When Chris Young, administrator of Midwest Covenant Home in Stromsburg, was looking for professional development opportunities for his team, the Global Leadership Summit hosted by York College immediately caught his eye. “The location made a big difference,” as their budget for training was small, he said. Having access to worldwide experts and high-quality instruction without having to pay for transportation and lodging for his team was huge. He brought four staff and one board member with him to the two-day event at York College in 2018, and says it was definitely a worthwhile investment.

PictureGLS 2018 at York College
“We had been looking for some external input and training to bring some new ideas to our organization and improve our team connectedness,” said Young. Over the two days of the Summit, Young said his team heard lots of useful insights. His biggest take away was when one of the presenters challenged leaders, “You’ve got a great culture? Congrats. Now double it.” He realized that no matter how good things were, they could be better.

“That was a big piece that hit home for our team,” he said. “Even if we thought we were doing a good job, we could find ways to be doing more. We’ve had a lot of conversations about that since the Summit.”

Young was among the first to register for this year’s Summit, hosted at York College August 8 and 9. The Global Leadership Summit is a live simulcast event broadcast to 600 Premiere Host Sites worldwide from one main location near Chicago. The event is expected to draw 405,000.

“This is a great opportunity for local business and ministry leaders,” said Dr. Kirk Mallette, dean of York College Online, who is spearheading the event at YC. “Not only will they hear from amazing speakers that can transform their team, but they will also have a chance to network with other leaders in the community and hear about local challenges and solutions from their peers.”

Summit faculty members come from diverse settings, from business to ministry, and offer many different perspectives. According to the GLS website, each member of the faculty is purposefully selected for their expertise, proven success and innovative approaches in non-profit, government, education and faith-based sectors. They offer a unique blend of vision, inspiration and practical skills participants can immediately apply.

Speakers for the 2019 Summit include: Craig Groeschel, senior pastor at Life.church; Chris Voss, former FBI hostage negotiator and CEO/founder of The Black Swan Group; Jia Jiang, best selling author and entrepreneur; Bear Grylls, adventurer, writer and TV host; Aja Brown, mayor of Compton, California; and Liz Bohannon, social entrepreneur, among others. For a full listing of the expert faculty who will present see https://globalleadership.org.

Longtime York resident Pat Carpenter has been attending the Global Leadership Summit for several years. As a community volunteer and ministry leader, she finds the content to be very useful. “I love learning from the best. The personal growth and advanced leadership skills that I learn…it’s definitely worth the time,” she said.

Previously, Carpenter drove to a site in Lincoln for the Summit, so she was pleased when York College began hosting the event in 2018. “I love that it’s close. It’s great that York College is opening up their facilities to have it there. I don’t have to pay for gas or parking. It’s much more convenient.”

For more information or to take advantage of early bird and group registration discounts, please visit www.york.edu/gls.