” says Mandy. “It felt like it was a drop in the ocean. But after hearing the different life stories of struggle, hardship and survival, I realized every life touched is good enough for God. I felt truly inspired and energized by the speakers to go out and work harder to make a difference. I was able to see even one life really does matter.”

Faith in the Workplace—Becoming a Model Squadron in the Air Force

Posted on May 28, 2018 by - Business, Calling, Military, North America, Stories, Vision

Mark SchmidtMark Schmidt grew up as a farm kid, and credits his journey into the Air Force to God who provided him with opportunities to become a commander of a fighter squadron—a role he uses to demonstrate the faith-based leadership he learned from his parents growing up. Mark lives out his faith in his everyday life, and exudes a Gospel that people under his influence witness in the way that he leads.

I preach the Gospel always, and sometimes use words.

“Endorsement of one religion as a commander would get me fired,” said Mark. “How I carry myself and how I treat others is how I witness. I ‘preach the Gospel always, and sometimes use words.’ As a leader, people will remember very little of what you say; they will remember how they felt about you and how they felt around you.”

Focusing on others’ needs.

Mark strives to focus on the needs of others as a way to share his faith. It’s not just about the Air Force, it’s about individual lives. “We still have a very challenging mission to accomplish,” Mark says. “But I’ve learned to focus efforts on development of the entire person to make us better at instructing.” Developing the entire person involves life outside the Air Force as well. He also fully recognizes and understands that one of the greatest resources they have are the families back home. “Military spouses are the most undervalued resource we have,” Mark explains. “Their level of sacrifice brings me to my knees. I have families who have missed the birth of their children because of combat duties. Children who were undergoing cancer treatment did not have both parents at home because of deployments. THIS IS NUTS. The military spouse is asked to do so much and gets very little credit or recognition.”

The difference in Mark’s squadron comes back to leadership and faith.

There is an obvious difference in Mark’s squadron as a result of his leadership, and it all comes back to his faith. Mark feels that God has been leading him to take his instruction to another level. “We are calling our new initiative ‘Next Level Instruction’. We are changing the way we instruct—we are focused on coaching vs. evaluation and what we need to change to reach a younger generation of fighter pilots.”

Higher ranking officials are taking notice. Leaders have recognized something different in Mark’s squadron —so much so that they have been asked to present an exportable model. “Let me be clear,” says Mark. “This never happens. I really feel like this happened because someone greater than all of us is in control of the situation.”

Mark explains that being an exemplary squadron is not always an easy feat. He continues to remind his team what the squadron is all about, how they act as instructors and who they are as leaders. When bad habits show up and linger in the culture of the squadron, Mark strives to address them before they infect the entire team. He leads a squadron that positively impacts the culture. “Our objective is to have a squadron that is so passionate about our mission and vision that it spreads outside of our building,” says Mark. “We desire a squadron that is peer led, where people are empowered to lead. From our squadron, our wingman graduates carry the vision and mission to other squadrons and we positively impact our climate and culture in ways that can only be labeled as ‘supernatural.’”

The Global Leadership Summit has been instrumental.

“Whenever I need inspiration, I play a GLS video,” says Mark. “When new instructors come into the squadron, we have them watch videos from the GLS and discuss.”

The GLS sessions help him and his squadron grow to be better leaders, and lead ‘from here to there.’ With all that Mark has learned, he hopes to raise up empowered leaders who change the culture, and prays for the next generation of leaders behind him.

“My biggest prayer right now is that I will humbly pass the torch to the next commander.”

Enjoy Mark Schmidt’s grander vision video featured at the 2016 GLS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Cjy5VgEhA

We are grateful for leaders like Mark who live out their faith in the workplace, and spread the Gospel in ways that show up in their everyday life.

How To Motivate Your Team In a Way That Lasts—Craig Groeschel—GLS 2018 Faculty Spotlight

Posted on May 24, 2018 by - News & Updates

How To Motivate Your Team In a Way That Lasts—Craig Groeschel

Craig Groeschel is the founding pastor and senior leader of Life.Church, one of the largest churches in the United States. He’s also a Summit favorite. We are thrilled to welcome him back to the 2018 Global Leadership Summit faculty. Check out the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast to get a regular dose of his leadership wisdom. Below is sample of a recent episode.

How do we keep our teams highly motivated and engaged so they’re performing  at their highest level?

There are few things more frustrating than working around a team member who seems unmotivated. And there are few things more exciting than working around a team member who is highly engaged and always bringing their best.

Let’s start with understanding motivation.

I believe so many leaders actually begin with a wrong assumption about motivation. People think, “He’s unmotivated” or “She’s unmotivated.”

What we have to recognize is this: People are not unmotivated. Everyone is motivated. They are just not motivated by the same things.

One individual might be motivated to invest what he has to multiply it. Another individual may be motivated to protect what he has. Still, another individual may be motivated to achieve and take risks to do new things, while her friend might be motivated to avoid new things so she does not fail.

  • Someone on your team may be motivated by winning.
  • Someone on your team may be motivated by being included.
  • Someone on your team may be motivated by making a difference.
  • Someone on your team may be motivated by growing personally.
  • Other people may be motivated by money, power, a sense of security or advancing in their career.

Everyone is motivated; we’re just motivated by different things. So if we start with that understanding, it can help us to better motivate those who are already motivated, by different things.

This is my definition of a leader’s perspective on motivation: the art of leading someone to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.

How do we, as leaders, motivate our teams? Avoid these two things:

1) Avoid Using Fear or Threats

It is almost impossible to work in a climate of fear. Fear may get short-term results, but once fear is removed, so is motivation. Over time, fear is always a de-motivator. Why? Because threats kill trust, and leadership cannot thrive where there is no trust.

2) Avoid Handing Out Candy or Promises

Often we use money in this way. However, money is not one of the greatest motivators. If you always need a reward from the outside, you will never recreate true motivation from the inside.

How do we motivate in a way that lasts?

1) Create a Culture of Appreciation

The single biggest reason why someone will leave an organization is because they don’t feel appreciated. If you want to motivate, then appreciate. Appreciate more than you think you should; then double it. Brag on your team to people close to them. Don’t just find what is wrong. Celebrate what’s right.

2) Model Motivation

You as a leader set the tone for your organization. John Wooden once said, “The most powerful leadership tool you have is your own personal example.” You always inspire more by your example than by your words. Rather than just focusing on motivating others, focus on motivating yourself.

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Craig Groeschel Summit Faculty

Craig Groeschel is senior pastor of Life.Church, an innovative church meeting in multiple U.S. locations and globally online. Life.Church is the creator of the YouVersion Bible App, downloaded in every country. Groeschel speaks frequently around the world and hosts the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast. A New York Times best-selling author, his new book, Hope in the Dark, will pre-release at the Summit.

What Would Happen if Students Understood the Value of Their Influence?

Posted on May 23, 2018 by - Education, North America, Stories

Cole Charbonnier is a student at Casa Grande High School in northern California. He is active on his school’s entrepreneurship club and hockey team, runs a small clothing brand with two friends, and pursues ways to serve his community when there is a need, like raising money for those in his community who were affected by the recent California wildfires. By attending The Global Leadership Summit, young Cole was inspired in his newfound leadership gift, and realized that leadership training has the potential to change the culture of his community and his school.

I started attending the Summit because I’m a dreamer. I’d always get ideas for projects that were almost impossible and I’d try to get my friends to join in. Around middle school, I discovered my passion for motivating people and my leadership quest began. I was at New Life Christian Fellowship when they announced they were going to host The Global Leadership Summit. I was excited to go, because I wanted to be ready for my transition into high school. What I’ve learned at the Summit has impacted and inspired me to take risks, create change, empower others, be patient, show compassion and choose my career.

Inspiring students’ ideas to create change

I believe leadership lets individuals take charge of their own life and realize the difference they can make in others. I think high school students need to build their leadership skills so they understand their ability to create change. So many high schoolers have amazing ideas, but the second someone says they should take action, they make up a reason for why they can’t. I think it’s because they don’t realize the power of their influence. I wish more students saw their full potential. I think a lot of them don’t realize how much they’re capable of and they doubt many of their ideas. I really hope to see more students daring to chase their dream, and I hope they see that they’re needed to create a better world.

What would happen if more students understood the value of their influence?

If more students improved their leadership skills, I think they’d be willing to test their ideas. Rather than just giving into setbacks, they’d be able to persevere and take action for what they wanted. They’d be willing to sell their vision. They’d also have more confidence in their ideas and their image of themselves.

I believe high school would become a place of innovation and change. Students would take on initiatives they currently doubt. You’d have less tension on campus, because drama wouldn’t be the focus. People would be willing to take the time to understand one another. I believe campuses would be happier places and you’d see more students genuinely interested in showing up to school. Good leadership makes environments much more positive, and that’s what high schools need. More communication, compassion and patience for fellow students would make high school much less emotionally draining.

How the Summit inspired me to take a risk on my idea for my community

Back in October 2017, the North Bay fires struck our community. Many of my hockey teammates were forced to evacuate. I remember looking out at Petaluma and it had this apocalyptic feeling. When they gave our schools the week off, I knew I had to do something. God had put me in this situation to make a difference. So I got together with a couple of my friends and we decided to start a fundraiser. I asked some friends to run different social media platforms. Our goal was to provide accurate info about the fires and raise money by selling stickers. In three days, we raised $600.

One of my teammates lost his house. We ended up donating the money to his family, and a few other families I knew had lost their homes as well. In this amazing moment, God showed me the power of taking a risk and taking action when he calls you.

Why I will keep going to the Summit every year

The Summit inspired me to transform my leadership from something positional to something relationship based. That mentality has helped me influence people not just below me, but above me. It enables teams to work together and show each other they matter. The Summit also refreshes me right before the school year.

If I hadn’t attended the Summit I don’t think I would be as willing to take risks with my ideas. I wouldn’t be nearly as interested in progressing myself, nor would I be confident in my ability to lead people; I’d just be drifting through life rather than taking action. The Summit is not a waste of time or boring! It gives new insight every year, getting you ready to take on challenges you might not have taken.

The Summit dares you to be great! Today we need great leaders, so take a risk and go to the Summit. Your vision is possible and the world is counting on you. Let the Summit help prepare you for your journey!