Willow Creek Leadership Summit Thoughts

Here are some thoughts, highlights from today's sessions:

• 10:05 AM: hickssound All the posts from this morning were lost...twitter crashed. So I will add the Bill Hybel highlights now:


• 10:07 AM: hickssound Account for the powerless and hold the powerful accountable.


• 10:07 AM: hickssound "All killer... and no filler..." that's just funny.


• 10:08 AM: hickssound "In a crisis, cash is king"


• 10:08 AM: hickssound Cash reserves give leaders time in a crisis. Time to plan, restructure and prepare.


• 10:08 AM: hickssound A replenishment plan...Do you have one?


• 10:09 AM: hickssound A great session!


• 10:10 AM: hickssound Hiring, Firing and Board Meltdown Session:


• 10:12 AM: hickssound You see what you want to see, if you allow yourself to idealize the candidate.


• 10:13 AM: hickssound Get away from just an interview. Spend time with them. Anyone can practice for the game of an interview.


• 10:15 AM: hickssound Listen more than you talk when interviewing.


• 10:16 AM: hickssound A strong company/church culture makes it easier to find the right candidates. They will naturally flock to your organization.


• 10:27 AM: hickssound You don't have a family discussion with non-family members present.


• 10:29 AM: hickssound If the board team can not be functional, then the organization won't be functional.


• 10:33 AM: hickssound A team will do a better job of leading an organization, than 1 women or 1 man.


• 10:41 AM: hickssound Managers rarely give enough feedback for an employee to figure out for themselves if they should stay or leave an organization.


• 10:44 AM: hickssound The kindest form of management is the Truth.


• 10:48 AM: hickssound If the first time you sit down with an employee is when you fire/lay them off...you are not leading your people.


• 10:51 AM: hickssound Gary Hamel, Manage Differently NOW:


• 10:54 AM: hickssound Are you changing as fast as the world around you?


• 10:59 AM: hickssound The church is losing audience due to apathy and not ignorance.


• 11:02 AM: hickssound Our problem is inertia...


• 11:03 AM: hickssound You are going forward or you are going backwards. There is no standing still.


• 11:04 AM: hickssound If you don't pay close attention, you will miss Gary's humor.


• 11:05 AM: hickssound Do you really want to grow like a rocket? Rockets end up crashing in pieces.


• 11:07 AM: hickssound How do you outrun change?


• 11:08 AM: hickssound 1. You have to avoid denial.


• 11:10 AM: hickssound How to identify/circumvent denial: First you dismiss it, then you rationalize it, you mitigate it, finally honest confrontation.


• 11:14 AM: hickssound 2. You have to develop more strategic options.


• 11:14 AM: hickssound The job of every leader is to make change more exciting then the idea of standing pat.


• 11:17 AM: hickssound How can you include others in developing the strategies of your organization.


• 11:17 AM: hickssound It should be less like making a baby and more like a family picnic...involve everyone and do it out in the open, transparently.


• 11:20 AM: hickssound Are we all doing the same thing, because that is what God is calling us to do, or is it because we are all reading the same books, listening to the same leader, etc.?


• 11:21 AM: hickssound The longer you are in the trenches, the easier it is to mistake the edge of your rut for the horizon!


• 11:23 AM: hickssound Ok, I guess I missed point #3.


• 11:23 AM: hickssound 4. You can not have a top down organization.


• 11:24 AM: hickssound The renegades will leave to start something new, then to try and make change in a top down organization.


• 11:25 AM: hickssound Is the challenge to find great leaders, or to develop an organization that doesn't require a super human at the top?


• 11:27 AM: hickssound How do you know if you are a leader? If you call a meeting and people show up is a good clue.


• 11:29 AM: hickssound Management models were not designed to adaptable.


• 11:30 AM: hickssound The web is a post-bureaucratic entity.


• 11:30 AM: hickssound That is why the web is so adaptable to society.


• 11:31 AM: hickssound The leaders of the "web" are natural leaders in a natural heirarchy developed from the bottom up.


• 11:32 AM: hickssound The problem with organized religion is not the religion part...it is in the "organized" part.


• 11:33 AM: hickssound We are not going to get fundamentally better at changing lives, until we get fundamentally better at changing our churches.


• 11:34 AM: hickssound God doesn't have a plan "B"! That was funny...


• 11:35 AM: hickssound That was a great session! See ya after lunch!


• 1:18 PM: hickssound Welcome back everyone! Watching some great missions videos... Amazing what some churches are doing.


• 1:26 PM: hickssound Tim Keller, Leading People to the Prodigal God:


• 1:40 PM: hickssound Religion vs the gospel, I choose the Gospel.


• 1:41 PM: hickssound Religion is about obeying so we are accepted whereas the gospel we are accepted, because of Jesus Christ, therefore we choose to obey!


• 1:50 PM: hickssound Wow... Confess for the reasons of your right doings. I must admit I never thought of that.


• 1:55 PM: hickssound Ok here we go, 5 things that Tim wants to share... Let's see if Ican catch all 5!


• 1:57 PM: hickssound 1. You the leader have to work this into your heart (avoid spiritual deadness).


• 1:59 PM: hickssound Why are you doing what you are doing as a leader? Is it self serving or God serving?


• 2:02 PM: hickssound 2. Make sure your teaching is gospel centered not religion centered.


• 2:03 PM: hickssound 3. Share this with your leaders and bring them in.


• 2:03 PM: hickssound 4. Take it to you congregation through preaching/teaching/small groups etc


• 2:04 PM: hickssound 5. Pray!


• 2:32 PM: hickssound Jessica Jackley, A Leadership Case Study, The Kiva Story:


• 2:58 PM: hickssound Very interesting. I have never seen or heard of Kiva. Where have I been? This is really amazing.


• 3:01 PM: hickssound I love hearing Jessica's passion and knowledge of what Kiva is doing.


• 3:03 PM: hickssound 85 million dollars loaned in less than 4 years...with 98.5% repayment rate. Wow! That is amazing.


• 3:07 PM: hickssound You know you are passionate when you keep talking even after they tell you to stop!


• 3:07 PM: hickssound When you believe in co-creation you MUST give up some control.


• 3:09 PM: hickssound Church leaders, could you turn down 10 million dollars if it is counter to your mission?


• 3:11 PM: hickssound The church should be the safest place to bring the biggest dreams ever.


• 3:14 PM: hickssound Don't be afraid to start small.


• 3:14 PM: hickssound Just start! Just do it!


• 3:16 PM: hickssound What will change the world, will be a change in mindset.


• 3:17 PM: hickssound If we change the way we look at people in the world, the rest of the details will fall into place.