Last week, Madison leaders joined together to learn from the best of the best at American Family Auditorium. Nearly 250 of us made a decision to commit to one day of leadership development. Across the country, more than 125,000 people were also tuned in.
The theme of the event was “The choices we make,” and everything revolved around that one idea. Most of us at Creative Company were in the audience. The following are some of the key take aways for the day:
Andy Stanley asked some tough questions. Here they are in order:
1) What would your replacement do?
2) What would a GREAT leader do?
3) What story do you want to tell with your life?
4) What are you working on that’s BIG?
These questions are ones that can help any leader in any predicament to clarify where he or she is at and what he or she needs to do next.
I also really enjoyed Angela Ahrendts story about culture and transition for Burberry. Her leadership over the last six years has literally transformed a sleepy brand into a relevant cultural icon. That takes guts and she shared with us how she taps into the youth culture and then operationally turns the challenges over to her more senior exec team to get the job done. Genius.
Lastly, if you haven’t picked up Marcus Buckingham’s new book “Now, Discover Your Strengths,” pick it up. It’s absolutely worth $20 (or less) to find out what you’re great at and play to those strengths. Buckingham’s presentation was every bit as wonderful as I anticipated. My favorite quote from him was “Catch excellence and reflect it back.” Indeed. The world would be a better place if we all subscribed to that philosophy.
If you would like to save the date now for 2013, here’s the date: May 10th, 2013. Sponsorships are available as well.