Global Leadship Summit 2025 Favorite Quotes

Every year, the Global Leadership Summit delivers a flood of wisdom that challenges, sharpens, and stretches us as leaders. GLS 2025 was no exception. From the stage, the speakers delivered a consistent reminder: leadership isn’t about flashy charisma or quick wins—it’s about faithfulness, clarity, resilience, and the daily choices that shape who we are and how we lead.

I have compiled a list of the most striking quotes from this year's summit. These aren’t just soundbites; they’re invitations to consistency, humility, and courage in the real world, where leadership happens.

What follows is a collection of my favorite quotes from GLS 2025. I’ve gathered them here for you, not just to read, but to reflect on.

Some will affirm what you’re already practicing. Others will poke at a blind spot or stir a fresh conviction. All of them have the potential to shape your leadership if you allow them to.

So here they are—the voices of leaders, thinkers, and practitioners who are lighting the way forward. My encouragement? Don’t just skim. Sit with them. Ask, “What’s the one idea I need to put into practice today?”

Let’s grow together.

Craig Groeschel-Consistency

• Consistency closes the gap between good intentions and actions. 

• It’s not the big moments, but the daily, consistent actions that define leadership. Great leadership is BORING!

• Trust is built in years & lost in seconds. Integrity = doing what you said you’d do, every time.

• Galatians 6:9 Never Give Up

• Great leadership is boring. Really boring.

• You don't need charisma. You need to show up every day.

• Consistency + kindness > charisma + fame

• The best leaders close the gap between intentions and impact.

• Everyone sees the boiling water, but they don’t see the heat. Bring the heat (slow, consistent, boring progress in the mundane things).

• Boring to you is faithfulness to God. Show up and be faithful. Build the habit. Embrace the mundane.

• Boring isn't the enemy of greatness. Boring is the pathway to greatness.

Juliet Funt-Precision

• You might be juggling 12 balls but your competitor is throwing one ball 100 miles per hour.

• Cut the clutter. Remove “busy work” that looks productive but drains purpose. Take back focus, go motionless and go super sonic.

• Precision respects everyone’s time & lets what matters most rise to the top.

Gabriel Salguero-Hyphenated Leaders

• When facing conflict, remember that the goal is not immediate resolution but increased understanding.

• Your “hyphen” is your superpower. Multiple identities & perspectives make you a bridge-builder. Own it. 

• Learn from rooted openness: seek diverse input, remind teams of common destination, & know diversity is NOT division.

Thasunda Brown Duckett-Leadership, Life, & Success

• Leadership doesn’t have to be lonely. It’s only lonely when it comes to the final decision, but along the way, you should involve a lot of people at different levels of proximity. 

• “I rent my title; I own my character.” 

• "Excellence requires you to do things when no one is watching. Excellence requires you to be uncomfortable. Excellence requires you to have a fire in the belly. Excellence requires you to say I can be better today than yesterday."

• You don’t have more than 100%, diversify your life portfolio accordingly. Work, family & extracurricular activities have to fit in that total. 

• There’s no rear-view mirror. Live it. Lean in to opportunities & show up early!

• "Grief is love with nowhere to go."

David Ascraft-Comparison & Self-Doubt

• God does not compare us to others. He is simply pleased when we’re doing the part that He has given us.

• God has uniquely shaped you - not to imitate - but to influence others, just as you are.

• What leadership opportunities have you missed because you’ve made comparisons that led to self-doubt?

• Great leadership does not quit in the middle of the storm.

• Great leadership isn’t defined by the expectations of others. It’s defined by your response.

• Comparison breeds self-doubt. Self-doubt is the enemy. 

• Great leadership isn’t about being someone else. Be As You Are!

• Lead with humility. Influence grows when you serve others without needing credit. 

• Build leaders, not just followers.

• Great leadership is about being an advantage to others - exactly as you are and by just being you.

• When someone doubts you, don’t let it feed your self-doubt. Let if fuel your growth.

• Self-doubt is the enemy of leadership.

• Stop doubting yourself. Decide to be an 'advantager' to the people around you just by being who God called you to be.

• What dreams have been sabotaged in your life because you have made comparisons that have led to self-doubt?

James Hewitt-Regenerative Performance

• Feed your focus and starve your distractions.

• Most people are stuck in middle gear with no impact or rest.

  • High Gear

    • Deliberate focus, efficient, impactful, priority-driven work

  • Middle Gear

    • Emails, meetings, etc.

  • Low Gear

    • Rest and Recovery

• We need to approach knowledge work like a cognitive endurance activity, balancing effort and recovery — just like elite athletes.

• A high-performance day begins the night before.

• Sleep is not lost time. It’s a strategic investment in everything we care about being awake for.

• Sleep is not a waste of time, it’s a strategic investment in our productivity.

• Sleep-deprived leaders create less psychologically safe environments.

• Manage energy, not just time. 

• Rest is not a reward; it’s what makes great work possible.

• When we rest, we’re more likely to experience flashes of insight and greater creativity. Idle time is not a waste of time.

• Align your highest-value work with your peak focus hours. 

• Switch from multitasking to single-tasking! It is essentially screwing up simultaneously & it slashes productivity by 40%

• Sleep more!

• We’ve created a false urgency around email. 

• A high performance day begins the night before. Sleep is a strategic investment in everything we stay awake for. 

• Take a break.

• Idle time is not wasted time.

• Plan for and leverage having idle time in your day.

• Need a breakthrough, take a break.

Nick Saban-Leading

• Do you pray to be blessed or to be a blessing?

• You don’t rise to the occasion, you fall to your level of preparation. Discipline, effort, accountability, & adaptability win.

• Do not waste your failures, learn from them to ensure you bounce back!

Stephanie Chung-Leading people who are different from us

• Have you ever tried to lead someone who have not bought in?

• Regardless of where you are in the world, today’s workforce is not the workforce you were trained to lead.

• Leading people who are not like you isn’t charity; it’s strategy.

• The data’s clear, diverse teams don’t just look different. They outperform, but only when they’re led well.

• Your ability to lead people who aren’t like you isn’t just nice; it’s an imperative.

• People who are not like us aren’t going anywhere. If you’re a leader — neither are your responsibilities.

• One day, your team will tell a story about how it was like to be led by you. What will they say? 

• Leading people who are not like you doesn’t pull you away from performance. It’s what drives it.

• Knowing how to lead everyone is a business imperative.

• Leading diverse teams is not just the “right” way to lead, it’s the smart and profitable way to lead.

• Influence is EARNed. Your actions must match your words. Adapt to your audience without losing authenticity. 

• Normalize ALLY leadership! Ask, Listen, Learn, You Take Action (ALLY) to empower team members.

• People will run through walls for a leader who sees them. They’ll shut down — or walk away from — a leader who doesn’t.”

John C. Maxwell-Lasting Leadership

• Value humility above all virtues.

• Be bigger on the inside than the outside.

• Living your legacy makes it credible, clear, and contagious.

• High road leaders value all people, bring people together, don’t keep score, do the right things for the right reasons, and give more than they take.

• Who are you developing that will make your life live on?

• You have a legacy to leave.

• Where are you going that will make your life matter?

• Leadership is influence. 

• Success without succession is failure. Raise leaders who can lead when you’re gone. 

• Most be do not lead their life, they accept their life. You need to be intentional to add value to people.

• What are you going to be intentional about to improve someone’s life?

• You can't be burnt out,  you were never on fire in the first place.

• I have a destiny to fulfill Ps. 139:16

• I have a contribution to make 1 Cor. 12:7

• I have a legacy to leave 2 Tim. 2:2

• As Christians we’re supposed to make people hungry not angry. Start shaking the salt. Turn on the light.

• In the end, people will describe your life in one sentence—Pick it now! 

• It’s more important what you leave IN the lives of your kids, than what you leave FOR them.

• Leaving a legacy is a Thank You to God and to others.

• Intangible legacy is put in others, not something left for others

Christine Cain-Don’t Drift

• We need vision to have hope. We need vision to manage our emotions. We need vision to keep going when times get tough.

• Leaders see a better future and compel people to come with them.

• If your vision doesn’t demand resilience, it’s not vision — it’s a trend.

• We need less impressive leaders and more anchored leaders.

• Leaders are in the people-serving business.

• Drift doesn’t show up as a disaster — it shows up as slow compromise. A slow slide from clarity to confusion.

• All you have to do for your purpose to drift is nothing — drifting is our default setting.

• Most leaders don’t quit because they lack skill, competency or willpower — they quit because they forget what it was all for.

• We need vision to have hope. We need vision to manage our emotions. We need vision to keep going when times get tough.

• You cannot focus on the future with clarity when you are hemorrhaging in the present.

• Doing nothing will see us drift away, so don’t stand still! Be committed to the long haul & have patience.

• We need vision to have hope, to manage our emotions, & to keep going when times get tough. 

• When you don’t see people, you can look away; but when you see, you can’t unsee. 

• Most leaders don’t quit because they lack skill, competency or willpower — they quit because they forget what it was all for.”

• What happens when you know what needs to be done, and you are equipped to do what needs to be done, but you find yourself honestly saying, “I don’t know if I want to do it”?

  • Re-Anchor

  • Rebuild

  • Reignite

Jon Acuff-Stop Procrastination 

• Everyone you know, everyone you work with, and everyone you lead is capable of more — and they know it.

• Positivity has a better ROI than Negativity!

• Most people practice chaos, stress, negativity and fear. Practice positivity.

• The reason people feel like they’re not living up to their full potential? They’re waiting. They’re procrastinating. They’re planning to do it someday.

• Analysts review mistakes from the past and predict failure in the future.

• Practice positivity. Treat it like it’s a skill you can get better at — because it is.

• Life is fast. Procrastination is expensive, but permission is free. Don’t wait.

• Leaders who can’t be questioned end up doing questionable things. 

• 97% of life’s problems are mindset.

• Most of the things that hold you back are mindset issues — procrastination, overthinking, imposter syndrome, perfectionism, fear.

• Procrastination is just a mindset issue! Solving procrastination using 4 permissions: to dream, to plan, to do, & review.

• 4 types of people: dreamers, perfectionists, hustlers, & analysts. Which one are you?

• Dreamers have 1,000 ideas and 0 actions.

• A dream is a good start — but it’s not enough. Desire is never enough.

• You’ll only do uncomfortable things if your dream is worth it.

• Joy is the best alarm clock.

• Hustlers get stuck doing.

• Perfectionists are going to change the world as soon as the plan is perfect.

• Practice positivity!

• You’re the most persuasive person you’ve  ever met

• Great thoughts turn into great actions. Great actions turn into great results.

• You’re not burned out. You’re bored. You don’t need longer breaks — you need bigger problems.

• Planning is just visiting the future and making notes for when get back.

• Visit the future and ask, ‘What do I want to be true?

• The reason people procrastinate — the reason they’re not remarkable even though they know they are capable of it — is that everyone is waiting for permission.

• Most procrastinators aren't lazy. We're just waiting for permission.

  • Permission to:

    • → Dream

    • → Plan

    • → Do

    • → Review

Erica Dhawan-Connectional Intelligence (CI)

• Connectional Intelligence (CI)

• 4 laws of CI: Value visibly, communicate carefully, collaborate confidently, & trust totally. It’s not who you know, it’s how you leverage connections for shared purpose. Be curious, generous, and mission-driven.

Tasha Eurich-Shatter Proof

• In the times that break us, we can uniquely remake us.

• Shatterproof people give themselves permission to fulfill their most important needs.

• Grit gaslighting is the lie that keeps us stuck. Name it. Banish it. Set yourself free.

• Your needs aren't selfish. They're essential — and non-negotiable.

• It’s physically impossible to power through everything.

• You’re not failing. You’ve hit your resilience ceiling.

• Resilience has limits. A good life isn't about bouncing back — it's about breaking through.

• Be your best! When we are the best version of ourselves, our teams are better for it.

• 3 outcomes of resilience: broken, bounced back, & got better.

• Proactively harnessing tough times to grow forward & deepen our core needs.

• The biggest myths of resilience: Resilience is a muscle. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. Strength means never stopping.

• Stress drains our resilience resources.

• Shatter the shame, then grow forward.

• When we are the best version of ourselves, we can help others to be the best version of themselves.

• When we’re the best version of ourselves, our team becomes their best version — to serve and impact."

• You are not alone. We are facing a cascade of constant chaos.

• Every person has a limit.

• Don’t we deserve more than just enduring? Don't we deserve to thrive?

• Just surviving isn’t sufficient. It’s time to reinvent yourself.

Bradley Rapier-Step In The Circle

• Momentum comes from movement, not waiting for perfect. Step into discomfort, it’s where innovation lives. 

• In the circle, we don’t PROVE, we OFFER! It’s not about competition in the circle.

• As a leader, step in & engage!

• Choose curiosity and connection over agenda and transaction.

• When you’re focused on ‘getting there,’ you sacrifice discovery and depth for a destination.

• It’s not the move, it’s the groove.

• Whether you're a doctor or a dancer, if you operate based on moves, you’ll run out. But if you connect to the groove, you can dance through life all day.

• We’re afraid of looking silly, of not measuring up. But we’re also afraid of being bold, of being courageous. We’re afraid of letting go.

• It’s crucial for all people to step into who they’re designed to be and to bring that authentic voice into the circle.

• As leaders, we must choose to step in and engage. Models and manuals will only take us so far.

• There is something powerful about stepping in a circle. Choose to take the attention off yourself, trust in something greater and allow the groove to guide you.

• Choose exploration over ego, discovery over dread, and adventure over isolation.

• You are not a math equation. Stop trying to prove yourself. In the circle we don’t prove; we offer.

• Step out of your comfort zone, step away from your screens, and step into the circle!

Walker Hayes-Life Journey & Leadership

• Don’t despise small beginnings. Share your failures, they build more trust than your highlight reel. 

• Aspire to be the Craig in his journey! Let strangers & friends be annoyed by the way you show them unconditional love.