Summit Hangover
I attended the Global Leadership Summit last week at one of its satellite locations and it was amazing. We listened to world-renowned speakers from every end of the leadership spectrum, including an army officer, business man, doctor, pastor, lawyer, author, film producer, and more.
The lineup included:
Bill Hybels
General Colin Powell
Patrick Lencioni
Liz Wiseman
Chris Brown
Bob Goff
Mark Burnett
Joseph Grenny
Vijay Govindarajan
Dr. Brene Brown
Oscar Muriu
Dr. Henry Cloud
Andy Stanley
I've been wanting to write a blog entry about the experience, but my brain still feels like it's going to explode. Dr. Brene Brown spoke about the concept of a vulnerability hangover, and I'm convinced that I have a summit hangover. When all was said and done late Friday night, I sat in my room and cried. I was just so overwhelmed with all the wisdom I had taken in and the fact that now I had a choice. I could,
A-Wake up the next day and go into work and have it go just as every other day has gone the last 2 weeks, or...
B-Wake up the next day and go into work and have it go just as every other day has gone the last 2 weeks and look for opportunities to apply this newly acquired wisdom to some practical situations.
After a conference like the GLS, you leave wanting to change the world. Then reality smacks you in the face. Sometimes you realize what you're up against and decide that what you've learned simply can't apply to the situation you're presently in. Maybe it'll be useful later on in life. So you just tuck it away for later.
That's usually me.
Something inside me just won't let up, though. I still want to change the world, so it makes me angry that I am where I am. Making coffee and dealing with disgruntled employees and people who will run me over in the parking lot trying to get to the drive-thru 1.37 seconds faster (not thinking about the fact that if they run over their barista, there will be no coffee in the first place). It's easy to get bitter, discontent, and unsatisfied.
It's been a struggle. I've been wrestling with it a lot. I know that I am here for a purpose. God has something to teach me. I know that God did not bring me to the Summit to get me all fired up, then squash my flames in a torrential downpour of disappointment and frustration. I think He planted within me a seed to change the world. But He wants me to start by changing MY world. And for some reason, that's a whole lot more tedious and less inviting.
It seems I'd rather change the world than change myself. OUCH.
I'm exhausted. It'd be really easy to give up and settle and accept what I have for what it is.
But I'm too stubborn for that nonsense. So I'll dig in my heels and lean into God and let Him do a work in me. And I'll start by sticking my nose into Liz Wiseman's book Multipliers.