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811. People-First Leadership: How Servant Leaders Build Cultures Where People Thrive · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Daily Influence, your daily dose of positive influence.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Brian Smith founder of IA Business Advisors and co-author of the Iain team series.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Each day we share stories and insights to help you find be and build your influence in a positive and responsible way.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm Greg Clino, partner at IA Business Advisors, and co-host of Daily Influence.
• 0:32
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• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Welcome to Daily Influence, I'm Greg Lino.
• 0:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: Before we dive in, I want to share a quick note.
• 0:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: We recently launched the Smart Advantage Newsletter, which offers practical insights on leadership, accountability, workplace culture, and building a stronger business delivered to your inbox weekly.
• 1:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: If you're looking for simple, actionable ideas, you can apply in your business or leadership role, you can find the link to subscribe in the show notes below.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now let's move into today's conversation where we'll continue exploring the ideas, actions and influence that helps us lead and live with greater influence.
• 1:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: Today, I'm joined by Scott Doggett, founder and chief servant leader of the National Academy of Leadership Development.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: Scott brings more than 30 years of experience in leadership, learning and organizational development across corporate hospitality, non-profit, and faith-based organizations.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: His work is grounded in the straightforward, but consequential belief, every person is priceless.
• 1:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: through the National Academy and the Priceless Leadership Movement, Scott Helps Leaders build people first cultures where individuals feel valued, supported, and equipped to succeed.
• 2:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: Today, we'll explore what servant leadership looks like when it moves beyond good intentions and becomes a practical, accountable way of leading.
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: one that strengthens people while still producing sustainable organizational results.
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: Scott, welcome to Daily Influence.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for having me Greg, I'm excited to be here.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: Mix that into how you got before you became founder and chief servant leader of the National Academy of Leadership Development.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: You spent decades developing people and building learning cultures across several different types of organizations.
• 2:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: What experiences most shape your belief that people are priceless and when did that belief become more than a personal value and turn into your approach to leadership?
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I've been leading teams for over 30 years and I've spent most of that time in the hospitality industry.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: So just even in the service industry, you're around people and serving people.
• 3:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: So serving guests, but then as a leader, you're also serving your team.
• 3:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think that has always just been ingrained in me even from an early age.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: My father was a principal, the middle school.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I got to watch him in action growing up and he was definitely a servant leader that he was probably my earliest inspiration.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I'll tell you, going from running hotels and resorts to then transitioning into training and development and then teaching leaders.
• 3:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I tell you, I had this opportunity to move from that space into a non-profit space in 2024.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I have never experienced anything like that because that organization was led 100% by servant leaders.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this is a style of leadership that I've always resonated with.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've always believed in, I've tried to live in lead by, but I had never experienced an organization that was led from top down by servant leaders.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I had that opportunity.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that was an incredible experience where I get to see the results that come from that type of culture results like 6% turnover annually, which just blew my mind when I walked in there.
• 4:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I thought it was when the state because I came from an industry that if you got to 70% you were top in class.
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: and this was single digits.
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then you looked at revenue per employee and it was eating Google and meta.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this was a nonprofit organization.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it was all because of the way that they led people and they saw people and treated people.
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And unfortunately, they had some
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: some budget cuts that were completely out of their control.
• 4:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I found myself as part of a layoff at the beginning of 2025.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it was truly the inspiration that I needed to start this movement, right the book and the workshop.
• 4:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's why we're here today.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: I love it.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, that philosophy is really compelling.
• 4:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: But leadership principles become meaningful when people can see the difference they make in someone's life.
• 4:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: Can you share a specific moment when you saw someone change because a leader chose to recognize their values and best in their development or remove an obstacle from their path?
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've seen so many examples of this and there's one one particular story that comes to mind of a young lady who just had no confidence in herself.
• 5:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: but so talented and just but was one of those quiet employees that would kind of always be in a meeting and sitting to the side and but I got to know her and her skills and her kind of her goals and aspirations but again, not somebody who was an extrovert, very introverted, very quiet, but again,
• 5:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: getting to know your people is such an important part to me of leadership because giving you that opportunity to give us some stretch assignments and slowly building her confidence to talk in front of people and slowly start I get to see her start to grow and shine and now she's a director leading her own team and it's one of my greatest
• 6:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: moments of pride with seeing her, you know, be this kind of quiet person sitting around a table and then now just because again, she just needed someone to see that in her and to help her kind of harvest that in her and so I think that's a beautiful thing about leadership is we all have that opportunity to just get to know our people and help them see something in themselves that maybe they didn't see or didn't have that confidence in themselves.
• 6:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for sharing that story.
• 6:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: Scott, those moments really show the true human impact of leadership.
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's the recall of the ripple effect, right?
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's even just, we do this exercise in our workshop where we ask people to think about a time when a leader made them feel either priceless or worthless.
• 6:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And just a senator to just to say, what did that leader say or do that made them feel that way?
• 6:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we have them share these stories.
• 6:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And literally there's just a senator to that leader will say,
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that makes such a huge impact on these people.
• 7:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And one of my follow-up questions is always, well, when did that happen?
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes these are things that happen 20, 30 years ago.
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: So again, the things that we say and do today, they don't just state in the present moment.
• 7:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: They really do have a ripple effect that can truly build people up or have that opposite effect, too.
• 7:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I say, let's help build people up.
• 7:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we agree, wholeheartedly here at Daly and Fluence and we're all about positive and responsible influence and
• 7:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're influencing people all the time and you never know how much the influence you have in that person is going to affect them in a positive or negative way.
• 7:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it's always important to make sure that we're leading and being a positive or responsible influence, whether you know we're a leader in the business or just in your day to day life with anyone that you come in contact with.
• 7:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: In servant leadership is sometimes misunderstood as simply being kind, agreeable, or willing to do everything for everyone.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: You describe it instead as helping people succeed by removing barriers rather than creating them.
• 8:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: What practical framework can leaders use to determine when they should support coach, challenge, delegate, or set aside?
• 8:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't, yeah, I think servant leadership does have a kind of miss reception of being soft or, you know, just telling people what they want to hear or giving them what they want.
• 8:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it really is the opposite of that because to me servant leadership is about or leadership in general is about getting results at the end of the day.
• 8:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: and recognizing that if you want to get optimal results possible, you have to recognize that results come from your people.
• 8:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I have yet to meet an executive who doesn't understand the correlation between an engaged workforce and the results that come from that.
• 8:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the more engaged your workforce, the better results that you get.
• 8:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the question becomes, what is that key to engaging your workforce?
• 9:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: just like a gardener can't yell at plants to grow or home and hope that they grow faster.
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's all about creating that environment so that the plants can grow.
• 9:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what servant leadership to me is about.
• 9:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's removing those barriers, and it's about providing the support that the teams need in order to succeed.
• 9:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so it's making sure that they have the tools and the training, and that they can, and that they, and yes, that they feel valued and respected and seen.
• 9:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that you as the leader understand what their strengths are and what their struggles are and what their goals are and how they like to communicate.
• 9:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: because when we do that, then employees want to stay and they want to give more of themselves.
• 9:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's when you ultimately get that workforce that is thriving and you get the best results out of people.
• 9:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: that is so true, but even with a strong framework, leaders cannot always get the balance right, especially when pressure or deadlines and performance expectations enter the picture.
• 10:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: Can you tell us about a time when you're attempt to serve or develop others, did not produce outcome you expected?
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: And what did you initially misunderstand?
• 10:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Or how did you take the responsibility and adjust your leadership afterwards?
• 10:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think as I reflect back and by many years of leading teams, and I, again, I've led large teams, small teams, all kinds of teams, and as I reflect back, I've led so many failures.
• 10:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And as we all do, and I think as I kind of reflect back and try to identify what cause those failures, it always comes back to the same thing.
• 10:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's, I think it's when you are under a lot of pressure for results or there's the, you know, we've got to get certain things done in a certain amount of time.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when I failed to remind myself that the people that I'm leading are truly crisis human beings who are worthy of my time and of that dignity that respect.
• 11:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'll tell you, I had one even in my most recent corporate job.
• 11:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: There was a young leader who we had just hired and it was after COVID and we were trying to rebuild and there was just a lot of pressure to get results coming out of that time period and this was a young leader who wanted a lot of my time which I felt like I just didn't have.
• 11:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I started the label her as like a time bandit or lack of a better word, and I think as as humans we put labels on people and whatever label that is is how we treat that person and it's how we make them feel and over time it's it's what people start to believe about themselves.
• 11:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I failed to see her as priceless.
• 11:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's one of the things that we teach leaders is we have to remember that every human being who we lead is Erson Formos, a priceless human being, who has inherent value, an untapped potential.
• 12:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if we can put that label on people and treat people based on that, we can help people feel and believe that about themselves.
• 12:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then it's about getting to know them on an individual drill basis and getting to know those unique strengths and things about them.
• 12:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Any time that I've had those failures, it's when I put a different label on that person, and I've treated them based on some other, whether it's a title or a characteristic or a performance level, like top performer, low performer, something like that.
• 12:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's probably the biggest lesson that I've learned throughout my leadership experience.
• 12:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's a great lesson that we all can learn from.
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for being open and sharing that with us.
• 12:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: God, you know, when we learn from those experiences, it is really important.
• 12:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: But sustainable leadership also requires repeatable habits rather than relying on instinct in the moment.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: For a leader who wants to create a people-first culture, but is unsure where to begin, what specific 30-day practice would you recommend?
• 13:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I would start there.
• 13:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would start by pausing and reflecting on what labels you're putting on the team members that you're leading and start there because that's where we always, you know, I think even in your personal life, I practice this every day in traffic at the airport when I start to feel by self getting frustrated, recognizing that our emotions come from those thoughts that story that we're telling ourselves at any given point.
• 13:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And again, that goes back to that label.
• 13:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if I see you as my problem, child, employee, and if that's the label that I'm putting on you, then the story in my head is, oh, here comes my problem.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm gonna, that story drives that emotion or how I respond to you.
• 13:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's again, how I'm going to interact with you.
• 13:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm going to be a little bit less.
• 13:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Kind to you.
• 13:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to be more short.
• 13:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to give you those extra assignments certainly or look to you to promote you or give you that recognition and and that really is it's all about what is that environment that I'm creating for each and every one of my employees because the other thing that I think as leaders we make the mistake of thinking is that the culture is what we say it is right.
• 14:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, we're, you know, we put people first or safety's first or all of these big words that we paint on them toy break room walls.
• 14:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: When really the reality is that culture is what each and every individual employee's experiences every single day.
• 14:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that experience so much is shaped by their direct supervisor, right?
• 14:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not the CEO, the CEO plays a part for sure, but it is really my direct supervisor and that those interactions, it's a little things that happen.
• 14:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's how do I react when somebody comes to me and they want to leave early because it's their kids' recital.
• 14:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Or I offer an idea does it get like, oh, yeah, yeah, I don't pay you to think or is it, hey, you know, does it get accepted and and considered and and appreciate it.
• 14:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's those little moments that have such a huge impact.
• 15:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: So to me, it's about stopping and really.
• 15:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: causing to reflect and how am I labeling people on my team and let's start there and recognize that everybody on the team is super valuable and let's treat them first based on that and then get take the time to get to know each person on an individual basis and that's why I love right now with AI and all the AI tools that we're getting exposed to because that's giving us the time back to be able to reinvest in our people.
• 15:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: absolutely.
• 15:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: I truly believe that with all the AI that's out in today's world, it's really helping us, you know, make process improvements and take on some of those types of tasks, which is enabling us to be more human and allowing us to spend more time with other humans, whether it's our team members or our clients so that we could, you know, take what we're learning from AI and also make informed decisions.
• 15:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have to choose to take that time though and that's the thing instead of, oh, do we have more meetings now with all this extra time or do we choose to go now and spend that time connecting with our people and going down to where the work's getting done and asking for feedback and and again doing more coaching and mentoring and things that historically we just haven't had the time to do, but now we do so let's take advantage of that time.
• 16:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: absolutely.
• 16:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know Scott, looking back, what would you tell your younger self about the difference between managing people and accepting responsibility for your influence on them?
• 16:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think I would hey tell myself to give myself a little bit more grace that you can't be like leadership's not about trying to be perfect that it really is more about your intention every day
• 16:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: people are going to be forgiving when you have those bad days, but really is it's you're kind of in it for the long hole, uh, the long game I guess, and uh,
• 16:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: What I love is when you do get to know your people and you build those connections and you build relationships with your people, they are much more forgiving when you have that bad day and you can go back and just apologize humbly and ask for that forgiveness versus when you don't have that relationship with your people, I think one of the biggest mistakes I made early on in my career.
• 17:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: was again, just thinking, okay, I've got to manage these teams and now I've got a team of housekeepers when I was running hotels, right, and I look out and I 50 housekeepers that I'm managing and I would see them as a team of 50 housekeepers instead of again, recognizing that I have 50 beautiful unique.
• 17:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: individual souls that I'm responsible for leading and taking the time again to get to know them at that level and build that relationship because that relationship is currency that and I hate to even use that word but really the employees are really the heartbeat of your organization and right you can have the best strategies, you can have the best tools, you can have the best of everything but if you're if you're culture, if you're employees aren't
• 18:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: The rest of it just doesn't work.
• 18:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that is so true.
• 18:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: For the person listening who wants to make a positive difference, but may feel that their influence is too limited to matter, what is one intentional action that they can take to help another person feel seeing valued and better equipped to succeed?
• 18:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would just take the time, and even if it's 15 minutes, 30 minutes,
• 18:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Take a walk and make a walk and get to know somebody on your team because that is to me, we spend about $200 billion a year in this country trying to fix this employee engagement problem that we have, uh, pulling engagement sticks around 31%.
• 18:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's where it is first half of this year according to Gallup.
• 18:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And every year,
• 18:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: It breaks my heart because we company spend literally $200 billion investing in these big programs, right?
• 18:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we look at, oh, communications a problem.
• 18:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: We need more town halls or we need to do more company picnics or we need to buy fancy recognition.
• 19:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: rises to give out to people, but people don't respond to programs.
• 19:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: They, again, all they want is to be seen and valued and known and heard and respected.
• 19:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that doesn't cost up any.
• 19:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't care if you're a supervisor.
• 19:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's your first time being a supervisor.
• 19:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you lead three people.
• 19:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can make such a huge difference in those three people's lives if you just take a time and listen and get to know them.
• 19:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what they want.
• 19:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what
• 19:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: is to be heard and listen and recognize that.
• 19:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right, again, they have different strengths, they have different ways that they like to communicate, different ways they like to be recognized.
• 19:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right, some people hate that public recognition.
• 19:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's a silly little example, but you could do a lot of damage.
• 19:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you don't know how your people like to be recognized and you bring them up on a stage in front of 100 people, I mean, I know plenty of people that that would make them faint and throw up and you would do more damage by doing that.
• 20:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: then some people love it, but some people absolutely hate them, but you've got to get to know your people.
• 20:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: So don't underestimate the influence that you have at any level of leadership in the organization.
• 20:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: That is so true Scott, thank you for reminding us that people first leadership is not passive and it's not simply about being nice it requires leaders to see people clearly as they are for who they are and really get to know them and remove any unnecessary barriers or make sure we're communicating honestly I really appreciate all that you shared Scott if our listeners want to get in touch with you what is the best way to do so.
• 20:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, we try to keep it simple for everybody.
• 20:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: So all the information on our workshops and we have a lot of free resources that we love to just give away because it really is to us about the movement and trying to inspire people to lead in a different way.
• 20:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: They can go to our website, which is nationalatld.com and they can connect with us and find out more.
• 21:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: Right, we'll put that information in the show notes.
• 21:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: Scott, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your stories and advice today.
• 21:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thanks for having me.
• 21:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: And to our listeners, thank you for joining us for another episode of Daily Influence.
• 21:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Help us spread the positivity by subscribing and sharing daily influence with those in your areas of influence.
• 21:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: If your influence is already at work in your conversations, your reactions, your expectations, and the opportunities you create for others, before today ends, choose one person and take one intentional action that helps some field valued or better able to succeed.
• 21:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: That is how positive influence becomes responsible
• 21:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: and how each of us can make a meaningful difference one decision in one interaction at a time.
• 21:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: Remember small actions, create big impact, keep showing up, leading, and growing one data time.
• 21:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: Until next time, stay inspired and keep having a positive, responsible influence.
• 22:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: Bye-bye!