Leadership Summit 2010 - da notes (Part 1)

I'm gonna pretty much type these out here the way they are in my notebook, which means they may seem all-over-the-place but maybe it will be just enough to make you go with me next year.

IT WAS AMAZING. As usual. So good. So so good.

mmm.kay?

So, I go to these as a SAHM. That is my leadership position. Pretty sure there are like 1% of us at these things, but I am here, on the blog, drumming up more, maybe we could like double this next year?

As a mama, you are a leader.

I am a leader.

24/7.

And great leaders get great training. This is part of my training.

I do love a good parenting book (and I literally throw the bad ones away...er...recyle them). But what I love even more is a fantastic leadership book that I can translate to my position as mama, leader of my kids.

Jake and I share this position and it just-so-happens that he's into this leadership stuff too, and when I say he's into it I mean he's getting a Masters degree in the stuff.

(he'd have been with me at Summit except for that whole getting off work thing!)

That aside, really, this stuff is good. Real good.

So, here's what I do.

Everytime Leader is referenced, I take it to mean me, as a mother

and

Everytime Team/People is referenced, I take it to mean my kids, as my kids.

And so, here ya go, da notes (Part 1):

Session 1:

Bill Hybels

Here to There

Leaders move people from Here to There

As a leader you need to say to your team, "we are Here but one day we will be There!" (vision casting)

but, the first play is to not make There sound wonderful but to make Here sound awful, unthinkable, unquestionable, terrible, bad, etc.

Martin Luther King, Jr gave 100's of 'we can't stay Here' speeches before he gave his "I have a dream" (There) speech.

People were ready to hear the There speech.

Your job is not to preserve something from a certain demise but to move people There.

You can't do it alone.

Your team becomes the catalyst to go from Here to There.

To do this you need FANTASTIC people.

How do you inspire people to stay on the journey? Where are people most vulnerable? You've made Here unthinkable but in the middle, between Here and There, if you're not careful you can loose people.

They'll hit 'the wall'.

Refill their vision bucket's.

everyones vision bucket has holes and leaks

you have to celebrate miles markers on the way, even if they seem arbitrary

give a sense of HOPE that they're going to get There one day!

there is a 40% differential in productivity between an inspired worker and and uninspired worker.

Jesus inspired constantly. He knew it mattered.

When was the last time you celebrated one of the mile markers?

You're not there, but you're getting there, celebrate That.

Hear from God in the process - John 10:27 (my sheep hear my voice and they heed it)

Every leader ought to be an incredible reader of God's word and in addition, hear from the Spirit.

Don't blow off the whispers.

If you thought God was speaking to you throughout the day, how concerned would you be about the quality of your antenna?

Will you do everything in your power to heed it?

'Make the Ask' - courageous leaders make the courageous asks

experiment, practice with the nudging/whispers

Jim Collins

author of How the Mighty Fall

'Never, ever, give up'

Good is the enemy of great.

Greatness is not a matter of circumstance but on conscience decisions and discipline.

no one is immune, anyone can fall

falling is hard to detect early, but easy to cure

falling is easy to detect late, but hard to cure

Bad decisions taken with good intentions are still bad decisions

(from a study he did and on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the best)

the signature of what separated the level 5 leaders from the level 4 leaders was: HUMILITY

part of their humility was burning passionate ambition to do whatever it took for success - no matter whatever was

undisciplined pursuit of more/'we're so good, look what we can do, let's do more'/overreaching/going to far is stage 2 of a major fall

resist growth until all your key seats are filled with fantastic people (level 5 people)

(I'm interrupting my own notes here - I wrote this down and was thinking that for a mama, this would be your friends, the people who are around you most, are they fantastic people?...back to my notes)

Never confuse faith with facts (from Admiral Stockdale...who's book I immediately ordered)

Have a reason to endure, out side of personal gain...have a reason to state, "We have to endure"

Imagine the power of values and purpose

Values are those things NOT up for discussion, they will not change.

the signature of mediocrity is inconsistency

preserve the core and stimulate the system

a TO DO list from Jim:

1. do your diagnostics (www.jimcollins.com)

2. count your blessings, literally, count them, on a spreadsheet, don't stop until you're past 100 this will evoke humility automatically

3. What is your questions to statement ratio and can you double it in the next year?

"invest more time in becoming interested instead of interesting"

4. Who are in your key seats?

5. Do a diagnostics of Ups and Downs on your team.

6. Take inventory of the brutal facts, write them down, why we can't stay Here.

7. Make a STOP DOING list! Have the discipline to stop

8. Define results, what do you mean by success and how are you reaching them?

9. Double your reach to young people (um, Lord, that would mean EIGHT kids...???)

10. BHAG - have a Big Hairy Audacious Goal

if you set out to be useful, you can never capitulate

(we have friends in town...AGAIN!!!! I AM LOVING THIS!!!!...gotta run, we have a date night scheduled with them in Georgetown!!!)