Inspiration Station - Leadership Rules 101

Welcome back to the All Purpose Pod for an all-purpose life . Wherever you are and however you're listening today , call me Mr U in the Inspiration Station . Thanks again for making us part of your week . We definitely appreciate it , man . We get in love with you guys on social media platforms . Our YouTube channel is amazing .

Thank you , guys , for what you're doing and for supporting us and supporting all that we're putting our hands forth to accomplish and all the changes that are going on with our brand . Man , we just thank you for sticking with us . Thank you for believing us . We definitely , definitely , definitely receive it and accept it and appreciate it .

I want to talk to you about leadership real quick . I know we talk about leadership a lot , but if you look at the world around us and even the world in your neck of the woods , you see what a lack of leadership looks like . You see what fair leadership can do to a community , to a city , to a world . So , talking

about leadership , I feel like it's my responsibility to do that . These areas have been areas where I did not particularly excel at . I had to learn how to deal with those things . So hopefully my story will help you out with what you're trying to accomplish on your leadership journey .

So I want to share a few things and then share a quick story that may be good for you . Maybe it might make you sad . It might kind of cut to the heart a little bit . I'm not sure how it's going to go down , but I'm going to share it anyhow , all right .

So , as far as leadership goes , real leaders are always going to take the time to assess who they're leading . That sounds really simple In corporate workspaces . We're taught that . We're told even in the manual .

We're supposed to take the time to assess who we're leading , take the time to look at their talents and abilities and skills and assess fit within the organization and help them to become the best not just associate , but the best person that can be within the confines of the organization , just doing skills and and following tasks .

That's a part of the job , but honestly , there's so much more to us as people . We bring so much more to organizations . And I'll tell you what . The right person makes an organization skyrocket . The right person can cause an organization to soar . The wrong person can cause an organization to go down .

So the right person and the right fit , the best use of their skills and abilities . It plays a big part in success of wherever they are that they're serving , whether it be in an organization , in their church , in their community , on behalf of their family . Wherever they're serving and leading , they play a big part in the success .

So a real leader , an authentic leader , should always take the time to assess who they're actually leading . You'd be surprised . Many people don't even know who you are . They don't know your history , they don't know what you do , they don't know what you're dealing with . They don't know anything about you except they might know your name and that's it .

And it's not because you haven't shared , it's because it's not an emphasis for them , it's not a focus for them . A lot of people who are inauthentic , fake leaders , are more concerned with impressing their bosses and maintaining their positions in the organization and they don't care about what's happening with the people and they don't care .

And when they do care , sometimes it's a fake , a mock caring . I'm so sorry to hear that they're not really sorry to hear that , because the emphasis has been on themselves and impressing people and looking good in front of people for years . So it kind of speaks to what their heart is . But a real , authentic leader should never be doing that .

So we take the time to assess who they're leading . Also , point number two a real authentic leader should always requires the development of relationships . Real leadership always requires the development of relationships . Real leadership always requires the development of relationships . The stronger the relationship , the greater the potential for leadership .

I mean , if anybody that you know is a leader and they have not duplicated themselves than anybody else , it tells you all you need to know . If they have not I don't

mean train , I'm talking about duplicate . That means that everything that they know how to do , they're trying to show somebody how to do it so that they can become a better leader and begin to grow and take the organization to the next level . Progress is necessary for any organization , I don't care what it is .

So if a leader is not duplicating him or herself and other people , you know what that means . That means they're concerned about their spot . They ain't trying to lose their position . They're going to maintain it with a white knuckle grip and they don't care who they got to step on to maintain and keep what they have . That's not real leadership .

I mean we have that example throughout the Bible constantly . What real leadership looks like ? The sacrifices that are made by real , authentic leaders . Leadership looks like the sacrifices that are made by real , authentic leaders . Read it sometime , you might get blessed . Third point real leaders always initiate . What does that mean ?

That means that they don't walk around saying they don't have time , but they make time . They initiate the opportunity to connect with those people that they lead .

I mean this sounds like elementary stuff , one-on-one stuff , right , but you'd be surprised how many leaders , in every facet , in any genre , don't seem to get that part . They feel better about themselves as a leader when somebody comes to them to ask for their help . They never initiate helping . They never initiate being supportive . They never initiate encouragement .

They never initiate connecting with the people who they lead . It's astounding to me . How can you lead like that when you don't do anything except if it's reactive ? You don't initiate or spearhead any chances for you not for everybody else , but for you as a leader , to get to know your people .

Politicians do it but you can tell it's half-hearted because they only do it when it's time for election or re-election and they start reaching out to people who are in the community wanting to hear from them and hear what they think , and they were doing that all the time , even when they were not being elected or reelected . Then that speaks differently .

But a lot of times it's done because they want something in return . That's not real , authentic leadership . There's a gentleman by the name of General Schwarzkopf . You might remember his name , norman Schwarzkopf . He was the leader of the Central Command of Desert Storm in the Gulf War .

He's known for a lot of things , but one thing he does that I respect so much he really valued connecting with his people and I think about 1990 , I think it was

he started this process or initiated this process of how he connected with his people , what he called walking slowly through a crowd . Whenever he was around his people he would walk slower than normal . He has a normal fast pace . He walks slower .

He would spend more time almost meandering through the crowd of his people that were serving under him , just to get to know them , to talk to them , to learn their names , hear their stories , take time and say you know what ? I'm present , I'm here .

I know plenty of leaders who breeze past folks because they don't want to be bothered with what they have to say , the messy stuff of their life . They want to stay as clean and pure as possible and they don't want to be involved with all of the messy complexities of people's lives . So they speed through crowds . They don't want to be bothered .

You don't walk slowly through the crowd like this general , who has all the reasons in the world to act like that , but he doesn't . He wanted to connect . Connect was important to him and it says a lot about that because he set an example .

He established a system of value for his people and let them know that he was there , that he was present , that he had time for them . And let them know that he was there , that he was present , that he had time for them . Sounds simple and sounds like a leadership 101 , but it's being failed on so many levels all the time .

This is an example and I almost hate telling this story sometimes because it's rough , but I got to share it . I shared it on multiple podcasts , so if you go back in our first three seasons , you'll hear it once or twice at least . I was part of this ministry Huge ministry I'm talking about international . It was huge , right and I was part of a ministry

I won't say which one but I was asked to serve in a more public capacity within this ministry . That was my first time being asked to do this , even though I was there for years , almost four years . It was my first time being asked to step up into this role and to do this particular public ministry , if you will .

Well , I did it in such a way and I believe this was all God , not me , but I did this in such a way that it was considered outstanding . It was considered amazing or awesome , whatever phrase you want to use and at that time I believe that the Lord was saying it was time for me to move out of the state and move to a different city .

So I already had the letter written and everything . This was before I walked into the assignment . So after the assignment was done , there were rave reviews . The congregation was really excited about it .

The pastors thought it was one of the best things they've heard , excuse me so I went to my leader after the service was done and gave him my letter saying I got to resign . I believe God is saying for me to move . I got to go . I don't want to , but I got to do this . I got to be obedient , and he read the letter .

I sat there with him so he can read it , because I want to just respect him that much . Don't just drop it off and just leave . I wanted to give him a chance to say whatever he wanted to say to me . If he wanted to validate me or encourage me or shoot me out , I wanted to make sure he had the opportunity to do either one .

So I stood with him while he read the letter . It wasn't long , but it says how much I respected him and appreciated him mentoring me and teaching me , him and appreciated him . You know , uh , mentoring me and teaching me . Uh , I didn't lie , but it was room for growth there , but I just wanted to be kind and respectful to him .

Uh , his words to me were words I'll never forget all the days of my life . I still talk about it with my wife every once in a while .

This is the mentor whose role it was to bring out the best in me , to duplicate himself in me , to teach me , to train me , help me become the minister that he was , and even beyond that , and maybe even go further than he's gone . That's what real , authentic leadership does , or that's what they should do .

His response at the reading letter he put his head down and he said after what you did today , I said I didn't know you had that in you . I can't help you if you don't understand what that meant and where that sat . He said I didn't know you had that in you .

What he just saw , what he just witnessed In all the years I was there with him at his side , learning , growing , carrying his bag , doing everything he wanted me to do . Excuse me , he said I didn't know you had that in you . What I just saw In my mind . I'm like do you pray for me ? Have you been praying for me at all ?

Did God reveal anything to you ?

And it changed my , it locked my world and it showed me what can happen when leadership is not on their game , when leadership is not in prayer for its people , when leadership just want to have followers that don't care who they are and what they're going through and what part they play in your success as a real , authentic leader .

If you're too busy to appreciate the small details of people's lives and people who follow you , you're probably slave to a system and you're probably falling short of real , authentic leadership . You should have more time to get deeper , but it is what it is . Drop your comments in the comments and share a story with me .

If you have a story about leadership , whether it's a success or failure , love to hear the stories . Love to respond back to you as soon as I can and hear your thoughts . But thanks again for listening to the Inspiration Station and the Call Me Mr U . Please show some love on our YouTube channel and hit the subscribe button . Thanks again , guys .

We'll be right back .