John C. Maxwell explains how visions change based on real world conditions and good feedback.
Feedback Shapes Your Vision
Month: August 2018
Characteristics of Leaders Who Minimize and Blame
Danielle Strickland helps us understand the ways we can identify leaders who are abusing their power.
Confronting a Leader Who Abuses Power
Danielle Strickland provides practical advice for confronting a leader who is abusing power.
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Uniquely better means that you take a category and do something so unique with it that you get people’s attention.
GLS18 Session Notes–Craig Groeschel–Anticipatory Leadership
I want to talk to you about leadership and how we look forward, so we can make the appropriate decisions today to lead toward our desired outcome in the future.
Story of the YouVersion App: At Life.Church, Craig’s passionate that everyone should have access to the Word of God. So, they invented a website called YouVersion.com. It failed miserably. Then Bobby Gruenewald told us that Apple was coming out with something called an app. I remember him saying, “It might be significant.” So, we built an app with content from the website and released the same day that Apple released apps. Ten years later, over 1/3 of a billion people have downloaded the free YouVersion app.
How do we anticipate where things are going so we can make decisions today that lead toward what is happening in the future?
The difference between a good leader and a great leader is one who learns to anticipate rather than react.
Wayne Gretzky, one of the greatest ice hockey players of all time said, “Most players skate to where the puck is, I skate to where it will be.”
The difference between a good leader and a great leader is one who learns to anticipate rather than react.
The life span of your current systems is diminishing as we speak. We need to be able to anticipate what is coming.
- Examples: Kodak, Blockbuster, Borders, Taxi Cabs
What do we need to do as leaders?
A warning: realize that what you know may be completely wrong.
Story of Life.Church. We were on the front-end of an innovative breakthrough in doing multi-site church. We formed strong opinions. If we think we’re experts, we are susceptible to the curse of confidence.
- We find it difficult to receive feedback.
- We often answer more questions than we’re asking.
- We assume too much and stop innovating.
How can we very practically anticipate the future?
1. Develop situational awareness
- We need to very honestly and accurately assess the true current state of our organization. Self-awareness is incredibly difficult.
- The Dunning-Kruger effect: People have difficulty recognizing their own incompetence.
- Look at everything. Tell the truth. Have the courage to be honest.
- Andy Stanley says, “If you don’t know why something is working when it is, you won’t know how to fix it when it’s not.”
- Force yourself to 21 questions –not to confirm your biases but to get to the root reason why something is working or not.
- Story of Kodak. Kodak created the first digital camera but missed the digital age. They failed because they mistakenly thought they were in the film business. They were really in the memory business.
- Emerson quote: “The person who understands how will always have a job. The person who understands why will always be his or her boss.”
2. Discern future threats and opportunities.
- Learn to anticipate in areas outside of your field of expertise. Develop the muscle in your brain of projecting forward.
- Some of Craig’s theories:
- The younger generation may start to reject social media.
- The cost/benefit of a college degree suggests it might be time for reform in higher education.
- Cars will drive themselves and car ownership will decline.
- Grocery stores will begin to anticipate what we need.
- Embody healthy skepticism while at the same time, lead with bold optimism.
- Healthy skepticism understands what we are doing now will not work forever.
- Bold optimism remembers that new challenges also bring new opportunities.
- Story of Lego. In 1998, after 66 years of profitability, Lego profits plummeted. They had under-estimated how much the digital revolution would change how kids played. The same year, Lego forged a partnership with Lucas Film to release Star Wars Legos – and gained an appreciation of the movie industry.
- Innovation is born out of limitation. Innovation is seeing what everybody else sees but thinking what nobody else thought.
Innovation is seeing what everybody else sees but thinking what nobody else thought.
3. Disrupt what is with what could be.
- The greatest leaders and innovators always break the rules.
- Airbnb – doesn’t own real estate.
- Uber – doesn’t own cars
- Do you have a hunch, theory or burden? Disrupt what is and create what could be.
- Craig’s theories about the future of church.
- People want more Jesus and less cool.
- The contemporary service is the new traditional service.
- Churches need to engage people all week, not just on Sunday.
- We need go where people are rather than trying to get them to come where we are.
- People will leave churches unless they are needed and known.
- The world is getting dark but we’re the light of the world.
- The church is becoming more and more united.
There are 3 big questions that we need to ask.
1. What is the true, current state of your organization?
2. If you were starting now, what are you currently doing that you would not do? And why are you doing it?
3. If you were starting over today, what would you attempt? When are you going to attempt it?
Don’t create what is, create what is supposed to be.
Things are changing. Good leaders react, great leaders anticipate.
Your life is too valuable and your calling too great and your God is too good to waste your life on things that do not last.
You are a leader. With God’s help and by God’s power, leaders change the world.
*Disclaimer: GLS18 Session Notes are only available in the United States*
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GLS18 Session Notes–Simon Sinek–The Infinite Game
Story of the Vietnam War. The U.S. won most of the major battles and lost fewer troops. It raises the question: If you can decimate your enemy and win the major battles, how do you still lose the war?
We don’t fully understand the concept of winning and losing.
James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games
• Finite games have known players, fixed rules and agreed-upon objectives.
• Infinite games have known and unknown players, changeable rules and the objective is to perpetrate the game.
There is no such thing as winning an infinite game.
Story of Microsoft vs. Apple. At the Microsoft Summit, executives spent the majority of their presentations talking about how to beat Apple. At the Apple Summit, 100% of their executives talked about how to help teachers teach and how to help students learn.
The infinite player:
- Understands that sometimes others have the better product.
- Knows there is no such thing as winning, only ahead and behind.
- Understands the only true competitor is yourself.
How to lead in an infinite game
1. You have to have a just cause.
- Too many vision statements focus on being the best. But a truly just cause is something you’re willing to sacrifice for to advance.
- Example of The U.S. Declaration of Independence. The idea that all people are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights which include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It’s something we will never actually achieve, but we will die trying.
- Test your vision statement with these questions:
- Is it resilient?
- Is it inclusive?
- Is it service-oriented?
Leaders are responsible for creating an environment in which people feel they can be their best.
2. You have to have trusting teams.
- Leaders are responsible for creating an environment in which people feel they can be their best.
- On a trusting team, people feel safe enough to raise their hands and say, “I made a mistake” or “I need some help.” They know that their colleagues and bosses will rush to their aid.
- Story of the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas. What makes it extraordinary is the people who work there. The people there don’t just like their jobs but truly love their jobs.
- Story of airline employee. She said, “If I don’t enforce the rules, I could lose my job.” She didn’t feel safe in her organization and her leaders didn’t trust her.
- When employees are scared to make mistakes, they become more preoccupied with protecting themselves than with taking care of the customer.
We do not run our best races alone on the track. We run our best in a race when other runners are there to push us.
3. You have to have a worthy rival.
- We do not run our best races alone on the track. We run our best in a race when other runners are there to push us.
- Story of Simon’s rival. There is another guy who does what I do—writing and speaking—and his work is very high quality. I had mistakenly viewed him as his competitor. I had created a finite game where there was none. Now I view him as a worthy rival, someone who exists to push me and make me better.
- Story of Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios. They made the experience in line extraordinary. That line experience pushed Disney to improve their lines.
4. You have to have existential flexibility.
- When your entire business model is challenged, would you be willing to blow up your business to advance your just cause?
- Story of Steve Jobs. After Jobs experienced graphic interface, he knew that technology would better serve his vision. His executives said, “We can’t do that. It would blow up the company.” Steve replied, “Better we should blow it up than someone else.”
- Story of Kodak. In the 1970s, Kodak invented the digital camera but suppressed the technology because it would cannibalize film sales. The industry blew them up because they refused to blow themselves up.
- If your teams believe in the cause and trust you, they will stand by through the short term challenges to reorganize your company so you can survive.
The pressures around us are overwhelming to focus on the short term, focus on the win, focus on being number one, and to think about ourselves before we think about others.
5. You have to have courage.
- It takes great courage to lead.
- The pressures around us are overwhelming to focus on the short term, focus on the win, focus on being number one, and to think about ourselves before we think about others.
What does it mean to live an infinite life?
We can choose to live our lives by finite rules or we can choose to live our lives as an infinite game.
By choosing to lead in the infinite game, we will make a forever impact in the lives of people around us.
*Disclaimer: GLS2018 Session Notes are only available in the United States*
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GLS18 Session Notes–Dr. Nthabiseng Legoete–The Difficult Work of Pushing a Vision Forward
I would like to talk about the downside of leadership – when you fall short as a leader and make mistakes.
Theodore Roosevelt’s Man in the Arena Speech.
- How do you forge your way out of seeming failure?
- How do you forgive yourself for the errors you’ve made?
- How do you move on?
Story of Quali Health. We opened our first facility in 2016. Patients were coming in, and we were having great impact. We were able to attract funding and open more facilities. One year later, we started facing challenges around cash-flow and profitability. We needed to lay some people off. People were criticizing my leadership.
I got very discouraged. I entered into a time of introspection and fell victim to discouragement for several weeks. But then, I started to realize there was a path forward.
Insights on the Difficult Work of Pushing a Vision Forward
1. Focus on the why of your organization
- Be relentless and unwavering on what you want to achieve.
- At the same time, be willing to be flexible on the methods by which you achieve your mission.
- Don’t let challenges force you to give up on your dream.
Be relentless and unwavering on what you want to achieve.
2. Do not be surprised when you face defeat, challenges or resistance
- We tend to think that visions from God happen unopposed. But challenges are part of the purpose-filled journey. Challenges should spur us on.
- During the layoffs, Dr. Legoete felt terrible because, in part, the layoffs were due to her own decisions. She had to forgive herself and learn painful lessons in order to move forward.
We tend to think that visions from God happen unopposed. But challenges are part of the purpose-filled journey. Challenges should spur us on.
3. Dealing with critics
- If you are concerned about whether people will like you or not, you are not fulfilling your mission.
- Dr. Legoete asked herself the following questions to re-focus on her “why.”
- Did you start this organization for people to like you?
- Did you start this organization to provide healthcare?
- Are you doing that?
- Are you doing that well?
- If you are achieving your mission, everything else is just noise.
4. Focus on the learning
- I needed to look at the situation and say, “God, what are you trying to teach me?”
- A vision cannot be dependent on one single person. The vision keeps you going.
Based on statistics, 90% of companies fail. It makes me wonder if the high failure rate of start-ups might be fueled by leaders who did not fully anticipate how hard it would be.
I want to inspire people to keep going – even when they face dark points – because there are amazing things that need to be done.
*Disclaimer: GLS18 Session Notes are only available in the United States*
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GLS18 Session Notes–Erwin McManus–The Last Arrow
I am convinced that the greatest battles we ever fight are the ones within us. And if we can figure out how to conquer the darkness inside, we can move forward into the light.
We are all desperately afraid that there is greatness inside of us that will never be actualized.
- Story of Bill McManus: When my son Aaron was 15-years-old, he wanted to meet his step-grandfather. Bill McManus said, “I don’t know what your Dad has told you, but he was just average. His brother was exceptional. But your dad was just average.” Those words echoed in my soul.
- I was never average. I was always below average.
You’ve been created by God who gives you intention and purpose and significance. I have known too many people with so much potential. But their lives never lived up to what everyone else saw in them.
We live our lives holding on to the status quo, and we are terrified of breaking away from the pack to become uniquely the person who God created us to be.
We need to ask the question, “How can I become the person I was created to be?”
- Bible story of King Jehoash and Elisha (2 Kings). King Jehoash is about to be destroyed by an army and he knows the only way to win is if God is on his side. Elisha tells him to take arrows and to strike them on the ground and he will have victory. So the king strikes the ground three times and stops. Elisha asks him why he stopped. By stopping, he would only have partial victory.
And I wonder how many of us have confused those moments in our life—we thought we failed, but what we really did was quit. We’ve settled for much less than the life we are supposed to live.
- Story of Erwin’s journey with cancer: A medical test revealed that Erwin had a very aggressive and advanced form of cancer. He thought The Last Arrow might be his final book. He opened up the manuscript and read a sentence he had written a year earlier: “I need to tell you before you hear it from somebody else that I’m dying…but so are you.”
Most of us live our lives as if we are going to live forever. We are all dying. We don’t get days back. We need to treat each day like they are sacred.
Some of you are living your life in fear. Freedom is on the other side of your fear! Too many people say they have faith, but they are paralyzed by fear.
When you put death behind you, life is the only thing in front of you.
If you don’t deal with the paralyzing power of fear in your life, you will never live the life you were created to live.
If you don’t deal with the paralyzing power of fear in your life, you will never live the life you were created to live.
Leadership is not about living in the confines of your fear but it’s about facing them and running through them. Greatness is on the other side of our pain.
- Story of walking through pain. Six hours after the surgery, I decided I wanted to get up and walk. I reasoned, “If I can stand this pain, I can face whatever pain in ahead of me.” We need to learn how to walk in our pain. Three months after surgery, I played two hours of basketball at the gym.
- An atheist friend said my cancer might be the one thing that drives him to prayer. I realized my recovery wasn’t for me. I’m not afraid of death because I’m already alive.
I live for this purpose: I want people who are so afraid to get up and live life again. I want them to know that their pain was not the limit of their life. You need to go through pain to step into greatness.
Jesus did not come to give us a way out of pain. He came to give us a way through pain. Trust that God has something extraordinary on the other side of your wounds and pain.
People want to define us by our worst moments. But God does not define you by your worst moments. He sees in you a greatness that you cannot see in yourself.
Failure is not the end of the story.
- Story of Erwin’s company. When you are living in a story bigger than your own, failure just enhances the story. Erwin’s business partner embezzled millions of dollars and he lost everything. In the middle of the collapse, his son Aaron came back to Jesus. He challenged Erwin to live 100%.
I’m standing in front of you as a person who knows failure after failure after failure. Faith doesn’t make life easier. Faith makes you stronger.
Faith doesn’t make life easier. Faith makes you stronger.
Forty years ago, I had a life-changing encounter with the creator of the universe. I never thought it was possible. But I came to know that God had stepped into human history in the person of Jesus. I didn’t care about heaven. I didn’t care about hell. I was terrified that I would live and die and never do anything meaningful. I was terrified that my dad was right—that I was nothing but average.
A life is waiting for you. Your faith is the fuel you need to step into your pain and into your fear and into your failures.
Take the arrow and strike and strike and strike and strike and strike.
And when you take your last breath, let your quiver be empty. And let your last arrow be in your hand.
*Disclaimer: GLS18 Session Notes are only available in the United States*
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GLS18 Session Notes–Sheila Heen–Navigating Difficult Conversations
We feel like conversations are not supposed to be difficult. But every one of us has difficult conversations in our lives. Difficult conversations are a big part of leadership.
The presence of difficult conversations indicates:
- You care about what you do
- You care about the people you are doing it with
Difficult conversations are a big part of leadership.
We need to look beyond what people are actually saying to one another. We need to become aware of our internal voice.
In difficult conversations, our internal voices are turned up to full volume.
Drama: Monisha and Paul are discussing plans for a client meeting. Paul wants to book an expensive experience to land the client. Monisha is concerned about the budget.
Every difficult conversation has the same underlying structure:
1) The What Happened? Conversation
- Who’s right?
- Whose fault is it?
- What was the other person’s motive?
- The more frustrated we are, the more likely we are to tell a particularly negative story and assume the worst.
2) The Feelings Conversation
- Difficult conversations unearth complicated and conflicting feelings.
- In North America, we are not supposed to bring our feelings to work. But as human beings, we can’t leave our feelings behind. Feelings can leak out.
3) The Identity Conversation
- Identity is the story we tell about who we are.
- Am I competent?
- Am I a good person?
- Am I worthy of love?
In most difficult conversations, we feel like it’s our job to set the other person straight.
The real issue is that they need to change. People don’t respond well to being lectured, blamed and fixed.
The other person also has an internal voice. Their internal voice is focused on what they are right about.
So what do we do?
1. Instead of asking who’s right ask, “What is it that we both think this conversation is about?”
- Get curious about why we see this so differently.
2. Instead of asking whose fault it is ask, “What have we each contributed to this problem?”
- Blame looks for who is most at fault. It assumes someone is wrong.
- Joint contribution assumes everyone has some role to play – even if it is 90/10.
- Joint contribution is the fuel for learning.
3. Separate intentions from impact.
- Other people’s intentions are invisible to us.
- Even if we have positive intentions, we can have bad impact.
4. Stop holding on to an either/or identity.
- Good person or bad person; Saint or sinner.
- We need to see ourselves as God sees us: fallible but also worthy of love.
As human beings, we need each other. Sometimes we misunderstand each other and let each other down. But we also need each other to learn from those mistakes.
As human beings, we need each other. Sometimes we misunderstand each other and let each other down. But we also need each other to learn from those mistakes.
Story of seminary students and a man who needed medical attention. They were told they needed to give a speech, starting in five minutes. Only 10% stopped to help the man. When the students had 20 minutes, 50% stopped.
We need to make time in our busy lives to better handle our most important relationships.
Leadership is about showing someone a better future that we will co-create together.
*Disclaimer: GLS18 Session Notes are only available in the United States*
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GLS18 Session Notes–David Livermore–Driven By Difference
Story of a mis-translation in China: During a speaking trip in China, David learned that his interpreter was not translating his humorous first illustration. His humor did not work cross-culturally. Instead, the interpreter was cueing the audience when to laugh.
Often our mistakes are often the best tools for learning how to improve our cultural intelligence.
Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is the capability to work effectively in culturally diverse situations.
- Globally across different cultures
- Generationally across different age groups
Characteristics of The Culturally Intelligent
1. High CQ Drive (i.e. Curiosity).
Culturally intelligent leaders respond with curiosity when confronted with a situation different from their experience.
- Develop the skill of Perspective-Taking. Before evaluating another person’s ideas, step back to be sure you understand how they view the situation.
Culturally intelligent leaders respond with curiosity when confronted with a situation different from their experience.
2. High CQ Knowledge.
Culturally intelligent leaders have a working understanding of the similarities and differences that exist between different groups.
- Example: Direct vs. Indirect Communication.
- Each culture has values and objectives that factor into the ways they relate.
Different interpretations of the prodigal son story. Mark Powell’s research found different interpretations about why he ended up in the pig pen. All came from the story but the emphasis came from culture.
3. High CQ Strategy.
Culturally intelligent leaders channel their curiosity into a working strategy.
Eventually, we need to make decisions based on our multi-cultural awareness.
Video of Caucasian American male meeting an Asian American female on a walking path.
If your diversity training simply focuses on teaching people cultural differences, you may make the situation worse.
Leaders with high CQ Strategy know that cultural differences require different approaches.
- If you are about to meet with a person from a different culture, take time beforehand to think about the approach that would work well for someone from this cultural background.
4. High CQ Action.
Culturally intelligent leaders have the ability to adapt when working in multi-cultural contexts
Questions to ask:
- Is it a “tight” or “loose” culture?
- Will adapting compromise the organization or me?
- Will retaining the differences make us stronger?
Starbucks Example. When they first opened in China, they made the stores look like traditional Chinese tea houses. By adapting too far, they undermined the unique value they were trying to bring.
We’ve all heard that diverse leadership teams increase innovation. It’s not true. Diverse teams do not automatically create more innovative solutions. True innovation requires diversity plus high cultural intelligence.
- If cultural intelligence was low, homogeneous teams innovated more often than diverse teams.
- If cultural intelligence was high, diverse teams innovated more than homogeneous teams by a margin of 3 to 1.
Diverse teams do not automatically create more innovative solutions. True innovation requires diversity plus high cultural intelligence.
Assessing Your Cultural Intelligence (CQ).
Go to www.culturalQ.com/gls for a complimentary self-assessment .
Everyone can improve their CQ.
Journal entries from a U.S. university student traveling to Peru. After reading culturally insensitive passages, David revealed that it was his own journal. He didn’t grow up being culturally intelligent, but now he’s speaking at the GLS on cultural intelligence.
The world desperately needs diverse leaders with compassionate hearts, driven by curiosity, who can effectively serve and make a difference in an increasingly polarized world.
*Disclaimer: GLS18 Session Notes are only available in the United States*
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