I’m at the leadership summit with the team from Revolution Church. This is by far the best leadership conference of the year. This is my 13th summit and every year, God stretches me and challenges me. So much wisdom and inspiration wrapped up into two days. I always blog my notes, so if you can’t attend or missed something, I’ve got you covered.

Here are some takeaways from the session with Bill Hybels, Henry Cloud and Shauna Niequest:

• There is a blindspot in many leaders when it comes to self-reflection and hitting the pause button.

Illusion #1

• You can increase speed in your life and simultaneously keep your soul heading in the same direction and same rate of your speed.
• If God is pleased with your leadership, he gives you bigger problems to solve.
• If we aren’t careful, as we increase speed, we lose touch with our soul. Our connection with God gets distant the faster we go.
• To last in leadership, we must slow the speed periodically and raise the effort we put into our soul.

• Reflection: Is the speed you run, is it sustainable? Does your soul need more attention?

Illusion #2

• Part of what it takes to keep your head on straight is the power of the other.
• The factor that drives everything in your leadership and life is who are you connected to?

• Your brain stops working if you are not connected.

4 Corners of Connection

1. No connection. You are alone.
2. Bad connection. People are with you, but feel disconnected from your marriage, team or boss.
3. Good connection. Corner #3 is a fake good, a pseudo good. It relieves the pain of isolation but we often connect with a substance that makes us feel good.
4. Real connection. To connect with someone, you need to let someone know what your needs are. You must know your needs.

Reflection: What corner do you find yourself in most often? What prohibit you from getting to corner 4?

Illusion #3

• Another illusion for a leader is achievement. We try to hit marks, attain things, grow something.
• Everything is not an opportunity to succeed and fail.
• Many leaders live in the place of exhaustion and isolation.

Reflection: How satisfied are you in life? Is the hustle worth it? Where are you not satisfied?