A few of years ago, I heard that there was a name change being contemplated. The Willow Creek Association was looking at the growth of the Global Leadership Summit around the world and the hundreds of partners and locations represented in over 130 countries and what they had really “become” was The Global Leadership Network. As that idea was being processed and plans were being developed to make the name change, I found myself in the middle of watching the influence that the GLS could have in cities including our own. Through the GLS we were gathering leaders from every sector of the community to provide “fresh, actionable leadership content” and we were casting a “grander vision” for what could happen as leaders increased their influence.
And then the day came for the launch of the new name and I read the announcement from GLN President Tom DeVries on February 15, 2019, that said, “We see a world where communities are transformed, businesses are working for good and churches are thriving”.
And that sealed it for me. Not only was the WCA becoming a global leadership network, but they were seeing things happen in communities as a result of influencers learning how to be better leaders and pursue a grander vision. I had been watching GLS serve as a catalytic resource to add value to what was wanting to happen in cities locally and globally and the launch of the new name captured that idea at deeper levels.
For the past several years, we have been talking a lot about city movements because of the synergy of various organizations in cities across the country as we help add value to those movements with GLS. And I want to reinforce this idea that the connection between city movements and GLS is really just figuring out how to best leverage the GLS as a resource. I have been talking for several years about my first major revelation with GLS which was the idea that “The Global Leadership Summit is not just an event to attend, it’s a resource to be leveraged”. What we are seeing with city movements is simply the results of how communities are leveraging the GLS at higher levels.
For those who attend GLS, we see cascading effects in leaders and their environments. In addition to what a leader takes away for their own benefit, there are a growing number of GLS alumni who bring their teams. And for every leader that brings a team, we see a multiplying effect in organizations. And when organizations are led better in every sector of a community, there is certainly a major impact on a city.
But then there is a grander vision. As we grow in our leadership skills and deepen in our calling as leaders, we start to look at the challenges in our community and wonder how we can leverage ourselves, our teams and our organizations to help build a great city. “The Global Leadership Summit is a resource for your team, your organization and your community, but it can also be a strategic and catalytic resource for a City Movement”
Leveraging the Global Leadership Summit to add value to City Movement is all about connecting dots. Here are three blog posts to share some City Movement ideas.
Using the Global Leadership Summit to catalyze City Movements: