WCAGLS: Bill Hybels Session One Takeaways

Every year my faithful blog readers endure with me through a series of posts from a Leadership Conference that makes me absolutely giddy.  It fills my head with so many profound thoughts and fuels my passion for leadership in ways that make me a little dangerous at times.  Normally, I just use these posts to regurgitate my notes, but I thought this year, I'd try to process my thoughts out a little further for you and tell you what I actually hope to do with all this wonderful and glorious information.

The only Leadership Summit faculty member you can count on hearing from year after year is Bill Hybels, and the reality is, he is by far the best of them all.

Takeaway One:  Leaders need to be incurable, insatiable learners.  When a leader stops learning, he stops leading.

So What?:  This year I did something I've never done.  I created a reading list at the start of the year.  And, I've kept track of what I'm reading.  I renewed my library card, and I've availed myself of all the riches available through Fort Worth's very excellent library system.  And, in the process, I'm becoming a better leader, and yet, I find myself wishing I had the ability to consume more, especially true stories about the ordinary lives of courageous men and women.  They remind me that I am not alone when I come up against difficult days.  I will continue to make the most of every opportunity to learn.

Takeaway Two:  Part of my job as a leader is to look problems straight in the eye, call them what they are, not be intimidated by them, arrest them, and put them on a new curve.


So what?  I will quit complaining that leadership is hard.  That's a given.  In my lines of work and ministry, problems most often come in the form of people.  I will quit acting surprised when problems arise.  I will deal honestly and directly with them with a commitment to a gracious and generous love for every individual.

Takeaway Three: How you finish is how you'll always be remembered.


So what?  With God's help, I will not be remembered for being a slow starter.  I will not be remembered for the years I've wasted.  I will not be remembered for all the times I fail (I will fail plenty and often).  I will be remembered for boldly following Him and being used by Him to love and live courageously.  I will strive to make each year of leadership better than the last, and to be remembered as one who consistently pointed others to Christ.