GLS 2021: Session 1 – Craig Groeschel

Growing in Your Capacity for PUC

• Everyone wins when the leader gets better. Are you ready to grow in your leadership?
• The next time we endure a global pandemic, all the unrest, you will have experience.
• The one word that describes the essence of what every growing leader must endure. I couldn’t find the word I was looking for so I made up a word: puc.
• I like it because it sounds unpleasant. It is memorable.
• You must grow in your capacity to handle Pain, Uncertainty, Chaos (PUC).

Chaos

• How many control freaks do we have? As leaders, we want simplicity, healthy systems. In order to grow, we must be able to endure chaos.
• Anything that grows will have a little bit of chaos.
• You can have control or or you can have growth, but you can’t have both.
• Too much control stifles growth. Some of you are in a bureaucratic nightmare. Rules, policies, procedures are organizational scar tissue.
• When someone is dumb, manage dumb. Lead them; don’t make another rule.
• I was trying to manage everything and I had a leader in my organization come and tell me that I was getting in the way of progress.
• If we’re always controlling, we rob them of the chance to grow.
• I don’t interview like I used to. I endure significant seasons of chaos so other leaders could grow and become excellent talent spotters.
• We kept them by enabling them to lead. You get there by trusting, empowering and enduring chaos.
• The best leaders don’t obsess about controlling outcomes. The best leaders obsess about empowering leaders.
• The mark of great leadership isn’t measured by how much you control, but by the leaders you empower.
• Application: What are you controlling that you need to let go?
• If you don’t know, ask the person that works for you or around you. They will be happy to contribute to your education.
• If you want to grow, you have to let go.

Uncertainty

• The only thing that we know for certain is that the future is uncertain.
• “Uncertainty is not an indication of poor leadership; it underscores the need for leadership.” – Andy Stanley
• Because our world is uncertain, a good leader plans for unforeseen challenges. A great leader also plans for unexpected opportunities. Wherever there is uncertainty, there is always opportunity.
• The most significant and impactful things that we have done were born in uncertain times and were things we never planned to do.
• 2001 – we pioneered the multisite movement. 2006 – we created a church online platform. We didn’t plan it. In 2020, we gave it away to 45,000 churches. We didn’t plan on giving away the YouVersion Bible app to billions. We didn’t plan on a podcast.
• Create margin for opportunities that you cannot predict. Create margin today for opportunities coming tomorrow.
• We didn’t just see the idea. We were able to execute because we had the margin.
• If you have margins, you can seize the opportunity.
• “Embrace uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won’t have a title until later.” – Bob Goff
• What’s the problem? The world is incredibly uncertain, and I feel it.
• In uncertain times, leaders often have a goal to not fail. It’s a bad goal. The cost of inaction is almost always greater than the cost of a mistake.
• We were about to break ground in Colorado Springs, Colorado in the middle of the pandemic. We had to decide if we were going to break ground or if we were going to retreat. We got together and asked difficult questions. I told our team, “If we’re going to make mistakes, I want to make aggressive mistakes. I want to make mistakes in faith rather than in fear.”
• Application: What risk do you need to take?
• There’s always risk. The world could fall apart. It just did. There is always uncertainty, which means there is always opportunity.
• What idea, theory, hunch do you have? If it is still in your heart, maybe it is for a reason.
• If you wait until you’re 100% sure, you will most always be late.

Pain

• There is no pain like leadership pain.
• There is always opportunities, but always at a cost. With more influence is more resources and opportunities, but also more challenges and burdens. With more people working for you, you can accomplish more, but you get all the drama too.
• 2 Corinthians 11:23-28: I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. 27I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. 28Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.
• In the early days of our church, we had two small groups. The other leader started teaching something that I thought was dangerous. I asked him to stop teaching. He took about half of the church. I was devastated. Even though it was painful and costly, I made the right decision.
• The difference between where you are and where you could be is often the painful decision you are unwilling to make.
• There is a leader here that needs to step into the pain.
• Application: What painful decision have you been avoiding that it’s time to make?
• Some its removing a toxic employee who is polluting your team. It might be shutting down a department or ministry. One of you need to break up with a bad boyfriend.
• Your capacity toward the future is determined by your ability to endure pain today.
• Are you ready to grow? If so, you have to grow in your capacity for PUC.
• The way to grow is always through, not up. We don’t grow when we play it safe.

The Application

• What are you controlling that you need to let go?
• What risk do you need to take?
• What painful decision have you been avoiding that it’s time to make?
• When things are uncertain, what’s most important becomes clear.
• When you see the world grow darker, the light shines brighter.
• PUC-er up! Accept the chaos. Embrace the uncertainty. Suffer the pain. You can throw in the towel or pick it up, wipe the sweat off and re-engage. PUC-er up. If you’re not dead, you’re not done.