As Summit attendees, we attend each year because this unique gathering lifts our ordinary thinking, points us toward new perspectives and inspires us to live, work and dream differently. The ambition of our creativity is the same, and that’s why it is deeply woven into the fabric of the Summit experience.
Bozoma Saint John encourages you to risk being vulnerable with your team by starting in a slow and safe way.
Every year, leaders from the Global Leadership Network travel to regional centers around the world for annual GLS Regional Meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to build momentum for the GLS, and to ensure there is vision alignment around core values and strategies.
In 2019 we brought these meetings to Mexico. In May, 53 GLS sites from Mexico and Central America were represented. We spent two full days clarifying vision, answering questions, and helping to develop strategies in order to see the GLS fulfill its vision in Mexico and Central America.
I was invited to attend the Summit because I lead a group at the police department. The GLS provides you with vision for where you’re going with God. During the GLS, I received a lot of motivation. It opened my mind in ways I cannot explain. I was so down before I came, but I gained understanding and clarity around some doubts that I had. I started to rise up.
The 84 municipalities are being trained by the Global Leadership Summit!
As leaders you think that you’re doing ok, but after the conference, I knew I had a lot of things I could improve. It was incredible because it helped me to grow as a person in the way that I think and act. Being a good leader is not impossible. The 84 municipalities are being trained by the Global Leadership Summit! – GLS attendee and police officer, Muchua, Mexico
God has given us favor with the universities. We’ve had the privilege of having teachers and students come to the Summit from The University of Mexicali. One teacher, who was very motivated by the Summit, decided to give his students an official certificate for attending the GLS. 104 students came!
God has given us favor with the universities.
We wanted to multiply this idea with more teachers. Now students attend and invite their friends. Then we started thinking of opening a Summit for the university, designed for college-aged students, focused on college students. We’re really happy about what’s happening in the education sector. We want to get even more involved and talk to the directors of the universities to expand the GLS to more students of the next generation in our country.—GLS attendee, Merida, Mexico
Patrick Lencioni identifies two key practices to make your meetings more effective and compelling.
It’s how I gained the upper hand on international kidnappers.
Strategically applied deference in the form of “How?” Then make solving your problem the path to their goal. This is really one of the central premises of my book Never Split The Difference—Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It.
This combines 2 principles:
So, if you’re in a negotiation at all, you have leverage, even if their only communication with you is to threaten you. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. They’re communicating. You may even have leverage if the negotiation hasn’t “officially” begun, if you’ve identified something they want.
Let’s turn leverage on its head. Who has the leverage (power) in a kidnapping? Most people say the kidnapper. But, please consider these two things: How many buyers does the kidnapper have? To win a negotiation, you have to win in their world. In their world, kidnappers are simply commodities dealers. To us, it’s a horrific experience; to them it’s a commodities deal. I’ve even had kidnappers describe themselves to me as buyers and sellers of a commodity. With one buyer in the whole world, who has the leverage?
Next, the kidnapper has something we love (our friend or family member), but we have something they lust for—money. I’d suggest that lust is the stronger driver.
Since the more “powerful” negotiator often sees himself (or herself as the case may be) as more powerful and is often in a rush to exert control, once we give it to them, they are often caught a little off balance (in a way that favors us) and they drop their guard. Asking a great “How?” question is a way to give a more powerful counterpart the illusion of control. It makes them feel in charge. And powerful people love to answer the “how” question.
With kidnappers, the sequence is simply “How do we know our son is alive?” “How are we supposed to pay you if we don’t know our son is alive?” There are other things that go along with this, but this is the cornerstone that everything is built around—natural “how” questions that are tailored for the circumstances.
The great thing about a properly constructed “how” question is that it causes the person who is being asked to stop and think about it on a number of levels, often causing them to take a look at you in a way that we call “forced empathy.” They don’t even know what you are doing to them.
These are just a few examples of effective “how” questions. And the key to them all is asking them with a deferential tone of voice. There is great power in deference.
Let’s go with “How am I supposed to do that?” as my favorite way to say no. Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking they’re going to raise their voice and say, “Because you have to.” That’s actually where you want to end up because that tells you that you’ve pushed them to their limit without them breaking it off and walking away. (Which by answering you they haven’t done.)
The first time or two, they will respond with some sort of wiggle room. One of my USC students was bargaining to lease a home in the Hollywood Hills. It’s a very strong real estate market with lots of demand. The broker has all the power, right? But is there still room to negotiate?
The first, “How is my client supposed to pay that?” was met with a concession in terms. This was followed by a paraphrase and using a mirror technique of simply repeating the last 1-3 words, or a selected 1-3 words. The negotiation continued on other terms until they came back to the price term.
Again, “How is my client supposed to pay that?” Answer: “Well if your client wants to live there, they’ll have to pay it.” The answer was just simply stated as a matter of fact. No anger. Just a statement. And, bang, it was a done deal.
The “how” question found what room there was to be had and is one of the most powerful methods to both negotiate with a more powerful opponent (counterpart) and find out what else there is on the table.
This article originally appeared on LinkedIn here.
Success from the Inside Out by Nona Jones
002 Nona Jones: For Empowerment
The Hole in the Gospel by Richard Stearns
Good News About Injustice by Gary Haugen
I went to The Global Leadership Summit for the first time while I was in University. I had seen an advertisement on social media inviting people to volunteer, and since I love volunteering and serving my community, I signed up. But what I discovered while I was there was that I am a leader and I can influence others by serving others. My biggest takeaway was from Pastor Craig Groeschel who talked about a heart to care. Leadership is about service, and this is how I want to spend my life.
Because of the Summit, I started pursuing my vision by observing challenges and problems that affect the youth in Tanzanian society—they have little to no knowledge on foreign policy or how to address unemployment issues. The reality is that youth in Tanzania comprise 65% of the national workforce, therefore, engagement and integration of youth in our foreign policy is of great importance in order for them to engage on various issues.
Leadership is about service, and this is how I want to spend my life.
So, I came up with an idea to start a non-profit organization called Diplomacy for Youth Development, which focuses on empowering youth with knowledge and skills that will expand and strengthen awareness on Tanzania’s foreign policy and equip youth to participate in various opportunities. We address unemployment, poverty, youth in policy design, education and elevating youth to platforms to engage on foreign policy. We are a youth-led organization, connecting youth to work opportunities, training, media campaigns on radio, TV and digital media, and also discussion on foreign policy and international affairs with professionals in the field.
Implementing this idea was not easy. But I took a step and shared the idea with my colleagues, and then started to sacrifice and follow all the procedures to register as an NGO. Now we are officially registered to address these needs! This ministry excites me because I love serving people and society at large.
The Summit helped me to have confidence and be a risk taker. Carla Harris said, fear has no place in your success equation. By taking risks, I was able to accomplish my dream and overcome obstacles. God also taught me that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. T.D Jakes said, small beginnings can lead to big visions and grand opportunities. And this inspires me to continue when I feel like quitting.
If I had never been to the Summit, I would be living in the world of fear. I would not have started this initiative…
If I had never been to the Summit, I would be living in the world of fear. I would not have started this initiative; the world would miss out on Diplomacy for Youth Development and the issues facing our youth wouldn’t be solved.
I encourage the youth of the world, the largest portion of the world’s labor force, to be active in various socio-economic opportunities, and be at the front-line in peace keeping for sustainable development. I also encourage everybody to attend the Summit because you will get leadership training that will inspire you as leaders to be champions of change—you will be able to solve the challenges facing society, church, organizations and community.
Liz Bohannon explains why dreaming small is your best tool to move from vision to action.
At Novus Global, we believe every leader has the same top two leadership challenges.
It’s not budget.
It’s not time.
It’s not the market or lack of interest of the people we’re trying to lead.
Here are every leader’s top two leadership challenges with no exceptions:
1. Every leader drastically underestimates what they’re capable of.
2. Every leader drastically underestimates what their team is capable of.
We use this as a litmus test for whether or not we’re a good fit for a client or company. If they resonate with the statements above, we can create magic together. If they disagree, we’re probably not a good fit for them.
This article is all about how to overcome these two leadership challenges.
In order to get there, you’ll need to understand a concept we use at Novus Global called an Intuitive Fence.™
Think of an Intuitive Fence as a circle. Inside the circle are things you think are possible. Outside the circle are things you think are impossible. The closer you are to the center of the circle, the more possible things seem to you. The closer you get to the edge of the circle—the fence—the less possible things seem to you. And if you cross the fence—move from the inside the circle to outside the circle—things occur to you as not possible. And that’s your Intuitive Fence.
This is how your Intuitive Fence plays out in the real world: let’s take how much you think you’re going to make this year.
Let’s pretend making $30,000 a year for you is way inside the intuitive fence. (It’s totally possible for you—maybe you’re doing that right now.) As that number goes up ($40,000; $80,000, etc.) it becomes less possible until you get to the edge of your fence (say, $150,000 a year). If I were to ask most people reading this, “Will you make $10 million dollars this year?” not only will most of us say, “No” but we’ll say, “That’s not even realistic for me.” Which is another way of saying, “That’s not possible for me.” That’s because the idea of making $10 million in the next year exists outside our Intuitive Fence. See how that works?
The problem is that most of us think our Intuitive Fence is a fact. Have you ever tried to convince someone that something they thought was unrealistic was actually possible? Usually when we try to do this, people get defensive, argumentative and do what they can to convince you you’re wrong. Even if you know for a fact they could do it. They’ll still argue with you.
It’s incredibly frustrating.
Of course, we shouldn’t be too hard on them, because most of the time we’re exactly the same way. Have you ever had someone try to tell you that something you were convinced is impossible is actually possible? How dare they! They don’t know your specific situation! They don’t know what you know. That’s easy for them to say!
We have all this evidence about why they’re wrong and why we’re right. We think it’s based on evidence. Facts. Truth.
(I’ll give you a hint: it almost never is.)
Our Intuitive Fences aren’t usually rooted in fact. They’re not “Fact Fences;” they’re “Intuitive Fences.” This means they’re rooted in intuition. And our intuition is powerfully shaped by emotion. Specifically: the desire to be right mixed with the desire to be comfortable.
Have you ever tried to convince someone that something they thought was unrealistic was actually possible?
What does it feel like to be wrong? We love asking this question during our trainings with companies. People give answers that usually sound like this: embarrassed, ashamed, bad or sometimes excited, humbling, maybe an opportunity to grow, etc.
But that’s not how you feel when you’re wrong. That’s how you feel when you realize that you’re wrong. How do you feel when you’re wrong, but you haven’t realized it yet?
It feels exactly like being right. Being wrong feels like being right, until of course you realize that you’re wrong. In order to expand our Intuitive Fences, we need to develop a humble curiosity around our perceptions of ourselves, our teams and the world around us, especially when it comes to our capabilities.
The same is true for comfort. The smaller our Intuitive Fences are, the more comfortable we’re allowed to be. Put another way: the less we’re capable of, the less we need to try. The less we’re capable of, the less people expect from us.
So, people tend to enjoy having smaller Intuitive Fences because it’s more comfortable and then they love to be right about it. In order to expand our Intuitive Fences, we have to become comfortable with being intentionally uncomfortable.
This is the reality of leadership: the smaller the Intuitive Fences are for people, the harder it is to lead them. And if a leader has a smaller Intuitive Fence than the people following her, the followers will leave or cause problems.
The goal then for any leader is to identify and challenge and grow their own Intuitive Fence and to create cultures where people not only challenge and grow their own fences but actually want their leaders to challenge their fences.
Have you ever had someone try to tell you that something you were convinced is impossible is actually possible?
So ,what does this have to do about the future?
Well, with rare exception, people tend to live into futures that they only think are possible. Put another way: people tend to live into futures that can only fit inside their Intuitive Fence. Most people’s visions for their future are inside their Intuitive Fence.
This is why the spiritual activist, Paul of Tarsus, wrote in his letter to people in Ephesus 2,000 years ago that The Divine is able to do more than we can “ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). What Paul was saying is that The Divine lives outside our Intuitive Fence, and to connect to The Divine in a significant way is to have our Intuitive Fences expanded.
The bigger your Intuitive Fence gets, the more you’ll expect from yourself and those around you. And the more you expect from the future and yourself, the more you’ll rally to create it.
The more you assume you’re capable of, they more likely you are to try and excavate that capability. The more you assume your team is capable of, the more likely you are to try and lead your team to unprecedented heights.
So, let us ask you: how big is your Intuitive Fence? How big is your team’s? What are you currently doing to expand your own fence and how are you helping your team expand their own fences?
As teams begin to collectively grow their Intuitive Fences, they will instinctively create better futures. And the future you anticipate will not only grow, but more will be worthier of your pursuit and more likely to happen.
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