Leadership That Builds People | Reginald D's Inspirational Interview on Faith and Motivation, Purpose-Driven Leadership on Letha’s Real Talk Podcast (Inspirational)

What if the biggest leadership problem in today’s society isn’t a lack of talent—but a lack of transparency, purpose, and faith and motivation?

In this powerful motivational and inspirational episode of Real Talk With Reginald D, Reginald D sits down with Letha, host of Letha’s Real Talk, for an impactful conversation on leadership, spiritual issues in today’s society, and the heart of what real leaders are called to do: build people.

This episode delivers a high-impact motivational speech through interview form—covering leadership in churches, workplaces, and communities, and why leaders must be transparent, strategic, and purpose-driven to bring out the gifts, talents, and potential in others.

Reginald D also speaks on the post-pandemic leadership crisis—short staffing, burnout, employee retention—and shares a clear leadership principle: pay and value the faithful. The conversation expands into youth engagement in church, why the “old school way” must evolve, and how empowering young people in leadership roles creates real growth.

If you’re navigating leadership challenges—or trying to become the kind of leader who makes a real difference—this episode meets you right where you are.

A lot of people today feel:

• burned out at work
• unseen and undervalued
• stuck in “status quo”
• afraid to change
• unsure how to lead people from different backgrounds
• discouraged by what leadership looks like in churches and communities

Reginald D breaks down why leadership is not about titles, accolades, or control—it’s about impact, servanthood, and helping people believe in who they are. This conversation is deeply motivational and inspirational, rooted in faith and motivation, and focused on self-improvement for leaders and those being led.

Whether you lead a team, a church ministry, a household, or you’re learning to lead yourself—this episode will push you to think differently and lead better.

Press play now to get a motivational and inspirational leadership reset—so you can lead with faith and motivation, sharpen your mindset for self-improvement, and start building people the way real leadership was meant to.

Letha's Real Talk

Letha’s Real Talk seeks to address concerns in society while promoting

Transcript

 Reginald D: Welcome to Real Talk with Reginald D. I'm your host, Reginald D. In today's episode, I interview with Letha, the host of Letha's Real Talk to discuss leadership and spiritual issues in today's society.

Letha: Thank you all for tuning in. I am here with none other than Mr. Reginald D, and he has his podcast, Real Talk with Reginald D. So talk to us about leadership and what do you see today with things in leadership that may need to change, whether it's churches, jobs, social organizations?

What are some things that may have been lost or not being implemented today that people in leadership need to do?

Reginald D: First of all, Letha, I'm really grateful for having me on your show. I'm honored to be here. So when you talk about leadership, well, it's different. People got to understand this thing about leadership.

I have a passion for people, and that's probably what makes me a little different than most.

But at the end of the day, you have to understand that people all around you have all these gifts and these talents and potential that they haven't even tapped into.

And as a leader, you have to encourage them. You have to lead them to be the greatest deal that they can be. That's what it's all about. That's what I'm passionate about.

I don't care about me getting all the accolades and things like that. I'm not built like that. But at the end of the day, I need the people who are around me.

I don't care if you're in a church. I don't care if you run in a company. I don't care if you're just in your community, in your neighborhood. You have to learn and have to know if you call yourself a leader.

You have to understand that you have to impact people for them to live the greatest life that they can live.

And that's what it's all about. Everybody desires something in their life. Everybody does. They don't know how to get there. They go through problems, and the childhood is raised different and things like that, and they feel like they're not worthy, but that's a lot.

They are.

They have greatness inside of them. God say, when I formed you, I know you,

and then I set you apart. He sets you apart for a specific reason, and you got to go for a man. You can't sit here and let life just beat you up.

You got to control your life. You got to control your destiny. You got to control your habits. And when you get to that point, then that's when life changes.

Letha: So there is a phrase that's been around for a while, and I want you to tell me what you think about this phrase. Attitude reflects leadership.

How do you feel about this saying?

Reginald D: Well, it does,

because in leadership, everything is not going to be perfect.

You can look at it since the pandemic went around and all of these companies don't have people coming to work, they're short help and leaning on the people that you got and putting all the work on them and stuff like that.

But you always got to have that attitude and be positive regardless of what it is. Because no matter how hard it gets in life, you have to realize that you built.

When you realize that you built for, then you can get through it.

So you got to have a positive attitude. You can't quit. I tell people all the time, no matter how hard it is, I don't care. Your personal life and your professional life and getting what you desire out of your life, you cannot quit.

If you quit that, you'll never get it.

You never achieve what you want. You never achieve the goal. So that's what I'm about. I'm about teaching people how to stay in the fight, teaching people how to have a positive attitude, teaching people who they really are.

Letha: What I do know that happens sometimes.

Some people are not good with connecting with people. You can have somebody who has the talent, they can have the gifts, they can have all of these things, and they could possibly be up under a good leader, but sometimes it doesn't fit well, right?

So from a leadership standpoint,

is there a certain level of patience or how much patience or how much compromise or adjusting should a leader do if it appears to be that they can't quite grasp some of those that they proclaim to try to connect with or to try to lead in a certain manner?

Reginald D: Well, with leadership, you have to be transparent.

You have to because you have people from all walks of life that you're leading and you have to understand your people. Now, if you just leading from a 50,000 foot view, you never understand your people and you end up thinking that they're not good enough and things like that.

Some people have to have the hands on approach,

and then some people, you just back off and let them do their thing. But you got to know what you got and you got to be transparent. You got to be Rachel to make each individual the best they can be.

That's it. Now it's time for some in leadership. You do it that way, but that's what an effective leader do. Not just a leader. An effective leader takes the time to make everybody great, no matter what it takes.

Letha: So what message,

what strength of the message is it that you want to get out to people wherever they are? What is it? How do you want to impact people through what you do?

Reginald D: Well,

my message is this.

I want everybody who comes in contact with me, listen to my podcast or whatever to understand that they can live the best life that they can live if they just change their thought process.

People are one change away from living the greatest life. They can ever live one change away.

But they scared of change, and you can't be scared of change.

The most powerful thing you have in your life is you.

You understand you. You know what motivates you. You know what drives you. When you can control you,

then your destiny is on its way.

So that's the way I feel about it. You have to change the mindset of people,

because everybody, like I said, they grow up thinking this and they grew up thinking that. They grew up poor, or whatever the case may be. Grew up without a father, grew up without a mother.

Whatever it is, you are not no less than anybody who came from a prominent family that had their mother's, father.

You still got the gifts and talents inside of you to be great.

It's in you.

You just got to tap into it and think that about yourself.

Letha: So few moments back, you mentioned about how leaders need to be transparent. You just have to be transparent. When you're in a leadership role, what message is it with those who are being led or those who are in that learning phase?

Is there a message that you could have for them as well?

Reginald D: With transparency, you talk about the people who've been led by the leaders.

Letha: Yes, sir.

Reginald D: Well, a lot of times we've been led by a leader.

You have to have the confidence in yourself to talk to the leader, let them know how you feel.

A lot of people are timid about a leader. They don't want to say, hey, I'm lacking this and I'm lacking that. Can you help me with this and can you help me with that?

Because at the end of the day, it's their leader, and they don't want to look bad. But if you got a real leader,

he or she is going to listen to you. Wherever places you're at is going to be there for you. Now, if they shoot you off and be like, whatever, then they're not a leader.

Let it go.

Let it go. You figure that you know what you got at the end of the day, but don't be afraid to challenge a leader.

I've had so many people challenge me as a leader about different issues, about different things that they got going on. I love it.

I love it because we're being transparent. We talking it through. And at the end of the day, sometimes I believe, hey, you write about this thing. Let's do it this way.

A lot of times I just tell people, I trust you because I know what I've spoken to you. I know how I've led you, so I trust you with a lot of decisions.

So as a leader, you have to understand that people are intimidated to a certain extent to come to you. But if you want to be great in life,

my leaders, I come to them with anything. They may think I'm crazy, but that's who I am. They shoot it down. They shoot it down. But it was my idea.

I had to get it out and I feel good about it.

Letha: So you got a little bit with us being in this pandemic and there are a lot of businesses that have just become short staff.

And you are most definitely correct. A lot of those staff that remain, I'm not going to say they were retained. I'm going to say that staff that was actually remained in a lot of businesses.

A lot of people end up getting over, exerted, overwork, tired out.

Some businesses opted to shift their hours.

Some businesses chose to close down. Some businesses chose to just try to push through. But when you think about as a leader or somebody who may be in management or somebody who may be running a business with being cut in half on staff during a season, also where you have less staff prices,

going up.

People working still needed more financially.

What would your stance be on that as a leader? Especially for these lucrative businesses that may have been lucrative over time, even before COVID Right.

Reginald D: Pay the people that's there.

That's it. If you short staff anyway, it's not going to push your budget because you already short staff. Pay the people who remain. Pay the people who's faithful pay them.

Make them feel worthy about all the hard work they're doing. Make them feel appreciate.

Just don't put the work on them and then don't do anything for them because then you lose them. Then what you got leaders got to understand things like that. You got to invest in the things that are faithful to you.

When it's all said and done, you got to invest in it because if you don't if you lose it, then.

Letha: You don't get past the job sector. Moving forward toward the church sector, even pre COVID, what most people have noticed, no matter what the denomination may be, there has been a decline in attendance at churches that fall under a certain age group.

There has been a decline in younger people, period for some years even before COVID Is there something different that not just the church, that people in the church or the schools or the communities or the social organizations?

Is there something that you think that's just not being done or that people as a whole are just not being transparent on to reach more of the younger generation?

Reginald D: Well, the thing about when COVID hit, people got normal.

They got normal being at home.

And then churches, some I know did shift and they started having churches online and stuff like that, where the pastor is going to pulpit and doing his thing and maybe had a choir there and that's about it.

I was talking to a pastor one time before and I was like, hey man, it has a sense COVID people not coming to church and things like that, but he said, well, you know what?

They're still paying the ties.

He said, I wish they had come to church, but they just don't. But they're still faithful to their giving.

So I think a lot of times you have to sell where you are and you have to be strategic with what you do.

Now. You may not never get the people to come back and things like that because once people get normal,

they stay in that box and it just makes them comfortable.

So you have to be transparent, you have to be strategic and you have to understand what it's going to take to keep this thing going,

what's all said and done.

So with the younger generation, everything is basically online with them. You know that. They always on the phone, they always on the tablet, they always on these things. I know a church that I actually go to and it's packed out every Sunday.

They got online stuff and things like that. But when you go to this church, you see the young people running the church. The praise of worship. Team is young. The band is young.

People that's in leadership are young. So when you put them in that responsibility and allow them to use their gifts, then they'll show up. But as long as you just let them sit out there in the audience and hear you preach every Sunday and that's it, then they're going to find another way.

Letha: And I'm glad you brought that up. That has been a conversation that people have been had. You got one side saying you need to utilize, you need to put them to work.

They need to be utilized. They need to have some purpose or society.

You have another side, I can say you got people that probably been in their seats forever, in their positions forever, and just not willing to even take some of the younger people under their wing to even show them the ropes or to get them more involved.

What is your reflection on that?

Reginald D: Well, that's a leadership problem because at the church, if you want to talk about that, the pastor need to say, this is where it's going to be.

You can have the deacons and all these people sitting on the front row and things like that. But will you tap into the gifts of these young people and allow them to display their gifts and their talents?

It will go to the next level.

It will go to the next level. I'm telling you, these kids are so authentic today, it's crazy.

The old school way is done.

It's done. It's over. It's over. I'm sorry to say that I respect everybody who's been on the board for 20 years and 30 years. I respect all of that. But it's a new age now.

It's a new time now and we have to embrace it because if you don't,

if you don't, it's going to die.

Letha: So as we continue to talk about leadership and helping people find their purpose.

Part of purpose, I believe, are some things that you just elaborated on, whether it's talking to the people that's in leadership on the job,

reminding people that are on any version of leadership that you have to be transparent.

Reminding us in the church if there are some things that we need to consider the way things used to be,

those are just not the ways anymore. I also agree that if so, the transparency, especially on that is not given that, well, some churches have already died out from that.

And I do believe that there is another issue that comes up that well you have where this side may be advocating to get them involved. You got the youth involved,

then you got this side that says, hey,

we're the ones that's financially supporting the organization.

What is your insight on that?

Reginald D: Well,

if they want to use that as an excuse to have leverage,

then they are wrong.

Because regardless,

if it shifts, you got to understand this about church and things like that. If it shifts, what is time to shift?

It's not the shift of you, it's not the shift of the pastor. It's the god.

It's time to shift.

If you can't shift and you can't understand it, well, where is your connection?

Where's your connection? You don't get mad and quit paying your ties. You won't get mad because they say, we're not going to let you do this. The diggers ain't going to do the praise and worship no more.

We got a praise and worship team now. So if you get upset with that, then you got a personal thing going. Whatever you come up against, it's going to be times you got to shift.

It's not going to be the same every day. You got to shift. You got to know when to shift. And if you don't shift, you're going to be status quo.

Status quo. You're going to be stuck on stock if you don't learn how to shift.

Letha: So I'm going to read something from your bio real quick. You also believe success comes from leadership development, spirituality and servant food. Talk to us about that.

Reginald D: Well, as a person, I believe everybody has a leadership role in their life. You don't have to necessarily be a CEO of a company. You got to run your family,

your mother, your father, all of that. That's leadership roles. You have to always try to develop yourself to be a better leader. Like for instance, these kids today,

the old school mentality I come from, we didn't have no voice.

You do this and that's it. Or you go to bed, sit down somewhere and that's it. You don't have a boss. But now it doesn't work like that. Like I said earlier, these kids are so authentic, they're so smart and you have to meet them somewhere in the middle.

You have to, you have to meet them somewhere in the middle. And as far as servanthood and things like that, I feel like when you get up every day, do you actually set the question?

I tell people this, do you actually set the question? Who am I going to talk to? Who am I going to make a difference today?

A lot of people don't. They just go with the flow every day. And you have to understand this. God gave you life. He gave you that every day for you to do something with every day, touch somebody.

Letha: So one thing that's a passion of mine is to help lead and elevate people on the level. When it comes to economic and financial stability.

I prefer financial success. I prefer financial wealth. What are some things that people need to be taught when it comes to this? We understand about what we need to do with being transparent with people and listening to people and giving them a voice, giving them a purpose, giving them a cause.

But also I believe that people are not fair enough or taught enough when it comes to financial awareness, stability, things that you need to do, things that need to be considered.

What are some things that probably need to be implemented? From the hall, from the school, from the church, from the community,

to help build people up better financially?

Reginald D: Well, a lot of things. When it comes to financial, what are you going to do with it?

That's the way I look at it. I said something on a podcast a few months ago that if I gave you $500 right now, what would you do with it?

Would you go out and go shopping? Would you go and hang out with your girlfriends or your homeboys or whatever, happy hour over the weekend and things like that? Or would you take that 500,000 blessing?

So what is more important now we're talking about clothes you don't need.

You ain't going to do the happy hour thing. You're already doing it. So why not take that money and plant that seed to help somebody? Because when you plant that seed, it's going to come back to you at the end of the day.

So I think people need to understand how to manage their money first,

because I really believe that God takes us to different places in life, and he puts you in a place and he'll say, hey, if you can't handle this $40,000 a year, I'm going to take you to $100,000 a year.

It's all about how you manage it. That's it. That's all about how you manage it. You got to manage your money. I mean, you got to manage your life like you manage your money.

Everything is about how you manage day in and day out. If you're just going to blow it, then that's on you. So if you want wealth, that's a lot of things you can do.

I tell people, other people, don't do it but think about this. You can create generational wealth for your kids. Your grandkids, especially when you're young, get a big life insurance policy.

They don't cost that much every month have that. So when your time is up, you can leave that money to your kid. You can leave it to your grandkids, pay for college and things like that.

It's all about what you do. But a lot of people get it,

get the money, even give Wilkes. You got millionaires out here broke because the way they choose to live. It's all about the way you manage.

Letha: So what keeps you going because you have a passion? The closing statement on the bio that I have says, rational passion believes that we're not only service to God, but that we are also service to God's people.

What keeps you motivated to just continue to usher in all of these good things and all this energy into helping people, helping your community? What are some things that keep you going?

Reginald D: Well, Lisa, I'm going to tell you like this.

We started this podcast four months ago,

right?

And it's ranking an Apple podcast in the top 215 countries, and I'm ranked, like, top 1%. I never even thought that would happen.

All I did was just walk on my purpose and what I desire. That's all I did. And I really want to thank the people in these other countries for listening to me, taking the time to listen to this country boyfriend in South Carolina.

It's an honor, and I'm humbled by it.

But, see, those are things that drive me when I see those results.

I never even thought it would be this way in four months.

But I know that I'm walking in my purpose. I'm walking in my passion, and I'm walking to what I desire for my life. And then God got me on this.

He's elevating this thing. And that's why I try to tell people, you got to walk in what you desire in life. That thing inside of you that you always thinking about, name is in your stomach, making you growl every day.

You're holding for life, man. You're holding for your desire. You got to go out of it. You got to do it. And I always tell people that once you walk in who you are and walking your purpose, it feels so much better, and it lights the fire.

So every day when I get up, that's what keeps me going.

That's what keeps me going. And I get feedback from people and saying how I change their life and things like that, little things like that, that keeps me going. I know that I'm on to something.

I know that I'm on a journey that I'm called for, that I have been chosen for.

And I'm not going to let, first of all, God down, and I'm not going to let the people who's investing their time to listen to me,

I'm not going to let them down.

Letha: So in closing, what is one last message that you would want to give people? What is one message or some word of enlightenment or encouragement that you could end us with today?

Reginald D: I want people to believe in theirselves.

Believe that you can become whatever you desire in life. You can become.

All you got to do is put in the effort and believe in you.

Believe in you. Believe in the power you have that's inside of you. And when you go out to things in life, don't quit.

You can't quit. You're talking about your life here. You talk about your life. This could change your life forever. I know it can.

You just got to stay faithful to you. You got to stay faithful to what you want. You got to stay faithful to your purpose. And don't think you alone, because you're not.

God got you.

God got you. And if you stay faithful to this thing called life,

you will live a life that will blow your mind.

The things that you can accomplish if you just believe in you. Just believe in you.

People worry about disappointments and things like that.

Everybody's been disappointed. You take your disappointment and you turn into an appointment,

an appointment with greatness and you walk into it because that's who you are. You are greatness. You just got to strive for it every day. You got to make an appointment with greatness every day.

When you walk in greatness every single day and you strive to be that way every single day, it's going to be game changer for you. I guarantee you that. I am a living witness of that.

So I just need everybody to understand there's no less than just because you came from this place and you came from that place, you know less than anybody else.

You got what it takes and it tastes what you got.

That's it.

So I'm grateful for where I am right now. I'm grateful for being here with you. I really appreciate it. I appreciate the opportunity. I appreciate people. I really do. I appreciate people.

And some people may say I'm over the top with it, but I got a problem when I see people that have potential they're not tapping into. And I'm coming with it.

So I'm coming with it. And I'm going to push you or be a personal trainer, not your physical body trainer, but your mental trainer, to get you where you need to be in life.

That's all I have to give to people, is what God has given me.

And I am so honored to be able to say that he chose me for a time like this.

Letha: I want to say thank you so much. You are a motivational, and I can just appreciate your desire.

I can appreciate the desire for what you do, but also not the desire, but the energy and the drive that you have with it. And it's something that. I just believe that the world needs I'm a firm believer.

Listen, the world is a better place because of you,

because you're encouraging all of those great things. And when we spread all this positive stuff and encourage people on a positive level,

then we can get people to be more motivated, more positive, and you can actually help giving people more hope. And I believe what you do can help alleviate or slow down some all this other negative stuff that's just going on out here in the streets in just different areas.

I think giving people hope and giving people a sense of purpose and a sense of fulfillment helps when people have that hope and purpose, that they will be more driven to want to hang on to something good versus let the negative thoughts or whatever take over them.

And the goal is to keep shedding more positive light and more positive insight on any level. And you have done it. You have been taught well, and you're taking that teaching that has been given to you, and you don't mind pouring it into other people.

And listen, I don't think that you can put a price tag on pouring good things into other people. I think it is something that is so valuable that money cannot buy that.

And I know that you're impacting a lot of people. You're motivating me. You're motivated. I'm sure somebody who's watching or who will go back and watch or listen to it.

I just want to take a moment before we close out and tell you thank you, because you are a busy man and you do have a lot of good things going.

But just to be able to still take some time to just continue to do what you do and do it with great ease, it is such a pleasure and an honor for anybody to be able to listen and watch, in my most humble opinion.

And I just want to tell you thank you.

Reginald D: Well, you're welcome. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Letha: And I will be in further contact with you.

Reginald D: God bless you. And I'll be in contact with you too, also.

Letha: God bless you. Have a good evening.

Reginald D: All right, Letha, we'll see you.

Letha: Thank you.

Reginald D: Thank you for tuning into Real  Talk With Reginald D. If you enjoyed the show, please share this episode with anyone you feel that needs to take this journey with us to becoming a better you. See you next time.