Priscilla Liu and Christina Nguyen are final-year PharmD candidates at the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy.
“Live in such a way that you help someone else get into the room.”
These words, heard at the 2024 APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition in Orlando, echoed through our minds as we received an invitation from our mentor to attend the 2024 Global Leadership Summit (GLS). Though we had incredible experiences as student pharmacists, neither of us thought we’d be part of a live studio audience at a leadership conference.
GLS aims to cultivate growth and expansion for all leaders across the world. Each year, many dynamic speakers from a variety of perspectives inspire leaders and challenge them to grow, who will then in turn use what they learned to uplift their own communities. We hope reflecting on our key takeaways from the conference will inspire others.
Takeaway 1: Permission to be obsessed
Founder of Life Church, Craig Groeschel encourages us to be obsessed. Finding passion and strategic obsession allows leaders to focus, care, and commit. Being busy creates the illusion of importance and overcommitment is the biggest barrier to success, whereas strategically obsessed individuals focus relentlessly. If you don’t obsess over something, you will never be great at anything, as successful leaders don’t grow with their “yes’s,” but rather with their “no’s.”
Takeaway 2: Unreasonable hospitality
William Guidara shared how his restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, became #1 on the World’s Best 50 Restaurants through unreasonable hospitality. Emphasizing care for others by being present and meeting them where they are at allows for the greatest growth. Kindness and intentionality in the pursuit of people rather than a product cultivates an unforgettable experience. We each have a beautiful opportunity and responsibility to make the world better, and it’s up to us to take it.
Takeaway 3: Dynamic drive
Former sports agent Molly Fletcher sought to inspire the audience through a reminder that success arises through curiosity. Fletcher recounted how her curiosity and tenacity led her to great opportunities and fulfillment throughout her life. Regardless of our own journey, remaining curious is what creates chances, change, and opportunities. Curiosity fends off competency, and competency is the enemy of success.
Takeaway 4: Intelligent failures
Amy Edmondson challenged the audience to face their fears and invite failure. She expands on various types of failures, encouraging intelligent failures. Unique in their ability to create thoughtful opportunities of learning and advancement toward goals, leaders gain more insight from intelligent failures compared to “safe” successes. In embracing this, we reimagine what failures mean by setting a safe stage for it to occur, creating the space to explore, and responding and reinforcing what is learned.
Strive for constant improvement
Although we touched on four takeaways, there were many more we carried from GLS 2024, including the power of storytelling, rebuilding realities when we feel broken, and unlocking our personal genius. Allowing us to grow as leaders and better understand how to inspire not only ourselves but also those we lead, we can use our takeaways to strive for the constant improvement, advocacy, and advancement of the profession.
After all, everyone wins when the leader gets better.