Month: March 2024

The Paradoxical Superpower: Humility in Leadership

Posted on March 21, 2024 by - Articles, Behavior Modification, Humility, Leadership Development, Process, Resilience, Self-Reflect, Servant Leadership

By David Ashcraft and Amber Van Schooneveld 

In my early years of ministry, I (David) took a bus full of high school and college students skiing in Colorado. Being from Texas, some of them knew how to ski and some had never been before. A few of the experienced skiers convinced some of the kids who had never been that they didn’t need lessons—just follow them.  

They led these inexperienced skiers to the top of the mountain, wanting to show the others just how skilled they were. But if you’ve ever skied, you suspect what happened next. By the end of the day, there were 20 kids in tears, stranded and sliding down the mountain on their bottoms. The “leaders” had been primarily concerned with proving themselves—no matter what it might cost those around them. 

We’ve all been around leaders like that, who seem primarily focused on advancing themselves. These powerful personalities can bulldoze those around them, and we can come to think that this style of self-promoting leadership is inevitable at the top. But it’s not.  

The most powerful leaders—particularly those at the top—model humility in leadership.  

Level five leadership—humility and grit 

In his seminal book, “Good to Great,” Jim Collins lays out his team’s research into the most successful companies. What they found in the leaders of the companies that reached greatness—and stayed there—was counterintuitive.  

“The most powerfully transformative executives possess a paradoxical mixture of personal humility and professional will,” Collins reported to the Harvard Business Review.  

Most of us realize the colossal grit necessary as an executive. But we often forgive it as inevitable when this strong will is paired with a towering ego. That’s just what it takes, right?  

Collins found that while ego can catapult a company to success, it can’t keep it there: “In more than two-thirds of the comparison companies, we noted the presence of a gargantuan ego that contributed to the demise or continued mediocrity of the company.” 

By contrast, the leaders who had both tenacity and a modest disposition, what he calls “level five leadership,” were unstoppable.  

Why is humility in leadership pivotal? 

Humility is so pivotal in leadership because it determines the focus, and therefore direction, of a leader. Humility is not a low view of oneself. It’s not self-deprecating. As Rick Warren states in “The Purpose Driven Life”: “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”  

Or as C.S. Lewis eloquently put it, “a really humble man… will not be thinking about himself at all.” 

When we are truly humble—when are not obsessed with ourselves and our own interests—we are able to obsess over what is truly important. We can have a mono-focus on the goal and not waste time on our own press or get sidetracked by self-serving decisions. And, unconcerned with promoting ourselves, we can focus on ensuring that the people around us have everything they need to work toward the goal.  

Former NFL coach Tony Dungy, credited with turning around both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Indianapolis Colts, credited his others-focus as the reason for his success. When asked what his leadership superpower was on our podcast in 2019, he said it was the “ability to get people to know that I really believe in them, that I’m for them and I have their best interest at heart. I think I had a great ability to get people to listen and to follow because they wanted to follow.” 

Can leaders learn humility? 

If you are reading this article, you probably already possess a desire to grow in humility. But is it even possible to become like the extraordinary leaders Collins profiles in “Good to Great”? Or are they just born that way? Collins’ depressing hypothesis was that “there are two categories of people: those who don’t have the Level 5 seed within them and those who do.” 

But we believe that it’s possible to be radically transformed toward humility because we’ve seen it.  

Consider the story of Dr. Steve Gerndt. Dr. Gerndt was a cardiothoracic surgeon who, early in his career, believed he was the most important person in the room. After all, he was literally a heart surgeon. He admits that it impacted the way he treated everyone else in the operating room and decreased staff performance.  

But over time (and influenced by the leadership principles he heard at the Global Leadership Summit), Dr. Gerndt realized that he needed to grow in humility and civility at work. As he worked on himself, he also began to realize how it could impact his hospital as a whole, and he started Civilitas, a program focused on building psychological safety that is now used in hospitals across the country. Dr. Gerndt went from a leader focused on himself to a leader focused on the well-being of others.  

Read Dr. Gerndt’s full story here.  

There are two approaches you can take to grow in humility—behavior modification or life reorientation. As you might expect, the latter is far more important than the former. First, you can take practical steps to grow in humility as a leader:  

  • Practice self-reflection. We love how Ryan Leak put it at the 2023 Global Leadership Summit: “What’s it like to be on the other side of your leadership?”  
  • Create an environment of candor. Have you created an environment in which people can give you honest feedback? The best leaders invite accountability and candor so that they can learn and grow.  
  • Listen and ask questions. Leaders need accurate and full information to make good decisions. This is only possible when their voice isn’t the primary or the loudest in the room. Focus on asking insightful questions and actively listen to the great people you’ve gathered around you.  

These tips are important, but they are primarily focused on behavior modification. These actions are the symptoms of humility, but not humility itself. We believe that to grow in true humility, something more is needed: a complete reorientation of self.  

Humility is found when we make the conscious decision to reorient our lives so that we are not the center.  

You might reorient your life on God, on a life serving others or on a mission you believe is worthy of bending all your energy toward. When you orient your life with one of these as your true north, the trivialities of your own self-interest fall to the wayside.  

This isn’t a decision you make once. It’s a decision you make every day. You remind yourself of your true north and recenter your decisions daily so that you can be a leader of great impact focused on transforming the world for the better.

How Civility Transformed an Operating Room—and an Entire Hospital System

Posted on March 21, 2024 by - Articles

By Dr. Steve Gerndt 

I started my career as a cardiothoracic surgeon in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1997. At age 34, it was my first real job. I joined an independent practice of surgeons who were the only providers of coronary artery bypass surgery in the community. We looked at ourselves as a valuable asset to the hospitals, an important profit center for them. 

That’s why, as a young surgeon, I viewed myself as a customer of the hospital and believed that their job was to provide me with the resources I needed to succeed. In that mindset, I viewed everyone around me as resources. My attitude toward them was: “Give me what I need to do well.” 

I was working hard to achieve excellent patient outcomes—a laudable goal—but I was immature as a leader. 

Over time, I realized that I was part of a group who didn’t get along. In fact, we didn’t really like one another at all. This dynamic set a powerful tone for everyone around us. The relational environment became toxic and resulted in a lot of employee turnover.  

I realized that I was a part of the problem and needed to take responsibility for that. And I realized that a big change was necessary. 

Valuing your people as much as your product

Durning this time, I started attending the Global Leadership Summit. One speaker I heard was Horst Schulze, former president and COO of Ritz Carlton Hotel Company. He talked about how, in the hospitality industry, you’re not only taking care of your guests, but you’re also taking care of your employees—how you need to value your people as much as your product. 

That marked me. I knew that my product was the health of human beings, but what would it mean to value our employees in the same way? Pondering this concept—valuing our people as much as our product—changed everything for me. 

On a typical workday, I would go into the hospital at 7 a.m. to prepare for surgery. I’d walk through the lobby and past a woman sitting at the front desk to greet people. But on this day, I realized that I’d been walking through the lobby for 10 years and I had never spoken to her. I certainly didn’t know her name. 

In the surgical suite that day, I actually looked at the faces all around me and realized that they had the desire to help me be successful as much as I wanted to be successful. They were there to achieve the very same goals, but I had discounted their purpose. 

Instead of looking down at the ground, focusing only on what I needed to do to execute my surgery well that day, I started looking up. It was a night-and-day transition for me. For the first time, I actually “saw” those around me and realized that we were all in this together. 

Setting a new tone

I realized that as a leader, I was setting the tone for how we all interacted and nothing would change if I did not change.

I began by meeting with our staff regularly to allow them an open forum to ask questions and hear their perspective. I began to understand more clearly what motivated them. I also took time to teach them in a relaxed and safe environment. (An intense and high-stakes heart operation, where there is no room for mistakes, is the worst place to teach someone kindly and with compassion.) In these meetings, I took time to explain why things needed to be handled in a certain way and why I was concerned about specific dangerous circumstances. 

Efforts like this, which required a minimal amount of time and energy, began to show our staff I cared about them and that they were valued.

In just a year’s time, I no longer faced the stress of thinking I had to monitor and control everyone else’s job. Instead, because we were all on the same page, I trusted them to do their job and do it well. In return, I was able to focus on my responsibilities and execute surgical tasks at a higher level. 

In a short time, something remarkable happened.

The remarkable outcomes of trust

The complexity and intensity of a heart operation requires a high degree of trust and cooperation among team members for safety and excellence in outcomes.

 

In one of our sessions, I explained how I hoped to capitalize on everyone’s expertise and how important it was for them to feel safe to suggest improvements or identify problems. In response to this idea, one of our perfusionists (the experts who run the bypass machine) brought forward literature suggesting we should change the type of salt solution we used during our heart operations. We made this change, as well as other changes at their suggestion, which improved our outcomes.  

In just one year, the number of patients returned to the operating room after bypass surgery went from 16, to just one! How could this be explained? To this day, I don’t entirely know—except that I was trusting the people around me. What I do know is I was no longer feeling the need to focus on their responsibilities, so I could focus more intently on my own.  

In the years to come, I saw our team of people unite in a formidable way. Our turnover improved, and they began to see one another as part of a family. They cared about each other in and out of the operating room. Our experience together left the toxic environment behind and became one of encouragement and joy. 

Bringing civility to an entire hospital system

Years later, I was appointed Vice President and then President of the Medical Staff, in part because of the soft skills I had gained through attendance of the Global Leadership Summit. Using concepts I heard and embraced from the Summit, I began to think about how I could contribute a lasting impact as president.  

Initially, I was faced with handling complaints of negative or aggressive physician behavior. Thinking about what may have driven seemingly good-hearted people to this negative behavior led me in a new direction. Instead of just targeting the behavior and applying corrective action, I suggested we ask ourselves what in our culture could lead good people to go bad. The idea of civility in the workplace kept coming to the surface. What if our culture served to embrace those struggling and encouraged them in a positive direction before they became fully derailed? 

I envisioned a system-wide cultural transformation called “Civilitas.” Being granted a team of amazing people, the program was formulated on principles such as psychological safety, interpersonal empathy and, of course, valuing our people as much as our product. 

I was initially concerned my physician peers would reject the program as “obvious” or silly—or would view me as weak or soft. Honestly, it took some courage on my part to propose it. But I was amazed at how mistaken I was! Most of my colleagues thought it was a breath of fresh air, badly needed and supported it wholeheartedly. 

Remarkably, the program launched only weeks before COVID-19 hit, and it quickly became evident how it impacted the way people interacted with one another. Virtual meetings became the norm literally overnight, and the kindness and consideration exhibited was palpable. Our CEO lead the way in effective communication during this time, and we pioneered the national effort to restore the abruptly halted activities in healthcare. In fact, our little health system in Green Bay was recognized by a visit from the United States Secretary of Health to encourage our efforts at “getting back to healthcare” after COVID. 

A healthy team seamlessly launches a new program offering called TCAR.

 

Over the course of a 27-year career, I evolved from someone who was focused on the importance of my reputation and my responsibilities to one who “looks up” and actually sees the people around me. I did not change overnight. I had to learn the hard way through mistakes and lots of bruises. Ultimately, though, the change imprinted in my heart became indelible. 

People will often ask me, “Why are you smiling all the time?” as if I know something they do not. Perhaps I do. I smile because I have such joy, and my people make my role easy. I love the work, and I love the people with whom I work. And, I no longer have to try so hard to do well—OUR patient outcomes seem to take care of themselves. 

Meet David Ashcraft, Global Leadership Network CEO: A Passion for Leaders

Posted on March 20, 2024 by - Articles, Culture, Humility, Leadership Development, Leading Organizations, Managing People, Preparation, Relational Intelligence, Servant Leadership, The Global Leadership Summit, Vision

By Amber Van Schooneveld 

David Ashcraft, President and CEO of the Global Leadership Network, swore he would never become a pastor. As the son of a pastor, it was everyone’s expectation for his life—and he planned to prove them wrong. David envisioned a life in business or perhaps the law.  

But in the background, God was weaving a different plan.  

After David graduated from high school, he went to Texas Tech University to study Business Administration—and to escape from the ministry life he’d grown up in. During the summers, he worked at a Christian youth camp in a remote canyon in Texas, a job he says, in retrospect, he had no business doing at the time as he wasn’t following God.  

But under the blue Texas sky and the red bluffs of the canyon, God began to reshape David’s heart. As he saw the way God was moving in the young people’s lives around him, David humbly prayed, “God, if you want me to pursue ministry, I will.” 

Early Ministry Years of Struggling 

That prayer started David on a path that eventually led him to seminary and to accept a job as Senior Pastor of a small church in the green farmlands of Pennsylvania. The church, with only 150 members, was struggling. They were grappling with the pain of a leader who had left the church. It was 1991, and the worship war between traditional organs and modern guitars was still raging within the little church’s walls.  

But David had been chosen by the Board of Elders for one reason: to help the church introduce more people to Jesus. He began making choices in line with this vision, but it was painful. Many disagreed with his decisions and his leadership.  

David admits, “As a new pastor, I came up against so many leadership challenges that I simply wasn’t prepared for.” 

The first five years were a struggle, and David and his wife, Ruth, weren’t sure how it might end.   

“It was bad enough that sometimes after board meetings, Ruth would ask, ‘Should I start packing?’” 

The Years of Growth 

Eventually, things began to turn around. David began investing in his leadership skills, attending the Global Leadership Summit beginning with its inaugural event in 1995. And he began investing in the leadership skills of the others in his church as well.  

God began to lay on their heart the importance of learning from other leaders and churches in order to bring more people to Jesus.  

“When we had 200 people, we studied churches that had 400. When we had 500, we studied churches that had 1,000,” says David. “We wanted to be prepared with the systems that made a church of that size work if God chose to bless us.”    

God did choose to bless them. Eventually, the church that started with 150 members grew to the largest church in the Northeastern United States, LCBC Church. When David resigned 32 years after he took the role of Senior Pastor, LCBC Church had an average weekly attendance of 22,000 people across 19 sites.  

The Key to Growth 

David says that the key to the growth of LCBC was developing a leadership culture—and the Global Leadership Summit was a tool that equipped them to do just that. He has attended the Summit along with the staff at LCBC for 25 years, and his church has hosted the Summit for more than 20 years.  

“The Global Leadership Summit helped us develop a leadership culture at our church. It elevated everyone’s leadership capacity,” says David. “When we had a project or a program that needed a leader, we had a large pool of skilled people to pull from.” 

So when David was selected as President and CEO of the Global Leadership Network (GLN) in 2023, it was the perfect match. The GLN hosts the Leadership Summit, now the largest leadership conference in the world with attendees in more than 100 countries. It helps leaders learn the relational, visionary and practical skills they need to get better and make an even greater impact. 

A Passion to Serve Pastors and the Church 

The vision of the GLN goes deeper than leadership. The vision is to serve pastors and equip churches so they can introduce more people to Jesus.  

“The Global Leadership Summit is a tool to serve pastors. We help pastors and churches reach leaders in their community who aren’t in church,” says David.  

The Summit is also a tool to help pastors and churches get better. 

“The stronger the pastor, the stronger the church,” David says. “Our purpose is to help leaders build prevailing churches. A prevailing church is a church that is well led and well organized. It’s focused and has a purpose. It’s growing, thriving and making an impact in its community.” 

The Summit isn’t about a specific methodology; it’s about developing leaders so that they can respond to whatever issues their community is facing.  

“The Summit doesn’t teach leaders how to solve a specific problem. We help them learn how to become problem solvers. We help them develop a leadership culture so that they can lead forward in the midst of adversity no matter their context.” 

If you are ready to invest in your leadership and develop a leadership culture around you, get your tickets to attend the Summit.

Ep 136 – Twenty Years in Love with the Same Problem With Chris McChesney

Posted on March 19, 2024 by - Execution, Leading Organizations, Podcasts, Strategy, Vision

Now introducing The Global Leadership Podcast presented by the Global Leadership Network.

SUMMARY 

In this episode, Global Leadership Podcast interviewer Jason Jaggard sits down with Chris McChesney, co-author of The Four Disciplines of Execution, to revisit the book and to explore how the four disciplines can impact our lives outside the business world.  

IN THIS EPISODE:

  • What is a basic overview of the “Four Disciplines of Execution”? 
  • How can you learn to focus what is most important, but is not necessarily the most urgent?  
  • What “levers” can you affect that make it seem like your intended result is a winnable game?  
  • What has being a parent taught Chris about leadership, and how can the four disciplines be applied to a family?  

 

LISTEN 

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube 

  

STANDOUTS AND TAKEAWAYS 

  • It’s better to fall in love with a problem than it is to fall in love with a solution.  
  • All of the “have tos” in our life is called “The Whirlwind.” The “One” is the strategic result in your life that is going to require disproportionate effort. 
  • Human beings have the capacity to handle “the whirlwind plus one.”  
  • It’s best to not give your frontline teams the answers; get their commitment and engagement by making them a part of the process.  
  • The Four Disciplines can actually be a way to protect the entrepreneurial spirit of a organization.  
  • If you want to see the highest level of engagement a human being is capable of, watch them in a game.  
  • The strategic result you’re looking for should feel like both a high-stakes game and a winnable game.  
  • Progress and purpose are the most important things that drive employee engagement. This fact also has profound implications for how leaders address remote work.  
  • The whole purpose of The Four Disciplines is to achieve goals that do not feel as important as “the day job.”  
  • If kids have one anchor of self-esteem in their life, they are able to handle the whirlwind and drama of life much more effectively. 
  • The enemy of the human soul is not work; it’s futility.  
  • The struggle is that as you become more successful as a company, the whirlwind grows and requires more and more.  
  • People don’t fear change; they fear uncertainty. 
  • Most success comes from putting huge energy into small wins.  
  • The most significant jump is moving from leading a team to leading leaders.  

 

 LINKS MENTIONED 

 

 THIS EPISODE SPONSORED BY:  

Why You Should Trade Your Leadership Pipeline Mentality for a Leadership Culture

Posted on March 15, 2024 by - Articles, Church & Faith-Based, Culture, Leadership Development, Leading Organizations, Leading Others, Team Building, Vision

By David Ashcraft  

The key to growth in any business, organization or church is leaders. If we are going to increase our impact, we need a pool of skilled, highly trained people ready to take on the next high-impact project. But I’ve observed that many top leaders chase an idea of a mythical leadership pipeline, as if they can set it up, turn it on and then wait for a consistent flow of leaders.  

I’ve never found anybody who has that.  

Instead, we should strive to create a leadership culture. Whereas a leadership pipeline is an artificial process that focuses on a few “stars” in your organization, a leadership culture is a personal approach that elevates everyone’s leadership capacity. When you create a leadership culture, many people—instead of only the few—become better leaders.  

Leadership isn’t a pipeline; it’s a culture. And leadership development elevates everybody’s leadership.  

How to create a leadership culture 

I served as the Lead Pastor of LCBC Church in Pennsylvania for 32 years. We had a bold goal to dramatically increase the number of people our church reached. When I started, we were a small congregation of 150. When I stepped away 32 years later, our average weekly attendance was more than 22,000. It is now the largest church in the Northeastern United States.  

How did that tremendous growth happen? A few things came together—prayers, strategy and faith—but it never could have been successful without a strong leadership culture that intentionally focused on leadership development.  

Here are my four key takeaways on how to foster a leadership culture that will create dramatic results.  

1. Intentionally and consistently invest in leadership development.

At LCBC, leadership development opportunities were a part of our DNA. We started in the 1990s by attending John C. Maxwell leadership conferences. We later invested in the Global Leadership Summit (of which, I now serve as President and CEO), hosting it for more than 20 years.  

Prioritizing opportunities like these helped us to continuously challenge ourselves, set audacious goals and get the soft skills we needed to execute our goals.  

But leadership development must go beyond once a year events. We need to regularly and intentionally invest in our own, and others’, leadership. Read books together, listen to podcasts. Visit organizations you’d like to emulate. 

I love the example of CityLead in Boca Raton, Florida. The leaders of Boca Raton Community Church were regular hosts of the Global Leadership Summit. They wanted to create leadership opportunities throughout the year for their staff and community, so they created CityLead, a monthly gathering of leaders from all sectors in their city focused on developing leaders with integrity. You can read their inspiring story here: “How One Church Is Reshaping the Story of Its Town.”  

2. Trust new leaders.  

The next step to creating a leadership culture can be hard for many of us: We must trust new leaders. As leaders, we often don’t delegate because we secretly (or not so secretly) think we can do it better.  

I believe that God gives us the people to do the work he wants us to do. But we often don’t trust them to do the work. We look for the perfect volunteer or leader. But they’re never going to be as good at that task as we are—yet—because they haven’t had the opportunity to develop their skills. 

When you refuse to delegate, you’re robbing the people you lead from the possibility of becoming great at something God has designed them to do. 

In order to develop a leadership culture, we need to loosen our grip. We need to give new leaders permission and room to learn, fail and grow.  

3. Give leaders a grand vision. 

The key to developing great leaders is to give them a grand vision. When I was developing a new leader at LCBC, I wanted them to know that their potential was 

much higher than they might realize.  

Far from believing I could do it better than they could, I’d tell them, ‘You can be way better than I am at this. You can be an expert, to the point that other people want to come and see what you are doing.’ 

Together, we’d visit other churches excelling in that ministry to see how they were doing it. This gave these leaders a specific goal and vision—and helped them 

see that their capacity was higher than they thought. It gave them a vision to say, ‘Wow, I could be best at this in the whole country.’”   

Eventually, these leaders were way better than I could have ever been, and they created some of the best ministry programs in the country.  

4. Don’t just set new leaders loose; invest in them.  

One thing I have often seen is that when a leader finally delegates, he or she turns their employee loose and then checks in with them in a year to see if they met their goals. Without enough guidance, these new leaders struggle, so their supervisor then tightens the parameters and restricts them.  

I’ve found that in developing new leaders, while we trust them, we also need to give specific parameters and guidance at the beginning and loosen up later.  

When I was in college, I worked as a camp counselor. Every Sunday, we’d get a new cabin of kids. Some counselors would let the kids be wild on Sunday and Monday. Then later in the week, they’d have to restrict and threaten them. The kids would end up miserable by the end of the week—not allowed to have any fun—because the counselors were too loose at the beginning. Instead, I would clamp down on the first night, making sure the kids knew the rules and were observing the guidelines. Then by the second half of the week, they would be having a great time because they understood the parameters. 

I think developing leaders is similar. It’s better to intentionally invest in the beginning. Help them understand what the goals and expectations are; give them guidance, vision and parameters, and then loosen up later. When employees understand expectations and direction, it frees them. They have a model to follow, and they don’t have to wing it or create something new.   

Creating a leadership culture is worth it.

All of this isn’t easy. It takes time and intentionality.  

But I believe that when we shift our mindset from a leadership pipeline to a leadership culture, it will elevate everyone. It will foster grand visions. And it will allow us to reach our audacious goals.  

How One Church Is Reshaping the Story of Its Town

Posted on March 15, 2024 by - Articles, Collaboration, Complex Thinking, Culture, Emotional Intelligence, Family, Influence, Leading Yourself, Learning Agility, Relationship with God, Replenishment, Resilience, Team Building

By Amber Van Schooneveld 

Palm Beach County, Florida, has sometimes been known more for corruption than for its palm-lined beaches. In 2009, five county commissioners were convicted of corruption in just two years.  

But Pastor Bill Mitchell of Boca Raton, a major business hub located in Palm Beach County, had a different vision for his community. He believed the church could play a key role in raising the bar of ethics and character in this city.  

That’s why Boca Raton Community Church, long-term friends of the Global Leadership Network, began CityLead in 2014. They envisioned a regular experience in which the church could speak into the business community. They opened their doors to host businesspeople from every sector for a leadership talk each month. Attendees would share a meal, network and hear Pastor Mitchell speak about a leadership principle having to do with ethics or character.  

People said it would never work—they assumed businesspeople would never want to attend leadership talks hosted by a church. But it took off.  

Bringing together diverse communities 

Now, 10 years later, CityLead has hosted more than 8,000 business leaders at more than 100 events. The events of 350 to 380 people regularly sell out and bring together people from all sectors, including business, government and nonprofit. Their regular attendees include county commissioners, city council members and even the mayor. 

Former Palm Beach County Commissioner Robert Weinroth shares how the events have impacted him: “You come out of CityLead not so much worried about profit but worried about what you are doing to improve your community.”  

CityLead isn’t only bringing together diverse sectors, it’s also bringing together diverse religious communities. Members of a local mosque and the employees of one of the largest Jewish law firms in the city are regular attenders.  

The monthly community also demolishes the hierarchical structures that sometimes pervade business settings. Often, the more influential you are, the greater honor you receive in a business environment. But that goes against the ethos of CityLead: 

“Whether you’re a plumber or you’re wearing a thousand-dollar suit, you’re equal here,” says Mitchell.  

A focus on the common good 

Mitchell believes one reason the organization is so successful is because it focuses on the common good. 

“The church is known around the country for what we’re against. We want the church to be known for what we’re for,” he says. “By and large, businesspeople agree on about 90% of things. We all want better schools, better roads and safer streets. This is an event that brings people together for the common good of the city.”  

The church has grown trust within the city by not using “bait and switch” methods of getting people into the church building in order to convert them. Instead, they’ve consistently shown that they are committed to long-term relationships and the flourishing of the city.  

They have been inspired by the words of Jeremiah 29:7: “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city… Because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 

Working for the common good in Michigan, Ghana and beyond  

The organization has now spread to three additional cities, including Kalamazoo, Michigan, and even Accra, the capital city of Ghana. CityLead helps the churches identify a problem in their region that they can help address through leadership development. 

In Kalamazoo, CityLead has brought together two groups that rarely rubbed shoulders previously: the black community and the white community. Before, these two groups usually only came together when something bad happened in the city—an act of violence or a tragedy. 

But Mt. Zion Baptist Church, a primarily black church, and Centerpoint Church, a primarily white church, came together to start CityLead with a goal of working toward racial reconciliation and unity in their community. Now these two churches, on literal different sides of the track, regularly bring together diverse business leaders with the goal of making Kalamazoo “the best place to work, live and play.” 

In each city, people are coming to see churches as a positive force doing something good for the community. They are shaping the long-term character of the community, while supporting healthy relationships between leaders across all sectors and faiths.  

Mitchell believes CityLead is not an anomaly—people are hungry for leadership development.  

“Around the world, you can throw a soccer ball into a community and kids will come running. It’s the same with leadership development. If you throw leadership development out, businesspeople will come,” says Mitchell.  

He closes with these inspiring words: “A small group of people can change their city.”  

Learn more about CityLead. Do you have a story of impact? We’d love to hear! Email us at Story@GlobalLeadership.org. 

Ep 135 – Moving From Getting to Giving With Comedian Michael Jr

Posted on March 5, 2024 by - Calling, Character, Communication, Confidence, Conflict Management, Leading Others, Leading Yourself, Learning Agility, Podcasts, Relationship with God, Servant Leadership

Now introducing The Global Leadership Podcast presented by the Global Leadership Network.

SUMMARY 

Comedian and author Michael Jr. talks with Global Leadership Podcast team member Jason Jaggard about how moving from an attitude of “what can I get from an audience” to “what can I give to an audience” changed everything for him.

IN THIS EPISODE: 

  • When did Michael Jr. realize he was funny?  
  • How did “Funny For the Forgotten” get started?  
  • How did he get started in his CAREER in comedy?  
  • What kept Michael Jr. going when things were really challenging?  
  • How did he come to faith?  
  • How did his tour with his wife come about and what do they hope to accomplish?  
  • What’s next for Michael Jr.? 

 

LISTEN 

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STANDOUTS AND TAKEAWAYS 

  • Everything changes when you make the shift from asking, “what can I GET from people” to, “what can I GIVE to people.” 
  • When you have a gift, your job is solely to present the gift. You cannot control with how the gift is received.  
  • As a leader, your job is to “listen in between the gaps” so you can really know where people are at.  
  • Whatever you’re doing, you need to get your reps in.  
  • If you quit something, you are practicing quitting.  
  • The only reason you do anything in life is to either avoid pain or to gain pleasure.  
  • Without conflict there’s no revelation.  
  • Comedy is NOT the destination; it’s only the vehicle; there’s a bigger purpose.   
  • If you make a wrong turn, God doesn’t abandon you and where you’re supposed to go. He just recalculates. It may take you longer to get there, but there are still directions to follow.  

 

LINKS MENTIONED 

 

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