Global Leadership Summit 2015

Day One

Bill Hybels is senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, a church of more than 25,000 that celebrates its 40th year in 2015. He founded The Global Leadership Summit with a commitment to develop and mentor leaders worldwide. In 2014, the Summit equipped more than 220,000 leaders in 785 cities and 108 countries. Hybels is the best-selling author of more than 20 books including Simplify, Courageous Leadership and Leadership Axioms.


The Intangibles of Leadership 

Bill Hybels @BillHybels, Founder and Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Church

1. Grit
2. Self-awareness
3. Resourcefulness
4. Self-sacrificing Love
5. Sense of Meaning

I used to teach there were 8 critical functions of Leadership:

• Casting Vision
• Building Teams
• Motivating & Inspiring
• Solving Problems
• Change management
• Establishing Core Values
• Allocating Resources
• Developing Emerging Leaders

With humility, everyone can learn leadership. I want to share 5 essential intangible qualities for leadership.  

INTANGIBLE #1: GRIT

Grit is passion and perseverance over the long haul. Long term and steely determination. To keep on expanding energy until you cross the finish line. They can overcome whatever obstacles that come on their way. They are not deterred or give up. It matters in life and it matters in leadership regardless of IQ. Abraham Lincoln had it. Nelson Mandela and Gandhi had it. The question is do you have it? 

Can grit be developed? The good news is yes. The bad news is that the arch enemy of grit is ease. Grit development demands difficulty. Grit grows every time you proof to yourself you can overcome obstacles. 

You must assign yourself very difficult task and to will yourself to task achievement. Overcoming physical challenges help you grow grit. When you are given difficult task by your leader, don't just deliver but over-deliver. When leaders over-deliver, it creates an appetite for their team to do likewise. We must develop and demonstrate grit. 

INTANGIBLE #2: SELF-AWARENESS

Are we tethered to a past that impact what we do now? Shocking percentage of leaders make shocking decisions that is related to a mess in their past. Blindspot is when a leader think the leader is great at something when the team know it's not true. A blindspot is someone who believes he or she is great when their team think otherwise. 

We all have weaknesses but the danger with blindspots is that you really have no idea you have it. When I am stressed I always think I am cool under stress and I can handle myself well. That nobody had to know about it. But everyone around me is stressed when I am stressed. Do you have any blindspots? Research says we have three blindspots at least. Your direct supervisors and colleagues probably see more of your blindspots. But if you really want to know your blindspots, ask you spouse or your in-laws, or worst your teenage sons or daughters. They'll give you the painful truth. Blindspots leads to weaknesses. Have vulnerable conversations. Like you tell me the brutal truth of what you do well and what you don't do well. Everybody will win when you learn self awareness. 

INTANGIBLE #3: RESOURCEFULNESS

They are quick learners. They are collaborators, inventors and experimenters. They have high learning abilities. They roll up their sleeves and start figuring out what they need to do. The Wright Brothers invented planes. They studied birds for years. They studied the winds. They move to where the wind blew steady and strong. They experimented and failed and experimented and failed again until they figured it out. Resourceful people figure it out. The success of the Wright Brothers depended on their resourcefulness. 

Resourcefulness can be developed but the bad news is to figure it out moving forward and staying at it until you do. Experiment and fail. Experiment and fail. 

INTANGIBLE #4: SELF-SACRIFICING LOVE

David of David and Goliath became famous after he defeated Goliath. 

1 Samuel 22:2 All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

David had only these available personnel. He remained and coached the troops and he empowers them. He organised the troops under them. The people over time realised that they are not just equipments but that he has a heart for them. They gave loyalty for David and for one another. David's leadership was called to question when they were surrounded by his enemies. And they were left with no water. He spoke to these 3 leaders and he went to sleep. These 3 sneaked into enemy camp and took water for David. But David poured the water into the ground and refused to drink it. If leaders follow David, many organisations would have inspired their team to be loyal. 

Self-Sacrificing Love is at the core of Leadership. It had always been and will always be at the absolute core of Leadership. Love never fails. Love changes people. Love melts people and moulds people into tight families. It makes for super transformations of people over time. 

Don't hesitate to express genuine concerns for your teammates. Get personal with your co-workers. It will humanise you workplace. And it starts with senior leaders in your organisation. Please get this right. 

INTANGIBLE #5: CREATE A SENSE OF MEANING

In every organisation, we have the What, the How and finally the Why. Almost every employee understand the What and the How. The huge disconnect is the Why. They need to know the why. Why they work so hard and so late. Why you do what you do. 

Your why will fuel you higher and higher in your leadership and organisation or you have to decide to move on to something else that give you the whys. 

Steve Jobs. “Do you want to sell sugar water or do you want to help me to change the world?”

Howard Schultz. “We don’t sell coffee. We create a third place.”

Rich Stearns, President of World Vision. “What if you shifted your why from plates for rich people to food for poor people.”

Bill’s White-Hot Why: Sharing the gospel message. The message of grace simply transformed his life. He realized that his “white-hot “why is never going to be money. Transformed lives are in his top box.

Find out what is in your top box and pursue it with all your heart. Life is too short to live with someone else’s why. What drives you to get better and better. 

I'm going to share about my top box and my why. Be warned, it's going to be a little religious but we are all here to be open minded about it.  

The message of what Christ does for our wrong doings transformed my life. My top box is not going to be money or fame or power. It's to see God transforms life. That's my why. 

Leadership matters in life and most certainly in death. You need to find what's your why and fulfil it.

Driven by a relentless curiosity into what makes great companies tick, Jim Collins has authored or co-authored six books on leadership that have sold more than ten million copies worldwide. He began his research and teaching career on the faculty at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and in 1995 he founded a management laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. Passionate about the business and social sectors, in 2012 and 2013, he served as the Class of 1951 Chair for the Study of Leadership at the United States Military Academy at West Point.


Seven Questions: Beyond Good to Great

Jim Collins, Nationally Acclaimed Business Thinker, Best-selling Author of Good to Great 

1. Serve a Cause with Level Five Ambition

2. Become a Great Leader

3. Refrain Failure

4. Succeed by Helping Others

5. Find Your Personal Hedgehog

6. Build Your Unit into a Pocket of Greatness

7. How will you Change the lives of Others. 

1. What cause do you serve?

Every single kid deserves a shot at a solid education. That's why we strive to give our kids good education. When you have a charismatic cause, you do not need to be a charismatic leader. We need level five ambition. It is the idea of service. A service to a cause. We are talking about ambition. Non stop ambition. Ego driven leaders do not inspire others. Ambition has to be bigger than ourselves. 

The sense of cause have to be clear. Ambition for cause and not you. I want to challenge young leaders of every walk of life to infuse your enterprise beyond just making money. Money is essential for life but they are not the point of life. 

2. Would you settle to be a good leader or strive to be a great leader?

We move from a society that is well managed to a society of network that is well led, not managed. True leadership only exists if they follow when they have the freedom to not follow. Not followed because of position or power. 

Colin Powell said, “I don’t remember ever telling anyone, ‘That’s an order.’”

Eisenhower said, "Leadership is the art of getting people to want to do what must be done." It's not a science. It's an art. You have to develop your own art. You learn from but not copy. Eisenhower grew into great leader. He did not start as a great leader. You do what it needs to scale to be a great leader. 

3. How can you reframe failure as work 

BHAG - Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Is BHAG possible? It is something that when you think it is not possible that it becomes a BHAG. 

In 2007, Jim was with Tommy Caldwell, world-class rock climber. Tommy asked, “Does a BHAG have to be achievable?” He wanted to do free climb the Dawn Wall at El Capitan in Yosemite—the hardest free-climb in history. It’s never been done.

Fast forward to 2012. Jim brought him to West Point. At that time, he had accumulated an impressive record of failure on the Dawn Wall. Jim asked him, “Why do you keep going back?” Tommy tried for four years to climb the flat vertical and overhanging Dawn Wall. It is the toughest in the world and no one has attempted it. I asked him why he kept trying for four years and failed? He said, “I’m not failing, I’m growing. That’s the point of the climb.” After 2,800 and one day, Tommy was about to conquer the Dawn Wall but his partner was stuck lower down. He went back and helped the partner instead of taking the summit on his own. They summited together as a team. He made his failures work. 

4. How can you succeed by Helping Others  Succeed?

IOCT - Indoor Obstacle Course Track. The time to make the course is 3 min 30 seconds for a cadet to graduate. I decided to try it. I do not recommend a 55 year old to try that. I noticed there was some cadets helping other cadets. Classmates were there to make sure their friends got through the IOCT. We succeed only when we help others succeed. And to create this incredible idea that you are never alone. This engaged culture that we can build into an organisation that is based on it. 

Service - Success - Growth

Service  - what cause or purpose are we passionately dedicated to and are willing to suffer and sacrifice for?

Growth - what huge and audacious challenge should we give people that will push them hard and make them grow? 

Communal Success - what can we do to reinforce the idea that we only succeed by helping each other?

The idea of communal success built into the culture. Not to have a great life but a meaningful life. And you cannot have meaningful life with no meaningful work. 

5. Do you have your personal Hedgehog?

Imagine living in the intersection of three circles. 

Passionate About  - Best At - Economic Engine

You have all three and you have found your Hedgehog. And you will have the ability to persist. True creative stay in the game. What if Steve Jobs had quit. What if Winston Churchill had quit? How many of you have somewhere in your life is flat on your back? You have to get back up and stay in the game. But you have to be in your Hedgehog. You are made to do it. You are called to do it. It's in your DNA to do it. Real creative impact starts if you choose after 50.

6. Will you build your unit into a Pocket of Greatness?

Focus on your unit, not on your career. Be a caring leader and not focused on promotions. Taking care of people instead of career. And they would not let you fail. Life is people. The greatest leaders I know make a distinctive difference on people.  

A few decades ago, a girl sat dejected after a cross-country meet. Her coach gave her a note, “Your time will come.” That girl became my wife. She still carries around that hand-written note. She went on to become world champion.

But it did not make her happy.

Ten years later, she was asked to become a high school coach for boys and girls running cross-country. She built a dynasty—with no star. They were running for each other. She said, “I have found something that makes me happy. Showing them what is possible. Changing their lives.”

The greatest leaders find a way to make a contribution for people.

7. How will you Change the lives of Others?

It might be a lot or just a few. But you need to ask yourself: “How will some people’s lives be better and different because I am here on this earth.” Life is people.

Sheila Heen has spent two decades at the Harvard Negotiation Project specializing in our most difficult conversations—where disagreements are strong, emotions run high and relationships become strained. Her firm, Triad Consulting Group, works with executive teams to strengthen their working relationships, work through tough conversations and make sound decisions together. She has written two New York Times bestsellers, including her most recent, Thanks for the Feedback, which helps leaders improve their ability to receive feedback.

Thanks for the Feedback 

Sheila Heen, Founder Triad Counseling Group; Faculty Harvard Law School

The truth of the matter is that we swim in an ocean of feedback. It's information about you. It can be spoken or unspoken. Formal or informal. 

Feedback is my relationship with the world and the world's relationship with me. People all over the world struggle with feedback conversations. Whether they are organisations, schools or churches. 

We teach leaders how to give feedback skilfully and clearly. How many of you have attended sessions that teach you how to give feedback. It's about the giver and receiver. Maybe we got it wrong. It should be about getting feedback not giving feedback. 

I have to learn even from feedback even if it's not fair. 

Two Human Needs

• The need to learn and grow

• The need to be accepted or respected or loved the way we are now

Some of the things we learnt most from is from painful experiences. 

There are 3 types of feedback. 

• Appreciation - motivates receivers by communicating, I see you or you matter

• Coaching - includes giving advice, suggestions or corrections

• Evaluation - Rates people against a set of criteria 

Coaching gets less and less as you grow in an organisation. 93% of American workers don't feel appreciated. And many leave because of it. Evaluation drowns out coaching. Even when we hear coaching we often don't heed it. Like performance reviews. 

Why do we reject feedback?

It was wrong

I didn't respect them

They were phoney 

No aligned with my values

I was too stubborn

I was in love 

Getting better does not obligate you to take feedback. Those are great reasons. The problem is we decide too fast, often called wrong spotting. You will almost always find there is something wrong with feedbacks. 

There are Three Triggered Reactions. 

• Truth Triggers - access the content of the feedback, evaluating whether the content is true or not
• Relationship Triggers - take into consideration the person giving the feedback 
• Identity Triggers - challenge a person's inner security and confidence 

See yourself clearly. Everyone has blind spots!

Blind spots. Others have info about you that is invisible to you.

What shows up in your blind spots

• Your facial expressions
• Your body language
• Your tone of voice
• Your patterns of behavior
• Your impact on others

Not to decide what is right or wrong  - first understand what they mean before you decide. And also to understand yourself accurately but that is really hard. Feedback is like holding up a mirror. 

There are two kinds of mirror. One is a supportive mirror. You look for reassurance. We need supportive mirrors. Take the next step to ask them to help you. Invite them to be an honest mirror. To tell you how you are when you are not at your best. Your friend can help you when you are ready. Only when you are ready. 

The only face I can't see is my own. 

The fastest way to change feedback for the better is 

• For the leaders to receive feedback better. 
• You become a role model and you show them how to do it. 
• You automatically become a better feedback giver. 

Ask someone who's close to you two questions. 

1. What's one thing you particularly like about me. 
2. What's one thing you see me doing or failing to do that you think I should do to change.

We need each other to see our potential and where to grow next. Jesus is the perfect example. He accepts our brokenness, fear and limited understanding.

Jesus said he was leaving his disciples with the Holy Spirit and with each other.

• It is in relationship with each other that we learn to love more generously.
• Forgive more fully.
• Help to see the logs in our own eyes.
• We need each other to see our own limitations and where to grow that as Christians.
• They were go give each other counsel, love, admonishment—in love.
• That accelerates personal growth, professional growth and spiritual growth.

Learning to receive feedback from each other is what leadership and the Christian walk is all about.

Craig Groeschel and LifeChurch.tv are known for using innovative technology to spread the Gospel to multiple locations around the U.S. and globally via Church Online. With a passion for serving the Church and partnering to reach people for Christ, LifeChurch.tv shares its resources with churches worldwide, including the free Bible app from YouVersion.

Expanding Your Leadership Capacity 
Craig Groeschel and LifeChurch.tv

1. Accomplish Immeasurably More: The 5C's of Expanding Your Leadership Capacity 
2. Build Your Confidence
3. Improve Your Connections
4. Improve Your Competence
5. Strengthen Your Character 
6. Increase Your Commitment 

Ephesians 3:20-21
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

There is way more inside of you than you can imagine that our God want to do exceedingly abundantly more than what you can do. 
Expanding your leadership capacity. Increase what you can do and who you influence. 

When you have one child or two or more your mindset have to change. I have 6 and people say I love kids. No. I just love my wife. With 6 children my mindset have to change. If your organisation or church expand your mindset have to change. 

I will give you 5 different Cs to expanding your capacity. I'll challenge you to choose one that's yours. I try very hard to get the 5Cs. Pastors like to do that for their sermons. 

1. Building your Confidence
2. Expand your Connection
3. Improve your Competence
4. Strengthen your Character
5. Increase your Commitment 

1. Building your Confidence

Some just say they can't handle more. Say to yourself. David at one point encourage himself in the Lord. One of my greatest fear was public speaking. I used to vomit just thinking of it. Thanks to God I don't have that anymore. I just vomit and swallow it back and throw them out at you. I have a mentor to help me. I just take one step forward. One step out of my insecurity and a step forward for God. Into the calling of God. The pathway to your greatest potential is to step through your fear. If God calls you he will give you what you need to fulfil that call. You are not what others say you are. You are what God says you are.    

2. Expand your Connection 

Your relationship. If you show me who you are listening to, I'll show you who you are becoming. You may be one relationship away from changing the course of your destiny. We see it all the time. If you look at the Bible, Saul became Paul. They don't trust Saul, who's out to kill them until Saul encountered Jesus and Paul happened. It changed his destiny and ministry. You may be one relationship away from changing your course. Don't try to copy how others do, learn how they think. You need a mentor to change the way you think. 

3. Improve your Confidence

You need to decide exactly one area that you need to improve. You may not know what it is but everybody else knows what it is. Decide exactly where you can improve. Some may need to improve your communication. Your tone, your style. It may be listening. Or delegating. We think delegating is telling people what to do. We make leaders, so delegating is empowering. Or we give feedback. Or hiring and recruiting. Or at firing. Especially within the church wall. The bravery to make the right decisions and free the person to do what God intended. Or the ability to cast meetings. To start on time, or make an agenda. Some of these you need to improve your confidence. I'm working on initiating rather than responding. 

4. Strengthen your Character 

Talent can get you to the top but only character can keep you there. If your character is not strengthened, your position is weakened. You and I need to check our lives for leaks. Is our marriage shaky even if our business is thriving? Are we telling white lies. Are we living with unconfessed sins in our lives. For some of you this is yours. Any area I am vulnerable in I will flee from temptation. Why would I ever want to resist something in the future when I can eliminate today. You are only as strong as you are honest. 

5. Increase your Commitment 

There is a big difference between I want this and nothing can stop me from this. There are some of you trying to do something and you have to just do something. For some is to get out of debt. Or for others is to have a marriage that honour God for generations to come. To impart spiritual lives not for tomorrow but for today. From the heart, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Not just go for evangelism and seminars. 

There is more than in you. He wants to do exceedingly abundantly. Your thoughts determine what you will do. I want you to look at these 5Cs and pick one that is you. And respond to God. 

Now to him who is able to immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 

Day Two

As CEO of Capella Hotel Group, Horst Schulze inspires client loyalty by raising the bar for customer service. Under his leadership, The Ritz-Carlton Group was awarded the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in both 1992 and 1999—the first and only hotel company to win even one such award. A leader and entrepreneur, he inspires leaders with practical ways to create high-quality customer service experiences.



Creating World Class Service 
Horst Schulze, Chairman and CEO, Capella Hotel Group; Founding President and Former COO, The Ritz-Carlton Group

1. Starting with a Service Mindset
2. Keeping Customers is Most Important 
3. Starting Well and Ending Well with Customer Service
4. Leading Your Teams to Service Excellence 
5. Caring, Empowering and Respecting - the Moral Thing to Do

Horst’s service model is “Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” Or stated another way: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Everybody talks about service. Any business you can think of is in service. I heard about B2B, business to business, but if you really look at it, we are also dealing with people. You have to accept that you create everything good or bad when dealing with people. Look at service and think about it. What is that person that you deal with? It's actually your neighbour. 

What does service means?
To keep the customer. 

There are three types of customers. One is a terrorist to your company. They will always find ways to find fault. Or a satisfied customers. When you deliver with zero defects. And loyal customers. What does it means customer loyalty? It means they trust you. You have developed trust. That's how they become loyal. How do you develop trust? By giving them what they want. 

It's an institution. You the consumer. All wants the same thing. You want the product to be defect free. You want timeliness. It's expectations fulfilled. And that people who give to you is nice to you. The number one driver is being nice to the customer. It's true in every industry. If you have a defect they will forgive you if you are nice to them. Service starts the instance you meet them. The first ten seconds is essential. Whether it's in person or through a phone. 

Let's look at banking. The bank is a business about money. But it's about your money. Not the bank's money. The bank has no money but yours. I was supposed to do a customer service seminar with a very established bank. So I thought I'd go and see it the day before. 

I walked into this bank and it's so impressive. You walk into a huge Hall of marble floors. And huge columns greet you. They are so huge you think their money is inside them somewhere. 

And then I have to start by queuing up. I was glad I am at number two. And then my turn came and this lady shouted "NEXT!". She looked at me and one look I knew she don't like me. And she asked "Yes?". I said I'd like to have change for a 50 dollar note. She took my 50 dollars and took out a stack and counted 5, 10, 15,….45, 50 and slam it on the counter top. Then she shouted "NEXT!". 

I walk away dissatisfied. I got my loose change but as I walked out I only remember how I was treated. I forget the marble floors or those huge columns. 

Can you imagine if she had instead called to me when my turn came and said "Yes gentlemen, how may I help you sir". And when I said I need change for 50 dollars, she said "it'll be my pleasure Mr Schulze. 5, 10, 15…45 and 50. Her you go sir, and have a nice day. They'll have my name in their computer system. Nowadays, they have everything, even on an app. I would go away feeling very different. 

Service starts with a great greeting. And being compliant to their needs. And caring for their needs. That's what creates customer loyalty. An individual attention. Call them by name. And you move them very fast from satisfaction to loyalty. 

What is service? 
Welcome. Comply. Farewell.

Service is your product. You may have processes but caring is the key. Satisfied customers becomes a loyal customer. That's the product you are suppose to produce in service. You don't go to work. You go to work to produce excellence. Excellence should be part of our creation. Excellence should be demanded. As leaders our role is to create excellence and caring. We don't hire people. We select people. That's the first process we do. 

Selection is a process. Then we orient the people. I personally orient all my employees. I tell them I'm the CEO and President  and I'm very important. And I tell them so are you. As a human being you are very important. A dishwasher is important. If they don't turn up for work it's a disaster. If the housekeeper don't turn up for work it's a disaster. If the bell boy don't turn up for work it's a disaster. If I'm not at work nobody knows. 

Lead them in your orientation. I tell them who we are. I select them to be a part of the organisation. To fulfil a function. I hire people to join me in my dreams and vision. To be part of a purpose and how they will benefit from that purpose. I tell them expectations and I don't compromise on those expectations. That the guests will come back and recommend us. What is my job? To help them achieve our vision. The key product that we produce is to respect people. 

It's selection, orientation, teaching and sustaining. That's how we have to work as leaders. Who is our concern? All our neighbours. Your employees and your customers are neighbours. 


Be part of a purpose and see how they can benefit by going along with it. Come to work to create excellence. You are partially defined by the work you do. It's in your hands to create excellence in the company. It's the moral thing to do and not just the right thing to do. The differentiation is service service service. Caring service. 

Brian Houston is senior pastor of Australia-based Hillsong Church, a global family of congregations comprising more than 100,000 weekly attendees. Regarded for his boldness, innovation and vision, he is passionate about the local church and empowering the next generation of leaders with fresh Biblical teaching, relevant worship and accessible community. He is also the President of Hillsong Bible College and the Executive Producer of more than 30 gold and platinum albums that have come from the Hillsong Worship team.


Resilience: One-on-One with Brian Houston 
Brian Houston, @BrianCHouston, Founder and Global Senior Pastor Hillsong Church

1. Leading as God Calls
2. Leading When Working Through Personal Tragedy
3. Leading Through Staff Transitions
4. Planting Churches in Extremely Tough Areas
5. Belief That God Can Do Great Things

Interview by Bill Hybels 

Bill: Everyone thinks you are Australian but you are a Kiwi. And your parents were Salvation Army. What was it like growing up in a Salvation Army home?

I was born in a hospital for unmarried women – run by Salvation Army. (My parents were married.) But I was three when we left Salvation Army. My father had a breakdown and was hospitalized, so we needed to leave that ministry. Grew up seeing his father as a pastor. 

Bill: Brian has a brand new book out. Live Love Lead. This is the story of your life and your vision to build an incredible church. When did you first hear that call?

Recently just wrote a book, Live Love Lead. It's not out yet and here is the hardcover edition. I've not even seen or touch that copy yet. Can I touch it? As long as I can remember, I would watch my father and I knew I wanted to do that. My calling was set. 

Bill: When you started out you had a fear of public speaking. And you were tempted to bail. 

But it took him far too long to have the courage to handle public speaking. I was the son of a prominent pastor and put too much pressure on myself. I had to gain confidence – by understanding grace and becoming comfortable in my own skin.

Bill: Where did Hillsong Church start?

He was 29 when he started. At a school gymnasium and there was a rope behind him. And he would swing from a rope to a congregation of just 3 rows. A young man was so impressed he ask his friends to come to this church and he brought 9 and they connected with Jesus and the following week he brought 30 and they connected with Jesus and it has not stopped for the last 32 years. 

Bill: Most people have heard of the reputation of Hillsong – huge church. Music that touches so many people. But it was really hard. You had an incredible disappointment with your dad in a public way. And you made it through it. Tell us about that.

It was the worst day of my life in 1999. It was a normal meeting with our church administrator – and I was told that we had a complaint that my father had abused a young person. As a Pastor's son, it was the worst day of my life. I had to deal with it on so many different levels. My father was my hero. It hit me as a pastor, as a son. He was grandfather to my kids. By the time it came out the victim was 37 years old. I did everything to not cover up and the victim pleaded with us not to go to the police and until today, I wished I had gone to the police. 

Bill: You needed to do the leadership function but still own your soul. How do you do that?

It was God’s amazing grace on our story. Our church has continued to move forward. Internally, it was a different story all together. The grief and trauma wore me down. I’m generally a happy-go-lucky person. But I ended up in a place I never thought I would be. I had to lead the church through it. 

Bill: You were speaking at a church and having a panic attack.

The grief though started wearing me down. And one day I was deep in it. Over the years I slowly winded down and made some poor choices. I took some sleeping tablets as I fly and slowly I find myself taking sleeping tablets every night. I was in the danger zone. And I knew I was in trouble. One night I collapsed as I go to the podium. I was talking like a baby and I made a simple appeal and I went home. It was like I can't breath and my wife knew it was a panic attack. 

At the end I knew I had to confront it. And until now I never had another attack. I was shocked myself how I got to that point because it was just not me. I had to put more discipline into that part of my life and got off those pills. I got out of it pretty fast. 

Bill: Now a for something  a little more pleasant. In the 1990s, there was a gifted woman in your church – Darlene Zsechech. And there was a music explosion at your church. How did that get started?

I’m a huge believer in the power of the church. It was intentional to have the kind of church that wrote songs. God’s grace has been on our church. I think music expresses the soul of the church – so a healthy church should produce powerful music. Darlene grew up like a child star in Australia. When it came to music and worship, Darlene wrote some songs that had a huge impact. We now have more and more albums and I am grateful for the grace of God that music is the arrow head of a healthy church. 

Bill: So your son Joel started to sing. And he started a little band that wound up being one of the most impactful worship bands in history.

Funny story actually. Joel took piano lessons. He loathed going and one time the instructor said to him, “Just write a song.” His creativity switched on. Hillsong United was the youth band at our church. I didn’t see it coming. He wrote this song Everyday and we started singing it in church. I asked, “Who wrote song?” They said, “Joel.” I asked “Joel who?”

Bill: It had to be tricky when Joel was rising and Darlene was still on staff. How did that transition go?

It actually went well. It happened over a 10-year period. Darlene and her husband felt the call to pastor their own church. Our church is resilient. It keeps going forward. Over and over, it wasn’t about any one person. When Jesus builds the church, the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. I believe that. He really does build His church.

Bill: As a pastor, I have learned that the people you start with in your church are not necessarily who will stay with you until the end.

I absolutely agree. Sometimes the people you expect to stay, leave. Others stay. But I’ve had the fortune to have good leadership who stayed with me through the years. I guess there is a season for everything and the people who start the church may not be the ones that stays with it. 

Bill: Some years ago, you started planting churches in major cities of the world that many had written off as a graveyard. Extremely tough areas. Kiev. Copenhagen. What were you thinking? 

I've always been inspired by big cities and cities of influence so I have always wanted to put churches where it can have influence. The culture of our church seems to work there. We don't build a London church but a Hillsong church in London and stay true to ourselves. With the right person, right place, right time, God blesses it. We will be starting Hillsong #14 and #15 in Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo.

Bill: Another surprise was when a film producer approached you about doing a movie.

Someone from Hollywood came to our conferences in Australia and he loved the atmosphere of Hillsong. He went to watch Hillsong United at the Hollywood Bowl and was really impacted by Mighty to Save. Mighty to Save impacted the Christian and he said he wanted people to be impacted by the way he was impacted by that song. So Hollywood will release that movie and it's fully paid for by Hollywood about Hillsong even though it's not by Hillsong. 

Bill: Brian, wrapping this up. Every time I am around you, my faith is expanded. You have an anointing on your life that helps other people believe that God can do great things. Where does that come from?

I love what I do. I love the Lord and the church and people intimately. I have learned that you keep showing up when you get knocked down and you become resilient and your passion for God and people become strong. Longevity is a gift from God. 

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Bill then spoke about the importance of music in ministering to him in ways that sometimes a mentor or another leader, or even the word of God can't. 

Hybels said: Music and leadership have an interesting juxtaposition. The leaders I know who face the greatest pressure, climbing the biggest hills, have the closest affinity to the power of music. 

He was gripped by a kind of fear some time back and there was one particular Song that when he heard, he just knew God was using g that song to minister to him. He was not a particularly fearful person. There were very few things that can cause him fear but this was one time he needed to hear from God. 

Sharon Irving then rendered that wonderful song "No Longer Slaves" Bill listened to over and over during those times. He said perhaps someone in this summit needs to hear the song. And especially that line "I'm no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God". 

And we hear a few other soul searching songs like 
"Oceans"
…and I will call upon Your name
And I keep my eyes above the waves
When ocean rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace

For I am Yours and You are mine…

Under Sam Adeyemi’s leadership, Daystar Christian Centre grew from a handful of people in 1995 to more than 25,000 people weekly—with highly recognized community impact projects. The author of numerous best-selling books, his television programs reach viewers on all continents. Adeyemi founded Daystar Leadership Academy, which is dedicated to releasing a new generation of leaders who will serve as catalysts in the transformation of Africa and the world.

Crushing the Power Chasm

Sam Adeyemi, @sam_adeyemi , Founder and Senior Pastor, Daystar Christian Centre in Nigeria

1. Seeking Success and Security in the Wrong Places

2. Identifying the Consequences of Self-centred Leadership 

3. Crushing the Power Gaps

4. Empowering Your People

I had a strong desire to succeed in the family construction business, but the environment was difficult and success did not come. I carried my strong desire to succeed into the ministry. Our family went through some financial problems and I began to look at how to succeed to be comfortable. That was my definition of success. To have a family and be comfortable. 

My family had a background of building buildings. But I knew I was not going to be in construction. I became a pastor. And I wanted to be a successful pastor. With a comfortable life, a house and a car. But in my first church, it grew too slowly. My ushers would count the congregation and it is plus one or minus one each week. 

Point #1 You will not find the definition of success for your ministry until you help the people I sent to you to succeed.

My church was small and did not grow; it did not grow for a long time. In prayer I asked God why He wasn’t bringing people into my church. But the Lord said he adds to the church. So God ask me why do you want more people? When God ask a question it is not because he does not know the answer. He often just wants to show us our foolishness. God spoke to my heart that the reason I wanted the church to grow was that I wanted to be comfortable. But that was not why He had me set up this church. God spoke to me that you will not find success until you find these people to succeed. 

That was the paradigm shift for me. What was their needs? What was their issues? Many of us as leaders in business or churches, wonder why our business or churches is not growing and it is because of our self-centredness. 

Point #2 The object of leadership for many leaders is their own success, but the object of Christ’s leadership was the success of his followers.

When Jesus said follow me do you think it was so simple? I don't think so. If I was that two fisherman's father, I will also follow and ask Jesus what is he going to do with his two sons. I believe Jesus spent time talking to them about his mission and by dawn, they would have been convinced their life would be more meaningful by following Jesus than staying as fisherman. 

Jesus said follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Transform them, not teach them. 

I was living in a culture where being a leader makes you superior to the people you are leading, which is true for many parts of the developing world. Christ lived in such a culture too. (Mark 10:42)

Point #3 The downside to power distance is that it can leave followers with low self-esteem and afraid to challenge a leader’s views. 

Power distance and hierarchical structures reflect the fact that power and responsibility are not shared equally in an organization, which is the reality. Because of this, people hardly ever give negative feedback that can be useful to leaders. People tend to wait for approval from above to do anything. There is also a tendency for leaders to be less accountable, which can set up for moral failure and scandals.

Point #4 Jesus crushed the power gap between men and women, adults and children, leaders and their followers.

Jesus reduces the power gaps.  Between the influence of men and women. Between children and adults. In church, between the religious leaders and the people. Jesus gave his disciples authority and power. That they will do what he did and much more. That is one of the most amazing thing Jesus did as a leader. Jesus confronted the power structure – He gave power away. Matthew 10:4.

Point #5 There is something about church leaders and talented people that make us think others cannot do what we do.

This may be because, unlike us, they have not heard God’s voice from the burning bush. Moses thought that way until he suffered burnout and God told him to select 70 elders to assist him. When the 70 prophesized just like him, he got a paradigm shift and wished everyone would prophesy!

When Peter wanted to walk on water what did Jesus do? He ask Peter to go ahead and walk on water. If I was Jesus, I'd ask Peter if the heavens open when he was baptised. Did a dove come down on his head? Did a booming voice say this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased? Peter, do you think an ordinary man like you can walk on water?

Some church or business just can't grow and you wonder why. If you think your employees or your church members cannot do what you do let me ask you this. Especially pastors. Do shepherds gives birth to sheep? Shepherd don't give birth to sheep. Only sheep give birth to sheep. Shepherd only feed the sheep. You have to get it right. 

Point #6 If you are in an under-resourced part of the world, see it as an unusual opportunity for empowering leadership.

Ideas are the starting point. God didn’t have money to create the world! He had an idea. Idea: The best way to keep power is to give it away.

Point #7 Jesus did not only crush the power gap, He overturned it.

Luke 22:27 “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.”

If you seek a vision that will only benefit you, your vision will be small. If you seek a vision that will benefit a city, a nation, or a generation, you will receive a grander vision! Wherever we are we have the ability to empower people. Jesus did it. Pray for people and deliver vision. To overcome the power gap and have a grander vision.