The Global Leadership Summit: It’s About Building Intentional People

And now for my disappointment. Or perhaps I should call it, my redeemed disappointment.

I was super excited to hear Melinda Gates speak. One of the things I’ve always appreciated about the Summit is the intentional diversity that is represented in their speakers. You can tell they think about this, and want to do right. I have continuously been impressed with what I see of Bill Hybels, as well. Additionally, I know someone who used to work with him, and have heard first-person good things about the man (and not, I might add, through rose-colored glasses).

So Bill was interviewing Melinda and she was talking about something important — you know, the topic at hand — when Hybels suddenly interrupted her — mid-sentence — to ask her how she met her husband.

Uggghhhhh. I was so furious. Firs of all, it was such a cognitive disruption. I was truly engaged in what she was saying and really wanted to hear the rest of it. I have very little interest in her and her husband’s romantic history. I want to know how she’s running an organization that’s saving lives all across the globe.

Not to mention the fact that here, on a global stage, Bill Hybels just demonstrated a typical micro-aggression that represents our standing as an inherently sexist society. Interrupting women — even powerful, successful, inspirational women such as Melinda Gates, who by the way is successful in her own right, not because of who she married — is so very frustrating.

So can you guess what happened?

Yeah. I sent an email.

I couldn’t find a direct email for Bill Hybels, so I sent something to their general customer service email. I got a response very quickly — and it was a good response, asking for grace, and insuring it wasn’t intentional.

And I believe it wasn’t. Most micro-aggressions aren’t. But we serve no one by not calling them out, so that people like Bill Hybels, who I honestly and truly believe does not want to be sexist, can change their behavior. Because chances are if he interrupted a woman like Melinda Gates on a global stage at this summit, he probably does it in meetings and in personal interactions as well.

I sent back an email to their response, thanking them and reiterating that I truly hope Bill Hybels sees my email, so that he and the others he leads can practice more awareness of the micro-aggressions that may creep into their everyday lives, because I believe in Bill Hybels enough to think he honestly would not want them there.

Overall, it was an amazing summit, and I thoroughly encourage you to consider attending a screening next year (the main auditorium is already sold out).