Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Carla Harris

Carla Harris speaking at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit about influential leadership.

I am so excited to be here today to talk about influential leadership.  I have learned a few things on Wall Street in 31 years. In my capacity as a banker I’ve taken hundreds of companies public I’ve seen influential leaders and some not so influential.

L = leverage—somebody on your team has the experience or access to a relationship that will help your team succeed. As a leader it’s your job to show your team how to access other relationships. Your job as a leader is to create other leaders.

E=efficiency—Be clear about what success looks like. Even when you’re unsure you need to define success. When you make a mistake, celebrate the mistake.

A=authenticity—authenticity is at the heart of power. No one can be you the way you can be you.  When you are comfortable in your own skin people will gravitate toward you.  Your authenticity is your distinct competitive advantage.

D=decisions & diversity—Make a decision even if you feel you don’t have all the wisdom you need. Every experience will give you the blessing or the lesson.  Diversity—every organization is competing so you need a lot of ideas in the room that will allow you to obtain and retain a leadership position.  Perspectives are born from experiences. Experiences are born from people. To get to innovation you have to start with a lot of people in the room. Diversity takes intentionality, accountability. There should be no lowering the bar. You have to guard against organ rejection. The body will naturally dispel what is foreign so when you bring in diverse people you have to work hard to make sure that person is accepted.

E=engagement—Being inclusive means hearing people and seeing people. When artificial intelligence becomes the norm relationships are the discriminator.

Transformative Leaders are--

Thoughtful

Transparent

R=Risks—You must be comfortable taking risks. Why don’t we take risks? Fear.  Fear has no place in your success equation. If you approach in fear you will always underpenetrate that opportunity.

The one word that goes through all these letter is courage.  It takes courage to take risks, to be intentional, to engage, to be authentic, to define success and to leverage other people’s intellect.  As people of faith you know you should never be deceived by fear.