For the last 27 years, the Global Leadership Network has hosted the Global Leadership Summit. It is a two-day leadership conference that brings together world-class leadership experts from across the cultural spectrum. It has become a truly global leadership movement as tens of thousands of leaders from across the United States and around the world come together every year to grow in their leadership.
Today, we made history here in Indiana by hosting the GLS event at the Indiana State Capitol, the first time that the GLS has been broadcast from a state capitol. It has been so encouraging to gather with members of the legislature, staff members, and other key leaders to learn together.
This year’s GLS conference comes in the shadow of the COVID pandemic that all leaders have been navigating over the last 18 months. We are in a time of great fear, uncertainty, and risk.
In the political space, leaders tend to be risk averse, an unfortunate byproduct of leading in a place where every decision is scrutinized by the media and constituents alike and image is everything. But the reluctance toward risk is not just limited to politics. Any leader in the business of problem solving is bound to find themselves in the middle of competing pressures from all sides. And moving forward becomes very difficult if we give into fear.
What do we as leaders do when we find ourselves in such situations? We cannot give in to inaction. Purdue president Mitch Daniels offered this commentary during the 2020 commencement: “The biggest risk of all is that we stopped taking risks at all.”
Do you find yourself struggling to make the tough decision because of the potential for pushback or the fear of failure? Today at the GLS, Craig Groeschel posed this challenge to every leader: “What risk do you as a leader need to take? In our decision-making, there is the easy thing and there is the right thing. And the right thing is not usually the easy thing.”
Another GLS speaker Michelle Poler of Hello Fears reminded leaders that there is a difference between being fearless and being brave. Courage is not the absence of fear. It is moving forward despite our fears. It is about being brave. At a time when people are looking for the path forward, let’s be brave leaders who can face our fears, take the necessary risks, and lead the way.