The difference between a good leader and a great leader is one who learns to anticipate rather than react.
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Month: December 2018
The Bible and Self-Discovery
Erwin McManus identifies the source he uses to discover truth about who we are as human beings.
Hosts of the First Summit in Bahrain Hope to Build Unity and Character
Bahrain is in a unique position as a platform for unity
Bahrain is a small island off the eastern part of Saudi Arabia. Christianity came to the island with the missionaries from the Reform Church who arrived on the shores in the late 1800s. They came to talk about Christ, but they quickly realized the people needed healthcare before they could hear the message of Christ. Since the missionaries’ motto was “to serve man to serve God,” they established a hospital, the first church and the first school there (still running to this day). They came to serve and heal mind, body and spirit.
They experience the compassion and the love of Christ through the services we provide, using very few words.
Today, Bahrain is quite unique in that it is one of the only countries in the Middle East where people can openly practice their faith. In fact, on this tiny island of Bahrain, there are approximately 86 churches of all denominations, including a Sikh temple and a Hindu temple. Unlike other countries in the region, the government of Bahrain has an open policy of tolerance to the freedom to worship.
We have about 120 different nationalities that come to our hospital. They experience the compassion and the love of Christ through the services we provide, using very few words. That’s how we witness to this part of the world.
How the GLS can help build unity
In the spring of 2019, we will host The Global Leadership Summit in Bahrain for the first time, inviting both believers and non-believers. I think the GLS, through its global outreach, gives voice and authenticity to what we are doing. The GLS is a medium through which this can be articulated under the umbrella of opening up the minds and hearts of people.
The GLS helps people understand that we are more similar than dis-similar.
The GLS can help bring people together in a big way. The whole concept of bringing GLS to Bahrain is to develop not just leadership within the Christian community, which is quite small, but impart general principles of leadership across the different religions represented.
Through the GLS, we can show people what leadership can do to open their minds to accept people of all diversities and faiths. This is so important in in this region, because in most parts of the Middle East, religion divides people. The GLS helps people understand that we are more similar than dis-similar.
The uniqueness of the GLS gets to the heart of leadership—it’s character, not just competency
The GLS has allowed me to grow personally. It is helping develop others who work in our organization as well. And it certainly helped me shape the future of the organization as a whole in my role as CEO.
The Summit addresses your emotional state as being as important as your cognitive states
I’ve attended a lot of leadership development and self-development courses all over the world, and what I find unique about the GLS is this: imagine the keys on a keyboard. Every key has a different note. Leadership has multiple layers and when you attend the GLS, each speaker touches one note of the keyboard.
Compassion, courage, giving, humility, vulnerability are all parts of leadership. You could go to a course and learn a lot about competencies and innovative disruption, but what I find unique about the GLS is it opens up all of the layers that are so key in today’s leadership. The Summit addresses your emotional state as being as important as your cognitive states, and your intelligence to shift your needle. Different speakers bring up different angles; when you use all the keys of the keyboard, your leadership becomes complete. It is beautiful!
The Summit speakers bring out our leadership capabilities, which are sometimes hidden. You become re-connected to your own inner leader that may lie buried in you.
The GLS has taught me compassion and giving. I remember listening to speakers and realizing that the higher you want to go in leadership, the more you have to give up. When you really want to get to the top, you sacrifice it all for the greater cause of what you are trying to lead. The GLS is a perfect medium that actively brings it out in me.
A leadership mistake
I think a lot of people mistake leadership as an event. But I find true happiness or satisfaction in day-to-day activities that happen and impact lives. I meet staff and patients in the corridors of my hospital and have conversations that could sometimes be life-transforming, both for them and for me. Leadership never has a finish line because you learn each and every day from each and every encounter.
True leadership is about facing challenges or obstacles as opportunities for us to step one level higher. It gives you the humility to say “I don’t know.” You give credit to your team members when you have a great moment or a success. That’s what leadership is all about. It’s not about you, it’s about others.
Going through storms
We are a mission hospital built on the love of Christ and serving humanity to serve God. If there is mission drift and I make the organization into anything other than that, just because it is my heart’s desire or it looks better in the eyes of man, then that becomes unsustainable. Sometimes a course correction can make the company or organization even better. If we are resilient and truly believe in the greater mission of an organization, then that will survive against every odd that comes up in its history.
It is my dream to make this available to more people, not just in Bahrain, but to the whole region of the Middle East.
I want to remind people that the GLS is not about a person or a group of people. As long as it is built on the foundation of Christ, it will survive. It is very simply the biblical narrative of either building on sand or building on rock. If it is an organization is built with Christ as the capstone, it will survive, regardless of the storms. The storms can make you resilient and give you a newer sense of direction and purpose.
Thank you for bringing the GLS to the Middle East
The Global Leadership Summit is a great opportunity for people all around the world to come together to understand what our differences are. It brings us together through our differences. It is the single best opportunity we have to help us share, give and learn together. It allows people from all over the world to host GLS. In the Middle East, this is a huge opportunity.
I would urge people who can to donate generously to make the GLS happen, even in parts of the world where the GLS might never reach without funding. It is my dream to make this available to more people, not just in Bahrain, but to the whole region of the Middle East. Thank you for helping to make this possible!
QI201710891
One of the most important jobs of a leaders is convincing people they haven’t reached the top.
Why You Need to Identify Your Just Cause
Simon Sinek argues that the best leaders view their business competitors as worthy rivals.
My Dream For Transformation in Venezuela Starts With One Thing
I attended The Global Leadership Summit for the first time in Caracas, Venezuela in 2014—during some of the worst moments in Venezuela’s social and political history. At the Summit, I was exposed to new challenges and ideas to help me fulfill my life purpose. God spoke directly to me and said, “Do something for the leadership of Venezuela.”
No one builds a great vision by waiting to receive everything they need. You must start with what you already have.
In 2014, I started my leadership journey. With no financial resources, I founded Escuela de Liderazgo de Alto Impacto (ELAI) and began a transformation story for thousands of leaders. Since then, I’ve been able to develop academic training models to help emerging leaders achieve and fulfill their own life purpose. Today, many of those same leaders can say they have found a way transform their life, their family and their city through leadership.
Starting out, I wanted to take Jesus’ teaching model of leadership throughout the country. I founded the first school of leadership, and at first we started small—with just 10 students. In each class, we talked about leadership, and we led the students to connect with God. Today there are hundreds of certified trainers who are impacting thousands in Venezuela and beyond their borders!
Three truths equip me for the journey.
My dream is to be able to impact the lives of at least 100,000 Venezuelans and world leaders who can learn, live and lead others towards leadership principles and be an influence on society based on principles and values in the bible. In this way, we can raise a generation that manages to govern with the fear of God in all spheres of influence.
With these three truths I learned at the Summit, I’m moving forward with determination:
- Everyone wins when a leader gets better. If you help others develop their maximum potential, a whole country can and will change.
- Jesus’ name is above all other names. (Philippians 2:9) If lift up the name of Jesus, He will guide your journey as you become his witness to the world.
- Determination is the personal brand of leadership: Leaders never give up. Leaders do not stop until they have fulfilled their purpose.
When the days are bad, I remember: For this I was born.
It’s not easy.
No one builds a great vision by waiting to receive everything they need. You must start with what you already have. Passion and determination become resources to help you see the construction of an amazing story coming to fruition one day at a time.
In the midst of the worst crisis in Venezuela, God raised a great vision. I understood that I am part of an intermediate generation that inherited the consequences of a previous generation that left us in a country full of hate, frustration and despair. The country is experiencing rampant political corruption and massive unemployment. We live in a generation that expects us to do something.
God does not need a multitude; he only needs one person to say yes.
With my gifts and talents, I dare to see things change. There is no way to build a great vision without living under the design and values given by God—the source of all inspiration. He reminds you every day: do not forget that it was you I called. Perhaps millions of people are hoping you will do something with this vision. With this calling, God taught me what determination means and it reminds me daily: “I can do everything in Christ because he strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)
One day, Venezuela is going to change.
Today I live in Florida under asylum status because of everything that’s been happening in Venezuela. But I haven’t stopped pursuing my vision. There is a great team of teaching leaders in schools, universities, churches, corporations and in our classroom and virtual classroom.
I am also trying to do the same from Florida because there are 3,000,000 Venezuelans who have left our country fleeing communism. That is why, together with a group of leaders, we are training Venezuelan leaders in different countries of Latin America.
If not for the Summit, I’d still be waiting for someone to do something.
The Summit awakened in me a true spirit of leadership. It was always there, but it was dormant before. If I had not been to the Summit, I would be sitting behind a desk watching the days go by, waiting and hoping someone would do something for my country.
Thank you for bringing the Summit to Venezuela.
The Importance of Staff Recognition
Al Lopus explains why staff recognition is a key driver in thriving organizational cultures.
Upcoming GLS Events & Prayer Requests
Every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 8:30 am CST, our staff gathers together to pray for our partners across the globe.
Please join us in prayer as we lift up the international Summit events happening this weekend. Pray for God’s anointing on every detail and that those who attend would leave feeling equipped, inspired and encouraged to lead the change they long for in their communities.
And if you have a prayer request, please share it with us. We would be honored to pray with you!
December 21
Skopje, Macedonia
The country of Macedonia is in deep political crisis. And there are close to a million more in Skopje that we would like to reach. We all need God so badly. And we feel strongly called to witness the life God gave us in Jesus Christ. It is a life of abundance in the midst of a spiritual, political, economic draught in Macedonia and it points to God as the only way.
December 26
Zanzibar, Tanzania
The GLS fills the knowledge gap our country needs for economic growth. The hardest thing about pursuing this vision is reaching out to people to provide this knowledge. The government is trying to develop the country, making sure we have health facilities, infrastructure and roads. But that knowledge gap is not something that is resolved in schools or at the family level—it has to be done at a place like the GLS.
December 27
Ouaga, Burkina Faso
January 5
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Ep 040: David Livermore, Ph.D. with Dr. David Anderson
Get free, instant access to GLS Podcast Episode Show Notes. Leverage episode summaries, key takeaways, reflection questions, resources mentioned, related links and applicable downloads, including Show Notes PDF and Episode Audio File (MP3).
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SUMMARY:
We’ve all heard that increased workplace diversity will lead to increased innovation. In this enlightening conversation, multicultural church pastor Dr. David Anderson talks with David Livermore, Ph.D., president at the Cultural Intelligence Center, about how diversity alone is not enough. Diverse teams also need to incorporate the skill of cultural intelligence. This candid conversation models the challenges inherent in a multicultural dialogue—encouraging teams to ask uncomfortable questions, listen well and wrestle with the implications of difference.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Cultural intelligence (CQ) is the ability to relate and work effectively with people who come from other backgrounds.
- When CQ levels are high, diverse teams outperformed homogenous teams 3:1 across the board—in productivity, employee engagement, cost savings and innovation.
- A culturally intelligent team needs a culturally intelligent leader.
- Cultural differences become intensified in moments of stress.
- Leaders need to create a safe environment where authentic conversations can happen.
- Culturally diverse teams must practice reciprocal grace and not immediately rush to judgment.
- What builds trust for one culture might not build trust for another.
- When building diverse teams, instead of following the Golden Rule (i.e. Treat others as you want to be treated), leaders should practice the Platinum Rule (i.e. Treat others as they want to be treated).
- People from the dominant culture have more responsibility to move toward diversity than those from non-dominant cultures.
- Code-switching is when a person changes the way they speak or act in order to gain respect from those from a different culture.
- In order to engage in meaningful and authentic relationships, leaders must find the zone of “productive dis-equilibrium.”
- If people are never made to feel uncomfortable, it is unlikely their organizations will ever tap the benefits of diversity that can lead to innovation.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. According to Livermore, organizations face several obstacles when trying to work well across a diverse team. Which of these barriers to you see most often in your team environment?
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- The team is not diverse
- The team leader is not culturally intelligent
- The team does not engage in candid conversations about differences
- Team members from the non-dominant culture live in “code-switching” mode
- The team doesn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable so they avoid candid conversations
2. In the podcast, Livermore and Anderson engaged in an authentic conversation around their cultural differences. How did you feel when that conversation began? How does your reaction illuminate the challenges of conversations about difference?
3. Livermore says that leaders must create a safe environment to facilitate candid cultural dialogue. What specific things did Livermore and Anderson do in this podcast to create a safe environment that allowed for an authentic dialogue?
4. Based on what you heard, what is one cultural intelligence practice you can try this week?
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
RELATED LINKS:
Driven by Difference: How Great Companies Fuel Innovation Through Diversity
This Christmas, Influence a Leader, Better a Nation
Merry Christmas!
In the midst of the busyness of the season, I want to pause now to say thank you being a part of a group of leaders and influencers who desire to bring positive transformation to our world. Your influence has lasting impact.
Looking forward to the future of this ministry, our vision is to one day reach more than 1,000,000 people through the Summit.
Imagine what might happen when more Christian leaders commit to stewarding positive transformation in their country. We haven’t yet journeyed to the peak of the Summit yet!
As you consider your gift today, Betty Byanyima from Uganda shares a challenge:
I would like to challenge you to go that one extra mile. With every gift, you touch a leader, and every time a leader is touched, a nation gets better. We’ve seen this in Uganda, and we know it can happen in any other country.
I would like to challenge you to go that one extra mile.
On behalf of the GLS in Uganda, and the whole movement, thank you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your giving that has changed lives and made a difference in the way we lead our nation. Thank you for sponsoring the tool that has opened doors for us to go to leaders in places we never thought we’d reach. Thank you for supporting us in discipling our nation—one leader a time.
Sometimes, as we do this work in our country it occurs to us that on this side of heaven, you may never know what your contributions have done. But every time we hear a message or a testimony of lives changed, it is our prayer, just as the Bible says in Proverbs 11, God would water you, and bless you and your families. We pray that God would enlarge your territories as you serve him. May God richly bless your heart.
Would you prayerfully consider your year-end donation to the Global Leadership Development Fund?
As we step forward into 2019, your gift this year-end will encourage people like Betty to take courageous steps to bring change to their country.
Let’s be a formidable force for good and a beacon of light in our world.
Thank you for inspiring a vision of hope on leaders around the world. Together, we are helping Christians grow their leadership to maximize Kingdom impact. Learn more at theglsn.org/give.
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