Today Cobie Langerak spoke on leadership. She brought a message that I had heard in different words at several occasions over the last couple of months. She emphasized the importance of development of both character and skill, stating that you can’t be a leader without a clear strategy about your own leadership. She also promotes shepherding instead of servant leadership, quoting Psalms 78:72. A third thing that stood out to me was the question: Can I say ‘follow me, take me as an example’? Is there anyone praying to become more like me?

In general, she referenced almost everything back to the bible, something I had not expected. Knowing she is a very succesful business woman, I had probably thought it would be more management speak.

In the afternoon we had a not-so-succesful country meeting. We were not well prepared, so the meeting was unsatisfying to most of us. Later Javier Garcia, designated European Director, talked about leading together. I like his speeches a lot, he is very balanced, asks the right questions and has a good sense of humour. The only difficulty is his English language skill, that ‘needs improvement’. It improves, by the way; he is far better than he was the first time I heard him.