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T.D. Jakes 

• When people are passionate about what they do they are far more effective at what they do
• In church leadership, people don’t come to follow you, they come to follow Jesus, not you… in sales they call it bait & switch… It’s a real step down from Jesus to you… 
• Mimicking is not leadership, people don’t want imitation
• Leadership is always about transition, not maintaining- going from here to there – People follow people who move and take risks
• People want to have a sense that their purpose is bigger than them- we need to find that purpose in our organizations
• Two different people can say the same thing different ways- one inspires you, the other just makes you want to die
• From the head to the beards to the skirts-  Our leadership and vision cannot be diluted or polluted- it needs to make it all the way down through your team(s)
• Stretch people but don’t tear people apart by overwhelming them- it will break them and they will leave
• Most people don’t have a good sense of what they do well, we need to point out and call out the strengths we see in people
• Your team must deliver on what we promise and get people fired up about it
• “Put people to work doing the things that make them leap out of bed.” – T.D. Jakes
• 2 Different leaders, builders and bankers
• Builders:  You can give them little or nothing to work with and before you know it they’ll turn a match into an inferno…  Give them a hopeless situation and they’ll turn it around… Generally they’re better at building than maintaining…
• Bankers:  Better at maintaining
• “Are you bringing around people who do what you do?  If you do that, they compete with you, not complete you.”
• Good teams complete you, they add to you,
• “If you have 2 or 3 people you can be completely open and vulnerable with (confidants) in your lifetime, you are a blessed person.”
• Don’t hold people too tightly that were meant to come and go (constituents)- they are not there for you, they are there for what you are for
• Comrades:  They are against what you are against-  good to have one ear cutter/fighter on your team- they’re an asset if you know how to use them, if not, they’ll fight against you.  Direct them to the right target, not your back.
• The people you lead begin to flow in your spirit- they become more like you and your style, vision, passion-
• If you are transparent with your team, show them your wounds,  they can get in sync with your spirit and “catch your passion”
• I’m so wonderful and good, I wish I had a “me”… Leadership can drain you when pouring out to others…
• When you find yourself running a little on empty, you have a God to whom you can turn and say, “Help me so I can help them, give me passion so I can give them passion, give me fire so I can pass on the flame.”

Blake Mycoskie     Tom’s Shoe’s

• Relying on donations was not a sustainable model, “what if I started a for profit company?  Buy a pair of shoes and we’ll give a pair away…”
• What would it take to have someone to tell your story more passionate than your Mom? How compelling would your vision need to be?
• “If we focus on giving, everything else will take care of itself”… they’ve given away 600,000 pairs of shoes
• We allow and encourage our employees to part of the giving- it’s been attractional
• Employees that have been there two years get to deliver a pair of shoes (expenses paid) so they get the opportunity to actually get the opportunity to see how they’re part of changing the world
• “When people start serving, their own problems or stress start to evaporate”
• He could have taken cash with 40,000 pairs of shoes (instead of investing in the company)- they’ve taken no additional funds since, but now 680,000 pairs of shoes have been given to kids
• Over 250,000 went barefoot for a day to help bring awareness to the cause
• We worked hard to make it as simple as possible for people to give and be involved (buy a pair of shoes)
• Key partnerships with churches and businesses really help- giving organizations authentic, simple ways to help (authentic meaning they can clearly see real results) can really expand the reach of changing the world
• “You can’t be bashful if you want to lead change- people want to get involved but you need to ask…”
• I thought, “Be entrepreneureal, make a ton of money so I can give away money when I’m 60 or 70″… now he recommends, “Make giving part of your plan and organization today, don’t wait- you’ll get to see and experience changing the world today.”

Jack Welch  

• Leaders have to be authentic:  People can see through the phonies, they need to know they can count on the leader- often people take on a “persona” that’s not themselves…. “corporate stiffs”
• They think they have some title which means they’re supposed to behave a certain way… not authentic
• Energize:  You’ve got to excite and energize the people around you- if you can get a vision/mission and energize people around it- that’s critical
• How do you energize people?  He spent 10 hours with the call center… He worked hard to make sure they understood their story, he engaged with them, he stayed until they all got on the same page, they had fun, went down ten different paths until they got on the same page…  Tell people how their roles will make a change, how it’s important
• If you don’t feel it (the vision), it will be really hard for you to pass it along
• Most meetings if they’re any good, the leader raises the level of the conversation in the meetings- so people can learn… everyone gets smarter
• Insecure people hire dopes and they don’t get any better
• Give people the opportunity to collaborate, raise intelligent ideas, get on the same page, and be able to articulate the unified message in their roles
• Candor:  We fought desperately to get people to say what they really thought on the table, it improves the organization drastically
• Differentiation:  The Top 20%, the vital 70%, and then the 10% that had to be dealt with… He feels it’s the kindest way to deal with people…. Sports teams differentiate all the time, who wins?  Is winning good?  You’re competing with other people/companies
• You have to have a good appraisal system, reviews and evaluations don’t help people in most organizations…they’re a waste of time.  You need to let people know where they really stand.  (Candor)
• In most places, people spend most of the time trying to fix the 10%- in most cases the employees know it… It’s not a surprise if you have a candid appraisal system
• A level people:   energizers, good values, well-liked, they get a kick out of seeing others grow, they hire great people, call the best out of people, they lack envy, celebrate success in people
• B level people:   Isn’t always there in a clutch but is smart, hard-working but not the smartest… you have to work hard to motivate those in the top of the B group, they could be future A’s
• “Here’s what I like about what you’re doing, here’s what I think you can improve”- do it every 3 months, use the old review document to compare
• C level people:  Acidic (a real pain in the….eye… , low energy, negative energy, the wet blanket, we tried that, naysayers
• Boss haters- aren’t always bad… sometimes it’s passionate candor that could have value…. it’s the cynic and whisperers you have to be worried about
• You have to do everything you can to stop the meeting after the meeting (griping about what just happened)
• You need to do everything and give everything you can to the top 20%
• “If you can come up with a better answer to build a great team, go for it, but I haven’t found a better way. 20/70/10) ” – Jack Welch
• Working in a non-profit is a choice.  The outcomes (and salaries) that come from those are a choice
• “Sometimes non-profit means non-performance…you chose non-profit and you better deliver!”
• He regrets moving too slowly (when most people said he was moving too fast)- keep building and encouraging people for good decisions so you don’t create gridlock- let them build confidence
• Succession Planning started 8 years before he retired- the list they started with ended whiddling down to their 3 long shots…not the obvious choices….  You don’t really know how someone is going to behave at the next level…. get as many people involved in the process as you can…
• Celebrations:  Managers have trouble celebrating small victories, should be in your budget (slush),

Terri Kelly

W.L. Gore & Associates  (think…Goretex)

• WLG rated as one of top 100 companies to work for
• Right foundation and values from day one and an environment of innovation
• Created “task force teams” to address problems or collaborate on initiatives- cross group, cross skilled
• It’s everyone’s job to make everyone else successful
• “On demand hierarchy”:  The person at the top of the organization is not necessarily the best person to drive a decision, sometimes the leader/driver can shift, it’s not a fixed structure- Get the right person to lead the decision process depending on the circumstances
• Lattice organization-  we’re connected by nodes, connected to each other- encourage everyone to connect to others in their network-  immediately get the information they need
• “We don’t tell people what to do and what projects to work on..”
• The leaders focus on influencing, not directing- empowering people to figure out on what they need to do
• Values:  Everyone contributes, small teams, it takes all of us, take a long term view
• Financial is not the primary motivation- the quality of workplace, the community give back matter as well
• Innovation:  How much passion does the person have?  Are they able to get others excited about their ideas?  Peer review to make sure the best ideas are coming to the top… 
• Associates are scored based on who is adding the most value to the organization (peer review) – motivates team to want to work well with their peers so they score more
• People are rewarded financially based on the peer scoring and how they model the values of the organization
• People confuse what makes the company more money vs. what they’re passionate about- they want people to work on what they’re passionate about
• Think sponsor not leader.  Everyone has a personal sponsor at WLG-  their job is to help the associate grow and add value.  Sponsors ask “What is it truly going to take to make this person successful?”
• They try to keep their plants to 200-250 people… economy of scale would say to have one big plant- they intentionally invest in the added cost to keep community, collaboration, and a team spirit
• The common values tie their multiple locations together
• How do you protect culture?  Hiring process critical- they spend a lot of time in behavioral interviewing – leaders are always watching to make sure team is aligned to values
• Analogy of a boat and water line-  give people freedom to innovate above the water line but don’t drill holes below the water line that could sink the ship
• The leaders always know they “have not arrived”- they are continuing to model and gain that respect every day
• “You can have written values but it’s up to the leaders of your organization to bring them to life.”
• Her role is to spend a lot of time with their leaders, stay out of the way, and keep an eye on the changing landscape to make sure they’re on a great path

Jeff Manion

• “The Land Between (later referenced as TLB ”-  Like being in the middle of the desert, a rough season, a cloudy place, a time where God’s voice seems silent, depression
• Manna provided to the Israelites, flakey bread-like substance- called “what is it”… have you ever had the same food over and over and over?  Try eating Macaroni & Cheese for all your meals for two weeks
• TLB is a fertile ground for complaining-  Have you been in a season where you find yourself in TLB?  “I’m sick of this!”  “I can’t carry this anymore”… it’s also fertile ground for emotional background….  “Just kill me now…”
• Moses: “I can’t carry this burden anymore!  I’m not their Mother!”-  who’s voice do you hear?  Sound familiar?
• How can you serve in church leadership while carry the burden of a rebellious 17 year old?  “God… I. Can’t. Carry. This. Anymore.”
• “I was prepared for days of disappointing, but I wasn’t prepared for years of disappointment or simply being a disappointment.”
• TLB is also fertile ground for God’s provision, are we opening our hands to receive what God has for us?
• Sometimes God provides a new capacity for contentment to live in smaller means, sometimes He’ll provide a better job, He may pull you out of depression, He may provide an unexpected phone call, He may provide a timely song or message
• Want to hear some good whining in the Bible? Check out Numbers 11
• Every feel like your life would have been better without God or if He’s even capable of solving your problems?  Do you question God’s ability to provide?
• TLB is also fertile ground for discipline.  God killed people that complained about the food He gave them, great story for kids that won’t eat their meal…
• God’s discipline is inflicting pain for a redemptive purpose, not for the sake of simply inducing pain.
• TLB is also fertile ground for transformational growth.  God is asking us over and over to trust him no matter our circumstances
• “Time does not heal all wounds…some people just get bitter and caustic.  We have to make choices in our heart.”
• Trust evicts Complaint. 
• “The space in your life you most resent is the very soil God wants to do His work in our lives.”

Andy Stanley

• Myth: If you’re a great leader, you’ll be able to make your problems go away and relieve all tension
• Great organizations always have problems and tension, but are able to leverage them to move their organization forward
• Every day in our organization:  Pressure & Tension
• Every organization has problems that shouldn’t be solved and tensions that shouldn’t be resolved
• You manage the tension of staying at work late or going home to be with the family, it’s a tension you can’t solve, you manage it (a third category)
• What are the specifics in your industry that represent the tensions that should not be resolved?  Profitability vs. Quality Service (example), Excellence vs. Sound Financial Principle
• If you resolve a tension, you create a new tension.  If you’re all about service you could create a tension in your financials
• If you resolve any of those tensions, you create a barrier to progress
• Progress does not depend on resolving tensions, it depends on managing the tension
• Does this problem keep resurfacing?  It’s a tension to manage not a problem to solve.
• If there are mature advocates on both sides…  chances are it’s a tension to manage and not a problem to solve
• The tension of having a church for seekers or having a church for believers is a common one for a church
• Are the two sides really interdependent?  Work and family example… If I only work, I’ll have no family, If I only stay at home, I’ll have no job, if I have no job, I may have no family

The Role of Leadership is to manage the tension to the benefit of the organization:

• #1  Identify the tensions in your organization- what are the tensions we need to quit trying to solve?
• #2  Create Terminology-  “I guess that’s a tension we have to manage”  Becomes part of our terminology…
• If you allow two strong personalities on two sides of the issue, one has to win/lose…  there is a “third” option… it’s a tension to manage
• #3  Inform the Core:  Make sure your team understands these principles
• #4  Continually give value to both sides of the tension
• #5  Don’t weigh in too heavily based on your personal biases- we have opinions, sometimes we’ll take tensions off the table when we should leave them open
• Understand the upside of the opposite side of the tensions-  Saving money vs. creating a great environment to work in…
• Once we embrace the third option (calling something a tension that won’t go away)- we begin to appreciate the differences in opinions and bias
• #6  Don’t allow strong personalities to win the day
• I need passionate people that will push their side and you need mature people to say it’s a tension that won’t ever be resolved
• #7  Don’t think in terms of balance, think in terms of rhythm- don’t think in terms of fair, think in terms of rhythm- there’s a time to weigh in heavily and there are times to back away

Leaders need to determine the difference between problems that need to be solved and the tensions that need to simply exist and be managed.

Zhao Xiao, Ph. D

• A Christian, Communist, Chinese Economist- wow
• The secret of America’s economic success:  Free market economies can succeed when it’s based on values, faith, and morals- otherwise it implodes in individual self-interest
• 4 Premier stages in the world:  Economics, Political, Sports, Faith
• On the Faith stage, you rarely see this stage in China, but China is coming back to Faith
• Leadership is not only influence but right direction- you can’t just lead people from here to there and be wrong
• What will be the next significant change in the next 500 years?  In the 20th century, Bill Clinton said it would be the rise of China- in 500 years in could be said it was China
• The right phrase would be to say that China has come back, not rising up- for most of the past 5000 years, China has been a leader (largest economy until 1870)
• In the past 30 years China has experienced the fastest growth in human history, in 2010, China is now the 3rd largest economy and will be #2 within 12 months
• It’s possible by 2020 China could be the largest economy in the world- and is returning to a leadership position in the world
• Just because they have the largest economy, it doesn’t mean it will be the leader-  environmental issues (1/3 of the land, 2/5 of the rivers contaminated)
• China’s biggest challenge is in its moral value- if it can’t export “ethics and morals”, it won’t be a superpower
• There’s no such thing as the China dream, not like the “American Dream”-  most important are the American values- many people love America because of the values behind the people
• China needs to embrace the good cultures and values of the whole world- they should learn from the Christian values, they’re slowly starting to turn their ways
• In 1950, less than 1 million Christians in China, increased 100 fold in the last 30 years…  from 1/2 million to up to 130 million Christians in China
• Life transformation is exceeding economic transformation-  in a few years, it could become the largest Protestant nation in the world
• China’s leadership transformation will happen when the Christian Faith blends with the economics and culture
• The most important aspect of a harmonious society is unconditional love
• Lots of people worship success, not integrity-  Christian entrepreneurs are working to lead the charge in bringing Faith into the culture and business world
• Will China’s economy continue to grow?  Will China’s rise be a blessing or a curse to the rest of the world? 
• Vision for China to be a New City on a Hill- to bring Hope and blessing to the world
• Invites us to join China to assist them to bring them through this transformation
• Asks us to remove our fear of China and give love to China…  help them to grow in their Faith and teach them to give generously
• “I am expecting Willow Creek Leadership Summit will one day be held in China”

• Tony Dungy has 7 kids- wow
• My simple job has been “to help my players become better” – applicable in any arena
• “Stubborness is a virtue if you’re right” – Chuck Noll
• “We are going to win, but you can’t make your organization your life… family, values, and life away from your organization is what matters.”
• The locker room was open to the families of the team- he modeled what he valued
• Let’s be efficient in our work so we don’t have to work crazy hours- don’t mistake hours with productivity
• He chose a public service announcement over extra practice for the Super Bowl, they lost- but later he learned of a story of a child being adopted because of his message- What matters in life?  A Super Bowl win or a child that now has a home?
• Find a mentor- someone you respect….  (A 30-second conversation with a mentor can change your life)
• The mentor needs to get to get to know you well enough and develop a relationship/trust so they can effectively speak into your life
• The informal relationship with your mentor(s) can be more powerful than formal meetings
• At times in your life, you’ll run into people that will frustrate your path, don’t let those people take away something you enjoy (or have a passion for) in your life
• You never know the impact your one word or statement can make in someone’s life
• Seeing people (players) develop was a greater win in life than the Super Bowl victory
• Jesus Christ was his ultimate mentor

Jim Collins  2010 Willow Creek Leadership Summit

• Greatness is not merely a matter of circumstance, it’s a matter of conscious choice and discipline
• How do The Mighty Fall?
• If great companies can fall, it can happen to anyone… no business, no organization, no country, no person is immune to the possibility of the fall
• Jim was engaged 4 days after his first date with his now wife…
• Like a disease, an organization can look strong on the outside but could be dying internally
• 5 Stages of the Fall:  Hubris of Success, Pursuit of More, Denial and Risk of Peril, Grasping for Salvation, Capitulation to Irrelevence or Death
• “Organizational decline is more of what you do to yourselves rather than what happens to you.”
• Stage 1:  Hubris of Success -  lack of humility
• Different personalities can drive great organizations, introverts (Kimberly Clark), magnetic personalities (Xerox), or just not normal (Southwest Airlines)
• Who has a deep sense of responsibility to save your organization and culture?
• Great level 5 leaders:  It’s not about them and they never give up
• Humility is what separated the level 4 and level 5 leaders
• Stage 2:  Undisciplined Pursuit of More
• If you allow growth to exceed the pace at which you can put great people in the leadership seats- that spells trouble… do we have all the key seats in our organization filled with fantastic people, if not, you need to resist the urge to grow
• Stage 3:  Denial and Risk of Peril
• Are you a team on the way up or a team on the way down?
• Stockdale Principle:  Never stop the unwavering faith that with resolve, we will get beyond our current reality- but are also brutally honest about our current reality.
• The optimists struggled the most, they made claims and that something would happen by a
• Stage 4:  Grasping for Salvation
• Looking for the silver bullet, the great merger, or great leader that will save the day…
• Greatness is never a single event or single breakthrough…. it’s a series of events… the flywheel principle of doing the right thing over and over and over…. disciplined, methodical….   There is no single push that makes it go….  It’s customer to customer, service to service…
• It does not happen overnight
• Organizations can still come back from Stage 4
• Stage 5: Capitulation  -  It’s Over
• Great companies stand because they had a reason to struggle
• If you measure your success by money you always lose
• What would be lost if your organization simply disappeared?
• There is Purpose in their Core Values- Why Do you Exist, Who Cares? 
• “The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency”
• Preserve the Core, Stimulate Progress-  2 co-existing functions   Core Values and BHAGS
• BHAGS- Big Hairy Audacious Goals
• 10 Specific to Do’s
• #1  Do your diagnostics    (Good to Great diagnostic tool on his site)
• #2 Count Your Blessings
• #3  What is your Questions/Statements Ratio? Invest More Time in Being Interesting /Ask the right Questions
• #4  How many key seats do you have on your bus, what’s the plan to fill the bus with only fantastic people
• #5  Do the Good to Great tool
• #6  In your next meeting with key people, ask what are the brutal facts we face?
• #7  Create a stop doing list-  part of discipline
• #8  Define results and find the great results along the way  (how do we demonstrate it?)
• #9  Double your reach to young people by changing your methods but not your core values
• #10  Set a BHAG in these tough times
• Peter Drucker wrote 2/3 of his books after age 65….  Your usefulness never ends….
• Never, ever, ever, ever give up.

• A great goal would be to improve your leadership 5-10% every year, what might your leadership look like after 5 or 10 years by doing that?
• Sometimes in leadership we can feel like we get to “stuck” points, we question our own leadership and our confidence can slump
• Leaders move people from “here to there”  (Here, current reality- There, vision of where we can be/go)
• Good people will say they like it “here”, we don’t want to go “there”
• The first play is to make the “here” sound awful, not to describe the “there” (when talking about vision)-  What would it look like to stay “here”?
• Martin Luther King clearly talked about “we can’t stay here” before the “I Have a Dream” speech
• What is the cost of staying where we are?
• Our job as leaders is to figure out what God wants to get this done in this world, figure out our role in it, and figure out how we can move people from “here to there”- this is a leadership fundamental
• It takes fantastic people, you can’t do it alone
• “One of the greatest joys of leadership is building a team of fantastic people”- 3 C’s- Character, Competency, and Chemistry…. potential 4th “C”- “Culture”
• What type of person flourishes on your unique team?  (Culture) – key component in finding great team members
• If you got a text that someone was leaving your organization, how would your respond? (Relief, Grief, or Vomit?)  Great indicators of how your team members stack up in their importance in your organization.  Ask yourself of each person on your team, “What category would I put this person in our team?  Relief, Grief, or Vomit?”
• Some people are so valuable to your organization that you would vomit if they left- take care of those people!
• Meet with the people that are on your “vomit” list- tell them how valuable they are…
• Do you feel the assembling of a fantastic team a privilege?  Are there conversations you need to have with some people in your organization?
• Mile Markers and Celebrations- How do you inspire people to stay on the journey?
• When going from “here” to “there”, people can be fired up out of the blocks, the middle of the race is where teams can hit the wall and stall…  momentum can be broken…
• People forget how bad it was and how good it will be… you have to refill their “vision bucket”- vision leaks
• Celebrate every mile marker along the way- even if they’re made up
• “What keeps people on the journey is the sense that they’re going to get there some day”
• There is a 40% diffential of an inspired person vs. uninspired in their productivity
• When was the last time you threw a party for a mile marker hit?  Our teams need it.
• Whispers from God- no journey is a straight line-   John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice and heed it…”  Primary way is through the Bible, God puts thoughts in your mind that are not your thoughts…  Do you believe that God still speaks today?
• “I think God tries to speak to you every single day..”
• “You’re never going to have to do life alone…”-  God
• “If leaders were tuned into the whispers of God we would see incredible changes in our world..”  BH
• Whispers are often short, 2 or 3 word whispers  (Don’t Quit, Step Up, Take the Risk, Apologize Now, Make the Tough Decision, Get Help, Stop Running from God, Slow Down, Show your heart, Let others Lead, Feed your Soul, Bless the Team, Make the Ask, Do something more impactful, Come Clean, Embody the Vision, Celebrate the Victories, Speak the Truth, Pay the Price, Count Your Blessings, End the Secret, Check your Motives, Set the Pace, Give God your Best, Get Physically Fit, Serve your Spouse, Pray
• Experiment and practice acting on the whispers
• Courageous leaders make courageous asks