Month: February 2022

Pray for Ukraine

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Abby Jungles - Eastern Europe, News & Updates

The situation in Ukraine is intensifying by the hour. The U.N. says 50,000 people have already fled the country, and that the number could rise to 5 million. Vulnerable children will bear the brunt of this crisis—but together, as the body of Christ, we can help provide protection and support.

Our partner, World Vision, is on the ground in Eastern Europe preparing to meet the physical and emotional needs of affected children and families across the region. Please continue to pray with us for peace and safety for all in Eastern Europe.

Pray with Us

Hosted by World Vision Ambassador and GLS Faculty Alumni, Dr. Krish Kandiah, hear church leaders from across Ukraine share how you can support the people of Ukraine through prayer. Guests also include Slavik Pyzh, Ruslan Mailita, Jo Saxton, Danielle Strickland, Kevin Olusola, Eleanor Monbiot, and Andrew Morley. (If you’re seeing this post after March 2, you can still watch the recording and pray with us!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t–DuY5SDQ?rel=0

GLS22 Special Edition Notes—Strategic Unreasonableness 

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Rosey LaVine - Articles, Calling, Change Management, Confidence, Culture, Execution, Leading Organizations, People Operations, Resilience, Strategy, Vision

Reasonable leaders get reasonable results and make reasonable progress. Sounds reasonable, right? But to accomplish significant progress, change, and effectiveness, you may need to think unreasonably.

In his talk at The Global Leadership Summit: Special Edition on February 24, 2022, Craig Groeschel unpacked how to be strategically unreasonable. There seems no better time in our world, our churches, and our businesses that some unreasonable leadership might be the way forward.

Enjoy these official notes from Craig Groeschel’s session on Strategic Unreasonableness.

Unusual times often demand unreasonable leadership.

Unreasonable leaders might:

- Lead with top-down force demanding unrealistic results.
- Be blindly unaware of the real issues at hand.
- Lack empathy that devalues the team and kills morale.

Reasonable Leaders

- Reasonable leaders tend to produce reasonable results.
  - - Progress often depends on unreasonable leaders.
    - It takes intentionality to overcome the gravitational pull to reasonableness.
- Reasonable leaders are rarely controversial.
  - - It does not often require risk.
    - They rarely rock the boat.

If you want to break out of what is and break into what could be, you’ll have to be strategically unreasonable in your leadership.

3 Ways to Be Strategically Unreasonable

1. Think “what” first. Think “how” later.

- What is your “what”? Be incredibly clear about what you want to accomplish.
- Be clear about the words you use to define your goals.
- Build toward something in the future.
- It’s impossible to have a “how” without a “what.”
- If your “what” is compelling enough, you’ll figure out a “how.”

2. Embrace your limitations.

- More resources do not drive innovation. Limitations drive innovation.
- You have everything you need to do everything you are supposed to do.
- You don’t need more time or more money, you need more unreasonableness.
- Quit saying “We cannot because we don’t.” Say, “We can because we do not…”

3. When you fail, fail actively, not passively.

- As a leader, you’re not going to hit every target or achieve every goal.
- When you do fail, fail leading with faith instead of cowering with fear.
- Sometimes failure is the tuition that you pay for success.
- Sometimes you have to be willing to fail.
- Failure is not an option; it’s a necessity.
- If you aren’t failing every now and then, you’re playing it way too safe.
- If you’re succeeding too easily, you’re not thinking big enough.

Call to Strategic Unreasonable Leadership

- To do something great, you’ll have to lead with unreasonable faith.
- You have to continue to believe.
- In the middle of a difficult time, dream some unreasonable dreams.
- People who do five times as much as you are not five times as smart as you.
- Find comfort in being uncomfortable. Growth and comfort never coexist.

You’re a leader. You go first. You have vision and passion. You create culture. You add value. You take risks. Lead with integrity, multiply resources. Your calling is too great, and your God is too good for you to play it safe in your leadership. What are you waiting for? It’s an unstable time. It requires leadership. There are problems to solve, opportunities to be seized. It’s time to be unreasonable in your leadership.

GLS22 Special Edition Notes—Uncharted: How to Navigate the Future

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Rosey LaVine - Articles, Change Management, Execution, Leading Organizations, Strategy, Vision

The past two strange years haven’t been anomalies but indicators of how deeply leaders must come to terms with unpredictability. To solve complex problems amid uncertainty and ambiguity, we need new mindsets and methods.

In her talk at The Global Leadership Summit: Special Edition on February 24, 2022, Margaret Heffernan explored how to maximize collective intelligence and foster deep collaboration, both of which are critical elements leaders need to navigate an uncharted future.

Enjoy these official notes from Margaret Heffernan’s session on How to Navigate the Future.

Running a business is not what it used to be.

- We used to think of management as a three-legged stool: forecast, plan, execute.
- But one of the legs fell off the stool: the forecasting leg. We can’t seem to predict what’s going on.
- Love is going to keep you going, but it’s not very good at forecasting.

The world has gone from complicated to complex.

- Complicated things are linear, you can see them, control them. In that environment, efficiency is your friend.
- Complexity is a different beast. In the middle of complexity, efficiency is not your friend.
- Because there is so much more complexity in the world, about the longest out you can forecast is 400 days. If you don’t do all the work, the best you can hope for is 150 days.

Almost all businesses are a mixture of complicated and complex.

- If you manage them all like they are complicated, you have no margin and no fall back.
- If you manage them like they are complex, you will have a wildly expensive, over-engineered business.

What do you do when you don’t know what to do? You experiment. This is a mindset you need to bring to leadership now.

Lesson from Netherlands Home Nursing System

- They changed job description for nurse to do what is best for the patient. As a result:
  - - Patients get better in half of the time.
    - Costs have gone down by 30%.
    - The key is the teams of 10 nurses that work together (16,000 nurses with a back office of 32 people).

Experimentation

- Experimentation is what you want to do when you’re looking for growth and health.
- Ideas are often solved by people working outside their area because they see things differently.

Collaboration

- Collaboration is essential in complex environments.
- Get people interacting around a central motivating factor. It requires that they focus on the core nature of the business itself.
- Bonds between people build longevity.
- Companies don’t have ideas, only people do.
- What motivates people is people.
- The ultimate sustainable resource is humanity.

GLS22 Special Edition Notes—Unleashing Human Magic

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Rosey LaVine - Articles, Change Management, Character, Collaboration, Culture, Emotional Intelligence, Human Resources, Leading Organizations, Managing People, Relational Intelligence, Strategy

When you picture a successful organizational turnaround what words come to mind? If you are like most leaders, you think cut-throat, hard decisions, and layoffs. Enter in former CEO of Best Buy, Hubert Joly, a leader who orchestrated a successful turnaround with words and strategies like connecting dreams, developing human connections, and fostering autonomy.

In his talk on February 24, 2022, at The Global Leadership Summit: Special Edition, Hubert shared ways to be the kind of leader that is vulnerable and authentic, identifying where to start a turnaround process and how to create an environment that unleashes the human magic in your team and organization.

Enjoy these official notes from Hubert Joly’s session on Unleashing Human Magic.

Milestone 1: Understanding the purpose of a company.

- The purpose of a company is not to make money.
- Three imperatives of business:
  - - People
    - Business (customers and products)
    - Finances (the result of excellence)

Milestone 2: Exploring the philosophy and theology of work.

- There is a view that work is punishment or what you do so that you can do something else fun.
- Work is part of our fulfillment as human beings.

Milestone 3: Reflecting on calling and purpose.

Milestone 4: Exploring how you can get better.

- You get to decide what you want to get better at. If you can’t think of something, try humility.
- A coach can help you get positive momentum to get better every day.

Stepping into the Role of CEO at Best Buy

- Hubert did not feel he was the right fit, but concluded the world needed Best Buy, and vendors needed Best Buy so they could showcase their products.
- The company had problems, but they were all self-inflicted.
- Hubert took a human-centric approach to solving Best Buys problems.

“Human-Centric” Turnaround

- Listened to front-liner feedback.
- Asked: What’s working? What’s not? What can I do for you?
  - - Front-liners know what is working or not working.
    - If things are working, compliment front-liners. If they are not, look at the top.
- Created energy. Co-created the plan, celebrated early wins, and was transparent.

The Strategy of Purpose

- A traditional approach is to work on the strategy.
- A human approach realizes everyone is human. We share the same kind of purpose in life: the golden rule.
  - - Aim to create a business that employees, customers, and business partners love.
    - “Work is love made visible.” – Kahlil Gibran
    - Magic happens if we can connect what drives us personally with work and the purpose of the organization.
    - Enrich lives through technology by addressing key human needs.
    - Ensure that everyone in the organization can write themselves into the story.
    - Treat each other and customers, as human beings and as inspiring friends.

Create an Environment of Belonging

- The old approach of top-down management does not work anymore. No one likes to be told what to do. Motivation is intrinsic.
- Create an environment where everyone feels they belong, where they can be the best version of themselves.
  - - Connect dreams. Be curious about your team member’s dream. As a leader it is your job to help them achieve their dream.
    - Create connection. Create an environment for genuine, authentic human connections. “I am seen, therefore I am.”
    - Foster autonomy.
    - Create a learning environment (one person at a time).

What Business Needs

- A re-foundation of business around purpose and humanity.
- To build companies anchored on a noble purpose.
- To embrace all stakeholders.
- To realize we cannot be successful in isolation.
- We need each other.

The Five “Be’s” of Purposeful Leadership

- Be clear about your purpose, and the purpose of those around you.
- Be clear about your role. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room.
- Be clear about who you serve.
- Be values-driven. Integrity is foundational.
- Be an authentic, vulnerable, humble, and empathetic leader.

GLS22 Special Edition Notes—The Power of Regret

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Rosey LaVine - Articles, Complex Thinking, Emotional Intelligence, Leading Yourself, Learning Agility

You might be surprised to learn that regret can sharpen leaders’ decisions, speed learning and development, and boost individual and team performance. In his talk at The Global Leadership Summit: Special Edition on February 24, 2022, Daniel Pink drew on an unprecedented two-year study of regret—one of the most misunderstood emotions. In this talk, he explored the four core regrets that people around the world share—and how addressing them can form the cornerstone of a vibrant organizational culture.

Enjoy these official notes from Daniel Pink’s session on The Power of Regret.

Turning the Page

- After the last two years, we are about to reboot. We are about to get a fresh start.
- We are all facing a question right now: How can we build cultures in which people can do their best work and be their best selves?
- It starts with an emotion: regret.

What is Regret?

- Regret is the stomach-churning feeling that the present would be better and the future brighter if only you hadn’t chosen so poorly, decided so wrongly, or acted so stupidly in the past.
- Regret is our most transformative emotion if we deal with it properly.
- Regret makes us human.
- Regret is ubiquitous.
- Regret, done right, makes us better.

The World Regret Survey

- Collected 18,000 regrets from people in 109 countries.
- Around the world, people express the same four regrets over and over again.
- Beneath the surface, there is a hidden architecture that transcends national boundaries.

4 Types of Regrets

1. Foundation Regrets

- They are small decisions we make early in our life that compound to make bigger issues later in life. “I regret not saving money earlier in life…”
- Hemingway character: How did you go bankrupt? Gradually and suddenly.
  “If only I’d done the work.”

2. Boldness Regrets

- “If only I’d taken the chance.”
- This is especially true in the realm of work.

3. Moral Regrets

- You’re at a juncture. You can do the right thing or the wrong thing. People do the wrong thing, and almost all of us regret it.
- There’s lots of regret bullying. “If only I had done the right thing.”

4. Connection Regrets

- Connection regrets are about our relationships, not just our romantic relationships, the full suite of relationships we have (family, friends, colleagues).
- How do they come apart? They drift apart. “If only I had reached out.”

A Photographic Negative of the Good Life

- Those 18,000 people were operating as a photographic negative of the good life.
- If they tell you what they regret the most, they tell you what they value the most.
- Humans need stability, growth, goodness, and love.

4 Core Regrets—What they sound like, and what the human need reveals.

- Foundation: If only I’d done the work. Stability.
- Boldness: If only I’d taken the chance. Growth.
- Moral: If only I’d done the right thing. Goodness.
- Connection: If only I’d reached out. Love.

Lessons For Leaders

- Foundation: Fair pay, predictability.
- Boldness: The psychological safety to learn, grow, explore, and speak up.
- Moral: Honesty, transparency, and purpose.
- Connection: Belonging, and genuine friendship.

People want to work for places that are good—places that are good are going to win the war for talent.

Simple Practices to Enlist Regret as a Tool to Get Better

Write a failure resume for yourself.

- Write your failures in one column.
- Write the lesson you learned in the second column.
- Write what you’re going to do about it in the third column.

Form a regret circle with your team.

- Person one shares their regret and the lesson they learned.
- The others share advice on how to deal with it.

Conduct a regret pre-mortem on your next big project.

- Envision that the project fails. What did we do wrong?
- Go back to the present and do not do those things.

Create an island for boldness.

- Carve out time and space for people to be utterly, unequivocally bold.

Place a phone call to yourself in 2032.

- Call your future you. The you of 10 years from now is not going to care about a blue car, gray car, or what you’re having for dinner. They will care whether you built a stable foundation for family.
- What would you tell your best friend to do?
- Ask yourself, did I risk or act boldly? Did I act in love?

GLS22 Special Edition Notes—Unconventional Leadership 

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Rosey LaVine - Articles, Change Management, Collaboration, Culture, Education, Emotional Intelligence, Execution, Leading Organizations, North America, People Operations, Relational Intelligence, Servant Leadership, Strategy, Vision

When the world says it’s hopeless—a leader dives in! When roadblocks and obstacles are at every turn—a leader steps up. Principal Linda Cliatt-Wayman is such a leader.

In her talk at The Global Leadership Summit: Special Edition on February 24, 2022, Principal Linda shared insight that helped us listen for the pivot, discern clues to form strong leadership teams, and discover ways to navigate emotions when situations are volatile. She helped leaders find the conviction to ignite their team with the hope it needs to thrive.

Enjoy these official notes from Principal Linda Cliatt-Wayman’s session on Unconventional Leadership.

Context: Strawberry Mansion High School

- Excessive number of arrests
- Crimes against staff and students
- Crimes using guns, knives, and other weapons
- It was a merger of three different high schools
- Principal Linda Cliatt-Wayman was chosen to be its 4th principal in four years

Unconventional Leadership

- It’s unusual, unfamiliar, uncommon, and even bizarre.
- Being an unconventional leader has allowed me to achieve what others said was impossible.
- Principal Linda was tasked with finding a leader for the high school.
- She conducted a nationwide search and did not get one applicant.
- One principal out of 52 were thought to be able to run the school. She declined.
- Linda realized she was meant to be the leader and resigned as assistant superintendent to become the principal.

Establishing Rules and Consequences

- Students were walking around believing they could do whatever they wanted to do.
- They asked students why they saw all the violence and thought it was funny.
  - - It exists in their everyday life on the streets.
    - The children were in a deep cycle of hopelessness.
- They had to restore hope in children that had lost all hope. Over five years:
  - - They gained their respect and loved them every day.
    - The school was removed from the persistently dangerous list.

Linda’s voice is needed.

- Linda goes on a retreat, and asks herself, why did I have to leave my children?
- The voice came back and gave her the answer she needed, “I need your voice. My children are suffering, and I need your voice.”
- There are children suffering and we have to do something about that.
  - - We need to give them hope.
    - We have to show them love. If we do that, we will find success.
    - Hope and love are wrapped up in unconventional leadership.

7 Principles of Unconventional Leadership

1. A step down may be an opportunity to step up.
2. Understand the importance of securing unanticipated experts for support.
3. Trust your instincts and don’t allow fear to cloud your judgement or course of action.
4. Disregard the obvious.
5. Honor timing. There is always a time and a season.
6. Listen very closely to the voice of God and then heed his direction.
7. Every single day remember it is a privilege to be chosen to lead and serve. With that understanding, use love as your motivator and Jesus as your source.

John F. Kennedy Speech at Rice University

He tried to convince the nation to support the space program. “We choose to go to the moon, not because it will be easy, but because it will be hard. That is the challenge we are willing to accept and not postpone.”

The Challenge

- Choose unconventional leadership.
- Be willing to accept the challenge.

If you accept that challenge, your businesses will thrive, you will find peace in your work, and you will design a post-pandemic world the way that God designed it to be. We will all live together in peace.

Announcing The Global Leadership Summit 2022 Faculty

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Abby Jungles - Leadership Development, News & Updates, The Global Leadership Summit

When you look at the world around you, what do you see? If you see opportunities or problems to be solved even in the face of hardship, you might be a leader. In fact, your vision for a better future, wherever you are, whatever your title, really matters. Now is the time to step up and voice your vision for a better future.

Gain new ideas and a fresh perspective from 12+ leading experts spanning a wide range of fields and backgrounds, including business, ministry, entertainment, science, aviation, research, technology, human resources, food & beverage, entrepreneurship, and more!

Meet the GLS22 Faculty!

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Bob Iger

Former CEO & Executive Chairman, The Walt Disney Company

Stephanie Chung

Chief Growth Officer, Wheels Up

Andy Stanley

Founder & Pastor, North Point Ministries

Johnny C. Taylor Jr.

President & CEO, SHRM

Lynsi Snyder

Owner & President, In-N-Out Burger

Deb Liu

President & CEO, Ancestry

Judah Smith

Lead Pastor, Churchome

Vanessa Van Edwards

Founder & Lead Behavioral Investigator, Science of People

Jon Acuff

Leadership Expert; New York Times Best-Selling Author

Dr. Heidi Grant

Science of Leadership Expert

Craig Groeschel
Founder & Senior Pastor, Life.Church

With 25+ years of experience delivering fresh, practical, hope-filled leadership development training within a supportive community, The Global Leadership Summit has become more than a two-day conference—it is an invitation to get geared up with the leadership tools you need to voice your vision for a better future.

Will we see you there? Learn more about our faculty and get $50 off your tickets when you register by the early bird deadline. Learn More >>

Arizona Churches Partner with Community to Change Kids’ Futures through Schools

Posted on February 21, 2022 by Craig Hobson - Because of the GLS, Calling, Church, Church & Faith-Based, Collaboration, Culture, Education, North America, Stories

Are you tired of the brokenness and division in your city? Like many forward-thinking leaders, you have a deep passion to see positive change. You’ve probably spent countless hours thinking of ways to engage with your community in new ways in order to see this change become a reality. It’s not easy.

I thought, what would it look like if churches, businesses, and other local organizations rallied to the school to care for our kids and our community?

This is one of the reasons why The Global Leadership Summit (GLS) exists—because we believe in the power of your influence. We believe that armed with leadership resources, inspiration, and encouragement, you can bring change to your community.

While there is not one right or easy way to accomplish citywide change, this story about GLS attendee, Tracey Beal, pastor of Community Development at Pure Heart Church, and executive director of School Connect, will show you how the GLS inspired her story of citywide change through a unique model where schools are the driver in engagement and partnership.

Can the Church engage the community?

As a church planter and pastor, Tracey often wondered why churches so often separate themselves from the very communities they want to reach for Christ. Then she had a realization. During a service trip to Peru with students of Young Life at Arizona State University, she started to think of the needs of her own city back home. “There is tremendous need in my own city too,” said Tracey. “And the school is the portal to all of the needs of the community!”

She quickly realized the church was a perfect partner for schools because they share the same children and have access to multi-generations and multiple sectors within their congregations. “I knew this model would be an incredible way to help churches reach their neighborhoods for Christ!” Tracey exclaimed.

What if the Church served the needs of our schools?

“My heart breaks when I think of the incredible challenges teachers face as they prepare the next generation: broken families, poverty and drug addiction impact kids physically, intellectually and emotionally,” says Tracey. “Our educators face monumental odds to meet these needs so kids can be successful. Sadly, while educators wear numerous hats and have huge expectations placed upon them, they are not highly valued by their community. I thought, what would it look like if churches, businesses, and other local organizations rallied to the school to care for our kids and our community?”

School Connect is Born

“The creation of School Connect as an organization was very much inspired by the Summit,” says Tracey. “The Summit is a living, breathing example of what can happen when the Church leads in its community. I was inspired by the courage and tenacity that leaders showed as they leaned into their calling, and in many ways felt like I had found my tribe.”

Following the Summit, Tracey began to develop a model of community engagement with local schools. The model engages schools in strategic partnerships with churches, businesses, non-profits, colleges, and neighborhood organizations.

My heart breaks when I think of the incredible challenges teachers face as they prepare the next generation…

“The GLS inspired me to be bold about working with all leaders of our city whether they have a Christian faith or are somewhere along that journey,” says Tracey. “School Connect’s job is to cast vision and train educators, faith and community partners to work together for the sake of our kids. Since we believe schools are the portal to all of the needs of a neighborhood, we see working with schools as a powerful tool for any church that wants to engage meaningfully with its community.”

Amazing Outcomes from the School Connect Model

School Connect has helped build partnerships in 700 schools across Arizona and is excited to have an even larger focus on rural schools and tribal lands. They have also expanded into other cities around the country, and have begun building School Connect models in Lafayette, LA, San Antonio, TX, Oklahoma City, OK, Madison & Appleton, WI, Chicago, IL, and Orange County & Modesto, CA.

“The schools that have the most clarity about their strategic plans and the partners who are helping them accomplish these plans are seeing academic achievement go up, teacher retention increase, negative behavior go down and parents engage in much higher numbers,” Tracey explains. “As churches are meaningfully involved in this process, they are seeing people come to know Christ and get connected to a church community.”

Here are just a few recent examples of what has happened through these partnerships!

Pandemic Support

With the support of partners including businesses, restaurants, faith communities, resource centers, and community partners across Arizona, School Connect provided $300,000 worth of supplies for Schools from including food, masks, sanitation supplies, school supplies, books, and office furniture for teachers.

Wi-Fi Hotspots for Families in Need

School Connect partnered with the State Library & Commonsense Media to build a Free Wi-Fi Hotspot Map of Arizona. This helped students know where they could access free internet and gave them free tech support with the State Librarians. It even provided the option for faith communities to be a location for hot spot for families in need! This map has been accessed 19,5000 times to date!

Technology Support

In partnership with Scottsdale Bible and the City of Phoenix, School Connect helped purchase and deliver 12,484 computers to school districts in need in Maricopa County.

Additionally, School Connect provided 365 computers to rural schools throughout Arizona.

In partnership with the Arizona Superintendent of Instruction’s Tech Task Force, School Connect built a Parent Resource website which is housed with the Arizona Department of Education.

High-Poverty School Improves Retention & Reading Scores

At Mountain View School, School Connect worked with the principal and her team to build partnerships with 30 organizations around this high poverty school. Through these partnerships this school saw increased teacher retention from 35% to 93%, reading increased scores by 39%. The formation of a parent organization and a neighborhood association also helped transform the school and neighborhood culture.

Care Packages for Teachers

School Connect partnered with churches and businesses to provide 10,000 Care Package Boxes to teachers in across Arizona.

Social Emotional Support

Professional counselors and faith leaders provided online social-emotional support for students, parents, and teachers, and School Connect now has a library of these resources available.

In partnership with Highland Yoga every educator associated with School Connect gets free access to online yoga classes.

“Imagine what it would be like if all of the schools of Phoenix had significant partnerships with Christ followers?” Tracey asks. “As we empower the Body of Christ to be the servant leaders we are meant to be, we are excited about the potential to bring transformation to Phoenix and beyond.”

Tune into this School Connect Podcast episode, and learn more how a unique partnership brought a local community together. Tune In >>

Why We Attend The Global Leadership Summit

“I believe The Global Leadership Summit is the most accessible and applicable leadership opportunity I have ever attended,” says Tracey. “As we innovate with School Connect, the Summit has been instrumental in helping me access leadership resources when there was no simple pathway forward. It has also been a powerful tool in our work with the leaders of our city. We are finding that Summit resources are opening doors of opportunity with these leaders.

I believe the GLS is the most accessible and applicable leadership opportunity I have ever attended.

“While I read leadership books for years before attending the Summit, attending the conference with others on our team has transformed my thinking, given us a common language, and its catalytic nature has helped us build momentum in a variety of different initiatives. The Summit has something for everyone, guaranteed! If you need encouragement in your calling, clarity about how to move forward in an area that has challenged you, or access to resources of people and materials that can help you succeed, you can find it at the Summit!”

Join Tracey Beal and others at The Global Leadership Summit on August 4-5, 2022. Learn more and get tickets at GlobalLeadership.org/Summit.

At the End of Her Rope, Entrepreneur Changes Trajectory After the GLS

Posted on February 14, 2022 by Rosey LaVine - Because of the GLS, Business, Confidence, Healthcare, Leading Organizations, Leading Yourself, Learning Agility, North America, Relationship with God, Replenishment, Resilience, Stories

For many leaders attending The Global Leadership Summit (GLS), this event often finds them in the middle of some of their deepest struggles both personally and professionally. Yet, through their experience, they often encounter a fresh perspective or new idea about who they are and where they are going as a leader. It is through this experience where the GLS becomes more than an event—it becomes a catalyst that can change the trajectory of their lives.

This was the case for Dr. Kris Sargent, who attended the GLS for the first time in 2019. At the time, she was at the end of her rope with her business. “The very thing I was trying to promote in my practice—health—got buried under my fear and ego,” said Kris. “It nearly destroyed me and my business. But the God I grew up with and left behind did not forget about me. At the end of my rope, God met me again at the GLS. During those two days, I found my faith and my fire for Him again.”

At the end of my rope, God met me again at the GLS.

Since her experience at the GLS in 2019, Kris started picking up the pieces of her life and facing the challenges in front of her. Two years later, she has completely turned around her business and personal life. “I think about the impact GLS had on my life almost every day!” exclaimed Kris. “My passion was reignited, my vision was refocused, and most importantly, I found my faith again. I have transformed all parts of my life over the last two years, and really must express my gratitude for the GLS. Allowing God back in my life has been miraculous!”

As we caught up with Kris again since the last time we connected with her in 2019, we learned that her turnaround includes moving, getting out of debt, turning her business around, connecting more deeply with her family and local community, starting a podcast, and writing her second book.

Discover the biggest lessons she’s learned along the way over the last two years.

Letting Go of the “How”

Facing financial debt, Kris wondered how she was ever going to work through it. “My debt was keeping me from moving forward,” she said.

However, the in early 2020, the pandemic presented her with an opportunity to move to Tennessee. “This was ALL God’s doing, it was such a blessing! I had been in Chicago for over 30 years and had been wanting to move south. God’s timing was perfect. The sale of my house not only paid off my debt, it allowed me to take part of the summer off and spend time with my son during his travel baseball season.” Kris learned to stop forcing certain outcomes and leave the “How” to God. Instead, she allowed herself to be led by the flow of the Holy Spirit.

Slowing Down

…did I want to be a ‘human doing’ or a ‘human being’?

In the process of “letting go and letting God”, Kris was able to slow down and pay closer attention to what God had in store for her life. “If I was running at 100 miles an hour before, I went down to zero or maybe 10 miles an hour,” said Kris. “I started to realize how I was showing up—did I want to be a ‘human doing’ or a ‘human being’? I had to decelerate some things in my life. I learned that I needed to be very careful about what I consume, especially on social media. I had to back up and decide to love people where they are—I didn’t have to be right all the time. And as I slowed down, the things I valued most became more of my focus—my faith and my kids.

“Trust is my big word this year for 2022. It’s about continuing to rest and trust that God is there holding you the whole time. In self-reliance, there is little faith. If you don’t trust God, you become self-reliant and you don’t trust God to do the hard things. But we all know He does the harder things when we get out of the way. I used to think He couldn’t help me get out of thousands of dollars in debt, or he couldn’t find me the love of my life…but He can, and He did!”

Learning, Failing, Growing

Slowing down and changing locations gave Kris an opportunity to reevaluate her business in new ways that she otherwise wouldn’t have considered. Starting in 2021, she launched her new business model which included group coaching, an update on her pricing plan, and greater incorporation of her faith. “I really changed a lot around my business model,” said Kris. “Some of it worked and some if it didn’t, but as I trusted God in the process, I learned a lot along the way.”

It’s out of love, not out of guilt or shame or any other thing, that you begin to see change.

One of the biggest changes was bringing faith more into her practice. “For a long time, I felt like God has been leading me to bring faith and health together in my practice,” said Kris. “Perhaps I could teach people in the same way financial planners teach about being good stewards of our finances. If we’re not treating our bodies well or being good stewards of our body, then how is the Holy Spirit going to live, breathe, and move in us? This was clearly a Holy Spirit moment for me.

“One of the things that became apparent to me was how the fitness industry has a lot of shame and guilt around it. People say things like, ‘I feel bad because I didn’t walk today’ or ‘I feel bad because I ate this brownie’ and on and on. They go on what I call ‘the vicious cookie cycle’ where they eat a cookie out of frustration, feel good for a minute, then are consumed by guilt and frustration, and eat another cookie.

“However, the use of guilt and shame to motivate people is what Jesus came to get rid of. I learned, you can pin all that guilt and shame to the cross. So, I want to approach health from a position of stewardship, obedience, and love. It’s out of love for God, and what He did for us, then love for yourself and others that can help you make better decisions. It’s out of love, not out of guilt or shame or any other thing, that you begin to see change. And not temporary change of a fad diet, true transformation can take place in those moments.”

Designed for Community

In the process of moving and changing her business model, Kris realized the importance and value of community. “Having so much time with the pandemic and the move gave me the time to look at the failures that had happened from about 2012 to 2019, before I came to the GLS,” said Kris. “I realized almost all those decisions were made on my own and culminated in the debt I had and the negativity that was around me. It was that reliance on myself that created the mess I was in. But out of the ashes, flowers are starting to pop up, creating a new garden.

It was that reliance on myself that created the mess I was in.

“I’ve met so many new friends and I have a great neighborhood of people around me now that I didn’t have and wouldn’t let happen before, because of my own guilt and shame. To be surrounded by a group of people who support me and love me is incredible. I used to be in the self-reliant position saying, ‘I can do it all.’ But I realized that’s not how God designed us to live. It was a hard transition to go from being so self-reliant to being in community. It’s something I have to be aware of every day.”

Investing in Yourself

Kris realized the value of investing in herself in things like the GLS to help her evaluate where she’s at and where she’s going. “Events like the GLS, give you a moment to disrupt your normal routine, and help you pay attention to important questions like: What’s going on in your life? Where is God on the priority list? What things are happening in your world that are distracting you from your relationship to God? What are your relationships like? How is your business really doing? What do your finances look like? What does your spiritual life look like? Does your health look like? Who are you? Where are you? Where are your blind spots?

The GLS is time to pause, to rest, and trust what God has in store.

“The GLS is time to pause, to rest, and trust what God has in store. That’s what I’ve learned out of the investment I put in myself. When you surround yourself with people like that and you learn from others at GLS, you experience moments where you can step back, slow down, take inventory, and grow.”

What might happen in your life through The Global Leadership Summit?

Find out! Get your tickets to join us at The Global Leadership Summit on August 4-5, 2022 at GlobalLeadership.org/Summit.

Naps Are the New Hustle

Posted on February 10, 2022 by Abby Jungles - Leading Yourself, Learning Agility, Productivity, Replenishment, Resilience, Videos, Wellness

Albert Tate will be speaking at Global Leadership Summit 2021.