By Foday Moriba Conteh
Sierra Leone has joined over one hundred and sixty countries globally to host the Global Leadership summit. Last week saw the end of a string of summits throughout the country. The summits had been previously held in Makeni, Kenema and Bo.
The Freetown summit which attracted over four hundred delegates and volunteers was held at the Loko Baptist Church, off Circular road in Freetown. Speaking to our reporter, the National Event Manager, Donald Theo-Harding he said the Global Leadership Summit (GLS) was founded in the USA in 1992 and is now held in 135 countries worldwide and in 60 languages. He pointed out that it is a non-profit Christian organization that exists to maximize transformative power in institutions and communities.
“The GLS started in Sierra Leone in 2010 and has held successful training sessions not only in Freetown but also in the regions; Bo, Kenema and Makeni. Each year, we do our best to provide a world-class leadership training event that changes, inspires and serves the leadership core of every community and institutions,” he said.
Rev Christiana Sutton Koroma who is the National Coordinator and Chairperson of the Global Leadership Summit, Sierra Leone explained that the 2019 summit started in earnest on 25th October in Makeni. “Bo and Kenema had already held their summit and the summit in Freetown rounded up the WOW summit,” she said. She however pointed out that the Global leadership summit is a year round activity and mini summits will be held all year around. She said nationally, the Sierra Leone has attracted over two thousand participants.
For two days, people from all walks of life; pastors, bankers, journalists, executives, youths, university students, teachers as well as pupils were challenged by inspirational international speakers as they dealt with topics that would empower delegates to become better and influential leaders.
Craig Groeschel, the official champion of the Global Leadership Summit, is the founding and most respected leader of Life Church. He speaks frequently at leadership events and conferences worldwide and hosts the Craig Groeschel podcast. He spoke on the topic “Bend The Curve”. He explained that investing more over time eventually brings diminishing returns and there comes a time when the additional cost isn’t worth the additional result. He invited his audience to find the sweet spot of the investment which he called GETMO meaning Get Enough To Move On. Craig ended his talk by sharing a personal practice of how he physically reminds himself to step out of doubts and negative voices and step into calling.
Other speakers included Liz Bohannon, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Sseko designs, a social conscious fashion brand that works to create leadership and educational opportunities for women across the globe; Raja Singh a chartered accountant and a senior partner of the firm R.K. Khanna and Associates. Raja shared at the session the cure for the most talked about leadership crisis globally, which is corruption. He asked the question whether there is a cure for corruption. Raja pointed out that in corrupt societies, living a life of integrity is often faced with challenges to compromise in order to be successful.
“Have you ever been in a situation where you were asked to make an ‘unofficial’ payment in order to be successful in your endeavour?” Raja asked. Leading a life of integrity demands developing the commitment of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Three biblical characters unwilling to compromise their values even if it meant death. Other speakers included a Nigerian Sam Adeyemi, Devon Franklin and Chriss Voss.
Rev Elijah Akibo-Jones who together with Rev. Christiana Sutton-Koroma facilitated the summit said that copies of the teaching are available for sale and institutions could also approach the GLS Sierra Leone for training at their various locations.
