Life Long Learning

One of the values we have corporately is the value of Life Long Learning. To live out this value corporately it means that we as individuals must be committed to personal learning.
This week I had the opportunity to attend the Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit. I intentionally carved out time in my schedule to be in a place that I could learn more about leadership and get perspectives from fourteen leaders around the world. The speakers were men and women I had heard or read about in the last year.
There was a common theme in all of their talks – never, ever, ever, ever, give up!
We as leaders face all kinds of trials (actually problems) each and every day. They are people issues, client challenges, we wrestle with an overreaching government bureaucracy, and on and on it goes. These trials can derail us from reaching our goals and being the company or person we envision.
I too face these kinds of situations and actually at times say to myself – is this really worth all this effort, pain and heartache? Is this really where God has me to serve? Am I really helping leaders be better leaders or helping churches strategize and envision their future well?
This week I had the opportunity for leadership development. I intentionally put myself in a place that challenged, encouraged, intellectually stimulated me, and gave me many tools for meeting the challenges I personally face. The result is that today I am renewed emotionally, spiritually and can move forward with new energy and conviction – to never, ever, ever, ever, give up!
All this happened because of a value in my life of Life Long Learning. Our values do matter!