Global Leadership Summit closes at Port Naz
The two-day Global Leadership Summit wrapped up its final day Friday with a good crowd in attendance.
The Porterville Church of the Nazarene held the annual summit in it’s sanctuary where they streamed a live taping of the summit, and local officials, including personnel from the Porterville Fire Department and Mayor Martha Flores, as well as community members began arriving shortly after 8 a.m. Friday morning. Long tables had been set up towards the front of the sanctuary and chairs were ready for people to sit and take notes. Coffee, bottled water and snacks were available for guests to grab on the way to their seats.
What began Thursday morning with Craig Groeschel, the official champion of the Global Leadership Summit and founding pastor of Life. Church., and a slew of other speakers, continued into Friday with more speakers. Each speaker spoke about ways to improve leadership skills through their experiences and copious examples.
The morning began with the summit’s host, Paula Faris, interviewing Chris Voss, a former FBI hostage negotiator for 24 years and the CEO and founder of The Black Swan Group. Voss was there to discuss negotiations and how one can become a better negotiator in daily situations.
“We find ourselves in between five and seven negotiations a day,” said Voss.
The former FBI negotiator continued talking
about negotiations and stated people often have three reactions to situations, to fight, flee or make friends. He referenced back to “caveman” times where the only instincts they knew were for survival, and said some of those survival tendencies have carried on into modern times.
Voss also informed the audience if you’re likeable, or have likeability, you’re six times more likely to make a deal with someone. He explained likeability can start with something as simple as a friendly smile and can lead to successful negotiations ending in the desired result.
Voss stressed the importance of open-ended questions in negotiations, and gave the example of asking for a raise. He said you can’t just go into the boss’ offices, asking for a raise. The request should be presented as an openended question, instead of a direct demand.
“Ask you boss how you can become more valuable and beneficial to the company,” said Voss.
Voss explained if a question is phrased as a how question, the asker will more likely get further with whomever it is they’re negotiating with.
Faris wrapped up the interview with Voss and he exited the stage to a loud round of applause.
The summit moved forward to its next featured speaker Aja Brown.
At the age of only 31, Brown made history as being elected the youngest mayor of Compton. She has received esteemed awards including the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award in 2016.
Unlike Voss, Brown gave a standalone speech where she addressed having a vision and following through with that vision. She spoke about the accomplishments she has tackled as her time as mayor, which all started with a single vision in her head. She didn’t stop until she saw results, and encouraged the audience to do the same.
The final day of the Global Leadership Summit wrapped up in the mid-afternoon. This annual event will be back next year on August 6 and 7.