Live Blog 2019 ReThink Leadership Conference – 28 Leadership Quotes from Carey Nieuwhof’s Closing Session

May 1st through 3rd are three of my favorite leadership days of the year.  Each year, INJOY Stewardship Solutions allows me to live-blog the Orange and ReThink Leadership Conferences.  No event stretches my thinking more and make me a smarter and better-equipped leader than this event.

If you are unfamiliar with ReThink and Orange, let me give you an overview.  Hosted by Carey Nieuwhof, ReThink is a series of Ted Talk-stlyle lessons from some of the most innovative minds in business and leadership.  Orange is simply the nation’s preeminent organization on children’s ministry.

As part of my time here, INJOY Stewardship is offering a FREE Capital Campaign Calculator for your church.  If your church needs to raise significant capital in the next two years, this will be a wonderful source of information for you.

Today is Day 2 of the conference.  The event’s final speaker was Carey Nieuwhof.  Carey spoke on the need for Christian leaders and churches to reinvent.

The following are 28 leadership lessons and quotes from his challenging lesson on the need for reinvention along with thoughts from Danielle Stickland and Mike Foster:

Danielle Strickland

1. A girl’s self-confidence peaks at 9 years old.
2. There was one time when God said this is not good. When the man was leading alone.
3. I don’t want to be an exception to the rule. I want to change the game.
4. You need a disproportionate investment to correct the direction of the church.
5. I don’t want to be a man-hater. I want to be a liberator.
6. Perspective.  Perspective.  If you let fear dictate your actions, you will either be oppressed or oppression.

Mike Foster

1. What don’t you want to talk about today?
2. You don’t have to have it all together.
3. I’m glad I broke because now I’m free.
4. If you can’t get curious. You can’t get free.
5. The body never lies. It’s always telling the truth.
6. Whatever you’re struggle with there is amazing hope.

Carey Nieuwhof

1. Most artists and musicians have about a 10-year run.
2. Your creativity in a particular area has a shelf life. Once you pass that shelf-life everything gets stale.
3. Innovation
4. If Innovation goes well it leads to Breakthrough.
5. At about 7-10 years you reach your Peak.
6. Then you Plateau and eventually enter Stagnation.
7. You must disrupt yourself. If you don’t disrupt, you will stay in the period of Stagnation.
8. If you Reinvent yourself during Stagnation you will re-enter Breakthrough.
9. Planting campuses is a great thing but maybe we need to plant new ideas and new approaches.
10. You either disrupt yourself or you will be disrupted.
11. Industries are being disrupted.
12. We either disrupt the model of church we have or we will be disrupted.
13. You must Dismantle Your Echo Chamber. You hang people who look like you, think like you. You are looking for things which reinforce what you’re already doing when you found Breakthrough.
14. The more insecure you are, the more affirmation you’ll seek.
15. The more powerful and successful you become, the less people will challenge you.
16. The longer you lead in your current model, the more likely it is you’ll seek confirmation bias.
17. We want to affirm what we already believe.
18. Listen to voices you don’t normally listen to (people, leaders, podcasts, books, disciplines.)
19. Surround yourself with younger leaders.
20. It’s one thing to have a young team. It’s another thing to give them a seat at the table. It’s another thing to give them authority.
21. Invite and don’t penalize feedback. Resist the urge to do the eyeroll and dismiss them.
22. The leader who becomes a student will always have a future.
23. Rebel against yourself. Ask, “If you were the next generation, what would you do?”
24. Eventually the next generation takes over. Success makes you conservative.  The greatest enemy of your future success is your current success because your current success will kill innovation.
25. We’re church leaders. This isn’t ours anyway.
26. The second greatest enemy of your future success is complacency.
27. Change is hard but complacency is harder. If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance event less.
28. Resisting change is the best way to ensure it will never be as great as it once was.

Tomorrow I will be live-blogging from Orange.

My book Timeless: 10 Enduring Practices Of Apex Leaders is available for purchase.  If you have ever wanted to become the leader God created you to be, this book is for you!  By combining leadership lessons from biblical heroes like Jesus, Daniel and Joseph, along with modern day leaders like Bill Gates, Nick Saban, Kobe Bryant and multiple pastors, Timeless will equip and inspire you.  This book is not to be read alone.  Discussion questions are included in each chapter allowing you to develop those in your circle of influence.  Click HERE or on the image provided and order your copies TODAY.