Gary Harpst

Today’s leaders are well acquainted with chaos. While most businesses (hopefully) enjoy times of success and smooth sailing, we also face periods of disruption, upheaval, discord, and extreme stress. We may be tempted to approach these chaos cycles by putting our head down and waiting for the storm to pass. But Gary Harpst has an encouraging message: We are not created to be victims of chaos, but to harness it for our own purposes. Gary delivers an insightful and practical discussion of how to transform chaos into order by relying on strategies drawn directly from the Bible. You’ll learn how to find fulfillment and success by leaning into your innate ability to calm the madness and control chaos.

People often do inexplicable things both great and sometimes disruptive. As leaders, we are more effective when we understand human purpose and design. The Bible has clear and somewhat surprising insights about why people do what they do and give leaders a framework for engaging hearts and minds. In this session, participants will take away: • Our human charter and what it means to be created in the image of God. • Why chaos is not our problem, but our purpose. • The role of desire, reason, imagination and action in human design. • The number one tool for overcoming chaos. • The biggest barrier to overcoming chaos. The paradox all leaders face. • What leaders must know, do and be to grow in effectiveness

We often use an “or” model. People are detail OR big picture oriented. Individuals are tasks OR people driven. Leaders must learn how to leverage these individual differences. But organizations as a whole must be effective at the big picture AND the details. It must be good at executing tasks AND relating to people. Gary makes the case that effective organizations must master both the process dimension of excellence and the people dimension of engagement. He challenges leaders to lay the foundation of a people-first mindset upon which process excellence is built. Take aways: • The biblical explanation of why human civilization has made amazing progress on the technology front but no progress on the human relationship dimension. • A five-step model for building “oneness”. Going beyond just teamwork to alignment around shared purpose. • How to sustain the oneness model as the organization grows and changes. • New insights on the real purpose of leadership.