Sunday, September 30, 2007

Global Leadership Summit 2007

Two years ago I went to the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit Videocast Conference (phew what a mouthful) in Stafford. I posted about it here.

Maybe it was because my situation was different then but I had a mixed reaction to the content last time. There was good stuff but it was a bit samey.

I have spent the last two days at the Bristol version of this year's conference. This time it was brilliant and relevant. It felt as if all my criticisms of last time had been answered. I suspect that my next four or five posts will all be about reaction to the various sessions. What is certainly true is that I will be militantly evangelistic about getting my colleagues and other church leaders to come to the 2008 version.

The beauty of this conference is that Bill Hybels and his team invite people who are great leaders and either Christian or sympathetic to Christianity. Thus you get Richard Curtis; not a believer but a man who can teach a lot about alleviating global poverty starting from where you are at. 'I'm a comedy writer; how could I use that to save people's lives?' Great question. Comic Relief is the great answer. You get Colin Powell on leading when the heat is on. You get Marcus Buckingham (Gallup) on using your strengths.

Next year's Bristol conference is 3-4 October. Diary it if you're any kind of leader. Some of you will be getting email invitations from me.

It would also be a good event to take someone to who is interested in leadership but only sympathetic to Christianity. Where else could you get all this for about £30 a day plus food and parking?

3 comments:

David Keen said...

Completely agree. I only made day 2 of the Exeter version of the conference, but it was excellent value and all the folk from our church/town who went were really positive about it.

RHK said...

Sounds VG!

Wonder why people feeled compelled these days to give just about every get-together the label 'summit'.

Any old meeting could be a summit, these days.

I guess in the west of England there are desultory gatherings known as Summat Summits....

Anonymous said...

Hello, good to bump into you at the GLS. An unexpected pleasure, and to see Liz again. Glad stuff's going well for you. Hope your children's worker found a sufficiently authentic Roman soldier outfit. E