Dear future Crucible participant...
On March 8, 2008 a room full of women and men who had just completed two-and-a-half days at The Leadership Crucible wrote letters to you - future Crucible participants. Here is why they recommend this experience to you:
I wouldn’t.
I wouldn’t recommend this experience unless you want to be changed.
I wouldn’t recommend this experience unless you want to be called to something greater.
I wouldn’t recommend this experience unless you want to start on the journey of beginning to find out who God originally intended you to be.
But…
If you want those things, then call me and I’d be glad to tell you how it changed my life.
If you desire to interactively pursue engaging in the struggles and challenges of leadership as opposed to learning from someone explain how to “put in place” their leadership style, this conference is designed for you.
There is nowhere to hide between you and the snapshot of how you do life as a leader. You will, if you allow yourself to surrender to the process, genuinely experience what you lack the courage to embrace as a leader and therefore be able to move beyond it, if you are open to embrace it. This is a rewarding experience that I am sure will reverberate beyond this time together.
This is an opportunity to practice the risk of being a leader with a safety net. It’s like tight rope walking with four other people.
You will receive a lot of feedback regarding strategies and behaviors
and witness folks taking huge risks.
You might be inspired to risk, as well.
It’s rare that you have an opportunity to sit in a place that is created for you to risk well. How often do you really allow others to hold a mirror up to your leadership? And do so with openness? Difficult and good!
This is a refreshing hands-on approach to leadership development. It is challenging. It is humbling. It is engaging. It is real. It is a safe place to allow yourself to look into the mirror that reflects your soul – as others do the same for you. It will transform you as much as you allow yourself to be – because now you know. This experience deepens my resolve to stay in the journey.
It is deeply impacting and allows for lots of self insight.
You will learn as much about yourself as you will about good leadership skills.
It is nothing like any leadership workshop or seminar you have ever experienced.
There are few places in life where you can throw off your protective mechanisms, be yourself and learn about yourself in new ways. It is like finding a moment of freedom from all the voices that tell you who are should be, who you should try not to be, and find out what is really inside. I thought it would feel forced, fake or un-genuine; the opposite was true. What I gained was a gift in real time, not a hope waiting to happen…I am incredibly grateful for the journey this week. It was done with quality, thoughtfulness and had a prophetic edge and voice that kept me surprised.
“A man who looks in the mirror, then walks away and does nothing about what he sees….” If you are longing to see and gain insight into how you lead and impact others, come. There are parts of what are mirrored to you that you will wish you didn’t see and parts that reveal the glory God created you for. Most of all, the blend of the gospel and the lives of others on your team will provide a very compelling mirror of your heart. Next, you decide….
I was skeptical and didn’t really know what to expect; it turned out to be a blessing to me. It was a safe environment to be shown a mirror of my leadership and have others speak back truth to me about me. Although this seemed scary, it was actually very encouraging for me and for the others in my team.
It was powerful to have people really see you in the midst of tension
and then speak truth into that.
For that reason, I would recommend this experience.
You will discover more about yourself than you expected, and have more “life experience” take-homes than any conference I’ve ever attended.
If you are hungry to know your leadership strengths and the impediments to your growth and if you can enter a learning experience yielded to teaching of the Holy Spirit through the means He chooses – you will have a God-encounter. Mine was not traditional. I met God suddenly, at the end of a sentence. (It) defined my deepest tension and a voice in my character that was screaming to be unlocked and unleashed…When they say The Crucible is for those desiring more than information, they are right. It is for those who are hungry for transformation and sculpting by gentle wise hands. It was a gift of time. Go for it!
It is an opportunity to engage the questions of how you lead and
why you lead that way, rather than just learning what you should do as a leader.
If you invest yourself even the slightest bit in the experience, you will be subject to all the pain, confusion and splendor of true leadership. You will have a chance to react and reflect on all three. You will see yourself as others see you. You will change!
I have attended dozens of leadership seminars, but this is the only one that examines how I relate or function in leadership. I don’t need any more tips and tricks; what I need is to change personally.
The Leadership Crucible forces the willing participant to see and accept
the ways in which we are blind to our own selves; the ways I damage,
disparage and destroy, perhaps even without conscious realization.
More importantly, The Crucible forces you to accept the beauty that lies within.
It challenges you to lay aside all voices, including your own,
that seek to discourage and deceive you into believing that you are something else besides a beautiful and gifted person marked by the hand of God.
It took me places I would never otherwise have experienced. I will grow from this experience and The Leadership Crucible’s impact will reach way beyond just me.
It provides the opportunity to be honest and risk…rather than to merely reinforce the illusions of how I am perfectly whole and the answer to the problems of this world if someone would just listen.
The Crucible is active, experiential and profoundly personal.
It will stretch you to new heights if you invite it into your heart.
It allows you to enter into a relationship with your team members and
lead those around you (away from The Crucible).
Mostly, it deepens your relationship with the Lord
and His desire for you as a leader.
I am new to leadership and I didn’t know anything about this before I was told that I was going…I couldn’t have landed at a better place at a better time. I have not been to other leadership conferences, and to be honest, I still don’t even see The Crucible as a “leadership conference.” It met me where I am at in life and encouraged me to remember my life-calling. For me, it became a “life crucible” as it hit me at the core of who God has created me to be. I may lead people in life, we all do at some point, but this has encouraged me to re-engage life whether I’m leading or not. I came without expectations, and I’m leaving ready to take the step God has been spurring me on to, for quite some time. That’s why you should come. Experience it for yourself.
There are parts of you which are not fully alive and, if you engage, those parts can wake and be known.
I left the desert of Arizona to embrace the lush and green beauty
of the Northwest only to find a far more parched landscape
than I have ever encountered – myself.
The learning was powerful and transforming. It is the experiential portion which is most transforming. It is a rich opportunity to “try on” ways to interact and then receive profound, insightful feedback. It is a conference on leadership that is like no other. The process invites transformation and dreaming of something more.
It is nothing like any other leadership seminar or experience being offered. The Crucible is anxiety- provoking, scary, exciting, embracing and loving – you cannot walk away without being affected or being changed as a person…If you are not a spiritual person and are unsure about how the religious context might be distracting – acknowledge those feelings and jump in!
This experience is an opportunity to lead with vulnerability and risk
that seems intangible in life. It is an experience that offers so much more
than knowledge. It also presents transformation.
Whether you accept that transformation is up to you,
but in that journey I found freedom, joy and passion
that I forgot my heart contained.
I have been in a dry and barren place in my leadership for quite a while. Through my experiences at The Leadership Crucible, I’ve come back from the edge. I’ve regained the hope, not of escaping the dry and wild place I am in, but that while here in the desert I am able to find God and rediscover myself as a leader.
…it is more dynamic than any other leadership experience I have participated in and, as a result, addresses both head and heart. It addresses us as a whole person, and a holistic leader. Truly a mind-blowing opportunity you must experience for yourself.
You will see yourself more clearly than you ever have before.
You will be profoundly and deeply encouraged to hold a mirror deep in your soul, the mirror will become unclouded and you will have the courage
to become who God intended you to be. Come!
I have been through The Crucible twice now. Both times have been unique and impactful in different ways. The content and lectures are great, but where it really shines is in the immersive experience and the personal reflection that follows. The Crucible will challenge you more than it will provide you with methods, but in ways that instill hope for you as a leader.
Because you are a lion, but don’t know when to pounce.
Because you are a coach, but don’t step onto the court.
Because you have power, but you’re unaware of how you can bless others.
Because you are visible, but you want to hide.
Because you are open, but you forget to invite.
This will reach your heart and not just your head.
If you want someone else’s “how to’s” for leadership,
then this is not the place for you.
But if you desire to understand God’s redemptive power in your life
and have that impact your world, then this is an incredible journey for you.
Take that journey with me!
Curious? Compelled? Convinced?
Click on the link below to register: