Why it’s important to never stop learning

Are you a leader?

For nearly everybody I think the answer is yes. Somebody, somewhere, looks up to you and is counting on you for guidance.

It might be in a classroom, on a committee at your church, in your business or at home. You are a leader.

The question that realization begs is, “Am I the best leader that I can be?”

If the answer is no, what are you doing about it? The epiphany that I could never stop learning and improving came to me at a turning point in my life and career.

It was a Sunday afternoon in July 2010. After church and lunch with my family, I found myself driving to the Hutton Construction offices on South West Street.

It was a big day. I was moving my stuff out of my office as business development leader and into the office my dad had moved out of just the day before. The next day I would be taking over as president of our company.

As you can imagine, I was excited. It was a day I had been working toward for many years. I thought I was ready.

But as I entered our offices that afternoon it wasn’t excitement that I felt. It was the weight of the responsibility that I was about to take on.

Keeping our momentum going as a business, continuing the legacy of the great leadership my dad provided and, most importantly, caring for our 110 employees and their families.

The weight of these responsibilities culminated when I finally walked into my new office to find it completely empty and clean except for one thing: Left on the desk, standing straight up on its end, was a baton.

It was a gift from my dad that, with no words, communicated so much: It was my leg of the race to run now.

He had run his and was passing the responsibility to carry the baton to me. He trusted me to do it well.

He thought I was ready. It was the heaviest baton I have ever held.

It was in that moment that I realized I would never stop learning. That it was my duty to be the best version of myself possible for everyone at our company, my family and our community.

With this purpose in mind I have attended the Wichita simulcast of the Global Leadership Summit for the past few years. It is a two-day leadership development conference produced by the Willow Creek Association in Chicago.

Every year, it assembles a faculty of the best leaders from the business, faith and academic fields to share their leadership lessons with more than 200,000 people around the globe.

For 10 years now Pathway Church has hosted this event in Wichita. This year, though, we have bigger plans.

On Aug. 11 and 12, we will host the event in the Convention Hall at Century II with the hope of making it a city-wide experience with leaders in attendance from all corners of our community.

I hope you will join me. Pound for pound it has been one of the best learning opportunities I have found anywhere.

This year we will learn from great leaders like Alan Mulally (Ford CEO and former Boeing Wichita executive), Melinda Gates, Pastor Bill Hybels and author Patrick Lencioni.

More than 1,000 people already have registered for the event. To register or to find out more about the summit and the churches, businesses and nonprofits that are making it happen in Wichita this year, visit www.leadwichita.org.

This story was originally published July 13, 2016 at 3:47 PM with the headline "Why it’s important to never stop learning."