Last week I was fortunate to be able to attend a simulcast of the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit for the very first time.
Let me tell you, if you haven’t been before, you need to go. The dates for the 2016 Summit are August 11 & 12.
Last week I wrote about the Figure It Out Factor.
Bill Hybels, the founder of Willow Creek and the Global Leadership Summit, spent a great deal of time talking about the Figure It Out Factor and did it far better than I could ever do.
I’d like to share with you a few of his thoughts and my takeaways from his opening presentation.
In his presentation he discussed the 5 intangibles of leadership. I won’t share all of them with you but I’ll touch on three because I believe they all require a level of courage to admit as well as to pursue.
Intangible #1 is Grit. People with grit Figure It Out.
Grit is passion and perseverance over the long haul according to Hybels. If you want to see a great fairly short video on grit I encourage you to watch this TED talk from Angela Lee Duckworth.
Hybels went on to say that the archenemy of grit is ease. If you’ve heard me speak before you know I struggle with stepping out of ease into discomfort. When things have gotten challenging in my life I have more often than I care to admit taken the easy road.
We also live in a culture of ease. We can have our groceries delivered to our door or even our meals! Our cars park themselves and the list of grit rejecting comfort grows every day.
In doing so, my development of grit has been minimal.
If you want to see just how gritty you are you can take a grit survey here.
The good news is grit can be developed.
Hybels went through a long list of well known, high achieving leaders and the physical tasks they put themselves through on a regular basis in an effort to develop grit knowing grit will be required of them in their leadership roles.
Grit demands challenge and discomfort.
I’ll come back to grit in a moment but want to let you know that Hybel’s second intangible of leadership is self-awareness.
Hybels talked about the blind spots that we all have. Those traits of ours that everyone else knows about us and we are the ones in the room that are clueless.
I mention intangible number 2 because I believe grit is something that has been a blind spot of mine in the past but it has become very clear I am very lacking.
He did a great job of showing those in attendance at the Summit how our life now is tied to our past.
Over the last several years I have come to great recognition of how things from my past have developed this lack of grit in favor of ease.
As I mentioned earlier, Hybels stated that taking on physical challenges is one way to develop grit.
In an effort to grow in grit I have taken on a couple of biking challenges this summer. On August 1, I did a 57-mile bike ride with my two brothers and sister-in-law along with 3500 others in the Tour de Tonka in Minnetonka, MN.
As we were preparing for the ride I saw a guy wearing a t-shirt that declared, “ I AM COMFORTABLE BEING UNCOMFORTABLE.” I wish I had that shirt!
It was, by far, the longest bike ride I have ever done in my life. I truly wondered if I would be able to make it. My grit score went up that day.
Now, preparation continues for my 100-mile century ride on September 13 in Door County, WI.
The loud voice in my head that seeks a life of ease says to me, “You barely made it 57 miles. What makes you think you can do 100?”
The very quiet voice working to develop grit is saying, “You did 57. You can do 100. You will push yourself because it’s about more than a bike ride. It’s about developing grit and doing something that makes you uncomfortable.”
Which brings me to intangible #3. Resourcefulness.
Resourceful people Figure It Out.
Resourcefulness can be developed but you must be in a position of challenge and discomfort to Figure It Out.
Are you doing anything in your life to challenges yourself and to be uncomfortable?
I’m sure for many of you, grit, self-awareness and resourcefulness aren’t a problem. You have them all in spades.
Or, is it possible that those areas may be a blind spot for you. Everyone else sees your lack of one, two or all three of them. You, however, see no problem at all.
Do you have the courage to examine yourself in these three areas?
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Have a STRONG and COURAGEOUS day!
