On Tuesday, business people, managers, school teachers and others from around the Permian Basin came to the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center for the 20th edition of the Sewell Leadership Event.
The event was a day-long conference that featured key motivational speakers including Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow as well as authors John Maxwell and Andy Stanley.
The event, which is put on by the Sewell Family of Companies, is held each year to try and help and inspire business owners, professionals and students and others.
Tebow, who is a two-time national champion and a 2007 Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Florida as well as a former NFL player and professional baseball player, shared some of his life experiences with leadership and some of the lessons he’s learned.
One of those lessons he said is to learn where the boundaries are.
“Know the decisions you’re going to make before you put yourself in a particular situation,” Tebow said. “Don’t wait until you get into temptation and then figure out where the line is. … That’s something that really helped me out.”
Tebow said he credits his parents for teaching him that lesson.
After playing college ball at Florida, Tebow was a first-round draft pick who spent a couple of years in the NFL.
The four-time New York Times best-selling author, speaker and football analyst also talked about his work with the Tim Tebow Foundation.
He also talked about how believing in someone can impact their life.
“It’s incredible to see the difference between someone who believes in themselves and someone who doesn’t,” Tebow said. “You have that ability to speak life into people, into your families and your communities. You have the ability to talk to someone who is going through a rough time and believe in them. You can still believe in their work and value.”
Maxwell is also a New York Times bestselling author, speaker and coach who has sold more than 33 million books in 50 languages.
His organizations, John Maxwell Company, the John Maxwell Team, EQUIP and the John Maxwell Leadership Foundation have translated his teachings into 70 languages.
Maxwell is a recipient of the Horatio Alger Award and the Mother Teresa Prize for Global Peace and Leadership from the Luminary Leadership Network.
One of the things that Maxwell talked about in his speech was accountability.
“We know that power corrupts some people so when I have power or authority to do what I want, what’s going to be my stabilizer? I think the answer is accountability,” Maxwell said. “I think accountability is essential for any of us who have a lot of power in our lives. I think that everybody has to be accountable somewhat.”
In addition to being an author, Stanley is also a communicator and a pastor who founded the Atlanta-based North Point Ministries in 1995.
Today, NPM consists of eight churches in the Atlanta area and a network of nearly 130 churches around the globe that collectively serve nearly 185,000 people weekly.
One of the things Stanley talked about was communication and motivation.
“You need to understand and the people who work with you need to understand and be able to understand the question: ‘I know what I’m doing, I know what I’m expected to do but what are we doing and how does what I know connect to what we are doing?’ Because when those dots get disconnected, emotionally, then people lose their passion and motivation,” Stanley said.
This year’s event was sold out with around 1,827 people expected to attend.
This year’s conference was the first time to take place in an in-person setting since before the pandemic.
