Aug
10
2012

Leadership Summit First Day: A Bad Day for Elephants

An article by Matt

Today is day two of the Willow Creek Association’s Global Leadership Summit. Yesterday was one of the better days, Summit wise, that I have been a part of… but it was a bad day for the elephant in the room. Over the course of the day Bill Hybels, Jim Collins, and Groeschel touched on a couple of the elephant in the room issues currently going on in the church world, and did it well. Here is what I took away from the first day of the Summit.

Bill Hybels

This was a slightly different Bill Hybels than what I am used to seeing. Instead of the hard-charging, gung-ho, take the next hill Hybels, I got the sense that Bill realizes that he is coming to the end of his run, he is embracing that sense, and because of his position he knows he needs to model this well. There was also a bit of cantankerousness that I hadn’t noticed before… I get the sense that Bill is going to resemble Jack Welch in his retirement. Here are some of the nuggets I took from him this morning:

Willow Creek is experimenting more now, than ever before. They are trying new ways to sow more seed to impact lives with the gospel. They realize that they don’t have it figured out. Bill also dropped this line on the crowd: “whether you like it or not, your entire organization takes its seed sowing cues from you.” Yeah, soak that one in for a little while.
God did not make you a leader to respond to stuff all day. He made you a leader in order to move stuff ahead. That said, our most important asset, or skill, as leaders is our ability to energize others. Who are you energizing in order to move ministry ahead?
The bottom end of his talk was pretty personal, and very frank. Willow Creek is in the midst of succession planning. After speaking a little bit about the process, he went on to say to the crowd that the hardest part of ministry is not the beginning, or the end, but the middle. In the middle, when we can’t see the beginning or the end, we need to be far more intentional about our disciplines, and our focus on Christ… or else distractions will wreck us.

Condoleeza Rice

I was struck by Condoleeza’s grace, poise, and intelligence. After her talk, Hybels asked her if she would consider the presidency, to which she said she did not have the wiring to be elected. Her response makes me wonder if our system isn’t seriously flawed. Three things I took from Condoleeza Rice:

Today’s headlines and history’s judgement are rarely the same.
Referring to Omar al-Bashir, the most dangerous world leader she encountered: someone who is willing to do almost anything to get their way is dangerous.
People in positions of leadership need a truth-teller in their lives.

Jim Collins

Jim Collins talk was much the same as the one I had heard at Catalyst, back in October. That said, he really got me thinking through some things… and he built upon some of Hybels’ succession planning talk. Here are my big take aways:

The signature of mediocrity in an organization is chronic inconsistency.
The greatest danger for any organization is not failure, but not knowing why you were successful in the first place.
Your organization needs to be strong so that you can be there when someone shows up at your door in need.
This last one was pretty significant for me: An organization is not truly great if it can’t be great without you (the senior leader).

Marc Keilburger and Sheryl WuDunn

Marc Keilburger is co-founder of Free the Children and Me to We: two Canadian based non-profits focused on helping children develop a social conscience. His big idea was that kids don’t suddenly turn eighteen and develop a social conscience. With this in mind, what are we pouring into the next generation?

Sheryl WuDunn spoke about how the empowerment of women is this centuries biggest challenge. The one thing that I can not shake from her talk is how slave costs have gone down over the last few centuries. Slaves in certain parts of the world can now be purchased for $150-$200… which makes them as disposable as a microwave oven.

Craig Groeschel

Groeschel went after a topic that I have been thinking a good bit about over the last several months: the generational divide in the church. He did it as a guy who is firmly rooted in the middle of the age spectrum, speaking to both groups with equal frankness. He also modeled what it looks like for a younger pastor to honor his mentors far better than I have ever seen. Three take-aways from his talk on how to have the generations work well together:

Develop intentional feedback loops that include all generations.
Create specific mentoring moments that allow you to mentor and be mentored. He then challenged us not to copy what our mentors do, but to learn how they think.
Create opportunities for significant leadership development within the next generation. As you do this, be careful not to delegate tasks as that creates followers, but delegate authority, which creates leaders.

Day one was intense, and I am excited to see what day two holds…

What rang YOUR bell at the Summit?

About the Author: Matt Steen

Over the last fifteen years I have been a Church Planter, Youth Pastor, Executive Pastor, and now I serve as a Church Concierge with churchsimple.net. I love Jesus, my wife, the Redskins and Capitals and am currently living on Long Island striving to properly pronounce the word G'island.

Earl

Were you in Chicago, Matt, or at a remote?

The last two years I was at the 3-D site, and this year at a remote.

My thoughts on your thoughts on day one – The biggest surprise was that Bill Hybels’ church is so invisible to a significant segment of the nearby community. It is very beautiful, and I can see how it looks like a college. I thought that when I first saw it, too. Everything – and everyone – is invisible to someone who isn’t looking. It was also surprising that they didn’t use his book or techniques about engaging people with initial conversations. I’m always impressed when they say they got something wrong or missed something, and are taking steps to correct it. I wonder how many who are close followers in philosophy and techniques drop them when they do, too. I also wonder how many are going to leave the conference and burn out their staff/workers by dropping his 6X6 on them – especially since he said you have to do it in addition to all of your other (perhaps not nearly as impactful) responsibilities, and that you are imposing your 6×6 on others, instead of letting them discover their own in the organizations context. He seems to be increasingly top-down and hierarchical.

Condoleeza Rice – Incredible heart and clearly lived-out faith. I was moved by both.The fact that she won’t run for office – and I believe her reasons are completely valid – was sobering. She is clearly an exceptional person and an exceptional leader. It’s a little bit chilling that someone can be an exceptional politician without being either. She still makes a remarkable difference without being a politician, and she will do it longer, and with greater effect.

Jim Collins – A highlight. What he said about Admunsen (Sp?) wa a brilliant insight. As I listened to all of the speakers, both days, they all evidenced that they were living the 20 Mile March principle/practice. I have heard him several times now, and I’m a fan of his books. His intensity and passion was the highest I’ve seen. What he and is wife came through was a boldly vulnerable truth that made a difference.
- http://www.churchthought.com Matt Steen
  
  I was at a satellite, but have been to South Barrington enough to know that the confusion over what the Willow campus is, is understandable… and it is a great reminder for us all.I get what you are saying about the 6×6, and my sense is that there will be a bunch of people that will burn out because they impose it without fully understanding the power of it. The 6×6 is a clarity tool, a tool to help refine what you are doing, and why you are doing it. I, like you, have a feeling that many people will use it as a task list… and miss the point entirely.
  
  Condoleeza really impressed me. I was skeptical going in, but she really did impress me, and I agree with your comments about being an exceptional person and leader and not being qualified to be a politician.
  
  The more I think about Jim Collins, the more I am excited about watching his journey. There is something going on there, and it would seem that he gets it more than he may know… I am looking forward to seeing if he doesn’t have a Carly Fiorina type journey in the days to come.
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