GLS 2022: Session 1 – Craig Groeschel

Introduction

• Your leadership matters because everyone wins when the leader gets better.
• Have you ever met a leader or business where they seemed to have IT? What about a business or leader that didn’t seem to have IT? 
• We were building and expanding.  The building looked the same. The worship was the same. All the contributing inputs were the same but the outcomes were different.
• What is IT and what contributes to IT? 
• Releasing an expanded version, Lead Like It Matters. 
• What is IT? The answer: I’m not sure. 
• IT is not a result of a model or program. 
• There are things you can lead toward IT and there are things that can kill IT.
• One leader cannot necessarily make IT happen but one leader can kill IT.
• Bad news: Just because you have IT doesn’t mean you will keep IT.
• Good news: If you don’t have IT, you can get IT.

Leadership Extremes

• Every leader that has IT has very extreme qualities. I don’t want well-rounded people. I want people who are extremely talented in little areas.
• Greatness is found in the extremes.
• I looked at Jesus and thought he was extreme.  He was fully-God, fully-man. He is the Lion and the Lamb. He is Alpha and Omega, first and last. If you want to find your life, you have to lose your life. If you want to be great, you have to serve.
• Leaders who have IT have extremes that seem in conflict but are not.
• Leadership paradox: Contradictory leadership qualities, that together, create a synergy of undeniable leadership impact.
• Grow in your extremes or opposing extremes.  

Confident + Humble

Driven + Healthy

Focused + Flexible

Optimistic + Realistic

Direct + Kind

Empowering + Controlling

Urgent + Patient

Frugal + Abundant

• Choose the one that best applies to you. 
• We’re going to look at three today and the rest you can hear on the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast.

Leaders that have IT are both CONFIDENT and HUMBLE.

• For some of us, we have too much confidence. 
• There are many of you that are strong and talented, capable, chosen and you are still hesitant because you do not know the greatness within you.
• The leaders that have IT are growing in both of these at the same time.
• I want to introduce you to my best friend, Amy. She’s Gigi. This young girl who has been drinking came up to us in the pool and said, “You look amazing. I told my boyfriend that I want to look like you when I get really old.”  Confidence and humility.
• Push yourself to the point of “leadership discomfort.” 
• A growing leader is in a constant place of discomfort. 
• I felt stuck. I was losing confidence and I was losing humility. I went to a performance psychologist. He said to grow you need to take on something new. I took up jiu jitsu and am getting my private pilot license. At the very same time, I am getting better and I’m realizing that there are people that are much more dangerous than me. 
• I was overconfident. I had significantly misdiagnosed the state of our organization. As COVID season lessened, I went back to normal. These are not normal times. This is leading out of a crisis and it is an entirely different mindset. I told my staff that I missed it entirely.

Leaders that have it are both DRIVEN and HEALTHY.

• If you are not driven, you are never going to get IT. If you are driven but not healthy, you’ll never keep IT.
• There is nobody coming to rescue you. 
• You are doing too much. You are doing too many things. You need to get help, reprioritize. If you’re too controlling, you’re either too proud or you need to learn to delegate.
• You may not be recovering well. You may not be tired, you are depleted. If you are depleted, you do not need a nap. You need to refill. 
• You need to raise your tolerance for work and stress. 40 hours is not too much. It may take 50 hours to accomplish what you need to get done. 
• Those who have IT, work a lot but not at the expense of family.
• You have to fix it. You need to be both DRIVEN and HEALTHY.

Leaders that have it are both FOCUSED and FLEXIBLE.

• If we are not focused, we won’t get IT. If we’re not flexible, we won’t keep IT.
• In our church, we went in a direction opposite of most churches in my country.  We were growing and we decided to focus on just five things. We were ruthlessly, unapologetically focused. We took it too far. We loosened our focus and became more flexible. 
• What is one of the greatest enemies to your success? I think it is a lack of focus.
• Episode 79 of the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast – the four tiers of effectiveness
  • Tier 1 – Absolutely mission critical
  • Tier 2 – Very important and strategic
  • Tier 3 – Meaningful, but not essential. The vast majority of what you have absorbed into your culture is tier 3.
  • Tier 4 – Externally initiated and often a lower priority. You never change the world in tier 4.
• If there are 800 things in your tier 2, those are not tier 2. 
• Be focused on what really matters and be flexible when we need to change.
• The essence of great leadership is choosing what not to do. 
• Some of you need to create a TO DON’T list. 
• Do you have IT?  If you’re spending too much time in tier 3 or tier 4 things, I want to give you a question: If you started over today, would you take on this project? If not, why are doing it? 
• We don’t change the world by doing the most things, but by doing the best things. 
• Do you have IT? Do you want IT?
• In 2008, I had IT. Somewhere along the way, I lost IT. I found I was praying more publicly than I was privately. I was more concerned about what people thought about me than what God thought of me. I had become a full-time pastor, part-time follower of Christ. I got help. It’s not weakness to get help; it’s wisdom. 
• I can have IT but I will lose IT if I don’t take care of my body, mind, health. 
• Be weird. Be all-in. 
• Step across the third line. Line 1: I’m a leader and let me play. Line 2: I’m a leader and I’ll help some. Line 3: You know it when you’re over it and you know it when you’re not. I exist for someone else. I exist to empower other leaders. Step across the third line. Give your whole heart to it. 
• We’re going to get better. Which is your area that you need to get better in?
• You are a leader, step into it. Fall in love with it; let it consume you. Solve problems. Make a difference. Meet needs. Serve people. Leaders get better. Leaders give it away because that is what great leaders do and that is what you are.