A Call To Leadership

EP292: Blessed are those who Hunger with Joe Thompson and Travis Revelle

• Dr. Nate Salah

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True leadership is not about quick wins, but about integrity, culture, and making decisions that stand the test of time. In this episode, we explore what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness in business, faith, and life. We reveal why shortcuts destroy trust and how godly leadership builds lasting impact. Tune in to discover the blueprint that can transform the way we lead.


 Key Takeaways To Listen For

  • What Jesus really meant by hungering and thirsting for righteousness
  • The Beatitudes as a blueprint for lasting leadership and influence
  • When choosing integrity over shortcuts, changes everything
  • Where greed takes entrepreneurs—and the better path forward
  • Why today’s leadership crisis needs a Beatitudes solution

Resources Mentioned In This Episode


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[00:00:00] Joe Thompson
Being honest with where you're currently sitting, not only in your business, but like in your life. Mm-hmm. As a leader, decisions you're making. The more honest you can be with that, the easier and quicker your jumpstart will be to get to the next level. 

[00:00:18] Dr. Nate Salah
We talk about integrity, we talk about doing what's right, but hungering and thirsting for it as if we haven't had a bite to eat in days. Well, that's a whole nother level. I've invited Travis Revelle and Joe Thompson back to continue our dialogue on this journey of what it means to be blessed vicarious walking in divine joy in our leadership, in business, and family and in life. In this next installment of the Journey, we're gonna key right in, and I can't wait for you to listen. I'm Dr. Nate Salah. This is A Call to Leadership, fellas. Hello. Hey. Welcome to the new setup. Feels great. I love it. On our next episode, we're gonna have a pan out, so everyone watching on YouTube will be able to see the full effect. Right now, they see, oh wow. You're not in your normal table. Right? Yeah. Good chair, which is a total departure.

[00:01:19]
 I mean, after almost 300 episodes. Yeah, we've arrived at the sofa scene. It's pretty cool. Revolving. Yes. As we evolve in terms even of how we have structured our, our programming, a lot of folks who have been with us since the beginning have certainly seen a, a shift in how we're focused. And that's by design. We have embraced a journey that says, Hey, you know, the podcast started out with. Business leadership, family leadership, life leadership, servant leadership, Jesus's model. And it was, it was more talking about the leadership and less about Jesus himself. And, you know, we made a decision last year. It said, you know, he's actually at the center of all of what we teach, so let's focus on him and outpour the teaching from that. And so it's been really exciting for me. I've been blessed by it. I've been blessed that we've been doing this together. It's so life-giving. And I'm just wanna just take a moment to thank you both for being on this journey. 

[00:02:25] Travis Revelle
Well, I appreciate it. I as well have enjoyed the transformation both from a, a sense of, of podcasting and, and, and our other business right from G3, but also personally what it's done for me. So, I welcome this evolution that we're on, on really digging the couch setting. Yeah. Yeah. It's nice. 

[00:02:49] Joe Thompson
You can't see this at at home, but I'm especially digging the ac Oh, it's, it's blowing really nice, and I appreciate the, the reating so I can be here.

[00:03:01] Dr. Nate Salah
We, we cranked it up. Joe likes it colder, so we cranked up the AC and we put 'em underneath it. It's nice. It's really gotta keep Joe happy. no doubt. Well, we've been on this, this series of what it means. As leaders to walk worthy and to walk worthy is to embrace how Jesus teaches. Here are the steps you can take to not get defeated when things happen, not get blown away when a circumstance arises. Not lose focus when the challenges are inevitable. And not only that, but to. Embrace all of these things that we would consider to be the antithesis of strong leadership. Flipping the total script on what it looks like to be an effective leader. It's game-changing type stuff. So the idea of blessings in and of itself. We've been talking about this for three episodes now, we're on number four, and if you haven't listened or watched the first three, we'll make sure it's in the show notes. Blessed of the poor in spirit, blessed of those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. And understanding how that applies in a much different way than what we've ever thought of it in our business life and our family life, and our community life, and our spiritual life.

[00:04:23]
 And the idea of blessing, just to give a recap, isn't what Jesus talked about. There's, of course, there's external blessings, right? But we think about you get a promotion, you get a great parking space, you get under the AC. All of these things are. Consider blessings like, this is wonderful fur furniture. We're blessed by that. It's a different type of blessing. Jesus says, okay, we've been talking about those kind of blessings for a long time, but what happens when you don't have those because you don't always have 'em. Right? Let's talk about your strength of character, how you get through, and not only get through, but you lead the way, pave new ways through all kinds of adversity and challenges, and reframing the entire journey of life as a leader. So he says the blessing that the, the deepest sense of joy that cannot be taken is that, which is what we say precarious. It is rooted in God's love and his grace that's poured out that if you live in that day-to-day, no matter what happens, you're unbreakable. And guess what? I wanna be that kinda leader.

[00:05:31]
 I wanna be the kinda leader that others look at Nate Salah and say. You could drop a bomb on him. Right. Pulls the other side of the pillow. So number four, there's no, no one of these that aren't in and of themselves like, oh, okay. This is a big deal. Right, right. They're all big deals. Number four, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. I know you're ready for some Greek. Righteousness is a term we've heard of, right? We know it's honoring God in how we act with integrity. We've talked about integrity on the show. It's honoring God in how we stand for justice and virtue. That's great. I wanna talk a little bit about the hunger and thirst part. I think that deserves some unpacking as we get into our conversation and, and you weigh in. The terms that Jesus uses for hunger and thirst. The word picture is dire, hunger and thirst. You know, if as if you have been going through a desert and there's nothing, you want more than one drop of water, have you ever been a situation to where you're so thirsty, you're like, I have just got to get something to drink?

[00:06:59]
Wherever. Just last night, my wife and I were, we we're, we're driving to a store and she's like, I'm thirsty. I'm so thirsty. I'm like, you want me to stop and get you something from Bergs or from the store? Wherever. Can, can it wait? Like I'm really thirsty. Like, you know, that's the thing. And it's like, that's not even, I should say a drop of, of the depth of what he's talking about. And there's stories where people have, have been lost, whether it's in the woods or in the mountains or in the desert. And, and they're so, so parched, and this is what Jesus is saying, that your hunger and thirst for what is right in the sight of God, that virtue, that honor, that praise worthy sense of the principles that you uphold, you want it so badly.

[00:07:54]
 There's nothing else that's more important at this moment because right then and there, unless you drink water or you get food, what happens to you? You die. You die. So what is he saying here? It needs to be as important to us as what? Life. Life. Yeah. That kind of like adds some context to reading that. How many times have we read the Beat Ude? You're like, oh yeah, yeah. I, I wanna do what's right. Yeah. Right, right. Of course. Just want, you know, you wanna do what's right. Yeah. Yeah. But 

[00:08:23] Travis Revelle
Now it's like, oh. It shows that it's a, it's almost a desperate need. Yeah, A desperate need. 

[00:08:29] Joe Thompson
You know, we've heard these all of our lives. Can you imagine hearing it like this for the first time? Like without the precursor of growing up Christian, you know, like you're just sitting on a hillside and this is coming at you. It's gotta be just, you can see why it was so mind blowing for the people, around them. At the time, like thirst for, for righteousness as if you're going to die without it. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's a, it's intense, intense, powerful message. 

[00:09:07] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. In our own lives. I know we've all, we've, well, maybe not as much Travis, somewhat Travis, but maybe not as much, but Joe, you and I have been unrighteous from time to time. 

[00:09:20] Joe Thompson
Yeah, I get an unrighteous feel coming from over there though. Is there some unrighteous Travis? Just.

[00:09:27] Dr. Nate Salah
I feel, I feel it. Travis is a law-abiding citizen for the most part. I mean, I. I don't know. I think there was maybe a time, maybe a time, 

[00:09:39] Joe Thompson
Maybe a time. 

[00:09:40] Dr. Nate Salah
Was there ever a time when you were unrighteous Travis among 1.3 million people? 

[00:09:44] Travis Revelle
Right? Right. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure there have been times, you know, as, as Joe says, before being holy. Right. BBH Right, right. There was, there was, there was some times right. That, that I probably, I wouldn't be proud. Mm-hmm. You know, but I don't know if it's, it's at a level where. I would be incarcerated. 

[00:10:05] Dr. Nate Salah
Okay. All right. So that makes one of us right All. So one of us in the, in this nice, beautiful plush room. Has stood in front of multiple judges, and I'm not saying that out of bragging rights at all. And you'll actually, I'm working on the book, by the way. I'm working on the book. Yeah. The, Our first installment of the series and, our first book, RA Radical Purpose and, you know, the, from the dissertation, taking that from moving to popular press on, on, on walking in, in Purpose. And I talk a little bit about that in the book of risk-taking independent spirit that I had, my whole, my whole life. Without this kind of direction, it led to a lot of really just foolish decisions in life. Right? A lot of unrighteous decisions without having the stability and the authority, and really the leadership. This is one of the reasons why I've pursued leadership so wholeheartedly my whole life, is because there was a lack of it. Yeah. That was effective in my life, and it was so necessary, so needed. I, I just longed for it. Right. Whether it's. Different stepdads, or you know, my dad being incarcerated, or you know, mom just having lots of troubles, and it's like looking for someone who I can look up to who can take me to a place that doesn't lead me to a dark, one-way road to nowhere.

[00:11:23] Travis Revelle
Because that's a lot of. What a lot of people experience. No, that's, I mean, I think, I think, you know, we, we talk about it all the time, right? Like the world needs strong leaders. You know? Hmm. And that, that doesn't necessarily come with a title. It doesn't come with a, a position in a company. Anybody can be a leader in their community and their families. Right. Like anybody can take this blueprint. I mean, the Beatitudes to me are really like, as we get into it, it's a blueprint for living a good life. Right? Like it's a blueprint that helps. If you think about it, if you have, if you are filled with Mear spirit, right? Like you're gonna have times that are depressing in your life, but I don't feel like you're going to be depressed, right? Because you have this other thing that you're focusing on. And if you take these principles and you apply them to your life, it'd be willing to bet that your life would inherently be better, right? You would be a better person, you would be a better father, a better partner, whoever you're with, right? A, a better leader.

[00:12:29]
 I think the world right, is a crazy scary place and, and maybe it's always been a crazy scary place, but we just get, with technology, we get notifications of everything that's happening all over the world. And it's always the bad stuff that's happening all over the world. But this generation, our generation to generation behind us, like this is a pivotal point in history, right? And not just biblical history, but just history. And it's going to take everyday people. To just say, you know what, enough, like we need to live life. We need to do it a little bit differently. We've done it for a long time, a certain way, and it's out of control. 

[00:13:08] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. 

[00:13:08] Travis Revelle
And I think that, you know, this is a blueprint. If nothing else, you're a better person. Right. Even if you don't change the world, right. You're changing your world, you know, and I think that that's what I'm really getting out of, out of this is just, you know, what? Jesus laid down a blueprint to live a happy, healthy, impactful life. And if five outta 10 people followed that lights this world, lights out, lights out, this world will be a completely, totally different place.

[00:13:37] Joe Thompson
You know, to touch a little on what you said about having, leaders around you growing up, you know, I'm sure in some instances there are natural born leaders. You know, people who are just prone to like make the right choices in that throughout life. But for the most part, leadership is learned. Like it's a learned behavior and you have to learn how to do it, like how to be a good leader, and going through these beatitudes like this, like this is the blueprint for being a good leader. You know, there's, there's a thousand things out there published on leadership and yada y ya. But what would be more impactful? As a leader, if you went and read like a thousand management books, or if you studied the Beatitudes and then you actually practiced them in the way that they were meant right to be practiced, like now you are molding yourself to be a leader when you keep those in mind as your decision making, because leadership is decision making, right?

[00:14:40]
 Leaders are always at the crossroads of, you know. Do I do this or do I do that? And then history decides whether they were right or wrong later on. But I think if you apply what we're learning, you know now, and going over now, if you apply that to your leadership. Decision making, it's gonna have greater wealth for you than I think any other printed material out there. You can, you could read, 

[00:15:08] Dr. Nate Salah
You talk about decision-making, and so it reminds me of responsibility. And you know, another way to say responsibility is having ability to respond, right? You have this ability to give an answer, and that is a decision, right? You've made a decision at that point. This beatitude especially is about decision-making. I mean, it's critical. Some of the beatitudes are situational, right? And it's in a certain situation I express meekness or I don't express it, right? Because it's not necessary in every single situation. But the hunger and thirst for righteousness would come up, come a lot. You know? It's not like, oh yeah, at some point it's like daily. It's happening all the time. And whether it's with our relationship with God, to see God first and crave his presence, align with his heart, not just for knowledge, but for that transformational decision-making. When it comes to our families, there's gonna be times where we may be standing alone. And the question is, do I stand for what is right in the sight of God's eyes? No matter what happens, that's happened to me. You know, you lose people. But guess what? I'd rather stay focused on God and what God wants for my life. People will come around if they choose, right? That's between them and God. Mm-hmm. Or community, let's oof. Social civic justice, right? I mean, talk about a hot topic. 

[00:16:44] Travis Revelle
Right? Right. Especially now. Right? Because I mean, you know, social justice has such a nomenclature for very specific items, and I think it's broader than just the few items that people talk about, right? Like true social justice is, is, is looking at the entire population, not segmenting certain populations. Right? But looking at everybody, I think that this one in business. Beat really applies to leadership and business, um, a lot, right? I think there's a lot that you can kind of pull out from it. Um, you know, for me, you know, if you look at, you know, hunger for righteousness in business, it really means you care about doing things the right way rather than the easy way. And I think that that's something that happens when you talk about this is something that comes up every single day, every single day. There's a decision in business that you have to make and you can choose to do it the right way, or you can choose to do it the easy way. Right. I mean, that's without a doubt, that happens every single day.

[00:17:46]
 So resist cutting corners. Mm-hmm. You know, manipulating numbers or compromising values to win a deal. I mean, how often do people look at it and say, oh man, I mean, just look. You were in the mortgage business. Oh, right. Every day. Mean, how many times did numbers get manipulated in the mortgage business so somebody could get a house? You know, I mean, just every single day this beatitude is, you have the ability to practice it. Mm. Right. You have the ability to choose to do it. 

[00:18:14] Dr. Nate Salah
It's, and, and so that's a good segue because as we talk about the business of it, and even in, you know, we're, we're business guys. What, what keeps us from doing things, I mean, cutting corners? Like what are some of the reasons why someone listening would agree and say, yeah, that's why I've cut corners? That's why I haven't done what's righteous. I mean, what are some of the, just the standout ones? I've got some on my list. 

[00:18:40] Travis Revelle
You mean why do people cut corners? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, because it's because it's, it's easy, because it's faster because they feel like they're going to get a quick result. And you know what? They might, yep. But what they're sacrificing is they're sacrificing a short-term win for long-term sustainability. 

[00:19:00] Dr. Nate Salah
Yes. And I think that some of that's shortsighted in terms of it's not, you're not thinking f far enough.

[00:19:08] Travis Revelle
You're not. 

[00:19:08] Joe Thompson
It's lack of discernment. 

[00:19:11] Dr. Nate Salah
Yes, that's right. Someone is. 

[00:19:12] Joe Thompson
Because everyone's gonna be faced with a, a situation where they're under pressure, you know? You have to hit the numbers, you're under pressure. And sometimes an opportunity comes up where if I don't practice righteousness, you know, I could maybe hit these numbers a little better, and there's a lot of pressure on you to to do that. So I see why someone might take that, you know that choice because everyone in business, sometimes you're faced with a problem where there's like. A, a bad decision and a worse decision. Mm-hmm. Right. Like the opportunity doesn't present itself to make the fully righteous decision, but you still have to discern mm-hmm. Between the, the, the, the two and kind of go with the lesser two evil. The evil, lesser evil. 

[00:20:05] Travis Revelle
Yeah. Pretty much every election I've ever voted in. No, I think, I think, I think a lot of it comes from, look, I mean, we've all, we've all run businesses, right? And there's a million things that are coming at you every single day. You wanna just make a decision and move on, right? You wanna fix a problem and move on. And I think that most entrepreneurs, right? Like they look at, all right, what's, what's the easiest solution to this problem? Because I have 15 other problems that I need to fix. You know? And so I think not taking the time right to, to really think about. I think a lot of entrepreneurs don't really have a long-term vision, right? They haven't structured themselves to say, here's where I wanna be five years from now, so here's where I need to be a year from now. Here's what I need to be doing today to hit that goal a year from now. They haven't done that work, and so they're, they're kind of just a ship at in, at sea floating around, right?

[00:20:56]
 And here comes a big wave. How do I get away from that wave? But in my life, the times. Where I have not been righteous in my decisions, and this was previously to even considering this beatitude in a business perspective. But just looking back on my life when I've, whenever I've taken a shortcut or I've tried to go for fast money, um, every time, it has been the worst case scenario for me. Afterwards, after that decision, even if, even if I would, you know what I mean? Like whatever fear I had losing a job, right? Or, or not making rent, or not being able to pay my mortgage, or not having any money coming in, right? To make a decision to go the fast route to cover myself. Years later, that decision has come back to haunt me in terrible ways, right? And, and at that point, if I would've made the right decision and something bad would've happened, I would've already rebounded, right? I would've already been. In a much better spot. But now I'm dealing with something that I, a decision that I made years ago that isn't even in my purview anymore. Right. And it, and it comes back to haunt you.

[00:22:04]
 And, and I think that that is just, that's the nature of, of, of running a business a lot of times is you're just, you're in survival mode so much that you're just trying to survive. Right. And what God is telling us here is that, and it goes back to another right. Have faith, you know what I mean? Like have faith that if you make the right decision, even if in the short term it ends up being wrong in the long term, you have to have faith that you're going to be okay. He's going to make it right. But a lot of people. Right. Like, I mean, it goes back to what we say. They, they want the control, right? Because they're the entrepreneur. So they're, they're not gonna give up control. They're not gonna be meek, right? They're not gonna have a lot of discernment because it's just rapid fire. How do I fix, how do I put this fire out and move forward? How do I make this dollar and move forward? And that doesn't lead to long-term sustainable growth in a business. And as that individual, it does not lead to a healthy, long-term happy life either. 

[00:23:07] Dr. Nate Salah
Or someone that's gonna be followed long term, either. I mean, eventually the cards will fall. The dominoes will fall. Like, I mean, just go down a list of every, you know, major story on that you see about a Bernie Madoff or somebody else who's Enron exactly. On list, Tyco, WorldCom, I mean. Right. We have Sarbanes-Oxley now. Yeah. Just because of that. Big words, right? Just for all of these leaders who are like, okay, shortcut it. Let's make some quick cash. Who cares about integrity? Who cares about doing what's virtuous? Let's just scam people. I used to watch American Greed all the time. Mm-hmm. And way back in the day, and I've concluded that many of those situations on that program, greed is a disease.

[00:23:49]
 It is a disease that people cannot. They almost like it just takes over their lives and because people have money. It's not even just about them.

[00:23:58]
 Hey friend, it's your friend, Dr. Nate Salah, and I wanna personally invite you to something that's been on my heart for a long time. On October 3rd in St. Louis, we're gathering a room full of faith-driven leaders, entrepreneurs, professionals, lifelong learners at our inaugural G3 Summit. It's not just another business of event. N. It's a sacred space where we lay down the pressure, the performance, the pursuit of empty success. We step into a calling that's aligned with God's best for us. I believe you were created to lead with purpose, to give from overflow, go love radically in your home, your business, and your community. That's what G3 is all about. Grow purposefully, give. Go love radically if you've been longing for deeper meaning in your leadership. If you're ready to consecrate your influence to something eternal, and this summit was designed just for you, you can visit us at my G3 summit.com. Reserve your spot today and I cannot wait to see you there.

[00:25:18]
 It's like alcoholism. Yeah. Right? Like greed is, is like you said, it's, it's, it's, it's one of those things, and we talk about it in G3, right? Like, you try to fill yourself with everything worldly, you know? And, and part of it, like a part of it. I think, think a lot of those guys, and, and I've been around a lot of guys like that, right? Like it's the scoreboard of their life is their bank account, right? And how much money they have, and whether they have a hundred million or they have 10 billion. It doesn't matter, right? Like they just want more because that's all they know how, that's the only, that's the only way they can satisfy themselves and feel good about themselves is by having more and more and more and metric.

[00:25:54] Dr. Nate Salah
It's their number one metric, right? And so we talk about metrics and so for us, in our community especially, with, you know, there's one metric in G3 for one, one, just one metric. And it's, it's one sentence. It's just one sentence in everyone who. Is, committed to following. Christ knows the sentence because they've either heard it or they've read it, and it speaks to them. And the only metrics that matters, the only sentence that matters is well done, good and faithful servant. That's it. And if that's the only metric that matters, the next question is what are the steps that I take? To get to the well done, good and faithful servant, and one of the critical ones is walking in Godly integrity and virtue and righteousness, and I can't help but to believe that God will honor the second part of that when we do for they will be filled, they'll be satisfied. We'll be satisfied, and that is the satisfaction that it you'll never thirst again, is what Jesus says. You won't thirst after all that cash or all those accolades or all of those things that you thought were going to quench your thirst, but all it does is leave you thirstier and thirstier and thirstier.

[00:27:20] Joe Thompson
I'd like to talk a little bit about the entrepreneurial mindset in the beginning. We're talking about big decision-making here. Mm-hmm. But let's think about like when, when we started. So, like if you started with a service or a widget or whatever, and you are just starting, you're only thinking of one thing. Will people buy this? How do I sell this? Right? You one show in the beginning, right? One guy and you got your, your your thing when you're trying to sell it, and that's all you're focused on. Right. And at some point, as it's selling and as you're growing and as you're bringing in other people, you have to start implementing like the right thing to do. Because it's easy at that point, you're gonna drift one way or the other. And I think it becomes habitual, almost like if you'd have a quick game on a bad decision. You're gonna make that bad decision over and over again. Right. And it's hard to discern between what's best for my business in the beginning.

[00:28:33]
 Right? Because you're just like, man, I just hope people buy this thing. And then once it starts growing and and you're selling it, now you're gonna be faced with bigger and bigger decisions. 'cause as your company grows and you add people to it. You're now making decisions for individuals that are around you, like your decisions are gonna affect them, and I think starting out entrepreneurs, this will lay a foundation for them. G3 can lay a foundation for you as a early entrepreneur to make those right decisions now that are gonna last you and build. A top quality business in the end, instead of always having to feel like, we just need to sell this, we just need to sell this, because it's a mindset we all get in, and as you sell and sell and sell, greed can set in. You're like, well, man, I'll just rinse and repeat and just keep doing this over and over. But there comes a time where you have to consider what kind of leader am I going to be? Because when you first start out, you're leading nothing, right? You're leading a dream. You just hope it gets done. Um, as you grow though, it's important to develop those leadership skills.

[00:29:49]
 And where do you go for that? Like if someone said, Hey, Travis. Yeah. Go out and learn to be a leader. Right? And these are the resources you have now. Mm-hmm. G3 is nowhere to be seen, right? You're gonna dive in the books, you're gonna look at, you know, even if you go that route of I want to follow Christ, and you look at those things, no one. Is gonna challenge you to be holy, the one thing. Right. Right, right. No one's gonna do that. No book's gonna open with that because, or be righteous, right? Yeah, yeah. No one is gonna say, Hey, start making business decisions based off the concept of these beatitudes. Nowhere is that gonna be found. Right? Right. So I think the, our goal in helping to build better leaders and trying to always be better, I'm always trying to improve my own leadership. Skills. If I'm teaching someone about a leadership process, they know that like I'm working on it, mm-hmm. As well. And I think that should be something very attractive to someone just, just starting out. You know, I think I work a lot of young entrepreneurs and I, I see 'em just starting out, and I remember that feeling of like angst and like, gotta get this done and, but you get a sense of relief when you're like, oh, you know what? I can implement meekness when I need it. I can implement, you know, morning when I need it. And this is just another tool in the. And there'd be attitude bells of, of tools that now it's. 

[00:31:26] Dr. Nate Salah
You know, you search for righteousness, and it's a culture. It's a culture. Like in business you're describing a culture that's being created. Mm-hmm. And we as leaders, we start the culture, we set the tone, we lay the foundation for our organizations, what that culture is. And so everyone is watching us, not only what we say, but of course, just as importantly, if not more what we do. To get that culture fired up because eventually the culture begins to have a presence and an identity of itself, and it eventually can outgrow you, and so it should outgrow you. Yes. And so that said, like a child, you better set it up, right?

[00:32:08] Travis Revelle
Listen, in one of my other companies, I mean over 500 employees, right? 35 states. Our tagline for our company is culture is everything. Like that is our tagline. It is on every piece of merch that we do, it is every single employee that comes on. It is, I don't wanna say beat into them, but like the culture is everything. And how you start it is, I'm gonna tell you something. It is almost impossible. If you're in a company two, three years in to try to change the culture that had already been created, it is almost impossible unless you literally let go of everybody and hire new people, because people will always hold on to whatever their first experience is with that organization. So when it comes to culture, this is something from a business standpoint. That is right next to, do you have a product that can sell? Right? Do you have something that is needed in the marketplace directly underneath that is build a culture in your organization that's driving everybody towards what that goal is and to do it in a healthy, supportive, I mean, the culture in our company was not based on the Beatitudes, but as I'm sitting here going through this, there's so much that we just incorporated because.

[00:33:32]
 It was the right thing to do. Right? Like this culture that we have in, in one of my companies like this is, this is very similar to this, right? And what was interesting is we have a, a new market that's opening and, one store. It's hard when you're, when you've got multiple stores across the country and, and you're kind of, you need to transplant that culture into a new area, right? People are different in different parts of the country, but I'm in the store, it's been open for three months now. My number one takeaway. The store's doing great. It's profitable. People are great, everything but the number one thing I took back to my partners is they've got the culture like it is there, like it's as alive, there it is as it is anywhere. And that that's one of the things I'm most proud about. And so when you're talking about a new entrepreneur and utilizing this, this is lights out. This is a no-brainer, right? This is, creating culture is paramount to your success. Understanding what your culture is is usually the problems that people have because they've never done that before, right?

[00:34:28]
 Single entrepreneur, you're selling something. I'm sure you've worked for companies before you, you know what felt right in a company. You know what felt bad in a company, but you don't have an overall vision of what your culture and your organization should be. I mean, it takes, takes a lot of maturity in business to understand the nuances of that. How we're hiring people, how we're onboarding people, like all these things matter. You follow these, you've got a great culture. At the end of the day, your company may be mediocre, but you're going to have people who want to work for you. You're gonna have people who will die for you. You know what I mean? Like, they will lay it on the line for you. Like they'll, they'll be, you know, they'll be there for you in the trenches. And that's, I'll take that over. An unbelievable product in a terrible culture, in an organization. Culture is everything. 

[00:35:16] Dr. Nate Salah
You know what's fascinating as you're saying all that, it just reminds me also of the, you just talked about short-term, long-term wins and things like that where, you know, you're talking about the different aspects of it and how all of these pieces that we're talking about, the righteousness that you know when you're, when you're, when integrity thrives, where, where ethics are protected, where truth is celebrated in organization because of your commitment to it. It's game changer in all the relationships and your team members and your clients, and it changes the dynamic of how everything functions. Doesn't mean you're not gonna make mistakes, doesn't mean you're not gonna make mistakes, but what happens when you do? I just had a recent situation with a client, long-term client, and a couple team members had some hiccups and there was some just, it was messy and complex and there was some issues on our end. I communicate with a client, they know my stance on these principles, and I know their character as well. And I said, look, you tell me whatever it is that you want. Hold on, let's going out on a limp. Yeah, absolutely. Even what client said, no, you pray about it. Whatever it is that you do, I'll accept it as fair, and I won't say a word. I mean, I was floored. I was like. 

[00:36:44] Travis Revelle
Okay, I also put the pressure back on you though a true, true story, 

[00:36:47] Dr. Nate Salah
Right? True story. And I said, I'll do that. And so here's what happened. Here's what happened. Of course, as as much fairness as I could go over the situation and say, okay, what's a dollar value of making this make sense for everyone? And then after I come up with that, lay it at God's feet. And even on this morning. And I told, and the client was like, just don't know. No timelines, just whenever. Just let me know. And so I was driving in and I said, Lord, I just want to hear from you with this number. I'm not gonna say anything. I'm not gonna do anything until it's confirmed through. Whatever means. Maybe there's, you'll illuminate me to some other piece to this experience, discernment, wisdom. So that I can walk in your character and represent you and your righteousness as if it was the last drop of water I had. Like it's a whole nother level. Mm-hmm. Like, and it's something that I've been growing in, right?

[00:37:51]
 We're all growing in this. If you're listening. None of us have arrived. This isn't like, Hey, you know, not destination. Yeah. It's an orientation. Yeah. It's not a destination. At the same time, man, it's so incredibly liberating because I used to be a hustler. Mm-hmm. I used to, I, I gotta get mine. You know, I grew up in the nineties, right. The old rap era, all that, you know, you gotta get yours, I gotta get mine. Yeah. Right. I grew up in all of that and that, I thought that's what it was about. I thought it had to be about, Hey, I gotta make money. Cut corners, do stuff illegal, whatever I gotta do. It's like, oh, well that doesn't lead me to where I really want and need to go. And now I got the infinite game. That's a short game. I don't wanna call it the long game. It's the infinite game. We're playing the infinite game now, fellas. 

[00:38:38] Joe Thompson
But look at the message you were getting as a young person, like that was the message you got as a young person. Can you imagine if there was a resource to give you a message? Like this when you're a young, when you're a young person. 

[00:38:54] Dr. Nate Salah
So you are saying go to growgivego.com and, and get that message. I don't want to be flagrant about it. 

[00:39:04] Joe Thompson
But if you're listening to this, you're looking for something, right. And you're looking for something that I think we've found and now we're trying to share that right. The, the message you get as a young person, or not even a young entrepreneur, just a young person, like look at how, music in that affects hundred percent culture and politics affect culture, and it's hard to find the right message in there. The weird thing is, is that this was delivered to us over 2000 years ago. Right, right. It's not new and yeah, it is not, it's not new, but it's forgotten. It's forgotten and it's no longer understood. Needs to be fresh and, and there's no growth in leadership anywhere. You don't look around and go, oh my gosh, look at all these leaders. Great leaders sprouting up everywhere, bro. Christ. It's not happening. Leadership, 

[00:39:50] Dr. Nate Salah
This is all I heard for the last 20 years of leadership research that I did. It's the number one conversation in leadership circles, whether the scholar, scholarly or or non-academic. It's a crisis of leadership and it's around us everywhere. Everywhere like this is, that could be a whole series, not, not that.

[00:40:09] Joe Thompson
And that was really our original. Thought about this whole thing was crisis of leadership. Like, yeah, how do we help? Mm-hmm. Right. Where do we, where do we stand in the gap? Like even the early podcasts that we all were on. Mm-hmm. We talked about, you know, leadership, how important that was. Right? Yeah. Leadership. Now we're delivering that message of, okay, hey, here, here's the leadership to follow. This is, this is the blueprint for good leadership. 

[00:40:36] Dr. Nate Salah
Travis. If someone listening is like, okay, I've not always been. Stood in integrity and righteousness, but what you're saying is compelling and my business needs it. Where do I start? Because we've got a lot of, we've got a lot of stuff in my business that we've been doing dirty. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

[00:40:59] Travis Revelle
No, I think, I think the first place it starts always is, is with that person, right? That person who says, listen, my company. It's your company, right? So the first thing you've gotta do is you've gotta take a really hard self inventory, a self checklist, and you've gotta say, you know, you gotta be honest with yourself. Like nobody else is gonna hear it. But you gotta, you gotta be honest with yourself. You've gotta, you've gotta understand where you are to understand where you need to go, right? You can't start a plan unless you're real honest about where you currently sit. And then it is fairly simple. There are, we have gone over four so far. A few more left to go, follow along, implement it. Start with the first one. But the thing is, is Rome wasn't built in a day. You're not gonna change your culture. You're not gonna change your business in a day, but what you can do is the next decision that you make for your company. Think about how do I make it in alignment with Jesus's vision and Jesus's blueprint. And then the next decision, do the same thing, and the next decision do the same thing. And you will start to build a habit of using this as a guidepost in the decisions that you make. Yeah. But the first step is self inventory. Where, where am I lacking? That's where people have the hardest problems. You know what I mean? Absolutely. Like really being honest with themselves. 

[00:42:23] Joe Thompson
That is absolutely true. Like you nailed it. Being honest with yourself. I can't tell you how many times I've been called in for consulting and we go around the table and everybody tells me how great they're doing. Then why am I here? Exactly. Why are you hiring a consultant? We've, we've talked about it before, being honest with where you're currently sitting, not only in your business, but like in your life. Mm-hmm. As a leader, decisions you're making, the more honest you can be with that. The easier and quicker your jumpstart will be to get to the next level. 

[00:42:59] Travis Revelle
And I think again, it comes back to fear. People are afraid to be honest with themselves, right? Because they're gonna be depressed. But it's not, it shouldn't be depressing because just because that's who you are today doesn't mean that's who you're gonna be tomorrow, right? But you have to understand who you are today so that you can be a better person tomorrow.

[00:43:18] Joe Thompson
And we'll draw the honesty out of people around you too. 

[00:43:21] Dr. Nate Salah
Yes. 

[00:43:22] Joe Thompson
Because everybody's kind of wearing a, a mask, you know, especially at work. Mm-hmm. Right. But like, if you're just raw and open about your life, your feelings, what you've been through, that employee or coworker, whoever, they'll do the same thing. Yeah. Because now they're in a safe place. 

[00:43:35] Travis Revelle
You know, I've got, I'm got another little tip. The one, the other thing that, that you could do as a leader, right? Like walk into your company, have an all hands meeting. Stand up there and say, we haven't been doing business the right way. I don't feel good about how we've been doing business, and I want to do it better. Here's what I haven't done Well, as a leader, right, throw yourself out there. And I guarantee when you go around the room, everybody's gonna feel more comfortable with saying, well, here's the things that I see, right? Here's the things that I see that our company is doing and not doing. But I think it it, it's gonna start with that, that individual who's listening to this right now, who needs to just pull over, stop, flip down the mirror. Take a look at themselves and just have a very honest self-assessment on where they currently sit to understand what they need to change to be the person they really want to be. 

[00:44:27] Dr. Nate Salah
You know, you just mentioned the first two Beatitudes in summary, really, and it's a lot of, I mean, it's what we've been talking about, right? Blessed of the poor and spirit. Start with a little bit of humility and dependence, right? And say, okay, you know what? Look in the mirror. I don't have it all figured out. It's okay. Right. And then the next step is, is sharing and saying, look, we don't have it all together. Let's find out. I, and you watch all these shows, you've seen all the reality shows on like when people come into companies and mm-hmm. It's a lot of the first steps, right? It's a lot of the first steps, like, let's break it down, guys. Mm-hmm. Let's break it down. Where are weak spots, right? So that we can shore 'em up and figure out where we need interdependence. Hello. All right. Because we're not islands, you know, we're halfway there. The next one is going to be one of my favorites that Mr. Miyagi, penned wax on, wax on messy spoil the week, but right blessed of the merciful. I can't wait to jump into that mercy more than sympathy. And, what it means in our lives as leaders to exert the highest level of grace and compassion that's been bestowed already on us, and the release and the joy, and of course, the worthiness. We find in leadership. We did it our first episode on the new sofas. It was nice. Nice. Did you get enough AC, bro?

[00:46:00] Joe Thompson
Oh, it's nice. No complaints. All right, nice and cool. It's freezing in here.

[00:46:04] Dr. Nate Salah
We did it. Again, thank you so much for being a part of our program. We thank you, and we couldn't do it without you. If you've been blessed by this show, we would just ask that you give us an unfiltered review and share with the world how God is speaking to you through A Call to Leadership. You can do it on Apple or any of the podcast platforms, A Call to Leadership, and we thank you again. God bless you.

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