Dungy, Hybels lead Willow Creek summit

Willow Creek Community Church's 2010 Leadership Summit has kicked off, with Senior Pastor Bill Hybels telling a rapt audience this morning that real leadership has to take place in the real world, not just in theory.

"We are realistic leaders who are trying to lead better in the real world," he told the 7,000 people inside the South Barrington church and another 57,000 watching him via broadcast in 220 North American cities.

"Building teams of fantastic people, making sure they fit a culture, is one of the joys of leadership." Hybels said.

Hybels opened the two-day conference this morning, the 16th Leadership Summit held by the Willow Creek Association. Speakers coming up today and tomorrow include Tony Dungy, former NFL coach whose latest book on mentoring is "The Mentor Leader;" evangelist T.D. Jakes, chief pastor of The Potter's House; Chinese economist Zhao Xiao and former General Electric CEO Jack Welch.

Hybels offered four keys to good leadership.

• Leaders move people from here to there.

• Fantastic people.

• Mile markers and celebrations.

• Whispers from God, in which Hybels said it pays to listen when God whispers in your ear.

Dungy: 'The biggest thrill is watching people develop and grow' (3:33 p.m.)

The afternoon session of the Willow Creek Leadership Conference opened with the anticipated appearance of Tony Dungy, the former NFL coach and now author and mentoring expert. He was interviewed live by the Rev. Craig Groeschel.

Leadership, Dungy said, is about helping those you lead. He credits his father and former longtime Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll with formulating his mentoring style. Noll told him not to make football his life.

"I didn't want to be a coach who burned his assistants into the ground," Dungy told Groeschel. "I made sure they got home. I made our (Indianapolis Colts) facilities open to kids."

He told his personnel, "We're going to spend a lot of time at work, so let's let our families come in. Don't mistake hours for productivity ... don't feel guilty going home at a decent hour."

Dungy's Colts won the Super Bowl in 2007, beating the Chicago Bears and Dungy's good friend Lovie Smith.

Dungy's whose most recent book, "The Mentor Leader," talks about his most controversial mentoring assignment, quarterback Michael Vick, said to be a successful mentor, you have to learn about the person you are mentoring.

"The biggest thrill you get is watching people come in and develop and grow," he said. "I think the Lord puts a lot of people in our paths ... you see that young person that really has potential, don't be afraid to go up and say 'I'm here, I'm available.'

"You don't need to be the President, or in a formal position (to be a mentor). I found out that Christ really is the best mentor." He said longtime Tom Landry was a big influence on him, "I always admired how he was always under control."

Dungy said it's very unlikely he will return to coaching, and Groeschel asked if he ever doubted himself, causing Dungy to recall something another football coach once told him.

"Stubbornness is a virtue if you're right," he quoted.

"What is really important in life? Is it going to the Super Bowl, or is it getting a young boy a home?"

Collins: 'Good is the enemy of great' (12:04 p.m.)

"Good is the enemy of great, and I've always been curious to understand what separates the great from the good," says Jim Collins, the second speaker at Willow Creek Community Church's 2010 Leadership Summit, underway this morning at the South Barrington church.

Collins, who said he believes greatness is largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline, is author of the best-selling "Good to Great" and "Built to Last," and calls himself a student of companies - looking at how they grow, how good companies can become great and how they improve their performance.

"To be truly great, we must have great social enterprise," he said this morning. "We must have great church leadership spread throughout every little corner of the globe. Greatness is never a singular event. It is never a silver bullet."

Collins said great companies have to beware of hubris born of success, and that bad decisions made with good intentions are still bad decisions.

He talked about Darwin Smith, renowned leader of Kimberly Clarke, who just liked working on his Wisconsin farm, but managed to take his company from "good to great" by selling the mills and changing the business.

And Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, who when faced with a trademark dispute famously resolved it by having an arm-wrestling contest with the other CEO.

"What we found is that the signature of what separates the (Level 5 leader) from the (Level) 4, is their humility," Collins said.

Zhao Ziao: 'China's culture (could) learn the good things from the Christian faith' (5:06 p.m.)

Leadership is not just influence, Chinese economist Peter Zhao Xiao, told the crowd at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit this afternoon. It's also about the right direction.

Zhao Xiao, speaking through a translator, says his country can learn from Christian values and that China "should go beyond economic growth and obtain growth in other areas."

"China's traditional culture (could) learn the good things from the Christian faith," Zhao Xiao said. "In modern history, the great nations are Christian nations or are influenced by Christians.

"Americans have built a city on a hill, and have shined through the world the light of Christ and the love of Christ."