EP05: Profitable, Purposeful Leadership

If you want to be a purposeful and profitable leader, this episode is for you. Today, we'll make use of this opportunity to get ideas and perspectives about the meaning of self-gain and money, so stay tuned to find out more!

Key Takeaways To Listen For

• What is profitable leadership?
• The importance of love in effective leadership
• How to be a patient and compassionate leader
• Why gaining relational currency is the most valuable profit
• The role of self and trust in a leader

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Transcript

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Dr. Nate Salah:

[00:00:00]
If I wanna live in a way that my leadership is strong and serving well, I have no problem apologizing for a misunderstood message that I sent because I can walk in humility to know that it doesn't bother me at all. Hello, my friend. Welcome to this episode of a Call to Leadership, I'm Dr. Nate Salah, your host, and I'm so glad you're here.

[00:00:27]
We've spent the last four episodes building a foundation on leadership. So if you're here at episode five and you haven't tuned into episodes, one through four, I would strongly, strongly encourage you to check those out because they lay a solid foundation on various aspects of leadership, packed with tools and resources and content that I am certain will help you aim for greatness and aim for your potential as a leader.

[00:00:58]
So, here we are episode five, one more to go after this episode six, which will be pitfalls that I've seen in the past that people continue to repeat, and this episode five is really near and dear to my heart.

[00:01:12]
It's the relationship between Purpose and Profit in Leadership. So, I come from the financial world, spend a lot of time in that sector, we talk a lot about profit, profit, profit and the kind of profit that the financial world generally talks about is financial profit, money, which many entrepreneurs strive for.

[00:01:34]
In fact, many entrepreneurs have a profit motive for-profit business, right? It's you need money. Money is fuel. In fact, when I first considered entrepreneurship beyond like a street hustle or different things that I did way back in the day at the flea market or wherever I was hustling, trying to make a dollar.

[00:01:59]
When I was in legitimate business, I dropped out of college to become an entrepreneur. I was age 21 and I thought, I can go, try to be a millionaire instead of taking these classes, which may not have any bearing on my ability to have independent wealth and I saw Michael Dell and Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, they all were college dropouts.

[00:02:26]
So it's like, well, Hey, they did it and look, they're doing great. I'm gonna do it too. So my motive, my number one motive was money, profit, and many budding entrepreneurs, that's also their desire. In fact, I was driving down the road one day and a couple young entrepreneurs pulled up next to me and saw that I had a cool car and asked me, you know, what I did, because they wanted to know how they can get paid too.

[00:02:56]
Of course, the card doesn't really mean that you're paid. It could mean that you're paying the bank and you'll be paying 'em forever. If you're in debt another day for that episode. So, I'm in the mindset of building my profit model and the problem is, is that I've put my entire purpose in making money and not in truly leading and serving in my business because I didn't have any real mentors or guidance.

[00:03:26]
Really no such thing as podcast back then to learn other than reading a book or reading entrepreneur magazine and so I was really just winging it. And within three years I had amassed over a hundred thousand dollars in debt and this is 1995 to 1998. So, it's a lot of money back then, it's still a lot of money today and I was going in the wrong direction.

[00:03:56]
So, now I needed 1.1 million dollars to become a millionaire and it was so bad that by the time I was 25, I started telling people I was 25 cause I wanted to be a millionaire by 30. And so, I saw that it wasn't didn't look like it was gonna happen and so, I started lying about my age and telling people that I was still 25 when I was 26, because again, I wanted to be a millionaire. It's so silly now in hindsight, all these years later.

[00:04:26]
But my motive was financial profit and I didn't realize later until later that there were more space, there was more space in the idea of profit than just money and again, money is necessary as fuel, but it's a byproduct, it's a result of profitable ideas, profitable relationships, profitable ways that you can serve and solve problems for others.

[00:05:02]
And when I started to look into the word profit, I realized that, wow, it just means gain to profit is to gain and so when we're talking about profit in leadership context, we're gaining in leadership context. We're not just profiting financially, that certainly is a part of it. We'll talk lots about that on the business segments, but we're talking about profitable relationships.

[00:05:26]
We're talking about profitable purpose, profitable outcomes in terms of how we can help others achieve what they need by the value proposition, by what we call the utility. And so, I started opening my mind and thinking, wow, well, how can I lead more profitably on the front end so that my margins, my actual profit margins would increase on the back end.

[00:05:56]
And then I stumbled on this verse, this set of verses, which are called the love verses in the Bible and you've probably heard these at a wedding and I thought, wow, you know, what, what if I reconfigured these verses from the words love is, and it says love is patient, love is kind, and so on to leadership.

[00:06:21]
So, leadership is patient, leadership is kind, it does not envy. It does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not easily angered and is not self-seeking. It holds no record of wrongs. Leadership does not delight an evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, that kinda leadership doesn't fail.

[00:06:55]
And how beautiful is that when we apply that idea of love or charity to leadership, because I believe the most effective kind of leadership, the most effective kind of servant leadership is a leadership that walks in love and it doesn't have to be a feeling. You know, we often think of love as a feeling, but in this context it's actually actions.

[00:07:24]
This context takes love and it applies it in very specific action items. And so, let's unpack that a little bit. How about leadership that is patient, you know, how much more profitable would our relationships be and our experiences be when we live and operate our leadership in patience so that we're not, you know, abrupt with our requests.

[00:07:55]
We're not abrupt with when people need more time to prepare. That doesn't mean that we don't help them and push them to reach their highest, best possible state. That doesn't mean we don't have deadlines, but that means that we operate in a way that respects their growth and maybe they're in a place, maybe a follower or even a customer or a spouse, a child, a member of your community needs just a little more grace in patience.

[00:08:25]
And of course, then there's kindness, the kind of leadership that's kind. We talk about kindness, of course, there's an inference of caring, in that model. How much more profitable if actually they've been called kindness and late and patience have been called the pillars, if you will, of love and of course I would consider them also the pillars of leadership because you don't have to be an authoritarian, condescending, belittling leader to get amazing results.

[00:08:59]
In fact, I believe that we can thrive on the kind of kindness that shows our followers, that we actually care about them and it's been said by, I think John Maxwell, people don't care what you know, until they know that you care. So, if we can exhibit patience and kindness in our leadership, just to start, just to start, I believe those are already game changers in terms of the response we get from followers and stakeholders that is a positive response to our positive behavior toward them. And I can tell you this now, that somebody listening may be saying, well, that's, you know, they'll, I'll be considered weak if I'm patient and kind. No, no, no, we're not talking about being a doormat.

[00:09:49] 
We're not talking about allowing your boundaries to be overrun or your values to be compromised, not in the least bit. In fact, you can be kind and you can still have very clear objectives and very clear boundaries that are nonnegotiable, and you can still be kind in sharing that you can be kind in telling someone that they're not a fit for your leadership.

[00:10:16]
You can be totally kind, it's just a quorum. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud. You know, your leadership, my leadership need not be envious. I know for a long time I envied others, I envied others who already reached a pinnacle of financial success already had the cool cars or the big house or the fancy vacations.

[00:10:39]
And there came a point in my life where I no longer envied them. I didn't, not because necessarily even that I was able to obtain that. I mean, I'm not a billionaire and there are those who have much greater means than I do or possibly ever will and I don't view that in an envious way anymore. I view that in a way that they've been gifted with a responsibility with that resource and what they do with it is between them and God.

[00:11:09]
And so the envy piece can dissipate, the boasting piece is not necessary. There's no need to boast because the results speak for themselves and there's no reason to be proud and we're not gonna talking about, you know, I'm proud of my employee or I'm proud of the work we do here, or I'm proud of my children or my spouse or anyone in my camp.

[00:11:34]
We're talking about the kind of pride that leads to really, destruction. You know, the Bible says that hottiness leads to, I think it's, hottiness leads to destruction probably before the fall or vice versa and humility is really what we were to clothe ourselves in as leaders. Humility is so much more profitable and then pride will ever be.

[00:11:57]
In fact, it was Jim Collins's research on leadership that he said the level five leader is a combination between this humility, personal humility and this professional will, and you also called it a fierce will. So, you can have great humility as a leader, and you can have a resolve that are married and merge in what he calls level five leadership, the very pinnacle of leadership.

[00:12:24]
That's what we're talking about here and these verses and if you wanna check 'em out, it's first Corinthians, chapter 13 versus four through 8. So, we don't need to be proud and we don't need to dishonor others, or we don't need to be rude. Who needs to be rude? All we need to do is speak with respect as leaders, because given respect received, you say, well not, everyone's gonna respect me if I give 'em respect, you know what I've had people call me all kinds of names and curse me out for God knows what? And I have not always done this, but as I've matured and matured in my emotional maturity, I've responded with humility and respect and kindness and it's amazing how people can turn from being really rude to being kind.

[00:13:18]
In fact, I had a contractor who did some work for me and cut down some trees and I noticed when I got home that one of the trees was not fully cut down. I sent a message and I said, Hey, you know, there was a tree that didn't get fully cut down and there's also some stuff laying here. I'd like to pay you after the work is finished.

[00:13:38] 
And then I put, I appreciate your work, well, my message must have come off rude because the contractor responded and said, you know, that they'll come back tomorrow and they appreciate me, but they don't really think that I appreciate them. So, I clearly offended this individual, I didn't compliment their work.

[00:13:57]
It was a very hot day and what I should have done was first acknowledged my gratitude for the work that was done and that it was, satisfactory except for that one aspect. And so I, I responded and said, I'm sorry that I've clearly offended you it wasn't my intention and then I get a response and says, I'm sorry, it's been a long day.

[00:14:21]
It's really hot and I apologize for my behavior. Now someone listening is saying, you shouldn't have to apologize. You don't have to apologize and indeed, you're absolutely right. I don't have to apologize, but if I wanna live in a way that my leadership is strong and serving, well, I have no problem apologizing for a misunderstood message that I sent.

[00:14:48] 
No problem at all, because I can walk in the humility to know that it doesn't bother me at all and it's not necessarily even weakness, in fact, it's more like meekness, you know, it's interesting. Meekness is confused with weakness, but it's described really as power under control, or as it's been said by some scholars that it's having our swords, sheathed, if you will.

[00:15:14]
And so, that means that you don't have to wield the sword because there's no real threat and so that's what we're talking about and that relationship today is so much more profitable than it would've been had I responded in anger, which is the next one. Love or leadership is not easily angered, so I don't have to lash out.

[00:15:42]
I can use calmness, I can use discernment, I can think through my next words, my decisions that I'm gonna make, so that, they are prudent and they are profitable and ultimately one of my goals is to create something that's much more valuable than all the money I could ever amass and that is relational currency, not my Bitcoins or not my virtual currency and not my mutual funds or my equity and my organizations.

[00:16:17]
It's relational currency, it's also called social capital. I think that's so much more valuable in leadership because that is the relationship piece that allows me to cash in when I need help relationally with my leadership journey. So, love is not, or leadership is not easily angered, it's not self-seeking.

[00:16:42]
We talked about this in the last couple of episodes. We're gonna talk about this a lot when we do our servant leadership series and I really strongly encourage you to listen into that. It's not self-seeking, I'm seeking the benefit of the cause and if I can elevate others through this cause, and I can decrease and I'm not magnified, but the cause is magnified.

[00:17:08]
Then we can aim for that and I get out of the way. So, that's what we're talking about. Leadership is not self-seeking, it doesn't mean that you don't take care of yourself. Absolutely take care of yourself, in fact, you must love your followers enough to take care of yourself because you need to be healthy. You need to be whole, and I'm not just talking about physical health.

[00:17:31]
We're talking about spiritual, we're talking about mental well-being and health, nothing wrong with counseling. You'll hear about this in another episode you got the gym membership, get the spiritual, get the emotional well-being as well, to be whole so that you can lead well. Self-care is essential we're gonna talk lots about how we can be whole, not only our temple but our minds and our hearts.

[00:17:58]
So, the next one is it does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. What does that mean? The kind of leadership that is truth-seeking. Look for evidence, not just claims, but evidence to support your decisions as a leader, have the kind of thinking that is solid and sharp and cuts through the lies, if you will, and seeks truth in all aspects of your leadership.

[00:18:34]
And not only that but don't tell lies, be honest. It's a matter of your character as well and great character and great competence are what Stephen Covey called The Pillars, another couple of Pillars of Trustworthiness. We'll talk about that later, too. We've got so much to cover together, this is gonna be great.

[00:18:55]
And so ultimately be a person of conviction in your good character, because you are full of truth in your leadership journey. Oh my goodness. Oh, how refreshing is that? Especially in a world of toxic cynical, cancerous leadership that is destructive and really abhorrent to us who seek to follow and lead with good character and integrity.

[00:19:30]
So that's what that means and then next leadership or leading love, loving leadership always protects. You protect what's important, protect your stakeholders, protect those who perhaps need a protector, can't protect themselves. Those who are in positions who need your help and so that's the kind of leadership that is so attractive.

[00:19:59]
Protecting leadership, you protect your vision, protect your mission, protect your values, protect your family. Whether it's your business family, your family at home, your spiritual family, and community, protect yourself, protect your heart. In fact, the Bible also says that guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

[00:20:20]
So, guarding is what protecting. So, the kind of leadership we're talking about, loving leadership, highly profitable leadership is a leadership of the Sentinel, the protector and then it always trust. What does that mean? That it always trusts. It means that it seeks out competence and character so that it can develop trusting relationships.

[00:20:44]
It doesn't mean that it's naive and easily taken advantage of no that's part of the protection, but to walk rather than walking in cynicism and skepticism, walk in the trust that you will be able to overcome your obstacles with the help of others, you will be able to thrive, you will not be acting in misery, but you'll be acting in mastery.

[00:21:10]
You will not be acting in burnout, but you will be acting in engagement and you will achieve the aiming for greatness that we call and set out to do. That's trust and then next is it hopes, hopefulness is so much better as a leader than hopelessness. Am I right? Hold on to hopefulness, because hope is an essential aspect of a greater vision.

[00:21:41]
Now, like we said before in the trailer, hope is not a strategy, but it is an essential and so the kind of leadership that's hopeful is the kind of leadership that illuminates the possibilities back to our example, several episodes ago with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s, I Have a Dream speech.

[00:22:00]
It was full of hope. We need hope, especially in a world that's dark and lonely. We need hopefulness from you leader. Give us hope and then lastly it always perseveres, love, and leadership that will stay the course. No matter what the yards are with courage, with vigor, with vitality to finish strong perseverance is an essential aspect of leadership.

[00:22:38]
It is essential and so you must persevere. You must not lay down but get back up no matter what happens, get back up. You'll be glad you did. Talk about profitable purpose, so far greater than financial gain, and guess what? Financial gain is a byproduct of all of that. Your leadership, your profitable leadership, and purpose.

[00:23:13]
I encourage you to clothe it in love so that your social capital, your relational currency, the accounts fill up so great that they overflow. That's my hope for you, my friend, that's my vision for you. I am so glad you joined me on this episode of a Call to Leadership. Go now and really start to meditate on those aspects.

[00:23:38]
Start with the beginning, spend the next week on patience and kindness in your leadership and watch how the relational currency begins to accumulate and be profitable for your relationships and your leadership as you begin to embark on a new adventure. Well, my friend, I am so thrilled that you joined me on this episode of a Call to Leadership.

[00:24:04]
And before you go to the next episode, especially if you're binge listing, take a moment. I would love to get your honest review right here on your screen. Your feedback is so important, it helps the podcast, it encourages me and it helps me. It helps me to give you more and more and more value. So, I can't wait to read your review.

[00:24:27]
I can't wait to be with you on the next episode. I'm Dr. Nate Salah. This is a Call to Leadership.