Category Archives: Healthy Leadership

Posted on

232 Leadership Quotes from the 2018 Leadership Summit

by

Every year, my team and I attend the leadership summit. To capture what I’m learning and to help you grow as a leader, I always share my notes from each session, so be sure to check back after each session and bookmark them for future use.

Below, you will find all the posts from all the sessions I attended this year. Thanks for reading along!

  1. 32 Leadership Quotes from Craig Groeschel on what it means to be a leader people love to follow.
  2. 16 Leadership Quotes from Angela Ahrendts on how empathy is an essential quality to great leadership.
  3. 14 Leadership Quotes from Juliet Funt on legacy.
  4. 20 Leadership Quotes from Strive Masiyiwa on what it means to be a leader who perseveres to fight for the future of our world.
  5. 11 Leadership Quotes from T.D. Jakes.
  6. 26 Leadership Quotes from Carla Harris on how to achieve your potential and become the leader you were created to be.
  7. 10 Leadership Quotes from Danny Meyer on creating a customer-focused culture, which churches can always grow in.
  8. 23 Leadership Quotes from Danielle Strickland on men and women in the workplace (and church) and looked at the challenges associated with power dynamics in organizational culture.
  9. 21 Leadership Quotes from John Maxwell on how to maximize your impact as a high-character leader in our world today.
  10. 12 Leadership Quotes from Rasmus Ankersen on the mindset cultivated by successful brands to create sustainable success in our organizations.
  11. 8 Leadership Quotes from David Livermore on how leaders can relate effectively to diverse situations.
  12. 16 Leadership Quotes from Sheila Heen on how to navigate difficult conversations on our teams.
  13. 23 Leadership Quotes from Erwin McManus on what it means to lead a life that matters and how great leaders intentionally build the future.
  14. My 5 biggest takeaways from the summit.

 

Posted on

5 Biggest Personal Takeaways from the Leadership Summit

by

Every year, my team and I attend the leadership summit. This year, there is a shadow hanging over the summit as I outlined here, but I’m still trusting that it will have some incredibly helpful content, just like in past years. To capture what I’m learning and to help you grow as a leader, I shared my notes from each session, which you can read here. I wanted to share some of the biggest personal takeaways I had. If you haven’t already, I would encourage you if you attended the summit to process your learnings with your team and use that as a way forward for your team.

  1. Leaders need a heart to care. This is the difference between me centered leadership and you centered leadership. Leaders need to notice people and let them know they matter. To thank people for what they do. This is hard for me as I want to get things done and can easily run through tasks.
  2. Leaders should ask what would I want to hear from others. It is so important to understand what people feel from you. This was a big theme in the first session. I love this question, what would I want people to say to me? Often, leaders struggle to know how to complement or celebrate people, but asking this question is a great place to start.
  3. Think bigger. T.D. Jakes’s session on vision was my favorite session. The longer you are in a church or an organization, it is difficult to think big or have a big vision. It’s easy to get lost in the details of work. There are now more people counting on you, not just your family but also a staff whose livelihoods depend on you and your company. But vision is crucial. It is what gives you purpose and what excites those who follow you. I can’t wait to dive into Jakes’s new book Soar. 
  4. Not all data is the same. Rasmus Ankersen talked about soccer in Europe and how all data and stats are not the same. For churches, this is huge. For churches, there are numbers and things that are happening that are more important than other things. There are also things that tell you more things than other things. He talked about one of the big problems for companies is outcome bias which is good results are always the result of superior decision making.
  5. Fear. Erwin McManus’s talk was the talk of the summit. His idea that we are terrified that we will never become all that we could be spoke so powerfully to me. This is the battle for all of us, but especially leaders.
Posted on

2018 Leadership Summit – 23 Leadership Quotes from Erwin McManus

by

Every year, my team and I attend the leadership summit. This year, there is a shadow hanging over the summit as I outlined here, but I’m still trusting that it will have some incredibly helpful content, just like in past years. To capture what I’m learning and to help you grow as a leader, I always share my notes from each session, so be sure to check back after each session and bookmark them for future use.

The second session of the second day featured a talk by Erwin McManus. He looked at what it means to lead a life that matters and how great leaders intentionally build the future.

The following are some takeaways:

  1. The greatest battles we fight are within ourselves.
  2. We are afraid that we have something inside of us that will never be actualized.
  3. We’re haunted that we might never live up to what is inside of us.
  4. We know our life is supposed to matter and were scared it won’t.
  5. If you put your life in God’s hand, it will go further than you could ever go on your own.
  6. I’m amazed at how many people need permission to get started but no one needs permission to quit.
  7. You need to treat every moment and day as sacred and essential.
  8. Your freedom is on the other side of your fears. 
  9. The things of God can only be accessed if you will step through your fears.
  10. If you don’t deal with the paralyzing fear, you will never reach where you supposed to be.
  11. So many of us only have the structure to lead when the world is at peace and things are easy.
  12. Your greatness is on the other side of your pain. 
  13. What you fear has mastery over your life.
  14. What you fear establishes the boundaries of your freedom.
  15. A lot of think our pain is the boundary of our limitations. Our pain is the boundary of our greatness.
  16. We need to learn how to walk in our pain.
  17. If you aren’t alive before death, you will be afraid of death.
  18. For many people, their pain will define them.
  19. Your future is on the other side of your failures. 
  20. People always want to define us by our worst moments.
  21. God does not define you by your worst moments, he defines you by His best moments.
  22. We want God to meet us in our faith but He meets us in our faithfulness. 
  23. Your faith doesn’t make life easier, your faith makes you stronger.
Posted on

2018 Leadership Summit – 16 Leadership Quotes from Sheila Heen

by

Every year, my team and I attend the leadership summit. This year, there is a shadow hanging over the summit as I outlined here, but I’m still trusting that it will have some incredibly helpful content, just like in past years. To capture what I’m learning and to help you grow as a leader, I always share my notes from each session, so be sure to check back after each session and bookmark them for future use.

The first session of the second day featured a talk by Sheila Heen, who is the Founder of the Triad Consulting Group and on the Faculty of the Harvard Law School. Her talk focused on a process to navigate difficult conversations on our teams.

The following are some takeaways:

  1. To the extent that you have difficult conversations as a leader, it says that you care a lot about what you are doing and having the most significant impact you can and that you care a lot about the people you are doing it with.
  2. In difficult conversations, we have to look beyond what we’re saying and look at what is in our internal voice and what we’re feeling.
  3. Difficult conversations are when our internal voice is turned up too loudly.
  4. People’s internal voices are pre-occupied with predictable things every time.
  5. Every difficult conversation has the same underlying structure.
  6. The story in our head is driven by key questions: who’s right (What feels safe, what I can defend)? Who’s fault is it (the fault tells us who the problem is)? Why is the other person acting this way (what are their intentions, why are they being so difficult)?
  7. The more frustrated we are about the other person, the more likely we are to tell a negative story and think that something is wrong with them.
  8. By the time something becomes a difficult conversation, we have a business problem and how we each feel treated by the other.
  9. The deeper problem (how we treat each other) will come up another time.
  10. Identity is the story we tell about who we are and what the situation suggests about us: am I competent, am I worthy of love and respect?
  11. The first step to a difficult conversation is changing the story you’re telling in your head.
  12. Instead of asking who’s right, ask what we think this conversation is about.
  13. Instead of asking who’s fault is it, ask what did we do to contribute to this situation.
  14. Contribution can be reasonable things to do, they just didn’t help.
  15. Instead of asking why are they acting this way, to separate intentions from the impact.
  16. To influence other people, be open to influence yourself.
Posted on

2018 Leadership Summit – 8 Leadership Quotes from David Livermore

by

Every year, my team and I attend the leadership summit. This year, there is a shadow hanging over the summit as I outlined here, but I’m still trusting that it will have some incredibly helpful content, just like in past years. To capture what I’m learning and to help you grow as a leader, I always share my notes from each session, so be sure to check back after each session and bookmark them for future use.

The first session of the second day featured a talk by David Livermore. He’s the President of the Cultural Intelligence Center and a Best-selling Author. He shared research on how leaders can relate effectively to diverse situations. It was fascinating.

The following are some takeaways:

  1. It is our mistakes that help us improve as leaders far more than our successes.
  2. Cultural intelligence is the ability to work effectively together when people are from different cultural backgrounds.
  3. The number one characteristic of a culturally intelligent leader is their curiosity.
  4. Culturally intelligent leaders understand what makes people different.
  5. Leaders should fight against the fear to learn from others.
  6. Leaders need to channel their curiosity and what they’re learning and turn that into a strategy.
  7. Leaders need to understand the culture they’re from and how adaptable their culture at their company is to people outside of their culture.
  8. Diversity has the potential to lead to innovation and growth, but only if the leaders have a high cultural intelligence.
Posted on

2018 Leadership Summit – 12 Leadership Quotes from Rasmus Ankersen

by

Every year, my team and I attend the leadership summit. This year, there is a shadow hanging over the summit as I outlined here, but I’m still trusting that it will have some incredibly helpful content, just like in past years. To capture what I’m learning and to help you grow as a leader, I always share my notes from each session, so be sure to check back after each session and bookmark them for future use.

The first session of the second day featured a talk by Rasmus Ankersen. His talk focused on the mindset cultivated by successful brands to create sustainable success in our organizations.

The following are some takeaways:

  1. Your products reveal what your brand is like.
  2. Arrogance, complacency, and resistance to change can kill any company.
  3. Leaders must think through how to keep their companies fresh and away from complacency.
  4. One of the big problems for companies is outcome bias which is good results are always the result of superior decision making.
  5. Data never lies.
  6. The fewer goals in a game, the more randomness has an impact. That’s why the best team wins less often in soccer compared to basketball.
  7. Some data is more important than other data.
  8. When you are successful, you should always ask why you were successful.
  9. Never trust success blindly. 
  10. Too many companies hesitate to change, they wait until they have a burning platform.
  11. When we become successful, comfort becomes more important than improvement.
  12. One of the most important jobs of a leader is convincing people they haven’t reached the top.
Posted on

2018 Leadership Summit – 21 Leadership Quotes from John Maxwell

by

Every year, my team and I attend the leadership summit. This year, there is a shadow hanging over the summit as I outlined here, but I’m still trusting that it will have some incredibly helpful content, just like in past years. To capture what I’m learning and to help you grow as a leader, I always share my notes from each session, so be sure to check back after each session and bookmark them for future use.

The final session of the first day featured a talk from one of my favorite speakers, John Maxwell. His book on leadership was the first book I ever read as a leader at 18 and thought, I can do this. He outlined how to maximize your impact as a high-character leader in our world today. It was fun having my two oldest kids in this session with me and have some excellent discussions.

The following are some takeaways:

  1. All leaders see more than others see and before others see.
  2. If you can see the bigger picture, you are the leader, but now you have to see before others see.
  3. The key to leadership is starting first.
  4. Leaders have to ask how I do increase my more and before?
  5. Know that there is more “more and before” out there (think abundance). 
  6. Creativity and flexibility are crucial in leadership today.
  7. Creative people believe there is always an answer.
  8. Flexibility says there’s usually more than one answer.
  9. Develop a process for finding more “more and more before.”
  10. The way you find more is to test.
  11. Test -> Fail -> Learn -> Improve.
  12. When you know what you want for your future, your mind will begin to think things that will help you get what you need; your heart will feel things that you need, your attitude will help you to believe.
  13. Put yourself in places with people who will inspire you to see more “more and more before.”
  14. Get people out of your life that drag you down.
  15. Be around people who inspire you.
  16. Intentionally grow every day so you will have the capacity for more “more and more before.”
  17. The only way to guarantee that tomorrow will be better is that you grow.
  18. If you’re still excited about what you did 5 years ago, you aren’t growing.
  19. Always have a vision gap that requires you to need more “more and more before.”
  20. You will fill the vision gap by asking God to send you the right people.
  21. You will fill the vision gap by asking God to do for you what you cannot do for yourself.
Posted on

2018 Leadership Summit – 23 Leadership Quotes from Danielle Strickland

by

Every year, my team and I attend the leadership summit. This year, there is a shadow hanging over the summit as I outlined here, but I’m still trusting that it will have some incredibly helpful content, just like in past years. To capture what I’m learning and to help you grow as a leader, I always share my notes from each session, so be sure to check back after each session and bookmark them for future use.

The final session of the first day featured a talk from Danielle Strickland who looked at men and women in the workplace (and church) and looked at the challenges associated with power dynamics in organizational culture. This is definitely a talk that my tribe in the church world could learn from. It was fun having my two oldest kids in this session with me and have some good discussions.

The following are some takeaways:

  1. In order for the truth to set us free, we must be disrupted because truth disrupts us.
  2. To make changes and change minds you must be able to imagine a better world and understand oppression.
  3. We all want a better story and that is what everyone is after.
  4. What makes the world flourish is men and women working together.
  5. Believe that it is possible for men and women to work together. 
  6. Women’s empowerment is a key to so many things improving in our world.
  7. Believing that it is possible is to refuse despair. It is to confront the hopelessness of inequality.
  8. Do not be afraid.
  9. 2/3 of women are not optimistic that gender equality can be achieved in the next 5 years.
  10. The enemy in relationships isn’t hate but fear. -Gandhi
  11. If our actions, decisions are fear based we will either be oppressed or be an oppressor. Fear is the currency of oppression.
  12. Difference through the lens of fear is a threat. Difference through the lens of faith it is an opportunity.
  13. Mutuality is crucial for men and women to work together. The enemies of mutuality are power and sex.
  14. Power is the ability to manipulate the course of events. 
  15. How we use our power is the measure of our leadership.
  16. A misuse of power is coercion and threats: Are you kind to those you lead? Do you treat them well? Can you accept change? Do you cut people off when they’re talking? Do you close yourself off to feedback? Do you show regard for people’s opinions or feelings?
  17. Isolation is a misuse of power. Trust and support is a good use of power.
  18. Minimizing is a misuse of power. Honesty and accountability is a good use of power.
  19. Male privilege is a misuse of power. Shared responsibility is a good use of power. Do you invite women into your decision making?
  20. Great leaders use power to empower other people. 
  21. If we’re willing to listen to voices we don’t normally listen to and are willing to learn from them, it will change how we live.
  22. Never give up on the dream of men and women working together. 
  23. Real empowerment and real freedom is a long walk in the same direction.
Posted on

2018 Leadership Summit – 10 Leadership Quotes from Danny Meyer

by

Every year, my team and I attend the leadership summit. This year, there is a shadow hanging over the summit as I outlined here, but I’m still trusting that it will have some incredibly helpful content, just like in past years. To capture what I’m learning and to help you grow as a leader, I always share my notes from each session, so be sure to check back after each session and bookmark them for future use.

The third session featured a talk by Danny Meyer, Restaurateur; TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People.” His talk focused on creating a customer-focused culture, which churches can always grow in.

The following are some takeaways:

  1. There’s nothing worse than wasting your life on something you don’t want to do.
  2. The road to success is paved with mistakes well handled.
  3. To get anywhere worthwhile is to listen to the people on the front lines.
  4. The places with the best service will last the longest.
  5. Service means doing what you said you would do.
  6. Hospitality is how you make someone feel while delivering service.
  7. The shelf life of innovation is 2 minutes.
  8. Companies thrive by doing the thoughtful things. Thoughtful is thinking and feeling.
  9. If we know how to make you feel better than the next guy, you’ll come back.
  10. Once a mistake is made, you can’t erase it. The only thing you can do is write a great next chapter.
Posted on

2018 Leadership Summit – 26 Leadership Quotes from Carla Harris

by

Every year, my team and I attend the leadership summit. This year, there is a shadow hanging over the summit as I outlined here, but I’m still trusting that it will have some incredibly helpful content, just like in past years. To capture what I’m learning and to help you grow as a leader, I always share my notes from each session, so be sure to check back after each session and bookmark them for future use.

The third session featured a talk from Carla Harris, who is the Vice Chairman, Managing Director and Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley. She talked about how to achieve your potential and become the leader you were created to be. She used the word leader (Leverage, Efficiency, Authenticity, Decisive, Engagement, Risk taker) to show what makes an impactful leader.

The following are some takeaways:

  1. Leverage: powerful, impactful leaders know there is not a monopoly on intelligence.
  2. Someone on your team has the access or experience that you need.
  3. If people think there will be retribution for making a mistake, no one will give you an out of the box idea.
  4. A leaders job is to create an environment where people want to contribute.
  5. Leadership is a journey from execution to empowerment.
  6. Efficiency: If you are an influential, impactful leader, you must be clear about what success looks like.
  7. If you aren’t clear about what success looks like, you will create a tremendous amount of frustration.
  8. Productivity goes down when things aren’t clear.
  9. If you aren’t clear on what’s next, you must be clear on what success looks like.
  10. If it doesn’t work this time, it informs your next success.
  11. Authenticity: this is the heart of your power and the heart of influential leadership.
  12. No one else can be you.
  13. Most people are not comfortable in their own skin, so when they see someone who is, they gravitate towards you.
  14. The easiest way to penetrate a relationship is to bring your authentic self to the table.
  15. Your authenticity is your distinct competitive advantage.
  16. To be authentic, you have to know who you are and what you bring to the table.
  17. Decisiveness and diversity: the price of inaction is greater than the cost of making a mistake.
  18. At the end of the day, your team is depending on you as the leader to make a decision.
  19. Part of your task as a leader is to make a decision, even in the face of incomplete information.
  20. If you need a lot of ideas (and you do to succeed), you need a lot of perspectives and experiences in the room.
  21. Engagement: you must be engaged with your people and understand what makes people motivated to win. What engages your staff?
  22. Everyone on your team wants to be seen and heard.
  23. Risk taker: leaders must be comfortable taking risks.
  24. The way you differentiate yourself is by taking risks.
  25. Fear has no place in your success equation.
  26. The thing that makes a leader stand out is courage. This is what holds all these words together.