Leadercast © is an annual conference whose vision is to see a world filled with leaders worth following. The theme of this year's event was Powered By Purpose. I attended it in May for the 4th time.
The event has an impressive lineup of speakers whose lives reflect leadership, abilities, and successes. They tell inspirational stories and lessons learned along the way. This year, many of them spoke of their personal and business failures and what those difficult times taught them.
The theme of this year’s event was ‘Powered by Purpose’. I came away with inspirational quotes to motivate and add perspective to my life.
Here’s my summary of the speakers and their messages. None of these short snippets does the speaker justice. In fact, the text looks so simple. Trust me when I say it’s well worth attending. The personal anecdotes are fun and helpful. Their successes adds credibility to their message.
Andy Stanley – communicator, author, and pastor
We all want to have some meaning and purpose in our life. Andy explained that’s difficult because purpose has a price. His solution is to become the means to the end. He gave us clear direction on how to do that.
My favorite quote was ‘If you devote yourself to more than yourself, you will ultimately have more than yourself to show for yourself’.
Molly Fletcher – agent to athletes and coaches
Molly said she enjoys working with athletes and coaches because they're clear on their purpose. Having a clear purpose changes our behavior. Following our purpose with changed behavior requires that we're OK being uncomfortable.
Molly asked us this important question. ‘Who deserves my energy?’ She said, 'We can’t inspire, lead, or solve problems, if we don’t manage our energy'.
Jim McKealvey – artist (glass blower) and inventor of Square
Jim’s success is powered by problems. He says that finding the right problem is trans-formative.
The ability to know what we’re supposed to do is tremendously empowering. Obvious problems give us clarity. He discovered this when a customer could not pay for his glass-blown bathroom faucet because she only had an American Express card. ‘Wouldn’t it be great if anyone could take a credit card as payment, . . . on their phone?’
Donald Miller - brand expert and author
According to Donald, as humans, we follow the message we understand the best. We buy things because we hear or read the words that make us want to buy them. Donald gave us 7 steps that come from researching the human brain based on storytelling to sell your product.
He ended his presentation by saying, ‘If I confuse, I lose’.
Daniel Pink – author, business thinker, and behavioral science expert
Research has shown Daniel that people feel purpose when they’re contributing. Purpose is about doing something bigger than ourselves. We want to know that if we didn’t come in to work, someone would notice.
We often focus on ‘how’ we do things instead of ‘why’ we do things. According to Daniel, knowing why is the single most important performance enhancer of all. He challenged us to have 2 fewer conversations this week about ‘how’ and 2 more about ‘why’.
Suzy Welch – author and television commentator
Suzy talked about her 3 biggest mistakes and what she learned from them including getting fired on the first day of the job. She noted that a leader lifts up the people in the organization because ‘us always feels better than me’.
My favorite quote of hers was, ‘There’s no such thing as a happy phony life’.
Dr. Henry Cloud – psychologist and author of many books
Henry Cloud’s book Boundaries changed my life so I’m a big fan. He talked about how as we pursue our purpose / vision / goal, there are certain necessary steps we need to take to get there. We can easily get distracted by doing things that are fun (and he sat down and played the drums!). As we take the tedious and difficult steps towards a goal, it’s important to be accountable, either to ourselves or others. He illustrated this simple concept in an entertaining and memorable way.
Tyler Perry – director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and all around good-guy
The day was capped off with Tyler Perry. He told many stories including a poignant one about hiking up a mountain in Hawaii with Oprah. They stopped to look back at the beauty behind them. He was exhausted. Oprah asked, ‘Do you want to go higher?’ Although the question referred to hiking, he heard it as a call to each one of our lives.
The theme of Leadercast 2018 is Lead Yourself and will be held May 4, 2018 live in Atlanta and at many places throughout the world in simulcast.
I highly recommend attending!