What’s Your Summit Story?
Every year, there's one event I consistently recommend to everyone: the Global Leadership Summit.
As a loyal attendee, the Summit has shaped not only how I lead my business, but how I serve my clients, communicate vision, and think about influence. As a fractional CMO, I'm constantly looking for ideas that help mission-driven organizations lead with greater clarity and purpose—and the Summit delivers every year.
Recently, I sat down with Geoff King, CEO of Love Fort Wayne, to hear his own Summit story. As he shared how the Summit helped him discover his voice as a leader, I found myself reflecting on my own journey. His story reminded me why I keep coming back—and why I encourage every nonprofit leader, pastor, marketer, and business owner I know to experience it for themselves.
Here's Geoff's story.
Sparking a Fire
Fifteen years ago, Geoff King walked into the Global Leadership Summit as a young leader looking to grow.
He didn’t know that two days of learning would help reshape the direction of his life.
At the time, Geoff was serving with a faith-based sports performance and leadership organization. Like many young leaders, he was eager to learn, surrounded by teammates who valued personal growth, and trying to discover how to lead well.
Then he heard leadership expert Patrick Lencioni speak.
Something clicked.
“I started reading his books,” Geoff recalls. “It set a fire in me.”
That moment became more than inspiration—it became a turning point.
Learning to Lead Yourself
For Geoff, the Summit wasn’t just about gaining new leadership techniques. It challenged him to honestly evaluate himself.
He began asking difficult questions:
- How do I contribute to the culture of my team?
- Where are my blind spots?
- What strengths has God uniquely given me?
- Where might I be unintentionally holding others back?
Those questions changed how he showed up every day.
“It made me a better teammate,” Geoff says. “It helped me see both my gifts and the places where I needed to grow.”
Great leadership doesn’t begin by changing everyone else. It begins by allowing God to shape us first.
Finding a Voice You Didn’t Know You Had
As Geoff continued attending the Summit year after year, another realization began to emerge.
As someone who naturally leaned toward introversion, he hadn’t considered himself a public communicator. But the Summit challenged him to ask a different question:
What leadership gifts am I leaving untapped?
That question changed everything.
Geoff began writing.
He started speaking.
He engaged more deeply in the community.
Eventually, those opportunities became part of the path that led him back into full-time ministry and ultimately into his current role serving the Fort Wayne community.
“The Summit allowed me to look at myself differently,” he says. “It set me on a trajectory where I began to write, speak, and engage in my community in a different way.”
Sometimes leadership isn’t about becoming someone new. Sometimes it’s simply discovering the voice God has already placed inside you.
Come Curious. Come Expectant.
One of Geoff’s biggest pieces of advice for first-time attendees is simple:
Come curious. Come expectant.
With voices from a wide range of industries, backgrounds, and experiences, the Global Leadership Summit creates opportunities to hear perspectives you may never have considered before.
“You’ll hear something that makes you think differently about leadership and life,” Geoff says.
But the speakers are only part of the experience.
There is something powerful about sitting in a room filled with hundreds—sometimes thousands—of people who all share a desire to grow.
The conversations during breaks.
The reactions when an idea resonates.
The encouragement from someone sitting beside you.
Leadership isn’t developed in isolation.
It grows in community.
Every Leader Has a Summit Story
When Geoff reflects on the Summit today, he encourages people to do something simple:
Talk to someone who’s been. Ask what changed. Ask what they learned. Ask what happened afterward.
Because almost everyone who has attended has a story. For some, the Summit launched a new career. For others, it strengthened the work they were already doing.
Some discovered courage. Others found clarity.
Many simply became healthier leaders in their homes, workplaces, churches, schools, and communities.
The Summit looks different for everyone—but meaningful growth often begins with one conversation, one idea, or one moment of clarity.
What’s Your Summit Story?
If the Global Leadership Summit has impacted your life, we’d love to hear about it.
Did it help you become a better leader? Did it change your career? Did it strengthen your family, your church, your business, or your community?
Did it help you discover gifts you didn’t know you had?
Share your Summit Story with us. Your story could encourage someone else to take their next step as a leader:
Because stories don’t just celebrate what God has done—they inspire what He might do next.
Pay It Forward
Maybe the Summit changed your life years ago.
Maybe someone invested in your leadership by helping you attend.
If that’s your story, consider helping make that same opportunity possible for someone else.
By becoming a Love Fort Wayne partner, you’ll help invest in the next generation of leaders throughout our city—leaders who may be one Summit away from discovering the calling God has placed on their lives.