1) Why do we exist?
2) How do we behave?
3) What do we do?
4) How will we succeed?
5) What is most important right now?
6) Who will do what?
He also said that a company should have 3 core values that they base every decision off of. 3 anchors to fall back on for decisions so that each person in the organization can make decisions, so that not everything needs to come back to higher management in order to happen. His example was Southwest Airlines (Jim Collins talked about them a lot yesterday too, apparently they are the best airline out there...) and one of their core values was "A Sense of Humor." They also had, I don't remember them exactly, but things like a quick-turn around time in the gate and something else, I forgot to write those down. But then, when you make a decision, whether you are just a flight attendant or the top of the chain, you go through those core values, ask whether it will damage the company or lose them money, ask whether or not it will make the reputation with customers better or worse, then do it. So yeah, he had some good stuff. His organizational health thing had four steps, 1- Build a Cohesive Leadership Team, 2- Create Clarity, 3- Over-communicate Clarity, 4- Reinforce Clarity. I think he thinks that clarity is important...
Then we heard from some negotiator that wasn't very engaging and I didn't really listen to him at all. Oops!
We then heard from Pranitha Timothy, she was somebody who had had a brain tumor and could barely talk because of that, but she had led over 50 operations to free slaves in Asia and shared her story and how she was able to do that. It was pretty incredible, inspiring. She knew what it was she wanted to do and she did it.
Then Mario Vega talked, leader of a 73,000 member church in El Salvador. He only spoke Spanish so it was through a translator which makes it really hard for me to pay attention, but one of his points struck me, "As a leader, you are not only responsible for your actions but for the actions of those people that you influence." I thought of how true that is, and important, and thought of the example of Thomas Muntzer and the Peasant's Revolt and the Munster Rebellion during the Anabaptist Movement. The Anabaptist's influenced those that participated in this revolt, but (not their fault) they didn't clarify their beliefs enough with them before radical action was taken. That had to do with lack of available communication and stuff, but it tainted the names of Mennonites and Anabaptist's for years and years after, and even today there are people who only know those stories of Anabaptist's and Mennonites and have no idea that we are (should) be pacifists.
Then we had John Ortberg, pastor of the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in Cali. His message was titled "Who is this man?" and was more of a sermon than a leadership thing, but it was awesome. His one point was "What is the driving force of Christianity?" To make everyone in the world, regardless of race, ethnicity, color, or age a member of a single, transformative community. Pretty sweet (sounds a bit like a reason for pacifistic Christianity, does it not?). He also started out asking the question "Who was this man?" and then at the end he changed it to "Who is this man?" It was neat, he also has a book called "Who is this man?" That's what I got about him.
Then Geoffrey Canada was up, he was an inspiring man too. He started "Harlem Children's Zone." He didn't talk a whole lot about it, which I respected, but it sounded like it was an education thing for children and youth in poor regions of cities, which he had grown up in. But one thing that he said was the important thing for a leader to remember is that the organization is not yours, but it is the people's that you are doing it for. Humility to the max. And that, as leaders, you can't be afraid of hard conversations, which you hear a bunch, but it is so true.
Then Bill Hybel's came to wrap it up the way he does. It was good, but I was being plagued by another idea so I didn't really pay attention too much, except that he said "The local church is the future of the world." Oh, and that the key to leadership is Christ. I'm not going to talk about my other idea except this, "What is the local church like in Germany?" So he wrapped it up really well, he knows what he is doing. Then we came home. Also, Gungor is sweet!
Alrighty, peaces.
Here is a picture of a giant wiener. Saw it on the way to Virginia quite a few years ago.
"My bologna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R, my baloney has a second name it's M-E-Y-E-R.
Oscar Meyer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A."
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