I had the opportunity to spend this past Thursday and Friday at the Willow Creek Association’s Global Leadership Summit. The Summit featured some of the world’s top leaders sharing their leadership wisdom. Here are 77 awesome quotes from those leaders.
Bill Hybels (session notes)
1. When the leader stops learning, the leader should stop leading. @BillHybels
2. We live in a world that’s crying out for better leadership. @BillHybels
3. If you don’t deal with challenging people in your organization, you discourage and demotivate your best people. @BillHybels
4. Nothing rocks forever. @BillHybels
5. Churches ought to be in the people transformation business. @BillHybels
6. Don’t get caught up in a pattern of creating excuses instead of bold solutions to solve the problems. @BillHybels
7. For those approaching the finish line, why go out with a whimper? Go through the finish line in a full sprint. @BillHybels
Len Schlesinger (session notes)
8. Nobody can tell me you can ride one business model for your entire career. Must reinvent yourself 3-5 times in your career. @lschlesinger
9. We need mechanisms that deal with economics, sustainability, and social values simultaneously not sequentially. @lschlesinger
10. “We are all entrepreneurs, only too few of us get to practice it.” -Muhammad Yunus @lschlesinger
11. If you can’t predict the future, create it. @lschlesinger
12. You can’t think your way into an unknowable future, you must act. @lschlesinger
13. Successful entrepreneurs start with things they care about. @lschlesinger
14. Stop worrying about what you want to do and worry about what you want to do next. @lschlesinger
15. Instead of calling it failure just call it an exercise in learning something nobody else knows. @lschlesinger
Cory Booker (session notes)
16. You have a choice, are you going to grow fat and happy on your ancestors’ struggles or will you use all of your blessings to move forward? @CoryBooker
17. Everyone is born an original but most die as copies. -Abraham Lincoln @CoryBooker
18. The world you see outside of you will always be a reflection of what you have inside of you. @CoryBooker
19. The only way to make change in this world is to start with ones self. If it is to be, it’s up to me. @CoryBooker
20. Before you tell me what you teach and preach. Show me how you live and give. @CoryBooker
21. In any given set of circumstances – in every moment – you have a choice to accept circumstances as they are or to change them. @CoryBooker
22. Do somethin’! @CoryBooker
Brenda Salter McNeil (session notes)
23. Catalytic events are never nice, easy, or comfortable. @RevDocBrenda
24. Our mission is to lead the church forward into the globalness of what the church is called to be. @RevDocBrenda
25. Are you ready to break through your sound barrier? @RevDocBrenda
Seth Godin (session notes)
26. We’re seeing the death of the industrial age. It’s being replaced by a new age. An age of tribes… -Seth Godin
27. We have a need to be in sync. We get in sync in tribes and tribes need leaders. -Seth Godin
28. There’s something after the job… the artist. -Seth Godin
29. There is no map for being an artist. -Seth Godin
30. We don’t need you to memorize facts – we can look them up. We need you to solve interesting problems. -Seth Godin
31. Don’t wait to get picked. Pick yourself. -Seth Godin
32. It’s impossible 2 do art and always succeed. If failure is not an option, success is not an option. -Seth Godin
33. Make art. Give gifts. Lead. Make a difference. -Seth Godin
Steven Furtick (session notes)
34. I’m just dumb enough to believe God can do anything. @stevenfurtick
35. I don’t want to just survive the world, I want to change the world. @stevenfurtick
36. I can’t expect God’s blessing on my work unless I do it God’s way. @stevenfurtick
37. If all you have is good ideas, you’re just a day dreamer. @stevenfurtick
38. If the vision for your life isn’t overwhelming to you, it’s probably insulting to God. @stevenfurtick
39. One of the reasons we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with other people’s highlight reel. @stevenfurtick
Mama Maggie Gobran (session notes)
40. We don’t choose where to be born. But we do choose either to be sinners or saints… to be nobody or be heroes. -Mama Maggie Gobran
41. To be elegant comes from the inside, to love. To love is to give, to give until it hurts. -Mama Maggie Gobran
42. The silence is the secret, the first step, to finding treasure. -Mama Maggie Gobran
Bill Hybels (session notes)
43. It’s easy to get addicted to the narcotic of success and growth. @BillHybels
44. God is looking for some strong-shouldered leaders who say, ‘If there’s a tough assignment any where in the world, I’m available.” @BillHybels
45. I don’t know a single leader who ever regretted taking a tough assignment from God. @BillHybels
Michelle Rhee (session notes)
46. I would much rather deal with anger than apathy. @m_rhee
47. If you turn your head to the people who are yelling the loudest, you’ll be turning your back to the children, because they don’t vote. @m_rhee
48. Speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves. @m_rhee
Dr. Henry Cloud (session notes)
49. Are you going to allow “that guy” to stop this vision? @DrHenryCloud
50. When a wise person hears the truth, he/she adjusts himself to match the truth. @DrHenryCloud
51. When a fool sees the light, he tries to adjust the light. @DrHenryCloud
52. It’s hard for an optimistic person to believe that there really are bad people. @DrHenryCloud
John Dickson (session notes)
53. We are really scared of crocodiles in Australia… and man hugs. @DailyDickson
54. Humility is the noble choice to forgo your status and use your influence for the good of others. @DailyDickson
55. What we don’t know far exceeds what we do know, so humility is common sense. @DailyDickson
56. Humility is beautiful. We are more attracted to the great who are humble than the great who want everyone to know about it. @DailyDickson
57. Science is based on humility. 1 can’t just observe the world & make a declaration. A theory has to be tested & peer tested. @DailyDickson
58. The most believable person in the world is the person who you know has your best interest at heart. @DailyDickson
59. You don’t need the keys to the kingdom to impact the kingdom. (Don’t need political or structural authority) @DailyDickson
Patrick Lencioni (session notes)
60. Vulnerability runs counter to the dominant value in our culture – to avoid suffering at any cost. It’s counter-cultural. @patricklencioni
61. People are desperate for the kind truth. @patricklencioni
62. There’s a technical term for people who don’t like to tell people the kind truth… wuss. @patricklencioni
63. My job is not to look smart but to help you do better. @patricklencioni
64. The best leaders are the ones who are open about their shortcomings. @patricklencioni
65. When we acknowledge our humanity it’s attractive, people want to be around us. @patricklencioni
66. Leaders, show your people that you’re willing to do whatever it is you’re asking them to do. @patricklencioni
67. We don’t come out of the womb wanting to be vulnerable. It involves pain, sacrifice. @patricklencioni
68. We are called to be humble and vulnerable by the most humble and vulnerable Leader of all. @patricklencioni
Erwin McManus (session notes)
69. Don’t do evangelism. Live Christ. @ErwinMcManus
70. We are God’s instruments to create the future. @ErwinMcManus
71. Evil men don’t wait 4 permission 2 create the future. But good people sit idly by waiting 4 God 2 create a better world. @ErwinMcManus
72. The future is whatever we want it to be. @ErwinMcManus
73. We need to become the cultivators of human potential. @ErwinMcManus
74. I believe there has never been an ordinary child born on this planet ever. @ErwinMcManus
75. Whoever tells the best stories changes the culture. @ErwinMcManus
76. Sometimes the truth is lost in a bad story and the false is perpetuated through a good story. @ErwinMcManus
77. It’s not that hard to lead people to Jesus when you tell them a story which they are in. @ErwinMcManus
And one bonus quote…
Jesus has come and he has made all things new. @ErwinMcManus
Thanks to Adam Jeske, whose Top 37 Quotes post inspired me to borrow his idea, super-size it, and link it up.
Which were your favorite quotes from the Global Leadership Summit?
Great stuff, Paul. I’m glad I inspired you, and my quote list seems to have been interesting to a lot of folks.
For good,
Adam
Thank you, Adam!
This is fantastic! I always go to the SUmmit, but had to bring in revenue this year! Love your website and plan to follow you!
Blessing,
Lori Evans Ermi
Thanks Lori! Glad you liked it. Hope you can make it back to the Summit next year.
Paul, thanks for doing this. I was not able to attend much of the Summit this year but because of your hard work and great note taking I feel like I got the gold nuggets.
Thanks Bret!
Thanks Paul – I’ll be using these as a morning devotional and a challenge to grow as a leader. I also will be sharing a copy of this with my supervisor who missed the summit this year.
I appreciate the time you take to post on your blog.
David
David, that’s cool! Thanks for letting me know.