Leadership Lunch w/ Collin Sewell

In a previous post, I gave clear outlining of the value of Collin and the accomplishments he has to his name, so in this point, I will simply recount in brief our conversation.  In a previous meeting Collin gave me some books to read and below are some notes that I took based upon our discussion.

The Greatest Salesman in the World

Executive Summary of Principles:

Chapter 8 – Today I begin a New Life.

Chapter 9 – I will greet this day with love in my heart.

Chapter 10 – I will persist until I succeed.

Chapter 11 – I am nature’s greatest miracle.

Chapter 12 – I will live this day as if it’s my last.

Chapter 13 – I will be master of my emotions.

Chapter 14 – I will laugh at the world.

Chapter 15 – I will multiply my value a hundred fold today.

Chapter 16 – I will act NOW.

The Blessed Life

Executive Summary of Principles:

1) There is very little that God asks me to do that is measureable in its opportunity to accomplish.

2) You can’t out give God.

3) The Bible talks about money over faith or prayer by 4 times, nearly ½ of all parables reference money.

4) Money is a TEST from God.

5) God redeems our gifts too Him.

6) Tithing is LIFE not LAW.

7) Something must be blessed before it can be multiplied.  This is key to our personal finances.

8) Only what is given away can multiply.

9) We should give more than the tithe because the tithe is already His.

10) Money is not the answer to problems, God is.

11) Being a giver will result in blessing.  Don’t ever allow the enemy to make you ashamed of God’s blessings

-- There is no shame in how God has blessed us.

12) Gratitude doesn’t care what people think; it only cares what God thinks.

13) The heart issue with giving is not WHAT you give but WHY you give.

14) God is not responsible for bills he did not initiate.

15) God is looking for people to funnel his resources through.

16) Reward must not be the primary reason for giving.

17) Instant Obedience.

Collin had a few general thoughts to add to the conversation that I was able to make note of:

-- When your the biggest and best in town, it is important to do a gut check on your pride

-- Secure leadership is a requirement for growing organizations.  You must find a person who will speak into your life unconditionally.

-- We must be careful not to use generosity to receive instead of giving.

-- Being 'cheap' is as much of a slave as being 'lavish'

Global Leadership Summit 2012 (John Ortberg)

John Ortberg is the pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church and author of several books.  His most recent and the one his talk was based on at the Global Leadership Summit is Who Is This Man?  Here is a brief summary of his talk at the Leadership Summit.

"Jesus was the most unlikely candidate to change the world"

"Jesus gave the world its most influential movement"

"Jesus changed how we think about history"

"Jesus shaped how we express compassion"

"The Jesus movement shaped education"

"Jesus revolutionized technology and science"

"Jesus revolutionized art"

"Jesus changed political theory"

"Jesus changed how we think about human rights and dignity"

"Jesus uniquely taught love of ones enemies"

"Who was this man?  The King of Kinds, Lord of Lords and the Greatest Teacher to ever life."

--Among all of these topics, John presented mountains of evidence which is included in his book.

Global Leadership Summit 2012 (William Ury)

William the author of the well acclaimed book Getting Past No, a book on negotiation.  Here are a summary of his thoughts at the Global Leadership Summit.

"When angry, you will make the best speech you will ever regret"

"The greatest power we have in negotiation is the power not to react"

"To negotiate:  focus on the interest, not the position; ask the question 'why'; and reinforce the power of objective opinion"

Abraham Lincoln, when asked how to destroy his enemies:  "Do I not destroy my enemy when I make them into my friend?"

Global Leadership Summit 2012 (Patrick Lencioni)

Patrick Lencioni is the founder and president of The Table Group as well as a best selling author and highly valued consultant.  Here are this thoughts from the Global Leadership Summit.

"People need to be reminded more than instructed"

"Organizational health is the greatest competitive advantage"

"There are 4 disciplines to make an organization healthy:

1) Build and maintain a cohesive leadership team
2) Create Clarity
3) Over Communicate Clarity
4) Reinforce Clarity"

"The vision of your firm must be something your willing to be punished for.  Working at a church should never be about the job, it should be something your willing to be punished for the opportunity to do"

"If your people aren't doing an impression of you when your not around, your not over communicating!"

Global Leadership Summit 2012 (Craig Groeschel)

Craig Groeschel is pastor of Livechurch.tv, the second largest congregation in the United States.  He is an engaging speaker and a passionate pastor of the local church.  He is a great leader and innovative thinker.  His most recent book Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World is engaging and truth filled for those seeking to live their lives sold out to Jesus.  This is a summary of his thoughts at the Global Leadership Summit.

He began with a message to the older generation:

"Don't resist or fear the next generation, embrace them, believe in them.  They need you."

"God values maturity.  If your not dead, your not done."

"Don't just delegate tasks to the next generation, this creates followers.  Delegate authority to create leaders."

"With the younger generation authenticity trumps cool every time."

"The youngest generation feels entitled this is not their fault, they were a generation raised this way."

"Because you fell entitled, you overestimate what you can do in the short term."

"Honor publicly results in influence privately"

"Honor of God will result in honoring those around us"

"Respect is earned, but honor is given"

How do we do all this?

1) Ongoing feedback loops - message reviews and critiques with all generations

2) Create specific mentoring moments - ask the question 'will you mentor me?'

3) Create opportunities for significant leadership development.

Global Leadership Summit 2012 (Sheryl Wudunn)

Sheryl WuDunn is a pulitzer prize winning journalist and author if Half the Sky.

The two tenets of this book:

1) "Gender Inequality is the central moral challenge in the 21st century.  We are missing between 60 - 100 million women in our population today."

2) "We think women need education and jobs.  We think women and girls aren't the problem, they are the solution."

Global Leadership Summit 2012 (Jim Collins)

Jim Collins taught for many years at Stanford University and began research in 1992.  From there, he has written numerous invaluable business books recognized by the NY Times and BusinessWeek as a best selling author.  Jim is an excellent communicator and business leader.  His latest book is Great by Choice and it is this book that inspired his talk at the Summit this year.

Great by Choice measures companies that grew 10 times faster than their competitors.  Their main differences were outlined as fantastic discipline, productive paranoia, and empirical creativity.

Fanatical Discipline:

"It is important not to over stretch"  Jim tells a great story at the turn of the century of the race to the North Pole.  Its central tenet is keeping pace instead of over-extending.

"Southwest Airlines as been profitable for nearly 40 years, through everything."

"Manage yourself in good times so you can do well in the bad times.  Its about consistent, consecutive performance."

Empirical Creativity:

"Comparisons company leaders don't do enough testing before they bet all of the new creativity"

"A marriage of creativity and discipline is what sets people apart"

"The challenge is to merge creativity and discipline.  This is KEY."

Productive Paranoia:

"Understand the only mistakes you learn from are the ones you survive."

"High cash to assets ratio in the 10x companies was a consistent factor."

"It's all about what you do before your in trouble"

"The greatest danger is to be successful and NOT KNOW WHY!!"

"Greatness is not a matter of circumstance"

Great Organizations:

1) Have superior performance related to the mission.
2) Makes distinctive impact
3) Has Lasting Endurance

"Organizations are not great if they can not be great without you."