Ian Philpot

Let me start off by saying that the first day of the Global Leadership Summit was so powerful that it’s taken me three days to recover enough to write a recap of Day 2.

Vijay Govindarajan was the second speaker on Day 2, and one of the questions he asked early on was, “How do you create the future while managing the present?” Vijay answered his question by saying, “Ongoing operations are at odds with innovation.”

Vijay’s thoughts caught my attention because I feel like so much of my life is finding a balance between maintenance and creation. One way I can sort that out is to follow some advice Bob Goff gave on Day 1: “Every Thursday, I quit something.”

Along similar lines, Brené Brown spoke about the importance of taking chances and how it is connected to a leader’s courage. Here’s the quote that hit me the hardest: “You can choose courage or you can choose comfort, but you cannot have both.”

Comedian Michael Jr. was also at the Summit, and he was hilarious! Beyond that though, the guy had some other great things that he slipped in between jokes. Here’s one that we caught and used from @WCAGLS on Instagram:

Michael Jr. quote

I do have a lot more written in my notes, but the rest of that day is a haze. It’s going to be weeks before I fully understand what I’m going to do with all of the great messages given at the Summit.

In the mean time, here are a couple other quotes that stuck with me from Day 2:

“Unless we understand positive change, we won’t be true leaders. Leadership is intentional influence.” —Joseph Grenny

“Don’t live just for your own generation. Live for the next generation.” —Oscar Muriu