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Andy Stanley - REVERB Evolving Your Leadership Competencies · Andy Stanley Sermons

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  Welcome to the Andy Stanley leadership podcast REAVERB, a conversation that digs deeper into
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  this month's podcast topic, all designed to help leaders go even further faster.
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  I'm Susie Gray and I'll be your host this month. We're talking about our
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  conversation with David Roberts last week on the topic of evolving your leadership competencies.
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  Yes, last week we got to talk to him, and now you and
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  I get to talk about him. It's the best part. It is.
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  But we warned him, we said, David next week. Yeah. Yeah,
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  but this is going to be great because it was such a great conversation.
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  Yeah. Absolutely, Well, it was very interesting because, as you
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  mentioned on the podcast last week, we've known David for a very long time
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  and you have just watched his career over the years. And the reason that
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  we ended up inviting him on the podcast was we read an article that he
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  wrote for Forbes and it struck me as a topic that we really haven't discussed
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  directly on the podcast, but it was interesting to me because it's comments on
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  city in particular, is something that I know is important to you, especially
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  in uncertain times. Yep. Well, before we jump into clarity. I
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  just want to backtrack a little bit because I didn't want to keep interrupting David
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  last week. And for those of you who didn't listen to that conversation,
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  you need to go back and listen because to your point, Susy, it
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  was a topic we've never talked about before. We talk about leadership philosophy,
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  but David talked about the particular disciplines he's developed to maintain his leadership philosophy because
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  of a healthy leadership philosophy. While it may be intuitive once you hear it,
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  they're generally not intuitively internally. And so David was wise enough to realize,
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  Okay, if I'm really going to lead from the vantage point of servant
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  leadership, which everybody talks about and is written about, and it's not new,
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  it's and I'm not discounting it, it's extraordinarily important. It's one thing
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  to say I'm committed to servant leadership, but we are not intuitively others centered.
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  We are self centered. So David realized that and said, okay,
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  so what are the disciplines I need to have personally to ensure that I don't
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  just talk about it, talk to other leaders about it, and try to
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  inspire people to it, but to actually do it. I just thought it
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  was fantastic. And even if our listeners didn't take away the specific disciplines he's
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  created for himself, it was just a reminder to all of us. If
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  we don't have those internal red flags and those internal measures, we're just going
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  to become self centered. What's in it for me? Leaders? Nobody wants
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  to work for one, and none of us really want to be one.
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  So I just thought the topic in general was was fantastic. So anyway,
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  back to your question. So one of his disciplines was to constantly come back
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  to the question of am I being clear? Am I being clear? And
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  then we talked about the discipline and it was convicting to me. But as
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  I shared last week, I am in the middle of or I was last
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  week of situation where I was frustrated because people didn't understand what I'd said ten
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  times And obviously it's their fault, right it must be. It must be
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  because I'm I mean, people tell me I'm a great communicator, So how
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  could it possibly you possibly not understanding? How God I possibly not be clear?
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  But so he has decided clarity is a discipline for him, and when
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  it appears to be unclear, he owns that and it is absolutely incredible.
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  And as we've talked about before, clarity is important because in times of uncertainty,
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  I mean, for instance, I mean like in this moment right,
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  political uncertainty, social uncertainty, economic uncertainty, and so dre. In times
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  of disruption and uncertainty, people crave certainty because there's uncertainty. The problem is,
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  as leaders, we can't provide certainty. Certainty is beyond our control because
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  certainty is in the realm. We have no control over, which is the
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  future. We can we can promise it. In fact, you know,
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  speaking of politics, we are moving into a season where many people are going
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  to promise it. Promise us certainty because that's how you get elected, and
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  you can promise it all day long, but you can't guarantee it because again,
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  it has to do with the future. So while you have to promise
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  it to get elected, you can't lead from that vantage point. But the
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  next best thing to certainty is, as David pointed out, it's clarity.
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  As long as people know we have a plan, as long as we are
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  able to give people something to do. That's going to get them or hopefully
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  get them to a desired outcome. That's generally enough. That's as much certainty
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  as we can provide. So again, when he talked about the disciplines he
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  has internally to ensure that he remains a servant leader, he knows that one
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  of the best ways, and this is so important, one of the best
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  ways to serve the people we lead is to provide clarity. Because clarity is
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  it's a gift. Yeah, we say all the time on our team.
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  Clear is kind Yeah, you're clear. It is kindness because sometimes people just
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  want to know you see what they see. Yes, I see that too.
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  We may not have the exact answer right now, but it's sympathy,
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  and it's sometimes they can go Okay, they at least see it, and
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  I know they're thinking about it. And sometimes that is even enough. Well,
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  if I know you feel what I feel, that's enough, even if
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  you can't solve my problem or is so all the tension I feel to know
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  that, oh okay, they don't think I'm crazy, they don't think I'm
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  a whiner, they don't think I'm a complainer. That's like, they get
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  it, They see it, and they are in when you're the leader and
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  you communicate that, you're also communicating not only do I see it, I'm
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  taking responsibility for it, because ultimately I'm the leader. I'm responsible for everything
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  that happens in this organization. So the gift of clarity is an expression of
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  servant leadership. And whereas I can't control whether or not people feel like I'm
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  a servant leader, I can control whether or not I'm clear. And that's
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  the value of these disciplines as it relates to a leadership strategy. So again,
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  even though we've talked about clarity before, seeing it as a tool within
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  the broader context of leadership strategy, I just thought it was so great.
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  Yeah, and it's so important because, I mean, uncertainty is literally just
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  a part of leadership. It's a part of our lives. Why there are
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  leaders yes, because there's not if we all knew exactly what to do.
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  Yeah, let's go do it right. Exactly, Yeah, exactly. Well.
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  Another thing David talked about is borrowing from your mentors, and he mentioned
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  a mentor in particular that really taught him something early on that has become part
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  of kind of his template that he talks about in his organization, and it
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  was the four FS of leadership. He called it be fair, firm,
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  friendly, but not too familiar. And I know mentors have played a really
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  big part in your life, and I know people like Charlie Renfro have been
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  instrumental in your leadership, and I wanted to know there anything that stands out
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  as it relates to mentors. Well, a couple of things. First,
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  I just think it's great that David was will. I mean, he's leading
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  a three billion dollar international company, so obviously he's very bright. It would
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  be easy for him to feel like, oh, I'm the person that has
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  to come up with all the pithy statements and all the successories, all that
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  stuff. But the fact that he would fact he said he's repeated this so
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  many times that everybody that works around him has heard it, like roll their
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  eyes. He said it so much. But he was quick to get credit.
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  In other words, I didn't originate this. I've brought this with me
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  from the time I was leading nobody but myself to the point that I'm leading
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  this organization. So bringing along the learnings from the past, especially from our
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  mentors, and giving our mentors credit, whether it's something we've read many people
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  have been mentored through the books and articles of specific leaders and others. Personally,
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  I thought that was great. But yeah, so my first mentor was
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  Charlie Renfro who I've talked about all the time, and you know Charlie and
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  we're still dear friends. Yeah, we actually had him on the podcast,
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  that's right, and I'm sure many of our podcast listeners remember that episode because
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  there's so many charlieisms, right that again, and I'm quick to give him
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  credit. One of the first things he taught me was make sure you opened
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  the cage for the five hundred pound gorilla and invite him into the room,
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  which means you don't hide from problems. You don't run from problems. You
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  don't avoid problems. If there's an issue, if there's a thing, if
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  there's a beast, you just invited into the room and you deal with it.
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  Because problems don't solve themselves. You don't run from him. And he
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  shared that with me at a time in my life when my tendency was to
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  avoid someone because I didn't want to deal with the stuff of the someone,
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  and it was someone at work. Another charlieism was don't create a new problem
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  by trying to solve an old problem that can't be solved. I mean,
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  there's some things that can't be solved. You spend too much time trying to
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  solve those, you're going to create a new problem. And then, you
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  know, the big takeaway for me, as I when I thought about his
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  life story that again has headed me off at the past so many times,
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  was family first, money second. Family first, money second. And of
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  course he went on to make a lot of money because he's smart and super
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  successful. But you know, his life story was there was a pivotal moment
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  where he decided family first. And again, when you you know, you
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  bring those lessons forward. So I quote Charlie all the time. So for
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  our podcast listeners, the takeaway is those early lessons that we learned, maybe
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  from our parents, one of our parents, maybe a grandparent, a neighbor,
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  a coach from high school, those early lessons, those truisms, bringing
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  those full and keeping those front center. They are generally always true and always
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  helpful, and carrying those forward is a huge part of servant leadership because generally
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  speaking, someone who chose to mentor us, there was no advantage to them,
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  no benefit to them, No I mean, Charlie wouldn't even let me
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  buying breakfast. You know, he bought breakfast and mentored me. So again
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  that's servant leadership. I'm going to give you what has been given to me
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  that's timeless for you to take forward into your own career. So again,
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  this was part of servant leadership. And I think it's so important when you
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  think about mentors, to always have somebody that has permission to speak into those
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  areas of your life, and you know, to constantly look at, you
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  know, who has that space in my life right now, because you know,
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  mentors sometimes come along with you for a season. But like with David,
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  this mentor that came alongside of him years ago, he's carried forward,
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  but I know he still has mentors in his life. And I think that's
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  another really important Well, boys, is that discipline. This is something you're
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  great at. You because need people. Well I don't know that you do,
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  but you have been so great about seeking those people out. And then
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  you come to meetings and you quote and I'm like, when did you talk
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  to her? When did and you have initiated those conversations and you're better leader
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  for it and richer for it, and we all are because you bring that
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  content into our conversations and into our organization. So way to go. Yeah,
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  I've been very thank you. I've been very lucky to have some great
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  people over the years and still do so it's really super well. So final
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  question, Andy, as you think about your leadership philosophy and the way that
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  you keep yourself between the guardrails and your own leadership practice, what stands out
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  that, Hey, this is something I've learned I have to do and it's
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  really kept me in the sweet spot of my leadership philosophy. Well, for
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  those that listened to last week's episode, I talked about a couple of them
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  because they were similar to David's in terms of the similar struggles we have self
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  centeredness and not being clear or blaming or getting out of our competency zone because
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  you know, something's drawn us out, you know, unnecessarily. But one
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  of the other ones for me, and this goes back to a question that
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  I heard a leader ask this question and it wasn't even the theme of a
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  talk. It was just part of almost a conversational part of a leadership speech
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  he was giving that I walked away with this question, what would a great
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  leader do? What would a great leader do? What would what would a
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  really great leader do? And in the context is in the midst of decision
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  making for me, when I'm a little bit too amped up and geared up
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  around something I'm frustrated about or angry about or why did she or why did
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  he? Or why did they? Or why doesn't it and I'm I'm tempted
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  to power up and be selfish sometimes to say, okay, you know,
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  as you're evaluating the options, at least put this into the mix. Andy,
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  what would a great leader do? And I like the word great because
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  if you ask people describe a great leader, they're immediately going to go to
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  character selfless. Others first have an answer, immediate what's best for the organization,
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  you know, sacrifice personally in order to you know, for the sake
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  of other people. We just know that it's intuitive. So instead of what
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  would a selfless leader do? Or you know, know, what would a
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  great because you know, I want to be selfless, but this question appeals
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  to my ego to be a great leader. But I want to be a
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  great leader. The way that we know greatness truly is which means it's not
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  about me, it's about the organization. It's about the people in the organization.
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  So that's one of my Okay, you're about to walk in there,
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  you're about to say, but is that what a great leader would do?
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  Is this how a great leader would respond? Is that what a what a
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  great leader? Send that email? What a great leader? Would a great
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  leader send an email instead of waiting till tomorrow walking down the hall and having
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  a conversation. Would a great leader require them to come to your office or
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  would you just go to their you know, pause and at least consider and
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  goodness, that question so many times has kept me between the rails. And
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  the great thing about that question is it takes the energy out of out of
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  the decision, Like the emotion goes away when you're like, okay, but
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  what what if I actually stopped and considered this? It goes back to what
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  we just talked about. Suddenly there is clarity, terrifying clarity, the demands
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  something from you. Clarity. Yes exactly, I can't do what I want
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  to do. But at the end of the day, you look back and
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  you're like, wow, so glad, so glad. Yeah, I want
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  to work with great leaders. I want to work for a great leader,
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  and I want to be a great leader the way that you know great should
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  be defined. Yeah for sure. Well, Andy, that is all the
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  time we have for this episode of Reverb. Thanks so much for digging deeper
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  into the topic of evolving your leadership competencies and providing a few more insights,
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  and to all of our listeners who want to thank you for joining us.
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  Be sure to visit Andy stanley dot com slash podcast, where you'll find many
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  more resources to help you go further faster,