Global Leadership Summit coming to Kokomo

Indiana Wesleyan, Crossroads Community Church partnering on event; Aug, 4-5

Leadership is a universal skill. Every organization, business, and governmental unit needs it. Without strong leaders, success is an uphill battle. Indiana Wesleyan University hopes to change that for Kokomo. It is partnering with Crossroads Community Church to bring the Global Leadership Summit to the local community on Aug. 4-5.

“We are super excited to have been selected as one of the simulcast sites,” said Liz Kerns, director of venture development at the IWU Kokomo Thriving Center. “We would like to welcome the community to join us for the GLS Summit. It is one of the most world-renowned global leadership conferences.

“It brings together people from across the world for authentic leadership in a local community approach. Being able to bring it to Kokomo after not being here for a number of years is so exciting. And to have a venue like Crossroads and opportunities to supplement the conference with local engagements is great.”

The Summit is an international event, bringing together specialists in leadership to facilitate learning and new perspectives in the hope that participants are able to “increase engagement, improve productivity, and experience growth” in their organizations.

This year’s “faculty” boasts decades of leadership experience. Heading up the two-day event is Bob Iger, former CEO and Executive Chairman of The Walt Disney Co. He is joined by: Lynsi Snyder, owner and president of In-N-Out Burger; Deb Liu, president and CEO of Ancestry; best-selling author and New York Times best-seller Jon Acuff; and many others.

Locally, IWU National and Global Chancellor Eileen Hulme will give a welcoming address.

The expertise brought by these speakers includes: innovation, leading through crisis, building culture, creating unity, mastering communication, entrepreneurship, the science of leadership, developing connection, healthy work environments, driving change, motivation, and other necessary leadership skills.

“The global Leadership Summit is quite arguably the most effective, purpose-filled leadership development experience in the world,” said John Venhuizen, President and CEO of Ace Hardware Corp. “I can say without reservation the high quality, inspiring content delivered via the Summit has made many people within our organization better leaders, including me.”

The team-building skills taught at the summit are known to have a positive impact. According to the summit organization, 81 percent of participants strongly agree that their job satisfaction and productivity increased after applying what they learned. Another 74 percent agreed that their organizations improved the quality of their work after using the skills learned at the summit.

“I would challenge anyone to show me an example of where leadership is not needed,” said Kerns. “To be able to provide ongoing leadership education to our community is the mission of Indiana Wesleyan University. For us, this is the perfect way to re-introduce ourselves to the community.

“While this was started as a ministry out of a large church in the Chicago area, it has truly exceeded any expectations of it being only that type of event. It is welcoming of all, affordable, and an opportunity to learn and to invest in yourself and your staff. The knowledge you will get is priceless. And you will be able to network with people across our community and region.”

Registration for the Summit is open now. To register, visit globalleadership.org/Summit. The cost is $229. There is a promotion code, however, which reduces the price to $179 for those who register by July 15. The promotional code is: 22GLSSPTNR.