The Spiritual Compass of Leadership through Faith and Forgiveness

Discover the profound impact of leadership on our lives as we sit down with Aaron, the executive director of Leaders of Leaders. His rich experience from the military to nonprofit leadership unveils the often-unseen influence of personal leadership and its vital role in shaping society. As we dissect the complexities of maintaining integrity, we promise you'll gain insights into the strategies that leaders must employ to foster a culture where trust is the foundation and every individual feels valued.

Embark on a journey through the intricacies of faith and forgiveness with us, where personal battles turn into universal lessons. Aaron shares his own story of overcoming adversity, highlighting the transformative power of aligning one's life with scriptural truths. This conversation invites you to consider the liberating effects of faith, the importance of making ethical choices, and the profound freedom that comes with forgiveness.

Closing the discussion, we address the challenges of visionary leadership in the face of adversity. We focus on the significance of self-awareness, the articulation of a compelling vision, and the embodiment of values like Christlikeness and servant leadership. This episode is more than just a discussion; it's a call to action for leaders and aspiring leaders to serve with dedication and uphold the mission with unwavering commitment. Join us for an episode that promises to deepen your understanding of leadership's transformative power.

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Just Make A Difference: Leading Under Pressure by Ron Harvey

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Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any organization or entity. The information provided in this podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners should consult with their own professional advisors before implementing any suggestions or recommendations made in this podcast. The speakers and guests are not responsible for any actions taken by listeners based on the information presented in this podcast. The podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice or services. The speakers and guests make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in this ...

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to Unpacked Podcast with your host leadership consultant, Ron Harvey of Global Core Strategies and Consulting. Ron's delighted to have you join us as he unpacks and shares his leadership experience, designed to help you in your leadership journey. Ron believes that leadership is the fundamental driver towards making a difference. So now to find out more of what it means to unpack leadership, here's your host, Ron Harvey.

Speaker 2: 0:28

Good morning. This is Ron Harvey, the Vice President and the Chief Operating Officer of Global Core Strategies and Consulting, and I'm excited, as usual, to do the work that we do. We run a company that's been around now over 10 years and we spend all of our time around creating a winning culture through the lens of a leader, helping leaders navigate and create an environment that people want to be a part of and want to work for, and I'll tell you that's a challenge today. I mean, with so many things happening, leadership is one of the hardest things to do today, with all the different dynamics that's happening across our entire world, and so we spend a lot of time just helping leaders get their feet up underneath them, figure out how to show up best to take care of the people that they're responsible for and responsible to.

Speaker 2: 1:04

We love it and we enjoy it, but every Monday, we release a podcast with a different leader from around the world with different backgrounds, just to bring to you a audience or someone that's going to speak from their perspective, their lens, their challenges and their exposure and experience. So I'm super excited to have with us today Aaron, who said yes, and he's coming from a different place across our country. So I want to pause and welcome our guests. Aaron, welcome to the show, and I would ask if you introduce yourself to our guests and our listeners. So let me pause for you and hand you the microphone.

Speaker 3: 1:34

Yeah Well, first of all, ron, thank you so much, honored, it's a great pleasure to be able to just have the opportunity to share. I would say I'm a husband, I'm a father and I get the great opportunity to be the executive director of a company, a Christian nonprofit called Leaders of Leaders, and we believe that Jesus Christ is the leader of all leaders, and so that's kind of where we get our notes from, so to speak, and I'm sure we'll unpack that, get into that a little bit when we get on the show.

Speaker 2: 2:01

Yeah, I love it. He's already dropping nuggets unpacked. I like it, I appreciate it and thank you, because nonprofits I mean the lens of nonprofits and when you look at like where leaders are in it, that's a hard space to lead in, and so what I offer to everyone all the time is just a real conversation for everyone that's watching. There are no questions sent in advance. All the guests come on and they're willing to have an open conversation that hopefully we add something of value that makes a difference for you, your organization and the people that you care dearly about and taking care of. So, Aaron, you know, looked at your bio for us to get our arms wrapped around. Leadership, regardless of what industry, regardless of what domain, whether you're in the face space or you're in the corporate America space, how important of a role do we have as leaders and where are we?

Speaker 3: 2:56

Yeah, that man, that's a good one. That's a great question. A lot to unpack there in that I was in the Marine Corps right, served in combat, served in peacetime prior to combat in 1999, watched the towers fall, served in combat and then now I've served in more of a peacetime. I mean, obviously there've been conflicts and things like that. So I have that perspective. Then I built a business, was able to sell that business for a considerable amount of profit and then built another business, an education online business, didn't know that COVID was going to happen. Covid happened. That business blew up, was able to sell that and then work for the company to basically scale that out on a greater level. But then in all of that I've gone to school and experienced that whole thing.

Speaker 3: 3:39

So I've seen sort of the corporate side, the governmental side, seen a bunch of different sides, but I think more importantly seeing the household side, and I think first of all there's a great abdication of leadership in the household where we're sort of farming out or giving people our children to teach them, and sometimes just unintentionally, through screens and things like that and through technology and stuff. And the technology has gotten really good. Of course they want more screen time, you know, and so they got really good. Of course they want more screen time, you know, and so they got really good at building that algorithm to make us want to be on the screens more often, and so good for them. But then maybe not so good for us if we're not using it as a tool but just using it to take up large amounts of our time, and so there's a huge abdication of leadership in the household. And then we see that, I think, and so I believe that it goes household out, not greater leadership like president, in to the household, because basically our voting has showed us where that's ending up in a governmental and political space. And let me tell you it's not good on either side, regardless of whatever side of the aisle you're on. It's not looking great on either of those sides. Again, that's why I'm like well, christ is Lord, not thank God that Christ is Lord and not this president or the last president or whatever right, wherever you sit politically, because either way you cut it, it's not looking so good. But largely it's an abdication of leadership.

Speaker 3: 5:01

And I think what people don't realize is, whether you like it or not, whether you wanted it or not, you have spheres of influence, which means you have a leadership role, even if it's a small leadership role. You have a leadership role specifically and especially if you're in charge of a company or something like that, then of course you have a leadership role. You know that at least. But then in that somehow we're taking cues either from the household, or we're taking cues from the government, or we're taking cues from other corporate leaders and we're trying to scapegoat, we're trying to abdicate our responsibility. We're not trying to actually hold on to this responsibility.

Speaker 3: 5:36

And then we wonder why we lose the freedoms, we wonder why we lose the wealth, we wonder why we lose the blessing. Well, we lose those things because we've abdicated them through the abdication of responsibility. When you don't take responsibility, you're not going to get the freedoms that can come with those leadership roles or those higher roles, and so I think that's just kind of a general, you know 40,000 foot view. Here's kind of what's going on as I see it, and here are some of the problems.

Speaker 2: 6:03

Phenomenal. Thank you for unpacking that, because you know, at the end of the day, and thank you for your service to the Marine Corps and for what you've done for the country, which is also a leadership thing. When you look at us as a society today, there is a lot of blaming. So, whether it's in politics or whether it's in schools, or whether it's the school does it, the parents take care of it, the community does it, who's responsible for developing us as a society? There's a lot of blame. So you know, if you're in a leadership role and then you leave and the person comes behind you, they blame the person, their predecessor, or they blame the person that's going to follow behind them. Are we making some major mistakes when it comes to leadership, of this blame game, regardless of what industry or what sector of society we're talking about? Can we unpack that? Because you see a lot. Social media is phenomenal, but it's not always accurate and there's a lot of blame when it comes across. How is that impacting us as leaders when we start the blame game?

Speaker 3: 6:55

It's really easy to fight an enemy, and so then we a lot of times build up these enemies. We take a couple of things that we don't like or we don't agree with or aren't aligned with our personal values. We see that they don't have it on the other side, or they have the opposite of on the other side, whatever the other side might be whether it's competition in the commercial space or politics or whatever and then what we do is we amplify it, so we make this enemy greater, because we understand that, like our fear, instincts and our emotions can really help sway. But I believe that it's going to be the leader that actually starts assuming responsibility, even for the things that they shouldn't have to assume responsibility for. That will ultimately end up leading us to a greater place, because what this blame game is doing, what the scapegoating is doing, is it's shifting the blame away from me, even to the point of the things that I am responsible for. So we get really used to this negative feedback loop that ultimately leads to an abdication of our leadership and abdication of our responsibilities, and so then we don't even take responsibility for the things that we've done. A great example is yesterday.

Speaker 3: 8:05

I had this conversation with my oldest daughter, and so it happens it starts in the household to include corporate leaders, like if you can't run your household, if your household is in shambles, well maybe that's why you're having problems in the corporate world. And for me, I see that in scripture that's pretty telling. In first Timothy, second Timothy, that's what it's talking about when it's talking about qualifications for elders and things like that. It's like if your household is a mess, then you shouldn't serve in any sort of leadership capacity, because we know that your leadership is corrupt already, right, we know that there's a problem. And so I was talking with my daughter and she was twisting the truth just a little bit so that she wouldn't have to take responsibility for her sister getting hurt. And so she made this story, she told this whole story and it was a really good story and it was a believable story and for all intents and purposes it could have been true, but she left out a small piece, and leaving out a small piece was her way of abdicating responsibility for her sister falling off the counter and getting hurt. Right, if she played no role at all, then she could have told that story and it would have been true, but she did play a small role, and so, the way that she told it, she wanted to make sure that she was clean she didn't have anything to do with this thing. That happened. Well, unfortunately, that just wasn't the case. She played a small but significant role, and her abdication of that meant that, well, now you're lying right. And so what that does is now she's not able to take responsibility for greater things down the line in her life. And so what happens when she's 16? What happens when she's 18? What happens when she's 20 something? And she's still using these stories to keep herself from being responsible for her actions, for not seeing.

Speaker 3: 9:53

And basically, what happens is we just get really bad at seeing the consequences good and bad from the choices that we make, because we know that choices lead to consequences. It's inevitable. This is just how life works, right, choices equals consequences. And when we stop seeing that our choices lead to any consequence at all, then we actually stop seeing the truth. We start telling ourselves lies, we start believing those lies, and then we wonder why things start to crumble around us.

Speaker 3: 10:23

Well, things are crumbling around us because you can't build anything on a false foundation, because it's not a solid foundation, and so you need truth, even the hard truth that, yep, I screwed up, I made a mistake, I did this thing, or my team screwed up, and so I'm going to take responsibility for my team because I'm in charge of my team, even though I didn't do that thing. I need to take responsibility for my team because I'm in charge of my team Even though I didn't do that thing. I need to take responsibility for my team, and that's the only way that we're going to find ourselves out of this, because that's the only way we're going to actually have solid ground from which to move forward. Otherwise, we're just in a swamp, acting like it's not a swamp, acting like it's solid ground, and acting like we can build huge buildings in the swamp acting like it's solid ground and acting like we can build huge buildings in the swamp.

Speaker 2: 11:06

Yes, phenomenal, and good story around. You know that small percentage of leaving that data out, and it may be a small percentage. So, as leaders, if you're listening, that small percentage is still a part of it and the military say, hey, you only need 10 percent of the truth and the rest is the story. Well, that small percentage has an impact. But what I heard you say if I can unpack for a second here is sometimes, as leaders, we have to take ownership of what we didn't break and we have to repair what we didn't break, Because when you're coming in once you're in a leadership role, the blame game isn't healthy. But how do you help a leader take ownership and fix what they didn't break?

Speaker 3: 11:44

I like to play it out in a logical way for the leader Okay, pfc or Joe Schmo or Jane Schmo whatever did this thing that was illegal or was wrong or whatever. And so what I could do as a leader is I could say, yep, you know, joe Schmo sucks, jane Schmo sucks, let's can them. You know, and maybe that's the right call. Maybe canning them is the right call if it's something that's illegal, of course, but we're not going to take responsibility for that. Right, that was them. You know that's what they did.

Speaker 3: 12:14

So the issue with that is, if I don't take responsibility for that, I'm not allowed to do anything about it. About it, I've now given it to somebody else. So now I've given away. If I accepted that, like yes, and I'm going to also take responsibility. So Jane Schmoe is fired, or Joe Schmoe is fired. They did something illegal and I'm going to take responsibility for that.

Speaker 3: 12:36

Now that I've taken responsibility for it, I can actually start to do something about it. Hey, we're going to change the way in which we teach you about this particular thing, or we're going to change the way in which we do X, y or Z, because doing X, y or Z led to this lie led to this illegal action led to this problem. But you see, if I remove that, oh, it was just them, it had nothing to do with us, it had nothing to do with me. Now I've removed my ability to actually do anything about it. It's just them.

Speaker 3: 13:06

And then all of a sudden, oh it happens again, nope, Well, let's fire Jane Schmo, now we're going to fire Joe Schmo, and now we're going to fire Bob Schmo, and now I fired all these people and it keeps happening. But I'm not taking responsibility, so I can't actually do anything about it. But in fact, usually when we point the finger, we have at least three, if not four, pointing back at us. Right, so we should actually have a knee jerk response to overwhelmingly take more responsibility, because if we take more responsibility, we actually have more ability to do something about that thing that has happened, that's wrong or whatever.

Speaker 2: 13:42

Even if you didn't do it, even if you're the one that didn't actually do that wrong thing, yeah, which is hard for most people when you follow up behind someone and you got to take ownership and fix what you didn't break, and I think we're seeing that a lot. There are a lot of things broken in society that you and I probably didn't have anything to do with it. You were deployed multiple times and there was not a decision that you made that caused you to be deployed. That's up for joining the military, and there are a lot of things that you had to help fix that you didn't break. Let me just shift the direction a little bit for us to unpack some, because this comes up just about every conversation and we see it all over.

Speaker 2: 14:14

We are at an all time low trust in leaders. A lot of people are struggling with trusting their leaders and that number is staggering. It's about 63% that don't. Why don't we begin to repair that? Because that's a huge issue for us in my process. When trust goes out, everything else is in trouble. What do we do to start helping to reestablish and rebuild this trust that's at an all-time low for leaders across every industry?

Speaker 3: 14:54

creates emotion. Emotion usually creates buy-in. Emotion is great for those things, but when it's just emotion, right, and there isn't any follow-through, there isn't any strong, solid value structures, truth structures, goodness structures, moral structures that are grounding that emotion. Because emotion can go up and down, right, we know that. But if truth is true, then it's just going to remain right here and emotion will go up and down. Right, we know that. But if truth is true, then it's just going to remain right here and emotion will go up and down. But truth will always maintain its grounding, maintain its truth, or goodness will maintain its goodness. But the problem is now we're saying you know, truth is like emotion and morality is like emotion. And so then all of these things morality and goodness, and so I think that's the 40,000 foot view problem we don't have any grounding in anything that's true. Truth is subjective, truth is relative, morality is subjective, morality is relative.

Speaker 3: 15:44

And that becomes very problematic because now everybody's riding this roller coaster of feelings driving everything, and so when we have leaders that are able to have integrity and the only way you're going to be able to have integrity is when you're grounding your actions and your words on truth, the thing that's not moving, using emotion for sure, you could still use emotion and talk about that thing rhetorically, but you're talking about the thing that's remaining stationary, that's remaining solid right, and this is why Christ is called the stumbling block. He's's remaining solid right and this is why Christ is called the stumbling block. He's the cornerstone, right. He's the stumbling block. It's because he's remaining as this ground right of truth and goodness and beauty. And then people are going to find themselves tripping over that and it's going to be problematic because it's not going to move right, but it's also going to be beautiful and good and true and we want that as well. So, as problematic as it might be for the person that's riding this emotional roller coaster, it will also be the thing that that person that was riding the emotional roller coaster will be able to trust, because, hey, that hasn't moved. It's the same thing today, yesterday and always. This truth is always going to be there, and when we start to see this integrity play out, that's where true trust is garnered.

Speaker 3: 16:59

When they say something, they actually mean it, because they actually follow through with it, and then, when it doesn't work, they actually admit the mistake of this thing that they said not working, and then they actually do something to fix that, instead of like, oh well, this isn't really true, and well, we've changed our tune. Or now what it seems to happen is people will say something and then later on they'll say something completely different. That's totally not what they had said originally, not what they intended to do originally, and they just said it as if that other thing that they said didn't even exist. It's like oh, it's just back there, don't worry about that thing.

Speaker 2: 17:37

And then we wonder why there's no trust.

Speaker 2: 17:39

Oh yeah, it's like they changed the entire movie right in front of you. So when you think about you know leaders and things that we have to bring to the table to be effective, and you've been in many different levels of leadership. What are the things that come to mind as characteristics of an effective leader? Over longevity, because it's a long haul, this is a long race, it's not a sprint. Divisive society, social media, all over the place, workplace, hybrid workplace, in-person I mean everybody's questioning everything. What are some things that, because I can't be the leader that my dad used to be, there are some things that, because of the society we live in, I think there's some fundamental characteristics that I do need to have that my dad had. But I'm facing a different obstacle, different challenge. What are some things today's leaders need to pay attention to to be effective in today's society and the challenges we're having?

Speaker 3: 18:36

That's a great question and I'm going to answer your question by not answering your question. So I will say I think that things that worked in antiquity so this is even further back right and in the middle ages, are still at play today. So then we can see social media and technology as a tool that can be leveraged and not as a divisive disease that's happened upon our society, which it is both of those things. But when we see it as a tool, we can actually use it as a tool. But if we can't, then it does become this divisive thing because of their algorithms and all of that stuff. And so I don't think that they're inherently bad. I think there are just a lot of bad actors within them that don't have the solidness of what I'm about to state, that a leader of leaders would have, and this is what Christ demonstrated, and this is what we can demonstrate as well.

Speaker 3: 19:22

So the first is they actually believe something. And when I say believe, belief is not just something, most of the time we just think about it as an intellectual ascent, but belief is something you know to be true and show to be true. So your actions right, follow your words and follow your thoughts. It's all through line. It's that whole integrity piece that I was talking about to garner trust. So our worldview, right, that's what we build things off of. And if our worldview is constantly shifting right, and it's constantly emotional, or it's constantly being tossed to and fro by every wind and wave of new teaching, right, as Paul says in his epistles, then we can't actually build anything solid on it. And that's where we're finding ourselves right now. We're constantly shifting our worldview. Oh, I like that philosophy, oh, I like this religion, oh, I like that belief, oh, I like this thing. Oh, I like that belief, oh, I like this thing. And then we're shifting, shifting, shifting, and we wonder why we can't build anything.

Speaker 3: 20:18

So I think first the leader has to have a solid has to. You know, look in the mirror and go what do I believe and am I actually demonstrating those beliefs? And then, from that, now we can actually cast true vision, because we have a grounding that isn't going to move. And so now we can move from point A to point B. Hey, we are here in accordance with this belief, this grounding, and we need to be over there, because here is no bueno, because of X, y or Z, right, all the things that you were, that you're thinking about and all of us are thinking about, whether it's politics or corporate America or whatever. And then we have values that keep us on that narrow path, right. And we must establish a solid worldview from which to build upon. And then, from that solid worldview, a strong vision that says, hey, it's not good here, it's really good there, and let's all move in that direction and continue to say it until people start making fun of you. That's when I know that I've communicated it. Enough is because then people start to like make fun of it and have fun with it and whatever, and it's not in a bad way, but in a way that it's like, stuck in their head, they can't not think about this thing. And then establishing values that keep us on the narrow path, not diverting off, and so then inevitably not getting to that vision that is cast.

Speaker 3: 21:35

And you can do this in your business, right. This is the same in business as it is in church, as it is in government, as it is in households, right. And then, finally, from there, there ought to be priorities, things that are prioritized, because I believe balance is bull crap. If you try to balance, then what happens is you spend too much time working in your home and then you're not accomplishing missions, so you can't even pay for your bills at your house, right, because you're there doing all that stuff. And so it's about prioritizing things and understanding.

Speaker 3: 22:07

You know, for me it's like the priority is God, then it's my wife, then it's my kids, and then it's my church and community, and then it's my vocation, my work, what it is that I'm doing.

Speaker 3: 22:17

But that doesn't mean that I don't spend a lot of time in work. It's just there is a hierarchy of needs, and if my wife is not being loved, if my children are not being raised in the instruction and admonition of the Lord, then my house is going to fall apart. And so what was the point of me making all that money in the first place, right? And so, yeah, I think those are kind of the main sticking points, that that you need to look in the mirror and go do I have a solid worldview that I actually believe, that I know to be true and show to be true, and am I articulating that vision well, and do I have values that keep me on the path to that vision? And do I have priorities? Right? So I know that I shouldn't, you know, try to find the bottom of Instagram. Today I should probably work my mission right. That's interesting.

Speaker 2: 23:04

Yes, phenomenal. Thank you for the steps and everybody's listening. You know, dropping some things. What are some things that you should be bringing to the table to be effective? As a leader, I want to unpack something for us. You know we have a couple minutes left and I want to unpack something for us that seems to be more challenging and more difficult to get done. As a leader, you know you look at your personal values, you look at the organization structure, mission, vision and values within an organization and sometimes they seem to be out of alignment. The question I have is, as a leader, what do you compromise and what don't you compromise when you're looking at your personal values and organization's values?

Speaker 3: 23:37

Yeah, well, for me it's understanding scripture and truth of scripture. So if it aligns for me scripturally, true, and that's not in the business that I'm doing or that's not in my personal life, it's like, well, I've obviously gone off the path, right, I'm obviously not doing the thing in accordance with God's word, and so I'm going to find myself lost and confused and things are going to be falling apart. So there's a greater grounding that I believe, and that is the belief in the worldview piece, right? So once you start establishing and started articulating your worldview, you might start punching holes in it, and when you punch holes in it it's like, okay, well, this worldview can't stand. So then maybe there is another worldview that can stand, and then I can actually know this to be true and show this to be true in my life.

Speaker 3: 24:23

But that's happened to me several times and like a good example would be wanting to seek revenge, right, and doing certain things that I knew I could do to get back at this person right For doing me wrong that I didn't deserve right, it was undeserved ilk and pain and problems, and that was actually trying to remove my ability to provide for my family, and so that's a huge thing, I should be able to provide for my family and I should be able to defend those that are but seeking revenge. When, outside of that, yes, I can defend that, I can say, no, what I'm doing is true, what I'm doing is right, what I'm doing is good, what I'm doing is beautiful, but outside of my worldview, would be revenge right? Vengeance is for the Lord, it's not for me, so I'm not the one that's seeking revenge. And I will tell you that was the hardest thing for me to do. I can't say the whole story because I'm just actually legally not allowed to, but it was brutal for me, and so I spent a year and a half struggling and saying, okay, god, I'm going to give this to you, even though I could do something about it right now, and feel vindicated for this thing that I'm doing because I'm defending the livelihood in the lives of my family, of my wife, of my kids and of myself and my ability to provide.

Speaker 3: 25:43

Well, it just so happened that that was a big faith journey I never stepped out of. I fantasized about it too much, right, and I had to ask for forgiveness and then had to forgive even that person that was hurting me, that I didn't deserve to be hurt by. But in that forgiveness and in that faith journey, I learned so much, and what it ended up doing is it made me much stronger. And so then I was able to take greater calculated risks but greater calculated risks and achieve way more than I would have if I would have been stuck in that realm where I was going to seek revenge and I was going to be the arbiter of justice in this, like, yeah, I still had to, you know, judge, in that I wasn't the ultimate judge, but I had to judge what's right, what's wrong in this occasion, what's doing this thing according to, you know, what God would have me do, or according to what my feelings would want me to do. Right, and then I had to, you know, remove my feelings from it.

Speaker 3: 26:42

But it's not like I didn't lament, it's not like I didn't cry, it's not like I wasn't sad, it's not like I wasn't frustrated and mad, but I directed that at the one who can handle it, and that's God, and then pursued I'm just going to do the right thing today, and I'm just going to do the right thing today. And I'm just going to do the right thing today and then, out of that a year and a half later. There was great blessing that came from that and freedom. And if I think about, if I would have sought vengeance, if I would have tried to take it into my own hands, I would probably still be dealing with it six years, five years later? Right, I'd probably still have problems and I would be focusing, you know, taking poison, expecting that person to die right, every single day. Instead, I have great freedom. You know, I wish that person well. I can actually say that right from the bottom of my heart and I'm absolutely free to pursue what God is putting in front of me today, right now, which is really important.

Speaker 2: 27:38

Yes, leaders, it's not easy and there are going to be days where, when you're in this role, in this position, that you got to have something bigger than you, something you turn to, and you got to kind of let it go. You can't try to do it on your own. So I'm loving that you're saying, aaron, and you're walking through and unpacking, like your own scenario, your own situation. So, leaders, when you're in these positions, people are watching.

Speaker 2: 27:58

My mom told me a long time ago. She said, baby, you never get judged by what happens to you. You get judged by how you respond to what happens to you. That's right, she said. I want you to be mindful. You're going to be judged off of your behavior and your actions and your reactions. Whatever happens to you by all the people and some of it is going to be honestly not right, shouldn't have never happened, yeah, that's right. But you judge how you handle it, how you treat that person, how you forgive that person. And so, leaders, in that space, your character is dictated by your actions. Everything you do all of a sudden becomes the evaluation for your character. That's right, wrong, indifferent, hurt, disappointed, betrayed, mistrust. We're watching how you respond to it and that's biblically based. We're held accountable for how we respond. That's right.

Speaker 3: 28:44

So phenomenal conversation.

Speaker 2: 28:45

What would you leave leaders that are listening? What would you want them to walk away with from your conversation today? What would you unpack? What are the three things you say hey, you know what, if you're listening, today, we're following. Here's some things that are super important that I think leaders you know for us to be able to work collaboratively together to turn this thing around for us. What would you share with us? That's important.

Speaker 3: 29:02

I would say get real with yourself. Again, hearkening back to what I was talking about earlier, look at yourself in the mirror. What do you believe, and not just like. What do you say you believe? What do you tell other people that you believe? But like, how is this demonstrated in your day to day, walk in your actions, Like you just said? And then I would say if you see a gap, if you see a problem, if you see an opportunity right In whether it's society, in your business, in your family, in your household, in politics, whatever it might be, we're ripe with opportunity.

Speaker 2: 29:32

There's a lot of opportunity for all of us. All of us got it. We are not short on opportunity right now. Of course, I hope everybody has an opportunity to see a gap we all have.

Speaker 3: 29:42

That's right. And so if you're not standing in the gap, but you see that gap chances are, you need to start articulating some vision Right, and you need to get real. And so I would say, you know, put as many different feelings, as many different senses into that vision as possible. The sense of smell, even right sight. What does that look like, what does it sound like, what does it feel like emotionally, what does it feel like kinesthetically, if that vision comes to fruition?

Speaker 2: 30:09

Right kinesthetically, if that vision comes to fruition. Right and start, though, aaron, I found a lot of us. When you ask people how they're feeling, they struggle answering that question. They can talk about sight, they can talk about smell, they can talk about what they do, but most of us struggle with expressing how we feel about something.

Speaker 3: 30:22

It's like we avoid it.

Speaker 2: 30:23

We tend to detour and go back to what's comfortable. So I love that you're. Hey, I need you to use these feelings, I need you to talk about these five senses that we have. Are you leveraging all of them when you're in this space? I love that you're bringing up feeling, because I do a lot of executive coaching. I said, well, how does that make you feel? I don't know. Well, I don't know. Well, I did this, I got glad you're bringing that up. What's the other last one? I know you gave us two. What would be one other?

Speaker 3: 30:53

thing you think would be you love for our audience to listen and hear. Yeah, and so then, values. And so, for me in particular, it's Christ likeness. You know, obviously, if Jesus Christ is the leader of all leaders, so we should demonstrate Christ likeness, so we should really know what that means. And then sacrificial love, right, which is basically a downline of Christ likeness. And then servant leadership. And so understanding that leadership is about sacrifice, it is about serving others.

Speaker 3: 31:17

That doesn't mean that you don't have authority, right. That doesn't mean that you can't say, hey, this is mission, let's stay on mission, right, and trust me, you know, I was in the military there are missions. It's like, hey, there's no fail mission, like we got to go, you're going to be at risk, at great risk, that you might actually lose a brother to the right of you, to the left of you, and so it's not saying that you don't have authority, it's not saying that you can't, but understanding that it's about serving right, serving at the highest level but also serving at the low level too, like serving in, just listening to your coworker and listening to them lament and then repeating, like, what their feelings are, and then maybe they're consoling right with them or giving them. You know, hey, do you want a solution? And giving them a solution, but articulating your values.

Speaker 3: 32:01

What are the things that are going to keep you on the narrow path? Right? And because we can go a million different ways and we can spend all of our time trying to find the bottom of Instagram or TikTok, but that's not going to do anything for anybody. And so, again, you know what's your belief, what's your worldview. Solidify that, cast that vision, articulate it with all five senses plus your emotions, and then establish values, and three to five values, not 28 values. That's going to be hard to help you.

Speaker 2: 32:30

Yeah, yeah, keep the list short. And oftentimes you know when you think of values, you know you question people. Where do they get their values from? Some of them, they were handed down to them, but do you really pause and reflect on who you are, your walk, your values and where did they come from? Or did you just automatically inherit what was handed down to you? And over time, my values have shifted from where my family may have done, because over time, I've grown to my own belief or what my understanding is. So what I know is true and show to be true has shifted my values across the board that I can live with every single day. So, as we wrap up, phenomenal conversation, love that you're sharing, aaron, and thanks for serving and thanks for all the stuff that you do. Do you have any books or anything that you've released, and how do people you know reach out to you if they want to connect with you?

Speaker 3: 33:14

Yeah, I have quite a few courses that are absolutely free on an app called Discipled past tense, discipled in Christ, and so that app just released this last year, 2023. And we've just been adding course upon course, upon course, and they're all free, and they're all to help tune this worldview, tune these visions, tune these values to the leader of all leaders, jesus Christ.

Speaker 2: 33:40

How do we locate you Email contact website? What's the best way to reach you?

Speaker 3: 33:45

Yeah, discipledinchChristorg is probably the easiest or download the app and then you could just find me in there and message me. I can also be found with the handle AaronGuyette. A-a-r-o-n-g-u-y-e-t-t. No E at the end, and so that's Instagram, that's Facebook. I'm not on the socials that much. I think even Twitter I'm on Twitter there, and then I have a website, AaronGayettecom. So any of those, but probably the easiest, is Discipled in Christ. Jump on there and then I'll probably try to be your friend anyways, once you jump on board, then we can start having conversations.

Speaker 2: 34:17

Yes, appreciate it. Yes, relationships matter at the end of the day, so make sure you take care of those relationships. So for everyone that's listening, hopefully you walk away with some great insights, some advice as far as just how do you show up better and take care of people. I mean, people are looking for leaders all over right now. There's a huge vacuum gap for us right now with leaders that are trustworthy. That's going to make sure that they know the truth, show the truth that the audio matches their video. They're not living publicly this phenomenal life and privately their life is in shambles.

Speaker 2: 34:48

People are looking for us to show up and be phenomenal leaders, and that doesn't mean you got to be perfect, but be present, have some integrity, be ethical and love everybody. I use the word love all the time and I say love even in leadership. I say love for me is make sure that you listen to people every single time. So I start with a little listen. Make sure that you observe what's happening, value everybody and empower everybody. Hopefully we share something that added value to you today.

Speaker 2: 35:15

You can always find us on Global Core Strategies and Consulting. We have a website out there. You can find us on LinkedIn, which is the primary source that we use for all of our professional stuff, but follow our website and from there you can find everything out about us. We'd love for you to join this podcast Unpacked with Ron Harvey. Every Monday, a different leader shows up and shares something For those of you that are listening. Thank you for joining us and hopefully you'll continue to follow us and support us and share information about where we are, what we're doing and the value that we're adding. We love doing it, and so until next time, aaron and I will sign off and we look forward to you listening and joining us and possibly even becoming a guest on the podcast.

Speaker 1: 35:49

Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpacked Podcast with leadership consultant Ron Harvey. Remember to join us every Monday as Ron unpacks sound advice, providing real answers for real leadership challenges. Until next time, remember to add value and make a difference where you are, for the people you serve, because people always matter.