Unarmored Talk

When Your Boss Is the Problem: A Leader’s Journey

• Mario P. Fields - Sergeant Major (Ret.) • Episode 168

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Ever feel the tension rise the moment your boss walks in? On this episode of Unarmored Talk, host Mario P. Fields, Sergeant Major (Retired) sits down with Army veteran, TEDx speaker, and leadership strategist Gregory Archbold to break down how to lead calmly and effectively when leadership above you falls short.

With 33 years of experience—from enlisted medic to military police officer to corporate leader—Gregory shares practical tools for veterans and professionals navigating micromanagement and chaotic leadership. We unpack how over-communication reduces uncertainty, why venting needs limits, and how to translate intent without passing down frustration.

A guiding principle anchors the conversation: “Take your pulse before you take anyone else’s.” This episode is a playbook for influence without authority, professionalism under pressure, and steady leadership when you’re leading uphill.

Key Takeaways

🔹 Clarity beats control — Remove surprises and micromanagement loses its grip
🔹 Regulate yourself first — Calm leaders prevent chaos from cascading
🔹 Influence doesn’t require authority — Outcomes matter more than titles

If this conversation helped, follow Unarmored Talk, share it with someone leading through tough environments, and leave a quick review so more people can find these tools.

Stay unarmored, stay authentic, and stay mentally fit.
And as always — I’m praying for you all. God bless.

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Mario P. Fields:

Welcome back to the Unarmoured Talk Podcast, everyone. I'm your host, Mario P. Fields. If this is your first time watching or listening to the show, welcome. And if you have been with me for over 5,000 years, five years, thank you for being loyal fans. Continue to share, like, and subscribe. And also, if you want to help uh me raise those charitable funds for still serving incorporated, a nonprofit, get on my YouTube channel and become a member for like two dollars and ninety-nine cents a month. Your contributions will go directly to the schools that uh our organization supports in Pitt County, North Carolina since 2018. Well, all that admin stuff is done. Happy belated veterans day for all you veterans out there. Thanks for your service. And we have a veteran. I have a veteran on the show that I'm going to host today. His name is Gregory D. Archibald. He is United States Army veteran. I'm not going to hold it against him. But he's a keynote speaker, leadership strategist. He's also been a TEDx speaker as well. He does leadership development management and more. But let me tell you guys what's real awesome about Gregory from the time I had a chance to meet him. He genuinely cares about making a positive impact on people. You can't go to the University of Care. It's either in your DNA or not. And it's a choice, and he has made those choices to make a difference in young folks' lives, especially minorities and low-income communities and more. Gregory, welcome to the Unarmored Talk Podcast, my man.

Gregory D. Archbold:

Mario or Sergeant Major. I don't know. I feel like I should jump up and be like, parade, don't make me finish. Um but but no, it's it's a pleasure to to be here. I'm so glad that we got uh got a chance to to connect. And I love what you're doing. I love the the no scripted stuff. It's just two two folks having uh having a conversation and being able to maybe share some things with some people, and hopefully those people will take something away from uh what we what we have to share.

Mario P. Fields:

Amen. Amen. I'm surprised you didn't make the get off my grass joke.

Gregory D. Archbold:

You know, that's the I I tell you what, I was I was I was enlisted, so you know I still have the nice hand to get off my grass. Uh I can I can still uh I can still kick it out.

Mario P. Fields:

Well, hey man, thanks for your service. And if you could do me a favor before we jump right into the meat and potatoes metaphorically of the topic, can you tell everyone just a little bit about who Gregory is, man?

Gregory D. Archbold:

Um I uh served in the Army for 33 years. Wow. The first half of my career I spent as a if we'll uh as the medical guy, so for our civilians, I did EMT kind of stuff. Uh and then I had some good leadership who suggested that I go to officer candidate school and transition into the to the officer corps. And then I became a military police officer, uh, which I loved. Uh spent time all over the globe. And then uh I recently uh recently retired in 23. Uh I went to work in corporate America for a little while, and then I decided that I was going to uh lay all my energy uh on myself to to try to change some lives in something that's near and dear to my heart, which is leadership.

Mario P. Fields:

Yeah. Wow. What an amazing career from enlisted officers. By the way, for all the uh you know, the the unarmored talk listeners and viewers who have never served, that's not an easy thing. Um, that's not an easy transition to go from enlisted uh in any branch of service and then convert, you know, to to get it's not automatic, but to apply and to um earn the commission. So thank you. And I salute you, uh, my friend. And 33 years, that's a long time. I did 26. So 33 seems like uh eternity. But when it's a passion, and you guys see Gregory, if you if you're not, if you're listening, get on the YouTube channel and watch. You can tell he's he's genuine. So let's just let's get right into it. I believe currently there are a lot of people who work for someone who may not have the leadership behaviors that are fun to be up under. Sometimes people say toxic. And from my basic understanding, Gregory, at one point in your journey, you as a civilian, as a veteran, not even on active duty, you were working for a manager that was just tough. Let's talk about it. Give me a little bit, man. Is that how was it?

Gregory D. Archbold:

Um, it was it was a challenge. Uh I will say, I I think what happens is um I can't guess what was going on in their heads, but I know how they were leading. And part of me doesn't, you know, he may he may not have known any better. Why? Because most people learn leadership based on what they see. Right. So if you are in an environment, because most companies don't have formal leadership training, they take a good employee and then they say, go with God, young man, you are now or woman, go with them and you are now in charge. Right. Uh and for me, how I handle that is I normally do I normally do two things. One, I overly communicate because a lot of micromanagers, oh, well, you didn't tell me this, you didn't tell me that. So I over-communicate everything that I do almost to the point where it becomes annoying. And then you usually they'll say, Okay, Greg's Greg's doing some things here. Uh the other thing that I I I try to do in dealing with them is making sure because my team can see what it is that we're that's going on. So I try to bring them in and say, hey, I cannot control what my boss is doing. But what I can control, which is which is in my span, is how I respond to it and how I educate my team on it. Because I don't want them to become that leader. I want them to see how I respond to some of the negative aspects that I'm receiving. And I bring them in, and many of them will be like, Did you see what blah blah blah? I have a rule. Everyone is allowed 30 seconds. So you can give your 30 seconds to complain, and then it's time to execute. I don't have to like his or her plan, but I have to, I have to be able to mold it in a way and and not be the person that says, Well, we're doing this because Mario said so. No, we're doing it because any good leader doesn't say, well, the boss says we have to do it, that's why we're doing it. No, that's not how you handle business, even if you don't like it. So for me, I I like to bring my team in and say, hey, I understand we've got some difficulties, but this is how we're gonna handle it, and this is how we're gonna stay close as a team.

Mario P. Fields:

I, you know, Greg, and I and I love how you mentioned how even though there were things about your boss that you didn't agree with and your team could see it, how like you said, when you brought the team in, you didn't badmouth the boss. You you were like, okay, and I like how you you you kind of took ownership. Um, where it's like, this is okay, this is not we're gonna do this because the boss said we're gonna do this. Or, hey guys, bring it in. Man, he or she is tough to work for. I love how you did that. I believe a lot of folks kind of emotionally uh don't don't think about that and don't have that discipline. What do you believe gave you that soft skill, man? Well, how what do you how do you believe you got there? I don't think you were born with it. So what do you think that got you to the point where you're not emotionally reacting, but you're thinking through it and then you're responding for the benefit of your team as well?

Gregory D. Archbold:

Well, I had a uh I had a great boss, and I'll I'll mention his name. Uh his name is Brett Ackerman. Uh, he is an emergency medicine physician. One time I was fired up and I was kind of yelling. My my my young, young early sergeant days, and he always told me, and he's a doctor, so his analogy was medical. He said, I need you to take your pulse before you can take anybody else's, right? Remove emotion from any decision that you have to make, and that stuck with me forever. So I said, even though I may have been emotionally charged by some of the things that I had to do, I had to remember my team is going to see how I respond. So I have to take emotion out of the equation and then make an informed decision. So for me, that started, you know, with with good leaders doing that to me and uh doc Ackerman. Uh if you see this shout out, sir, uh it was it was a it was uh a good time for me to just take that in and and do that.

Mario P. Fields:

Gregory, I'm still working on that. So that's a doc shout out to Doc man. And then pause, you know, like you said, let those emotions process, pause, think, think through them. And and then how you keep referring back to I I as the as the leader, right, in the management position, leading, you know, a team of folks, I have to be aware of my biases, be aware of myself, have high self-awareness, and think about how my actions will impact the folks I'm leading. And that's powerful. That's powerful, that's a decision. And have you did you ever have a moment where one of the folks on your team looked at you and said, How are you doing it? How are you staying so calm when you're dealing with this whatever idiot or whatever they may say about the toxic person, if you will?

Gregory D. Archbold:

Well, I I I I always come back to the same phrase. Yeah, I can't control them, I can only control me. And my responsibility is to support him, not to be him. And and that's it. So my job is to show number one, to produce results and also to show you what right looks like. Because again, I go back to my my my favorite phrase is that we people learn leadership based on what they see. So if they see me being all upset and and bad mouthing the boss and and all these things, when it's their time to rise up through the ranks, they're gonna think that that's normal. And now that I have children who are in the workforce, do I want them to have that kind of boss? And my answer is no. So I think it's it's important for leaders to remember that you are the pulse of your organization, regardless of if the CEO or your direct supervisor is not the greatest person to work for, you're never going to control them. You're not going to control them. What you can control is what's what we would say in the military. What's in your span of control? You know, I can't control in another company, I can't control in another section. What I can control are the people who report to me. And this is how we are going to deal with uh controversy.

Mario P. Fields:

Yeah, and from what I understand, listening to you, which is powerful. I hope you guys uh get this, everyone who's listening or watching, is and I wish I'd have had you like years ago. This would have really helped me, man. I probably would have saved some of my hair. Mission focus, not human focus when it comes to a manager that may be that may have been taught some behaviors that are very toxic or ineffective. But what how can I best support this person above me that supports the mission of the company, not the emotional part of how can I try to change or try to understand why this person is behaving this way? And that's critical. That's critical. I mean, I'm thinking back on some of some of the the previous. I had some very I had some people, man, I just wanted to quit. You know, I was like, get the hell away from me. But if I would have had that mindset to go, okay, let's get out of his his or her human behavior, what can what can I do to support them that supports the mission? And that's powerful. And that's powerful. When you when you have developed, when you developed that mindset, what did you experience when it comes to effectiveness, maybe the the increased efficiency of the company or just morale in general? What had what did you see or what feedback did you get when you did that that when you applied that mindset?

Gregory D. Archbold:

As far as receiving feedback, I think one of the things is um when you have a good leader, yeah, or if you have a bad leader, here's the secret, and I'll share this with just you and the thousands of viewers you have. Everyone knows it. Everyone knows everyone knows that you have a bad leader. Yeah, everyone knows you have a bad leader, everyone knows that you have a good leader. It's not a secret, it's it's how you respond when other people are coming up to me saying, Hey, how's it going? You know, with so and so. I'm not taking the bait. I'm not taking the bait. And it wasn't until it wasn't until after I left the organization that I heard from a lot of people, or during my two weeks right before I left, that people started to say, I don't know how you stayed as long as you did. Because I was responsible not for his actions, I was responsible for training the people that I was responsible for, and that was my main goal. All the other stuff I'm getting, I'm gonna take that, I'm gonna shield my people from the things that I can do, shield from them, and then I'm going to be the leader that they see. And because again, I go back to it, people learn leadership based on what they see. Yeah, and if they see me, rah-rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, go back to Doc Ackerman's phrase remove emotion from the equation and make a decision.

Mario P. Fields:

You you know, and I love how you reference Doc Ackerman because you you had you had a choice to to take wisdom and feedback and then make a mindset change. And look what happened where where some of the folks, even that the person that you worked under, they had a choice not to emulate what they had seen. They had a choice to receive some feedback, and they chose not to, you know, just my belief. And I love how you have developed because you made a choice to receive some feedback. It may have hurt at the time, whatever, but you made a choice to change, and that's and that's powerful. If you, if let's just say Doc never gave you feedback, or Doc gave you feedback, and you were rigid, you were like, I don't want to hear this. I am who I am. How do you believe that would have affected you if when you actually worked under this manager?

Gregory D. Archbold:

Oh wow. I probably would have I probably would not have lasted as long as I did. Um, I probably um, you know, when you're a when you're a young MCO, you think the only tool and your tool bag of leadership is the knife hand and a loud voice. Yeah, that you because that you see a lot of that going through. And I'm not saying it's wrong. What I'm saying is that I don't know if I would have had the maturity to say, okay, this guy and I may not, we may not go hang out or play golf, or we may not go out and have coffee outside of the office, and that's okay. But what I am here to do is I'm here to produce results. He is the boss, I'm going to listen to him and I'm going to take the feedback and I'm going to move on. But I don't think had I not had heard what Doc told me and had years to practice it, and I'm not saying that I always came out on top because there were times when I did uh I did lose my mind a little bit. Uh but it I'm uh I always tell people I am a work in progress. So I'm I'm not gonna necessarily be perfect, but I did go through that process. Uh some days I handled it better. Now I'm a lot better at it than I used to be.

Mario P. Fields:

Gregory, I appreciate you coming on the show and removing your armor to help other folks. I mean, it everyone, I mean, you guys heard it. Feedback is out of love. Doc loved and saw the potential in Gregory. You know, a critic, you know, doc didn't give him criticism. He gave him feedback and they're fundamentally different. And look at Gregory today, still developing, still, I mean he's 22 years old, but he did 33 years, so you guys do the math. But you guys know I got some humor, I'm gonna put it in show. Looking, but Gregory, lots of wise tips, even for myself. But now looking back, if you if you could stand next to yourself about uh about 20, 30 years ago, what advice would you give yourself if you could today?

Gregory D. Archbold:

Um for me, it's it's real easy. I don't even have to think about this. Read more and talk less. Uh I was not a big, a big reader uh growing up or even in my adult life. Uh but I learned that one of the smartest people that I know is is my lovely wife, Kathy. Uh she reads and like you know, we do Jeopardy at nights and she kills me every time. Why? Because oh I read. I said, how do you know that? She says, Oh, I read, I read. So for me, I think I could have been a better leader and just a better learner if I read dedicated time and read movies. So I would tell young people or old people alike, take time to find people say, Well, I don't know what to read. You know what you like, find a book on that and start there. If you want to do something, you want to be a better leader, I find a leadership book, which mine will be coming up in February. Find something that interests you and read because if you become, if you read, you're getting knowledge from people who have done what you were trying to do.

Mario P. Fields:

Yeah. That is cool. And I would love if you're open to it. I mean, do a live invitation. I would love to host you again when you do your book launch to get that out there if you're open to it. I mean, you don't need to make a decision on the show, but I would love to host you. I'd be honored, uh, Gregory.

Gregory D. Archbold:

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Mario P. Fields:

I'll plug you in. Well, you guys heard it, you know, read more, talk less. And I'm guilty of that. And so I'm going to take those, that that tip from Gregory myself and continue to read more and definitely talk less to learn more. All right, to become a better version of me for others around me. Gregory, it has been a pleasure to host you on the show, my friend. Um, I will um again, I look forward to the uh feb or so um episode and good luck um on the launch of your book. I can't wait to read it. But everyone, until next time, uh, before I let everyone go, Gregory, how can they find you?

Gregory D. Archbold:

Oh, you can find me at GregoryArchbold.com. Is it my website, or just Gregory Archibald on LinkedIn? And please reach out and I will always get back to you.

Mario P. Fields:

You guys heard of GregoryArchibald.com or on LinkedIn. I'll make sure those links are in the show notes. But until next time, um I will continue to intentionally pray for the listeners and viewers, you all, and your families, friends, and all living things around you. Take care, Gregory.

Gregory D. Archbold:

All right, take care now.

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Mario P. Fields

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