Here are some of the highlights from an interview with Terri Kelly, the President and CEO of W.L. Gore & Associates.

• “To be innovative, you have to create an environment of collaboration.”
• “Gore is a peer-based organization.”
• “You want to encourage everyone to connect to everyone in their network.”
• “We don’t tell people what to do, and we don’t tell people what projects to work on.” …instead leaders use influence
• “We believe everyone can make a significant contribution.”
• “Not all ideas bubble up to be great ideas.”
• “We use a peer review process to make sure great ideas bubble up.”
• “The notion that the leader is responsible for coaching and mentoring the whole organization is very limiting.”
• “One of the important roles of leaders is to figure out how to divide in order to multiply.”
• “Who doesn’t want to be believed in?”
• “The leadership sets the tone for the values. The organization is watching to make sure their actions truly align.”
• “They are only a leader if there are people who want to follow them.”

Andy Stanley wrapped up day one of the 2010 Leadership Summit. Here are some of the highlights from his talk:

• “Every organization has problems that shouldn’t be solved and tensions that shouldn’t be resolved.”
• “If you resolve some tensions, it’ll lead to other tensions.”
• “Progress doesn’t depend on the resolution of tensions but on the management of those tensions.”
• “If it’s a problem that keeps resurfacing, it’s a tension to be managed.”
• “The role of leadership is to leverage the tension for the benefit of the organization.”
• “Often times the right person doesn’t win the argument, but someone wins the argument.”
• “Certain tensions are the key to progress.”
• for leaders… “Continually give value to both sides, and don’t weigh in too heavily with your personal biases.”
• “Don’t allow strong personalities to win the day.”
• “Don’t think in terms of balance – think in terms of rhythm.
• “As a leader, never try to be fair.”

These are some key thoughts from Adam Hamilton, the senior pastor at Church of the Resurrection in Kansas:

> “None of us is immune.” …talking about sexual sin in the church

> “The church exists for broken people.”

> “I’m praying you’re the kind of church that welcomes sinners with the grace of Christ.”

> “No matter how you handle this, people will leave your church.”

> “You can develop all the policies in the world, and it won’t prevent these things from happening.” …but you still need to put these guidelines in place.

> “It’s a short distance from communicating your feelings to acting on them.”

> “We haven’t always felt in love with each other.” …talking about his 28-year marriage with his wife

> “Remember who you are.”

> “Remember the consequences of your actions.”

> “Reveal your struggle to a trusted friend.”

> “Remove yourself from the situation.”

> “We are held to higher standards as leaders.”

> “No one is beyond redemption.”

Here are some highlights from the interview with Coach Tony Dungy.

> “I wasn’t there to be their boss. I was there to help the players get better.”

> “Football and winning weren’t the most important thing.”

> “Don’t mistake hours worked with productivity.”

> “We have to be available to mentor.”

> “You can be mentored from a distance.” …referring to reading books

> “You don’t have to be a successful business leader to be a mentor.”

> “The Lord puts a lot of people in our paths.”

> “I don’t see myself going back to coaching.” …talking about his passion for his current ministry

> “Christ is the best mentor.”

That was a fun interview. Dungy is a true man of character and integrity.

Here are the highlights from the Leadership Summit session with Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and other leadership books.

• “Good is the enemy of great.”
• “You can be sick on the inside and still look strong on the outside.”
• “You can be going through the first three stages of decline while still looking healthy on the outside.”
• “Bad decisions taken with good intentions are still bad decisions.”
• Great leaders = “it’s not about them” + “they never give up”
• “The signature that separated the Level 5 leader from the Level 4 leader was their humility.”
• “Do we have all of our key seats filled with fantastic people? If the answer is no, we must resist growth until that happens.”
• “Greatness is not a singular event. Greatness is a cumulative process.”
• on success… “If it’s just money, it’s not enough.”
• “The signature of mediocrity is not the inability to change, it’s chronic inconsistency.”
• “You have to be willing to change.”
• “There is a core that has to be held tight, but on the other hand we have to have progress.”
• “Confront the brutal facts of where you can do better.”
• “What is your questions to statements ratio and can you double it in the next year?”
• “Reach young people by changing your practices and not your core values.”

By the way, here are my reading highlights from Jim’s most recent book, How the Mighty Fall.

Here are some of the key thoughts that grabbed my attention from the opening session of the Leadership Summit with Bill Hybels, senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago, Illinois.

• “Leaders move people from here to there.”
• People need to hear “we can’t stay here” speeches to catch vision for the future.
• “Your job is to convince people ‘we cannot stay here.’”
• “It takes fantastic if your going to move an organization from here to there. You can’t do it alone.”
• “One of the joys of leadership is knitting together teams of fantastic people.”
• “What kind of person flourishes in our unique culture?” (Something Bill looks for in people in addition to character, chemistry and competency.)
• “How do you inspire people to stay on the journey from here to there?”
• “Refill their vision bucket. Everyone’s vision bucket leaks.”
• “You have to celebrate every mile-marker you possibly can on the way to the destination.”
• “I think God still speaks to you every single day.”
• “The smartest moves I’ve made as a leader didn’t come from my human wisdom.”

You don’t have to be a part of Christian culture long before you will hear someone say something like, “God told me this,” or my personal favorite, “God told me to tell you this.” I believe God gives wisdom to church leaders as well as individuals, but I also believe we need to evaluate some of the “advice” God gives us (especially when it’s filtered through another person).

James 3:17 offers a wisdom test for us to evaluate the credibility of a piece of “wisdom.” It says:

“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”

Based on the guidelines in this verse, wise advice should elicit the answer “yes” to the following questions:

Is it pure? Godly wisdom is never unethical, immoral, off-color or morally questionable.

Does it promote peace? Godly wisdom seeks to reconcile people, rather than divide them. The mercy Christ has given us should govern our decisions and relationships, even when people disagree. Godly wisdom is not violent or hateful. It is restorative and loving despite serious conflict or disagreement.

Is it humble, submissive and impartial? Does this wisdom consider everyone who may be affected by the course of action? Does it positively impact only a few? Someone following godly wisdom is looking out for the best interests of all others as well as himself. Furthermore, a seeker of godly wisdom is willing to set aside things like denomination, political party and personal opinion when God asks. The wise person will sacrifice their own will and preferences for God’s will and the benefit of others.

Is the teacher living it out? Can you see the results, or fruit, of this godly wisdom in the life of the person who is delivering it? Are you listening to someone who you believe makes decisions and chooses their course of action based on godly wisdom? If not, why are you listening to them? If the teacher is not living out what they teach, they are speaking out of pride and insincerity, even if they’re talking about a good principle.

What about you? Do you follow some kind of “wisdom test?” What about when you are asked to give godly wisdom?

I recently finished reading Daniel Pink’s most latest book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. If you lead people, this book will probably change the way your approach leadership. The book highlights a number of scientific research projects that challenge our traditional approaches to managing and motivating employees.

Here are some of the thoughts that grabbed my attention:

If you are interested in reading more of Pink’s insights on motivation, you can pick up Drive by following my Amazon link.

One of my favorite blogs to monitor is Accidental Creative. Todd Henry wrote a brilliant article recently about the danger of implementing permanent solutions to temporary problems. This quote grabbed my attention:

“The more structures we have to navigate in order to do our work, the more difficult it is to do our best work. When we are required to resolve the dissonance of complex systems, reporting relationships and accountability structures just in order to get our objectives and check off our direction we will begin to lose our drive to do brilliant work. Over time, this complexity only pulls entire organizations toward systematic mediocrity.”

We’ve had this conversation recently. Remember the post about the five attributes of a church in decline? One of those attributes was complex structure. The natural tendency of organizations is to add complexity to their structure and systems. The longer an organization exists, the more complex it typically gets. (Think government, big business, denominations…and older churches.)

One of the reasons why I think new church plants are so effective reaching new people is because they are typically very lean. The structure is simple. The ministry strategy is very focused. The mission is clear. Then, as the church ages, the ministry strategy gets more complex as multiple new programs and events get layered on. Eventually growth slows or plateaus as the complexity increases, and then our solution is new structure or systems or rules to fix the problem.

If there’s a problem, our natural tendency is never to do less — we always try something new.

If there’s a problem, our natural tendency is to increase controls — we think people are the problem and we implement rules and policies to make sure they get it right.

What if the solution to the problem is fewer controls? What if the fix is less complexity?

Are you willing to get focused and lean again?

In addition to my role at West Ridge Church, I’m going to be staying busy the next couple of months. Here’s where you’ll find me:

• Attending the Leadership Summit at Willow Creek in South Barrington, Illinois
• Blogging a Los Angeles screening of the movie Secretariat and meeting with director Randall Wallace
• Training church planters at The Orchard in Tupelo, Mississippi
• Discussing church health with the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church in Warner Robins, Georgia
• Meeting with the Catalyst team in Atlanta
• Attending a gathering of Senior Pastors and Executive Pastors with Alan Hirsch in San Fransisco
• Consulting with Northwood Church in Keller, Texas
• Speaking at the Influence Conference in Springfield, Missouri
• Launching a new coaching network in Atlanta
• Hanging out at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta

My calendar for October and beyond is beginning to fill up, but I have some openings if you are interested in consulting or staff training for your church. Let me know if you’d like to talk.