Ep.039: Leadership at Christmas

As the year winds down, this episode focuses on how leaders can slow the pace, close the year with clarity, and set themselves up for a healthier start to what’s next. In this season three finale, we talk about presence, gratitude, and intentional reflection, not as concepts, but as leadership practices that actually shape culture and momentum.

We share lessons from a demanding holiday season, including church Christmas services and large scale events, and what they revealed about capacity, team care, and sustainable leadership. The conversation covers why presence is one of the most valuable things a leader can give, how to run a simple but effective year in review, and practical ways to make gratitude visible across teams, vendors, and partners.

You’ll also hear about rhythms that protect people long term, including giving serve teams real rest, creating space for silence, and setting focused goals that restore energy instead of draining it. We talk about batching work before time off, identifying what needs to stop, and guarding creative capacity so clarity and joy can return.

This episode is for leaders who want to close the year well, honor the people who carried the load, and step into January with direction instead of burnout. It’s a practical conversation about leadership, culture, growth, and building a pace that lasts.

We’ll be back January 26 with a refreshed season and new conversations.

Transcript

Season Finale And Holiday Greetings

SPEAKER_00 0:14

All right, Benji, we're back for our final episode of season three. We have made it to episode thirty-nine.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Let's go. With me, I tell you, it's it's uh we've got some really cool stuff coming up. You're gonna talk about that a little bit later, but man, that I'm just so excited and for what this year has brought to Team Wilson. Um, you know, from a survey pro perspective, but I would be remiss, Adam, if I didn't tell our listeners this is the Merry Christmas episode, and we wanted to tell you all Merry Christmas from us here at Higher Up. You know, if you're I know some of you are probably driving through the snow right now. I talked to a buddy of mine and he's up in the northeast, and he's like, Man, we've had 20 something inches of snow. And we all know if that happened down here, our city would be shut down in the world. It's cold in here.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

I'm surprised it hasn't yet. I know. I'm like, hey, we actually have my girls not dressing up. Like they want to wear shorts and short sleeves. And I'm like, y'all. Oh my gosh, it's 35 degrees outside.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

That's sick material right there. But no, if you if you're driving through the snow, you're just wrapping up some different projects you might have for the end of the year, or soaking up some silence. Maybe you're in the mountains right now, and you just want to have some fresh time to just think and reflect. We just want to say thank you because you guys have showed up this year, and that's what matters to us. And uh, Merry Christmas from us and and all of us here at Higher Up. It takes us a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes people don't see. But um, today's episode, Adam, we're gonna talk about just a Merry Christmas and how to have a clearer vision because leaders sometimes at year end they do want to sit, they do want to reflect and and just kind of reflect back on the year that they've had. But more importantly, we've talked about a couple times strategic planning. What can we do to plan for next year? So it's gonna be fun.

Season 4 Plans And Release Break

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Before we jump into today, I'm excited. We always enjoy, you know, the Christmas episode. Uh, again, I'm sorry, everybody. Brady's just he's running wild. He's running busy. He's running the business, he's got some things um he he wasn't able to do uh today. So we we decided, hey, we're gonna knock this out um and kind of do this last one. Couple housekeeping for you listeners. Yeah. Uh just to kind of let you know, right now we're getting ready. So this is our final episode, obviously, of season three. Um, episode 40 will be the launch of season four. Um, and we're excited because there's a lot of big changes. I don't want to get into too much. I don't want to give it away. I know Benji kind of mentioned some of that, but just so you guys know, we're gonna take a break uh from releasing episodes. Uh when this one releases, it'll be our last one until uh uh January 26th, I believe. Yeah, so um that's that that last Monday in January. Um you're gonna want to tune in. Hey, if you if you listen to us, which I know a majority of our people are, they listen to us more than watch, which I get that you know it's a podcast. Um, but you definitely want to check us out on YouTube. We've got some really cool things that we're working on. Um, you're gonna see a change in how the show looks, you're seeing a change in how it feels. Um, something we've probably since the beginning, we've said we wanted to do and have just never had the time or the means to do it. Yeah, but we do now, and it's gonna be good. Uh, I'm excited about the update. So, hey, enjoy, you know, about three or four weeks off from us, January 26th. We're back. Um, we'll still be having some stuff here and there on on social media. Obviously, you know, we always try to drop, you know, three to four reels from the episode so that you guys can kind of see and see what's going on. So, man, we'll be around. So it'll be fun. We're excited. It's gonna be a big year, big year. So gonna be great for sure. Let's jump in. So we've got we've got our Christmas. You know, this one thing you and I talked about. It's end of the year, you know, you kind of you kind of hit get to this point. Um, I know for us at the church, by the time this episode releases, we'll have had our Christmas experience.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Benji, you guys have a lot going on at the church. You'll have your first Christmas Eve service ever.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Yeah, ever. Yeah, yeah.

Creative Life At Christmas

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Which is which is really cool. So obviously, um, you know, for Benji and I as church creatives, and Benji's a worship pastor, like we're nonstop getting ready. So uh man, I'll tell you what. It's funny before we jump into to talking about our topics. I I feel bad, but somebody asked me one time like what it's like to be a church creative or just in worship meeting. I was like, I'm gonna be honest with you, this sounds bad. I'm not a fan of Christmas, and sometimes I'm not a fan of Easter because it's we go grindstop, grind. Obviously, it's the biggest time of the year at the church. Um, but man, I'm excited. We put a lot of work in. I know you guys are putting a lot of work into your Christmas Eve service. Um, so that's why it's good to kind of sit and reflect uh for a moment because I I feel like these couple last weeks of the year, you know, I'm trying to book a couple less jobs, a couple more jobs. I'm trying to, you know, pad the stats a little bit on you know the yearly income, trying to get a couple more projects in before the end of the year, maybe make another purchase or two just for public purposes. So you never know. So you never know. So, but um, so let's jump into today. So obviously it's Merry Christmas. We're getting ready to kind of talk about that. So, Benji, this is always your favorite episode because I always say you have an unhealthy addiction to Christmas. Oh, absolutely. It is posting about Christmas since I think May.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

No, we start Christmas in July.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

I mean, it's you know you start posting about it in May. I always see these little stories on your Instagram where it's like it's this many down the day Christmas.

Favorite Memories And First Responders

SPEAKER_02 5:35

That's because Christmas is the most wonderful time of year, and you have to know that pe people don't really understand, you know, in a business sense, like you said, it is a very busy time. It is a time of reflection. We talked about that. But here we we want to just unwrap a couple things for you leaders in business, okay? Yeah, you do have people, honor those people who've made this year for you to prepare to be stronger, you know, give you a clearer vision as you move into the future. Um, this is your moment, leaders, our moment to lead with heart, clarity, and hope. And Adam, just just from a uh a little fun here, what is what was your most favorite Christmas memory as a creator? Oh man, as a creator. Uh see, I think you're a curveball.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Yeah, because it's like, man, we did a bunch of stuff um with you guys, and then man, I I would probably say in terms of just content creation, what was it a few years ago? Man, we had like we had the team rolling. Remember, we were doing like Surpo Live. I remember we had this like big Christmas episode that we planned about. We did Facebook Live all the time, or we called it Surpo Live. Yeah. Um but man, I remember we got to do that. We had some agents on, some guests. Um, it was a show that we had kind of planned. I mean, yeah, it was like 15, 20 minutes, but Brandon Fennell and and you were on that uh that show, and I remember the two of you used to kind of lead it. Um but man, I just remember that was a ton of fun. Uh we had Jordan Williams was working with us, and it was like we had all these Christmas trees on set, and we had all this crazy stuff. But that season was so busy and it was cool because I remember we had this end of the year. Um, like uh we had an end of the year thing that we went with with Team Wilson where we showed everybody, man, we had the Birmingham Bowl, we had Christmas parties, we had Surpro Live, we had um at the time it was like the scooters Frisco Bowl or whatever it is. It's just it always changes. But we had the Frisco Bowl, we honor responders. Man, I I think that that February or that December, man, we went nonstop. Yeah. Like it was it was so much. It was great. We filmed a whole lot of content. That was the year Auburn played in the Birmingham Bowl.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

Yep, I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

And though they decided to turn it down this year, and now we've got these two teams in the Birmingham Bowl that absolutely decided.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

At least they weren't Notre Dame 10 and 2 and turn it down.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

I know. Uh Will and I from um from our Birmingham team, we're we're he had text him and I was like, so I saw Auburn and FSU turn down a bowl bid. So I was like, and he was like, dude, this this is gonna be a rough game. But we're going, we're gonna honor a responder. We've been doing it for you know six years, seven years now. Um but man, I just remember that. That was a ton of fun. It was a busy year. Man, we still have that video. Uh Jordan Williams, when he's working with us, did a great job editing the video, and he just put everything. I remember you said, Hey, can we just put like a collage of everything we've done this to show the team? It was a lot, it was a lot, but man, it was fun.

Presence Over Presents For Teams

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Yeah, I tell you, one of my most favorite memories of the Christmas season is uh from the creative standpoint is watching you guys at the at the um Birmingham Bowl, you know, Frisco Bowl, take all the photos and images and and actually giving thanks to our first responders because man, those guys and girls out there, they do so much behind the scenes to help protect, lead, keep us safe, and they're there in time of trouble uh to help us. So here's the thing, leaders, if you as we move into the end of this year, the best gift that you can give your team this season is your presence. Now, I'm gonna spell that P-R-E-S-E-N-C-E, not just presence. That's right, not with a T S. Don't rush it. Year end tends to get chaotic. We got deadlines, we got Christmas parties, we have pressure. Great leaders use their team and reflect on what worked, what surprised us, what grew, what challenges that we have that we might want to overcome. And maybe, maybe you need to do a year in review to huddle with your team. We just did this with our team for strategic planning for 2026. We spent uh, I think it was a total of 12, no, excuse me, 14 man hours over two days with a team of about 10 of us to figure out what things we need to do to get better as we move into 2026. It's a it's an opportunity for you, but don't just have the metrics create the moments with them, right? Don't make it all about numbers. You have to do those things, right? As a business owner, business leader. If you don't slow down to celebrate, your team will speed up toward burnout. So we have to celebrate everybody, right? We're we're doing our Christmas parties with our teams across all of our locations uh right now. And you know, so it's just a great time to sit back and reflect.

Reflect, Celebrate, And Avoid Burnout

SPEAKER_00 10:21

So yeah, it's a good time of year to look at those things and um, you know, just look at what you've done for the year and you know, where we can go next. One of the things that we've kind of talked about um at the church, our our big thing um for this year in 2026, Pastor Jeremy, is like our our theme is like dream again. And so he's talking um about what it's like to dream what we're doing. We're doing a lot of big things at the church. So, but we also took a moment and reflect what was fun is we got to get out of the church this year. We went and rented a studio downtown. Um, we got to sit with um with uh Pastor Jeremy and Pastor Noah, and the last Sunday of every year, we we give everybody the day off. Like everybody, we don't have church the last Sunday of the year. They call it the end of the year digital service. People can stay home watching their PJs, it'd be a lot of fun. We recorded our worship down downtown. We did a cool worship set and we recorded with them. And it was just kind of cool to listen to everything that um that we did this year, you know. And it was good to reflect with us and look back and to show we sharing that with the church. Like, this is the biggest year we've had. We have more student events, more kids in our program, more people baptized, and you know, and a lot of that stuff. And so it's just been kind of cool to see, and and like you said, Benji, sometimes it's just good just to reflect whether you had a great year or you didn't look at the things that you did and did well. I mean, yes, you you definitely need to say, all right, here's where we fell short. You know, why did we fall short? What do we do? And you know, but there's there's healthy ways to look at that and figure out, all right, you know, I don't I don't want to look at it as we fell short, we didn't do it, but okay, we didn't hit the mark, but how do we hit the mark next year? Yeah. We improve. And so I think sometimes it's those, and then just to to honor those that you like you said, that made it happen. Because without those people, without that extra work, um, you know, there's a lot of things that people don't don't get to see. It's like everybody always sees the final product, but they never see everything else.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

Yeah, this is again to your point. If you don't take the time to go back and reflect on your people and your team and such, uh, it's a big deal. Here's another one. Honor the people who made it happen. Okay. Maybe it's a shout-out to your staff, your volunteers. Maybe it's your vendors. Look, maybe it's even tough customers who have helped you grow. Maybe it's maybe it's that. Maybe you come up with some creative ideas, right? Um, what if it's a year-in hall of thanks email? Or what about this one? What about a funny category? Uh Adam, you probably wouldn't do this like me. Most likely to answer emails at midnight.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

That is not me. No, that is me. That is me. I'm uh you don't have do not disturb on? I do, but man, I I, you know, sometimes I get my best work done in the morning. What's funny is sometimes I get my best work done in the morning when I'm sitting at the gym at 410 for it to open. And I'm like, hey, you know, I try not to send text, but I'm like, hey, sorry, I missed you last night, but well, think about this.

Rest, Silence, And Replenishing Goals

SPEAKER_02 13:20

Just again, that little thanks. Gratitude is is the wrapping paper. This is how we tie it to Christmas that holds our culture together, okay. Next, reset before you restart. All right, talk about the value of silence with your team. Maybe it's a Sabbath, like you said, with your team. Maybe it's just unplugging and getting away from the noise. We had a thing at our strategic planning this last year called the signal or the noise. How do we remove some of the noise and keep the signal moving us forward? If you are resting, give your team permission to rest. Okay. And I know it may be difficult in this. We're in a business where it's 24-7, 365, but you know, make sure that you, if you're resting, give your team permission to rest. It's it goes a long way. Yeah. Um, and and as you get into the new year, set one to two replenishing goals over the holidays. Now, we like to say keep it and wrap it around your strategic plan. That that's important, but you can't lead with clarity if you never stop to clear your mind. That that is important. You have to stop and clear your mind. Uh, and I know sometimes I'm guilty of this that we just get caught up and I got to get the next thing done. I got to get the next task off my list. I got to get the next, you know, you you you understand. It's like it never stops. So I'll tell you this what I've started doing is when I know that I'm gonna be gone for a couple of days or a week on vacation or whatever, by the way, as a business owner, we are never on vacation, just so everybody's clear out there. But I'll tell you what I've started doing. I have started doing my level best to get everything that I possibly can. I double stack up in a week so that the week that I am out, if I have a call, yeah, I get that. But I can at least try to relax some. I can try to reflect some, I can rest some, I can take and clear my mind because it's so, so, so important.

Online-Only Service And Volunteer Care

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Yeah. Yeah, that's what um that's one of the reasons like for us when we do um the end of the year service. I mean, there's a lot of people out there be like, I can't believe y'all don't have church on a Sunday. And I'm like, Yeah, but I mean, biblically, you know, the church is just a building. We still have church. But I mean, one of the things Pastor Jeremy's always said is that look, our our people serve their hearts out. I mean, for sure. I mean, yeah, we've got like 10 or 12 people on staff, but that's it. But we have a church of like six to seven hundred. So for all this stuff to go on, it depends on our serve team. And so one of the reasons we do the end of the year worship service online only is to say, hey, you know what? It's the Sunday during during, you know, Sunday during uh Christmas and New Year's. Look, you got family, you got to. We don't want you to worry about serving. We don't want you to worry about having to get the kids up and be here at church and do this. Get up late, make some coffee, watch it online. Watch it online, you know, hey, get on, interact, have fun, and then you're done. And then go do your day, go enjoy. It, you know, it's the one time of year where it's like nothing's planned, nothing's going on, you don't have sports, you don't have something, you know. And so we we try to look at that as a way too to say, hey, we don't we don't want to toss church in the middle of this. And it's not a way for us to yeah, we don't want anybody to think, oh, well, you know, we're not trying to, you know, take God out of things. Just what we want to do is, man, just honor our team. Say, hey, you know what? Take a Sunday. Everybody take a Sunday and joy. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna celebrate the year, we're gonna celebrate everything God's done, and we're gonna relook, we're gonna kind of look over why we did this year and where if we're successful and where we're going in 2026 and what our what our goals are and what we're gonna do. Because I know for us and you guys are the same way, man, you get back from you get to the new year, 21 days of prayer, you got all this stuff. Like you go, it it's it's something wow. We were in staircaning yesterday, and Pastor Jeremy said, Look, guys, enjoy the time off. Do not do anything, don't have anything. He said, When we leave, um, so we're we'll get to be off for uh uh you know for about seven or eight days. He said, Look, you don't do anything, be done, enjoy it. Because he's like, Hey, when we get back that first Sunday in January, it we hit the ground running, yeah. Like ready to go, especially for us as creatives. Not only is it 21 days of prayer, yeah, we got Easter around the corner. Easter's coming up quick, and it's like, man, you got to get ready. So I think sometimes it's good. I know for me, um, I got a couple projects out there. Uh, I'm pretty excited. My good buddy Mac Davenport finishing up the last little bit of stuff for him. We filmed a ton of videos. Um, and you know, I told him and his wife, I was like, my goal is to get this before Christmas because when I go home uh uh on that day on that last day before we're done when the church closes, I don't want to work on nothing. Like I don't want to work on anything, I don't want to do anything. If I work on something, I want it to be for me and I want it to be something that I'm doing because I want to have fun. And honestly, Benji, I just want to sit around and play video games for a while, too. I wish I I wish I knew how to play video games again. You know, decompress, spend some time with Emily and the girls and and hang out. She's gonna get some time off. Um, you know, maybe take them somewhere, do something. You know, we've talked about taking a trip uh for a day or two, you know, just doing something. But I it's that it's that rest, man. Like yeah, it's it's like how do you reset and how do you get that where you just feel fill up, you know, they taught they call it the law of the lid. Oh, yeah. You if you you know, you can only hold so much and you can't keep pushing past that. And when you do, it's gonna burn you out. Whether you're an owner, whether you're creative, whether you're just an employee that listens to this, if you're if you're doing something where you have built yourself to capacity, you're going to slow down and you're going to start being either negative or you're just burning out or you're gonna start doing it. So I this is that time, man. Like this is that time where you can kind of really like hone it in. So, like you said, Benji, when take that time, get what you need done.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Have it done, put the grind it out right now, so that way you can have some time and just recoup.

Resetting Capacity And Guarding The Lid

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Yeah. And look, as we get ready to wrap this episode up, we you know, you have explained to your team all that you need to explain. You're resting, you're reflecting, you've shown gratitude. So here's the deal as you go into the next year, we want to encourage you, you've built something meaningful in your business and tell your team next year we're gonna multiply, we're gonna double down on it because you're right, it's just around the corner. I believe that people follow leaders who know. Know where they're going and why it matters. Yeah. That is important. People follow leaders who know where they're going and why it matters, no matter what business or industry that you're in. And here's the thing: we want to from higher up let you know we want you to interact with us. We want you to be a part of this. We thank you for being a part of this journey with us. As Adam said, we're going to be coming back in January. But from our team to yours, Merry Christmas and thank you for being a part of the higher up family. What's the one thing that you're going to be the most grateful for this year? And also who needs to hear it? To end this, Christmas is the season when leadership gets personal again. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We just want to say again thank you from Higher Up Podcast. Merry Christmas from the Wilson family, from Adam, from all of us here. And uh you can find us on any uh any platform out there. You can subscribe to higheruppodcast.com slash subscribe to your favorite platform and go out and choose to live a higher up life. We'll see you next year.