Erwin McManus explains the most important way you can increase your creativity. Part of the GLSnext Tips series.
Tips: Fueling Your Creativity
Month: July 2019
Christ-Centered Leadership Impacts Youth in Zimbabwe
Harold Chilowa, Global Leadership Summit (GLS) champion in Zimbabwe, sees the GLS as the primary tool to equip and inspire youth with leadership skills, bringing the much needed transformation he hopes to see in his country. Harold initiated a youth GLS movement in Zimbabwe, encouraging young people to attend the GLS and learn about what it means to be a Christ-centered leader.
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Eyes open.
Before attending the GLS, Harold felt hopeless and angry due to the high level of corruption in his country. “We’ve lived in fear because of the regime that was in place in the past,” Harold explains. “People are angry. People are corrupt. With a mentality like that, how can a person grow? Personally, I used to be a person who named and blamed. I was on the pastoral team, but it was about me and me alone. I never got involved in anything to do with the community because I thought it wasn’t my responsibility.”
I used to be a person who named and blamed.
But in 2011, Harold traveled 263 kilometers (163 miles) to attend his first Global Leadership Summit. “It transformed my life!” Harold shares, “I felt like something was lifted off my shoulders. I felt like my eyes were opened. I felt like there was a fire burning inside of me saying, You can do it—Be the leader you want to see. That inspired and encouraged me to go and share with the rest of our country.”
Hands reach out.
With a passion for youth, Harold started a youth movement in the country, and invited many students to participate in the GLS. At one event, some students were inspired to launch a major clean-up at and near their school.
“The school was dilapidated. The kids were demoralized and their grades were very low,” says Harold. “There was a trash heap right next to the school, which was causing a lot of health problems. We went there, and with the students, we did a major clean-up. And because of the transformation of the school, that school got the highest grades in the country!”
Youth rise up.
The GLS movement started to gain momentum. Individuals who were attending the Summit, were rising up to make themselves available to bring change to their own communities. One of those individuals is a young man named David Bekoe.
It changed the way I looked at myself—as a leader.
“All I ever wanted to do was play music and fly planes,” says David. “But there are certain things that are for the rich and elite, and flying is one of those things. Growing up in a humble family like mine, I felt defeated. But when I attended the Summit, it changed the way I thought. It changed the way I looked at myself—as a leader. Doors opened because of links, networks and people I met through the Global Leadership Network. I got into a local flying school. I got my license and now I’m proud to be a pilot!”
David continued to be involved with the GLN, and because of what he was learning through the GLS, he looked around at the situation in the country through new lenses. “I found myself thinking, How do I dig deeper? How do I bridge the gap between flying and ministry? I fly planes to remote areas to deliver food and medicine to try to reach as many people in Zimbabwe as possible. I’m hoping to be able to facilitate young people to achieve their goals and dreams, merging my love for planes with helping my community. That’s my dream!”
Young women realize their potential.
Saliwe Zakariya, with Talia Women’s Network in Zimbabwe, is passionate about empowering the next generation of young women in Zimbabwe. “In the story of our nation, men take leadership roles,” says Saliwe. “The young women who participate in our leadership development program all attend the GLS locally. We’ve got women who are breaking the barriers in regard to employment, going into traditionally male-dominated fields like engineering and computer science.
They realize there’s nothing limiting them from soaring higher and higher!
“Now they are seeing, I’ve got the power and potential to achieve anything that I want to achieve in life. Then when success comes, it’s up to them to continue the trickle-down effect—to reach out into their communities, digging deeper into other issues that affect girls and women. They realize there’s nothing limiting them from soaring higher and higher!”
Zimbabwe transforms.
Harold shares his gratitude for what is happening through the Global Leadership Network. “I just want to give thanks to the GLN because of the transformation that has taken place in my own life,” says Harold. “I have become a better leader in my home, a better father to my children and a better leader in my community. I know that God is going to use the GLN to touch our new government. We are so excited for what this will mean for Zimbabwe.”
Thank you for supporting leaders like Harold, David and Saliwe through the GLS in Zimbabwe!
How to Say No to Hurry and Yes to Better Things
Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up and knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning the lion wakes up and knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve. So, whether you’re a lion or a gazelle, when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.
Our culture tells us we better wake up running….
We are connected 24/7, with emails to answer, tweets to post to Twitter, Instagrams to image, Facebook pictures to update, phone calls to make and return and meetings stacked up. When we wake up in the morning, often our first response is, “I have to keep running.”
Studies shows the average American is working longer hours, taking shorter vacations, spending less time with family, less time pursuing recreation and less time investing in spiritual practices than ever before.
There’s a relevant story in the Gospel of Luke that shows how “running” can keep us from doing the “better thing.”
Jesus was the honored guest at a party at the home of Martha.
Busyness does not equal effectiveness.
Martha’s sister Mary was hanging out with Jesus, soaking in every word he said. Martha was in the kitchen, all worked up because no one was helping her. The text says she was distracted by all the preparations. She ends up berating Jesus and her sibling, “Don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me.”
Jesus’ response was, “You are worried and upset by many things (i.e. running) but only this one is needed. Mary has chosen what is better.”
I am too often running every day and I miss the “better thing.”
The key to leadership and life is this: how do I choose the “better thing?”
Martha’s activity was not bad. It was just not the better thing she could have been doing.
Busyness does not equal effectiveness.
This is not rocket science. If we continue to run, living margin-less lives, something has to give.
Our credit cards are maxed out, relationships stressed out, schedules blown out and souls worn out.
Leaders (and those they are leading) are paying a huge price for this insanity.
A former chairman of a Fortune 500 company had a million employees. Heads of government called this guy just to consult with him.
Yet, when he got sick and near the end of his life, he realized his pursuit did not go after the “better thing.” He said, “With millions of employees and lots of people I knew, no one except my wife visited me in the hospital. I received no phone calls. Not one person sent me a card.”
How can leaders stop running and do the “better thing?”
1. “Better-Thing” Leaders Are Willing to Say “No”
Experts tell us that one of the reasons people are less committed to anything today is because there are too many choices.
When I was a kid growing up in the 70’s, there were breaks between sport seasons. We did not have six different soccer clubs running year-round.
We had one television with lousy reception of 3 local networks and even lousier reception of UHF, if you wanted a Spanish station.
Life was simpler, the choices were quite minimal.
Jump ahead to today, and the multiple opportunities are very exciting. But before you know it, we are over committed, anxious, tired and frustrated.
Smart leaders lead the way in saying no, so they can say yes to the better things.
2. “Better-Thing” Leaders Ruthlessly Prioritize
Not everything is of equal importance.
Smart leaders prioritize.
Effective leaders prioritize constantly.
Great leaders make it clear what the priorities are to those they are leading.
What makes a museum great is the stuff that’s not on the walls. Someone has said no! It’s the stuff you leave out that matters. Curators constantly look for things to remove, simplify and streamline. Stick to what is truly essential.
Aesop said in one of his fables, “In trying to please all, he had pleased none.”
Life is short. Energy is finite. We only have the time and energy to do the “better thing.”
3. Better-Thing Leaders Find the Rhythm Between Body and Soul
An archaeologist once hired Inca tribesmen to lead him to an archaeological site deep in the mountains. After they had been moving for some time, the tribesmen stopped and insisted they would go no farther. The archaeologist grew impatient and then angry. But no matter how much he cajoled, the tribesmen would not go any farther. Then all of a sudden, the tribesmen changed their attitude. They picked up the gear and set off once more. When the bewildered archaeologist asked why they had stopped and refused to move for so long, the tribesmen answered, “We had been moving too fast. We had to wait for our souls to catch up.”
Jesus said, “What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and lose their soul?”
Paraphrase: “What does is profit leaders to increase their profits? What does is profit pastors to grow bigger churches and lose their souls?”
When our culture tells you to wake up running, you’d better know what to say. You’d better have already ruthlessly prioritized what really matters. You’d better have learned the rhythm between body and soul.
When there are no priorities then everything is a priority, which means nothing is a priority.
Life is short. Energy is finite. We only have the time and energy to do the “better thing.”
Culture: Commitment vs. Compliance
Dee Ann Turner explains the importance of building a culture on commitment instead of compliance.
Chris Voss Invites You to #GLS19
Watch as #GLS19 faculty member, Chris Voss, shares what he’ll be discussing at this year’s Summit.
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Join 405,000+ of your peers for two days of fresh, actionable and inspiring leadership training from a world-class faculty at a location near you. Don’t miss The Global Leadership Summit in 2019.
Keeping it Real
This article is a part of the GLS19 Faculty Spotlight series where we feature fresh, actionable and inspiring leadership content from this year’s Summit speakers.
GLN recently announced that Craig Groeschel is stepping into the new role of Global Leadership Summit Champion. Craig was also recently named a Top 10 CEO by Glassdoor. We are thrilled to welcome him to the event for the fifth time to give both the opening and closing talks at the conference.
If you don’t already subscribe to the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast, it is one of the best. Check out the recent episode below to get to know Craig and his leadership teaching.
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It’s impossible to overstate how important appropriate transparency is to healthy leadership. You cannot lead if you don’t have trust.
In this episode, I will discuss three ways transparency can build up your team and improve your effectiveness as a leader.
1. Transparency is a suspicion eliminator. Suspicion is organizational cancer. If you lose trust, you lose your ability to lead. It can take years to build trust, but it only takes a moment of suspicion to destroy it. Any level of perceived hypocrisy, inconsistency or selfish motives create suspicion.
2. Transparency is a trust builder. The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority. There is a difference between an authoritative boss and a trust-building leader. A boss directs with authority, but a leader inspires with trust. The currency of influence is trust. Just because you have a title doesn’t mean you have trust.
3. Transparency is a relational unifier. This is one of the biggest missed opportunities for some leaders. They wrongly believe that they will be more loved if they are strong, wise and always confident. But the reality is people love you more when you are a person, not just an authority figure.
Above all else, to be truthful and transparent with others, you must be truthful and transparent with yourself. People don’t want to follow an organization. They want to follow a person.
Remember, you don’t have to know it all to be a great leader! Be yourself. People would rather follow a leader who is always real than one who is always right.
Join 405,000+ of your peers for two days of fresh, actionable and inspiring leadership training from a world-class faculty at a location near you.
Defining Culture
Dee Ann Turner lays out a 4-step process to define your company culture.
Episode 055: Todd Henry: Personal and Team Productivity
Get free, instant access to GLS Podcast Episode Show Notes. Leverage episode summaries, key takeaways, reflection questions, resources mentioned, related links and applicable downloads, including Show Notes PDF and Episode Audio File (MP3).
DOWNLOADS:
SUMMARY:
Todd Henry’s passion is helping teams and leaders “build their best body of work”—work that ignites their productive passion, work that really matters. An incredibly prolific thought leader, Todd has written four books over the past eight years, produces multiple podcasts each week, writes a daily blog, all while maintaining a robust speaking and consulting schedule. In this episode, Jason Jaggard sits down with Todd to discuss his strategies for building high productivity both for himself and for teams. Stay tuned for some pure gold leadership ideas and practices to help you produce your best work!
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Todd Henry became consumed with the question of whether people were actually making time to do the work that really mattered most to them.
- In the graveyard are buried all the dreams and risks that people carried with them their whole lives but never acted upon.
- You can spend your life building someone else’s body of work, or you can take steps every day to build work that really matters to you.
- Your body of work is much bigger than your job, and I define it broadly. Your job is just a subset. We need to build a body of work that reflects our whole selves—not just our work.
- Your productive passion is a vision for which you are willing to suffer.
- Spend time reflecting on your dreams and take a step toward them every day.
- “What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.” – Gretchen Rubin
- There are three kinds of work:
- Mapping—planning and strategy
- Making—execution
- Meshing—asking questions; filling our minds with the right stimuli
- If you map and make, but don’t mesh, you will get things done, but will ultimately become less effective.
- We avoid meshing because it doesn’t feel productive. Make time in your calendar for meshing.
- For the past 18 years, I have spent the first hour of my day in study.
- The most important principle for having a productive life is this: produce something every day.
- People underestimate what can be done through little acts of every day progress.
- Leaders make small acts of every day progress in key conversations with their teams.
- Teams need two things from their leaders: 1) a definition of success and 2) a focus on team health.
- Key questions leaders need to ask the people on their teams:
- How can I serve you?
- What do you need from me right now?
- How can I clear a path for you to get where you need to be?
- Is there anything standing in your way?
- What kind of resources do you need?
- Is there anything I can provide for you?
- Do you need my expertise in any capacity?
- Is there anything I can do right now that would make your life easier?
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
- Todd Henry made the observation that many people never get around to doing their most important work. What are some things that you would like to be sure that you do, in work or relationships, before the end of your life?
- One of the secrets to Todd Henry’s productivity is “meshing time”—setting aside one hour every day for study. In what ways are you creating “meshing time” right now? What would need to change for you to build more “meshing time” in your life?
- At the end of the podcast, Todd Henry listed out eight key questions (listed above) that leaders should be asking the people on their teams to enable them to do their best work. Select one of his questions to ask of your team this week.
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day
The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice
The Accidental Creative Podcast
Herding Tigers: Be the Leader Creative People Need
RELATED LINKS:
Church Thrives After Attending the GLS
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I felt inadequate—I couldn’t help everybody.
New Life Baptist is a strong church. We have great people. And my church members support me as a pastor. They have supported me, loved me and followed my lead, but I’m only one person—I can only do so many things.
God put us into a beautiful community, but we are surrounded by need.
God put us into a beautiful community, but we are surrounded by need. And I felt inadequate—I couldn’t help everybody. I felt discouraged because our church was not having the impact I wanted to see. The reality was that most of our ministry involved meeting the needs of the people within our church walls. I had a vision to do more for our community, but the vision was murky and unclear. I think the problem was that people didn’t see themselves as leaders.
Then a pastor friend of mine invited me to The Global Leadership Summit.
I thought, Oh, just another leadership training. I’ve been to so many of these, what else can I learn? But it wasn’t just another leadership conference.
When I attended the Summit the first time, I went by myself. Every speaker taught me something different. But it was the inspiration that empowered me. I realized that the sky is the limit—I needed to aim higher.
When I left that first year, I said I will never miss another Summit!
When I left that first year, I said I will never miss another Summit! The second year, I took 15 people with me. The third year, we took 30 people. That fourth year, I went to those 30 folks and I said, Would you like to take 60? And all of them said yes. And we could pay 60 if everyone helped and paid half the price. So, we took over 60 people the following year! The year after that, I challenged our church, and said, I want each one of you to buy your own ticket. And it worked, people gave and we were able to take over 100 people. Every year, GLS attendance doubled from our church, and we also brought the mayor and community leaders.
Our missions and ministries exploded.
Every year, I leave the GLS inspired. Over the last 8 years of attending the Summit, I’ve seen our missions and ministries explode. And right now, we’re doing things in Mexico on a regular basis, and we’re supporting over 15 missions all over the world.
Individual members realized, I can make a difference! I can be a leader. I can influence somebody!
One of my members said it perfectly: 8 years ago, we had one great leader. Now we have 300 great leaders.
Individual members realized, I can make a difference! I can be a leader. I can influence somebody!
We outgrew our church facility, and we wanted to buy three more acres. But when I went to the GLS, I realized there’s no way three acres would be enough because of the renewed clear vision God gave me. So, we purchased 27 acres. We believe God is going to do something great—Greater than we could imagine.
I can’t think of a better leadership conference than the Summit.
As my vision became clear, I realized I needed to aim higher. After attending as a church for several years, and seeing the impact, we became a Spanish host site reaching even more people. I can’t think of any better leadership conference than The Global Leadership Summit. The GLN has brought inspiration to our church family. It has ignited transformation in each and every one in our church.
Communicating in a Way that Resonates with Audiences
Eugene Cho helps communicators understand how to effectively speak to their audience.
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