[00:00:00] Dr. Nate Salah
Hello, my friend, and welcome to this episode of A Call to Leadership. I'm Dr. Nate Salah, your host. I am so thrilled that you've joined me on this episode as we continue our series on something that is so incredibly resonant and relevant, leadership that loves. We've been studying different attributes, different characteristics, different virtues of leadership from the perspective of charity and love. And we've been searching the ancient scriptures, landing on 1 Corinthians 13, verses 4 through 8, what's called the love verses. You've heard them in weddings, and you've heard them abroad, and these have been retooled Over the last many episodes, gosh, since episode 201, and speaking of love, I love the way the Amplified Bible, the classic edition, speaks this out.
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It says, Love endures long and is patient and kind. Love never is envious, nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious. Love does not display itself haughty. It's not conceited, arrogant, or inflated with pride. It's not rude or unmannerly. It doesn't act unbecomingly. Love, God's love in us, does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking. It is not touchy or, fretful, or resentful. It takes no account of the evil done to it. It pays no attention to a suffered wrong. It does not rejoice in justice and unrighteousness but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything, and everything that comes is ever ready to believe the best of every person.
[00:01:48]
Its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything without weakening. Think of it from a leadership perspective. If we were to replace the word love with leadership, and here we are in the last spot, the last aspect of it. Leadership, loving leadership, always perseveres. In other words, it endures everything without weakening. That's perseverance, my friend. Perseverance is a non-negotiable for leadership. It is a complete essential for leadership. When we are looking to a leader that we desire to follow, we want to believe that they will not give up the fight, that it's worthy the cause. And so we must be that leader no matter how difficult the road seems, no matter how many setbacks we face, no matter what the obstacles are, we must persevere without weakening.
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I love the old scripture that says never grow weary in doing good. Have you ever grown weary? I have more than I'd like to admit because life hits us. It hits us from every angle. And whether I'm having trouble at work, whether I'm having trouble with my family, my health, my mental stability, the globe, the economy. Wars raging, borders out of control. I mean, you name it, we can grow weary thinking about these things, thinking about what is wrong with this picture. Some things are within our control. Some things are without our control. And I know you've faced this. I know I have, where sometimes just feel like hitting pause, hitting the exit button, and I believe that the antithesis to this because our followers are watching.
[00:03:39]
The people who we've committed to leading well with are watching and waiting to see what we will do, how we will react, will we approach with a misery or mastery perspective. Will we approach it with an engagement or a burnout perspective? I believe that so much. Of what we do, the choices we make depend completely upon our perspective, not only of what's possible but truly of what we believe is purposeful. What we believe is purposeful will determine our lack of purpose. Or total engagement. It's cool to buy it, but do you believe in the worthy mission, the purpose? You know what a mission is? It's your justification for existence. So when you think of your mission as an organization, whether it be a company, a family, a nation, or a military unit, it is the justification for that endeavor to exist.
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What is your mission? Is the purpose worthy? Is it valid? Because that will determine the level of energy and effort that we expend and we muster when we are completely out of energy. When I'm exercising, if you exercise at all, I don't believe I actually start exercising until I begin to feel fatigued. That's when the I begin to become challenged. Whether it be physical exercise, whether it be mental, emotional, spiritual, that's when, okay, suit up, Mr. Salah. It's time. Until then, there's really no tension. And that's the time where I must begin to persevere, to build resilience. And it's based on whether or not I believe this cause, this mission is worthy of the energy expenditure. So we've got to dig deep, friend. Sometimes, we're cloudy, and that cloudiness, that lack of clarity, will zap our power. will reduce our energy. We must reclaim it, reclaim the power with the worthiness of the mission. If someone on your team, whether it be your business team, whether it be your family team is beginning to grow weary, redirect to the value of that mission because the cloudiness will impede the site.
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And when the site is impeded, people don't know which direction to go. They're in a fog. We got to clear that fog with the light. And that light embodies the freedom that we believe is available to us when we reach that mountaintop. Whatever it looks like in a business, it might be satisfying the need of your client, your customer. It might be delivering excellence in service. It might be cohesiveness of your team. It might be the next breakthrough in your process or system. It might be a financial accomplishment. It might be. having massive attractiveness in the marketplace, whatever that looks like in a family. It might be overcoming a crisis together. It might be finding a new adventure together. It might be sharing in the suffering and the struggling of others in charity together. Are we articulating that worthy cause? So that not only do we persevere, but those around us persevere. If we're not communicating that worthy cause, at minimum, two, three times a week, people will get cloudy, they will get weary.
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It's so important to continue sharing where we're going and why we must go together. When we don't have purpose, we die. Have you ever heard of a situation where a couple has been together for many years, 20, 30, 40, 50, if not more, years, and one of them passes away, and within a week to two weeks, the other one passes away. This is not uncommon. Did they both fall miserably ill? No. Sometimes yes, but generally no. What happened to the other spouse? They lost the love of their life, the person they spent all those years building memories with. All those years cultivating purpose and meaning and value, and when that center of meaning, of purpose is gone, sometimes the spouse loses purpose, loses the will to live. Because sometimes it is the will to live, not just the physical mechanics of your heart pumping and your mind working, that keeps you alive. Sometimes, it's simply your desire to live, your desire to persevere because there is something beyond yourself worth living for. And that's not just with your spouse.
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I know I love my spouse dearly, and I know that after many years She embodies such an important piece of the purpose of my life and, uh, us cultivating that purpose together as we seek to honor God together. I don't know what that might look like in 40 to 50 years. I might want to just call it quits, too, and just follow her right into heaven, or vice versa. But until that day comes, I have massive purpose. I'm not giving up. I'm not giving in. I love the way it's a statement of connectedness when we think about purpose. What are we connected to? You see, friend, when people are disconnected, that's another reason why people stop persevering. They begin to grow weary. They begin to weaken because we are communal creatures. Once we become disconnected with others, then we begin to die ourselves. Are you disconnected right now? Are you disconnected from your spouse? Are you disconnected from your children? One of your children are disconnected from your friends, your co-workers.
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Is there a disconnection? Are you disconnected from a parent? Is there disconnection? I encourage you if there is a disconnection in life and you feel that being a burden to your sense of purpose to seek, to reconnect, whatever that means, however, that is, maybe with a phone call, maybe with an email, maybe with a text message. Maybe there's someone in your life. Who you've fallen away from, and it's time to reconnect, and perhaps it's not every day Maybe it's just to say I care for you. I'm thinking of you I had an old friend who I hadn't been around in many years, and we, we were friends very close friends, best friends for our younger years. And then we drifted as many do when people get married and life happens and the occasional phone call. And just a few years ago, we began to reconnect, and based on a shared sense of purpose, our shared desire to have unity. in a mission, in a ministry to serve others. And that reconnection enlivened the sense of purpose within us.
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And to this day, we are closer than ever because we each took a step forward back into a right relationship with one another as deep, dear friends. And it's food for the soul, food for the spirit. I don't know what your timing is. But I know that the enemy seeks to divide us. In fact, when we think about the adversary, some people believe in a real Satan, a real devil. Some people believe it's a metaphorical statement. I understand whether you believe in that or not, there holds merit either domain. of the idea of the adversary being one who divides, one who gets between. And what does that seek to do? It seeks to what? Disconnect. Disconnect you from your peers. Disconnect you from your family. Disconnect you from your co workers. Disconnect you from your community. Disconnect you from your faith. Disconnect you from your creator. Disconnect you from life. Disconnect you from your purpose. And you see how that can be completely devastating to your sense of perseverance.
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Because without the purpose, Don't know where to go, and you can't persevere when you can't see the way because you don't know which way to go You could persevere one way and realize, oh my goodness. I'm going the wrong direction, and so when we are focused on the very best in our lives, We have to believe. Remember what I said earlier about believing to believe is to be living, and to be living is directional It's intentional, you know. I struggled when I was young, and when I was in my early 20s and just seeking and searching, I was a mess. I was in debt up to my ears in business. I had failed relationships. I just had a three-year relationship that I exited out of, and that was massively heart-wrenching. I had no idea about what my future was going to hold. I was messing around with a lot of things I should have been doing. I had legal problems.
[00:12:38]
My health was starting to have an impact because of all the stress and all the stuff I was doing on my body I was drinking too much and dabbling and stuff, and it's like, whoa, what is going on, man? I was getting headaches, and my knees were hurting when I was going for a run I was always athletic, and I was like, man, what is the problem? Problem is I am spiritually bankrupt. I'm emotionally bankrupt, I'm physically bankrupt my health Is failing in all areas, financial and everything else. I remember talking on the phone one afternoon. I was actually talking to my ex-girlfriend at the time, who we had broken up, and I wasn't a crier at all. I'm just weeping on the phone, just crying like, man, I'm so depressed. Life stinks. I don't know what I'm gonna do myself. Was I suicidal? No, I sure was down, and I could not persevere because I was weakened. Fortunately, not too long thereafter, I met who would be my future wife, and she challenged me to get closer to faith, and to get closer to God, and that began to give me a new sense of purpose.
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It saved me from the depths and the hold of darkness that I was experiencing in my own life. Complete 180. That change in me gave me the courage to move forward, and I never looked back. That doesn't mean that I didn't have more struggles. I had lots of struggles. I continue to have struggles, but now I have a new sense of purpose so that when I'm struggling, I'm strengthening my struggle muscles. Have you ever struggled? You know, when you're struggling, it's a strengthening. You're strengthening your struggle muscles. Someone listening is like, man, I must be like struggle wise. I'm like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Seriously, I get it. Every struggle we overcome is a struggle that we overcome with greater strength to persevere.
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The question isn't, am I going to struggle? The question is, what will I do on the other side? See, we have to Think and live beyond the solution, beyond the moment, and that will guide us, not only us but our own lives, and our friends, and our families, and our children. If I'm hymning and hawing, if I'm complaining every time I face an issue, if I'm saying oh woe is me, what do you think, what message does that send? If I'm resilient, if I'm saying we will overcome, let us find a way, let's do it together, what signal does that send? We're sending signals regardless. Question is, what signal am I sending through my words, through my thoughts, through my actions? Send the signal that says we will persevere, no matter what.
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We will not weaken. We will not be defeated. We will find a way. Winston Churchill bombed like crazy in England. It was basically England against The massiveness of the German military World War II. They were on the ropes and what did Churchill say? Never, never, never surrender. Persevere. Eventually, we won the war. That is the heart of those who persevere. Sometimes, we don't have an answer. Sometimes, we don't know how. Because the context has not made itself readily available. So that we could move towards solution. America hadn't entered the war yet. Not until 1941. After that day, that lives in infamy. December 7th. Then, when America entered the war, began to have an ally that would fight next to us, along with all the other allies, began to fight back in a way that was meaningful. Listen friend, you might not. I might not have the answer today. I can tell you this, the answer may be right around the corner. The answer might be at the next dawn.
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We have to set our sights on it with clarity because it's power on the future. That is leadership. Leadership that loves is leadership that does not give up. It gets up. Well, my friend, thank you for joining me on this episode of A Call to Leadership. If you've been listening, you've probably heard me talk about our accounting and advisory business. And this show was actually born out of that business, those relationships. I found that entrepreneurs and professionals were missing aspects of their leadership that fed into their bottom line and help their businesses be successful. So I'm so thankful that I've had all those years in that area to feed into this.
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And the truth is that so many people still need accounting and advisory help and they don't know where to go. If you're in that place where you feel, Oh my goodness, my tax person or my accountant, I can't find them. Or maybe the service wasn't up to my expectations. Do not despair. I'll leave how you can find us in the show notes and one of my team members can do some discovery and help you along your journey. You're not alone, my friend. You always have help. I'm Dr. Nate Salah. Can't wait to see you on the next show of A Call to Leadership.
