Chick-fil-A Leadercast

This past weekend, Dad, Ben, and I had the opportunity to attend the “Chick-fil-A Leadercast.” This annual conference on leadership is actually held in Atlanta, GA, but our church was one of 750 satellite sites.

We left our house bright and early that morning. At the conference, we met up with 2 other men who work with my Dad (one actually goes to our church.) We all sat together and had a great time!

The band “Needtobreathe” opened up the conference with a song. Then emcee Tripp Crosby and host Michael Hyatt welcomed all the attendees and gave an introduction to the conference.

The very first speaker was Andy Stanley. I’ve heard him preach before, and speak on leadership. While I wasn’t a big fan of his as a preacher (sorry, Pastor Randy! J) he is a good speaker and teacher when it comes to leadership principles. He talked about clarity versus complexity in leadership and how to keep leadership simple. His “bottom line” was “Growth creates complexity which requires simplicity.”

The next speaker was David Allen. He talked about leadership in crisis situations. One of my favorite quotes from his talk was, “Perspective and control are the 2 aspects of self-management.”

I was really looking forward to the next speaker. Linda Cohn interviewed Sanya Richards-Ross, renowned American Olympian with 4 gold medals (she has run more sub 50’s in the 400 meter than any other female in history.) She talked about her career and also on the need for focus in a world of distractions. She says that in a race, she executes the task in the moment. She encouraged the audience to focus on the victory in the midst of adversity.

Following this talk, we had a short break. The second session opened up with a brief discussion about World Vision Micro Loans. Just for the conference, an anonymous donor had agreed to match every dollar donated. Over $105,000 was raised for World Vision through the conference!

The next speaker was famed author and psychologist, Dr. Henry Cloud. He is the author of the many “Boundaries” books. It was no surprise when he talked about boundaries in leadership. As a psychologist, he also spoke about the brain and certain ways it works that pertain to leadership.

The next speaker turned out to be my favorite from the whole conference. John Maxwell is not only a great speaker and author, but he really engaged the audience and used appropriate wit and humor in his discussion. He talked primarily about communication in leadership. Effective communication is something that I have come to realize is incredibly important in all areas of life. It is especially important in leadership, because if you cannot communicate your vision and goals to others, they will not follow you as a leader. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Mr. Maxwell’s talk:

“A communicator takes something complicated and makes it simple.”

“Everyone communicates, but few connect.”

“Having a leadership position does NOT make a good leader.”

“Are leaders born? Have you ever met an unborn leader? J”

“Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.”

We broke for lunch around 11:15 p.m. Of course, it was catered by Chick-fil-A. J We had chicken sandwiches, chips, fruit cups, and chocolate chip cookies. We enjoyed talking more with Mr. K and Mr. J during lunch. Events like this always seem to be more fun with friends!

We finished our lunch pretty early, so we took Mr. K and Mr. J on a tour of the church. Although we have been in our new church building for 6 months, there are still some unfinished areas. It’s fun to walk around sometimes and see things slowly being completed!

During session 3, we heard from Mike Krzyzweski, known simply as “Coach K.” He is the famed coach of the Duke basketball team, as well as the American 2012 Olympic Basketball Coach. He talked about leadership in general, honing in on success, communication, and standards in leadership.

The next speaker wasn’t actually at the conference, but the interview had been taped to be shown. John Maxwell interviewed Condoleezza Rice, famed government official. I honestly wasn’t really expecting to enjoy her talk as much. When I think of female politicians, I tend to think of liberal, loud, over-bearing personalities. I was rather taken aback by the gracious and quiet personality of Condoleezza Rice. She talked a lot about the character of a leader.

Following this interview, they broke and introduced a very young entrepreneur and leader. Nine-year-old Caine Monroy started his own arcade with several cardboard games. Nirvan Mullick—a film maker—stumbled across Caine’s Arcade and became his first customer. A relationship was built, and Nirvan had a burden to help Caine’s Arcade succeed. He went on to start the Imagination Foundation, which exists to “Find, Foster, and Fund Creativity and Entrepreneurship in Children.” It was a really inspiring story, especially since Caine reminds me a lot of Josiah. J

We had a short break before the final session. We went outside on the patio and talked for almost the whole break! Ben and I had fun talking with Mr. J about everything from running (which we all love), to youth ministry, future plans, and more.

In session 4, Jack Welch (CEO of GE for many years) was interviewed by Dr. Henry Cloud. While his talk was probably least relevant to me, as it was pointed to business leaders and people who have employees under them, I still learned from him. He talked about 3 important keys for a leader known as “The 3 S’s: self-confidence, simplicity, and speed.”

The ending talk was given by Lieutenant Commander Rorke Denver. He is a Navy Seal involved in training. He was also an actor in “Act of Valor” and has recently released a book. He talked about training for Navy Seals and did a little exercise with the audience. He told us to raise our arms as high as we could. Then he told us to raise them one more inch. Most of us could. His point was that we can almost always do more. He also talked about behavior in leadership. He said, “As leaders, at a minimum, people will mimic your behavior.” He also emphasized that “Calm is contagious.”

Me, Dad, and Ben following the conference.

The conference finished around 3:30 p.m. I had never heard of this conference before, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! I learned a lot and took pages and pages of notes that I look forward to reviewing. I can definitely recommend the conference for high-schoolers and up. Although not everyone thinks of themselves as a “leader,” we all lead someone whether we realize it or not. It’s important that we know how to be a GOOD leader!