Ep.040: New Year. Bigger Why.

This episode focuses on leadership clarity, operational discipline, and building momentum that actually lasts. We talk about why growth does not come from doing more, but from simplifying systems, documenting what matters, and removing friction that slows teams down.

We share real lessons from leading inside a complex, highly regulated business and why speed is the result of clarity, not chaos. That means making decisions, writing things down in plain language, and cutting steps that drain energy without adding value. We also explore how vision works at a practical level, drawing from the story of Joseph and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to frame leadership as courageous, disciplined work that rallies people around a clear direction.

You will hear how we are aligning personal, team, and organizational goals, why delegation is essential for healthy leadership, and how simple rhythms turn good intentions into repeatable habits. We also talk about trusting others, empowering leaders, and building systems that scale without losing culture.

Transcript

New Studio And Season Milestone

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Vince Brady, we are not at home. This is different.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

This is uh Riverside has been good. Riverside's been good.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

But you don't have to switch them among them. But welcome to I guess Wilson Studios, you should call it. I mean Higher Podcast Studios. So in person. It's a little weird. I think we were talking about it. I'm like, now I feel like you can reach out and yeah. You can touch me during the show. You need to make a very serious point. So, but uh we're back for uh season four, episode 40. Okay. So we're back. Milestone. Milestone. So we've hit episode 40. Um, holidays good before we jump in. Yeah, yeah. Everybody, good holidays.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

Everybody had we had we had a good time, got to travel a little bit and got to uh go explore the country, the world. Right. Our family had a great time. We had a great time.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Yeah, church was closed for about a week here and a half. It was nice just to uh take a break. I feel like I spent most of it here. Uh so getting this set up. Getting this set up. So you've done a great job. Getting it nice. We're still not 100% finished. We've got a few more things to do. But but it's nice to be in person, feels more conversational. Like you said, Riverside was great, but um, I'm excited to do this. Excited to be able to have a place for guests to come in.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Um, and just it, I mean, it feels more conversational to kind of sit down. So um, but we got a lot. We're glad we're back for our first episode of the season. Yeah. Um, diving in a little bit, um just before we start, please tell me we're not calling this new year new you. No. Did we do that last year? Did we did we do that? No, it's just I feel like that's the cliche. That's the first thing people say is new you. I'm like, well, no.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Hey, the the good thing is we can use AI or whatever we want to call it, whatever we want to call it.

Holidays, Rest, And Setup Wins

SPEAKER_00 1:54

What's funny is technically it is the new year, but you're still the same person. You're just hoping to develop new habits. How about New Year's New Studio? New Year's to Studio. Yeah. So no, let's don't call it.

SPEAKER_03 2:03

We'll call it, we'll figure out something. But we are it can be transformed though, Adam.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Yes. No, just a couple things too, just so the listeners know. By the way, if you're watching on YouTube, you're actually seeing this right now. Yeah. Uh, but if if you're you know listening out there, um, man, the milestones that we've been able to achieve with higher up podcasts has actually been mind-blowing to me. You know, we've we've surpassed 11,000 downloads, um, and uh and we're seeing trends of it moving up and up. So look, continue to share, continue to, you know, get it, get the word out there. This is designed to help business leaders, managers, companies, uh, and and choose how they can live a higher up life with the Lord on their side to take their company to the next level. I mean, Brady, we've had some we had some challenges in 2025 with our company. Uh, we won't get in that today. But um, you know, I thought it'd be kind of neat that we would talk about this. Obviously, Martin Luther King Day in January, uh great leader he was uh to the world, not just uh Alabama or to the country, but to the world. I guess the question would be this what kind of leader do we want to be this year in 2026? Uh our theme, and I thought Brady, it'd be good for you just to take a minute. Our theme this year at our company is accelerate through simplification.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

And what we want to kind of break that down a second. Tell people what does that mean to our team?

Audience Growth And Purpose

Theme: Accelerate Through Simplification

SPEAKER_03 3:27

Yeah, so we um we've talked about strategic planning a lot, you know, on the podcast. And uh so we met with our team. Typically, we try to do it like in November so that we've got December to kind of unpack it and get ready. For this year, we were not able to do that for for whatever reason. I think just schedules didn't line up. So we did it, I think second week of December, but it was a good time with our team. And um really just thinking through 2025 and and how do we move out of because we we did have some we did have some challenges, but we had some pretty major milestones that we hit as well, and the Lord provided in such an amazing way and uh and gave us kind of a a foothold into what 2026 uh was gonna look like. But we we thought that with all the things that we have available at our fingertips and we we don't operate in an easy industry. Yeah. I mean, you know, when you when you deal with insurance companies and all the regulations and all the service level agreements and all just a lot of different things, it's not easy to remember those things. So uh we do want to do better than we did last year. And so we we knew that acceleration was gonna be a part of what we wanted to do, but what we've got to do is figure out a way, and we and we won't talk about this, you know, in detail because we're not ready to yet, but is we gotta figure out how to simplify it. And so really for us, and and Benji, you remember when we talked to the teen, typically like when you think accelerator, right? You're in a vehicle and you just like pedal to the metal, let's go. You know, for us, it's that's not the picture. So I actually showed a picture on the screen, and what it is is removing the roadblocks. Like what what's in the way? How do we get that out of the way? And what that helps us do is propel forward faster. Yeah. Doesn't mean that we have to go faster or hit the acceleration faster, but we'll be able to move faster because things are out of the way. The the the nuisances, the the problems, the the challenges, not that they'll all be gone, but that's what that we're focusing on for uh 2026 is how do we accelerate by making it more simple.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Yeah. And that I mean, honestly, you you know that from being working with us for a while. We we try to make things as simple as we possibly can because in our world, documentation is the key to everything that we do. But at the same time, we got to figure out how to make it easier for our people. Yeah. Because there's so many things to remember. And I'm sure those of you that may be listening out there right now, you know, you're you may be facing the same battle that uh what can I do in my role as a leader, as a manager? Um, you know, uh and and this was this was a good little quote that we that we came up with, but you don't have to have a new job title. Maybe you're trying to work your way up the chain. You don't have to have a new job title to lead in a new way. Yeah, a leader, a leader can lead, right? Uh, what about you? I mean, I know you've had a lot going on at the church and all. What what are some things you guys may be working on that someone may could take away from as a leader?

SPEAKER_00 6:31

So our our theme for the year right now, we're we're dealing with is uh dream again from Psalms 125. And so we're talking through um it's time to dream again. Um Pastor Jeremy's been talking a lot about obviously when you think of dreaming from the Bible, obviously Joseph's first thing that comes up. You think about the dreams that God gave him and what he shared with his brothers and what he shared with everything. So we're kind of in that position, but we're also in a position of the church where um we're having to do some of those things now too. Like, how do we accelerate different areas? Like, how do we uh multiply ourselves? How do we look at some of these things? Yesterday we had in our staff meeting, um, he asked us three things that we went through what's a personal dream, um, what's a dream uh for your department, and what's a corporate dream. And so we looked at some of those things, and then what we did is took each one of those and we had to guess whose it was. So, you know, and everybody's like, wait, hold on, why am I sharing my personal dream? But we had to guess it. But then on the board, we put um we put three different things. We put surprised, um, we put um excited, and then we put like um like plans, like, hey, this sounds this sounds normal for this person. So, like, you know, one of the first things I put down was I want to make sure this year that for personal was the bit like our business helps support our family. And it's been no shock to anyone. We've had tons of issues with our house and our vehicle and um you can go back and listen to episode 31, 32, 33, 34, 35.

SPEAKER_02 7:57

We'll probably have something that Adam's watching.

Removing Roadblocks To Move Faster

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Whatever you do, don't call Benji about buying vehicles because he'll just tell you to pull the trigger. So you should have called me. That's why I was like, just buy a new one for them real quick. Buy a new one and finance it for 10 years. But you know, that's what we do. Bad idea. The business was good to this year. It was a lot. That was one of the things Emily and I sat and talked about is and that's something for I think this is a good chance for any business owner, whether it's the size you guys are, or like me, like where I'm at, where I'm a single man operation. But uh, you know, one of the things we looked at is we we did a lot of business last year. I mean, we did it from down at the bottom of Florida all the way up to St. uh St. Louis, Missouri. I mean, we had a lot of good opportunities, we're blessed. But the other thing I think I'd look at that too is it was it when you do that, it's not just taxing on me, it's taxing on the family. We're gone. I also have a full-time job, so then when I am gone for these, I've got to come back and do other things. But we looked at that and then, you know, departmental. Um, you know, we talked about how to grow and having more people that can do things, and then for the church, I was like, I want a studio. Like, I want a studio space. So we're dreaming.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

Hey, we can rent you space.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

I I know you can so I would like to build something that we could rent too to other people. So um, but give you a good deal. But yeah, so that's something we're we're looking at. I mean, that's our that's our big theme this year. And um what we need to do is and we haven't yet, we need to look at like what's our family theme? Like, what do we that's something Mim and I've talked about like what are we doing this year? Are we gonna try to take a trip? Are we gonna try to do anything with the girls? Are we gonna invest in something so we're not just you know putting money in the bank? Like are we gonna do so? We've got a lot of things that we gotta look at. But I think this is a perfect time. I think January is a perfect time to look at it and kind of set those goals for the year so you know we went. We achieved our goals from last year for the business, for ourselves, so now we gotta set that and and kind of continue forward.

Simplicity, Documentation, And Team Clarity

SPEAKER_03 9:42

I think that's a I think that's a really good point, Adam. And we've talked about this a little bit, but um just as a reminder, you know, to our listeners, but you know, Melissa and I did the same thing over the after Christmas because our our anniversary is on the the 27th of December, so two days after Christmas. Um but we sat down probably collectively over a week, maybe like six to eight hours, and I found this resource that we and we talked about every I'm when you when I say everything, I mean everything, but from family to business to goals to targets and you know, just a bunch of stuff of what we want to try to uh you know achieve for the year, and and really just a a reset, if you will. But you and your wife getting on the same page, it's kind of like doing that with your leadership team. I mean, you are the leadership team of your family, yeah. Yeah. But Benji, just to touch on you you ask about leadership, I think it's a good reminder too, just something that that John Maxwell says, you know, he says leadership is influence. Yeah. So if you're looking at wanting to be a better leader in 2026, then just you know take take some time, pause, don't do it if you're if you're driving. Uh you know, we don't want you to close your eyes or anything, but think about the the level of influence that you have with people. That could be people at work, it could be people at at uh church, it could be your family, but you have influence in other people's lives. And just remember another thing that he says is you can't give what you don't have. Yeah, for sure. And so it's a it's just a good reminder of, and I I was thinking the other day, like, okay, I did a lot of reading in in 25, probably not as much as I did in 24, but still learned a lot. Um, but what am I gonna do this year? Like, and I've got I've got a book list that's a a mile long, you know, it's gonna be hard to kind of decipher which ones I I want to read. Um but you you only you can only give what you what you have or what you've learned or what you've studied about and the knowledge that you've gotten. And that goes from a spiritual perspective to you know, this will be the fourth year that that me and my wife have done the Bible recap, and we we will do it, you know, reading the whole Bible in a year, but um we'll we'll probably do it for as forever. You know, it's just one of those things that's getting into a rhythm. Yeah.

Dream Again: Personal, Team, Church

SPEAKER_02 11:57

But you you're talking about dreaming, you know. Again, we would be remiss if we didn't take the month of January to talk about Dr. Martin Luther King. I mean, I have a dream today, everyone knows that slogan. But it's I'm I'm sure, like you guys, you look up and you go, How in the world are am I gonna get obviously we've talked about this, and and I know there's a lot of leadership books that say, you know, professional goals drive personal goals, personal goals drive professional goals. It works both ways. And how in the world are you gonna get from January to December of the same year? You mentioned in our one of our staff meet our team meetings the other day, you were like, we only got 49 weeks left this year. You know, three weeks are gone already. So how are you gonna get from January to December and you put these milestones out there? It's a daily grind. It's it's getting everyone on the same page. But you know, Dr. Martin Luther King, just to honor him for a minute, um, he he had so much vision. He cast it, uh, he sacrificed and he serviced it, you know. Um his his dream wasn't just something that was poetic, which everyone it was it was very strategic. He was like, I have a dream today, and he taught us that vision is only powerful if it moves people forward. And we have a thing in our company, we use people first, you know. How how do we help if we're gonna get where we want to go, it takes people to come alongside that journey with you to help them achieve their goals? It helps you achieve your goals, and together everyone achieves, you know, achieves more. Um what does I this is a question for us? What does courageous leadership look like for us this year? Because I'll tell you, this last year, you know, it took a lot of faith in what we were going through as a company in a in a good way. You know, how do you how do you have courage to go? I I've got to get to that next thing. I can tell you this, we've we've said this many times. We are not going to have another 2025 like we have at the beginning of the year. And to your point, the Lord blessed tremendously uh the last nine months of the year. So, from a courageous leadership standpoint, is there anything that a person needs to change? Maybe a listener out there could gain some insight from, maybe they don't. You know, what does it take to be a courageous leader?

Balancing Business, Family, And Capacity

SPEAKER_03 14:15

I I'll give I'll give one example. I think this could apply to probably almost anybody, whether you're a leader or not, but think about a decision that you've been wrestling with for a long time. You know it's the right thing, you know it's gonna be hard to pull the trigger, or you know, there's people involved, but maybe you've been thinking about something for a long time. It's a new year, it's a it's a new season. Just do it. Have the courage to do it, have the courage and the and the boldness to do it. You know, thinking about uh Joseph and and dreaming, you know, Joseph was a pretty courageous person. Like he he did not he did not have any angst about telling his brothers what he saw. Yeah, you know, and so And sometimes it makes people mad, sometimes it makes people upset, like your brothers. It does. But what I would say in that is if if you've been wrestling with a decision, you know it's the right thing. I mean, obviously pray about it, listen to the Holy Spirit, let him guide you. But if you know that in your in your spirit you feel like the Lord's ha has shown you that that you need to do it, then now's the time to do it. Yeah just pull the trigger, make it happen. Take take the leap of faith.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Yeah. I think courage leadership, I know for for me this year it's gotta look like it's gotta look like trust, trusting team. Yeah, we're training teams, we're training people, uh, nobody is gonna have the amount of experience that I have. And and and we've always said it, nobody's ever gonna do it better than than I do. Or you feel that way. Like I always am in a position where I'm like, you know, no, nobody's gonna do it better than me. Like, I need to do it, but I need to trust others to do the job that gets done because the more that I'm doing the little things, I can't focus on the big things. And so that's something for us as a creative team we talked about this year, is some of these part-timers that work with us, um, we we've got to be able to trust them to handle things more and hand off the things. Look, I love the color. I love it. I love being able to do it, I love having these things. But at some point, like with what we're doing on Sundays and the growth we're having, I can't always be taking photos. Yeah, yeah. I can't always be one capturing video. I'm gonna have to multiply and trust that they're going to get what it needs to be done. It's the same way in business too. I think you've got to be able to trust that people can do it. This year, we're gonna hopefully have more people that partner alongside us with some of these jobs that we have, these larger jobs. And I got to trust to know that even if I'm not standing there, they're gonna capture it. Yeah, they're gonna grab it and they're gonna do it the right way.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

So I I I think that's being a courageous leader, you know, to your point, because sometimes it takes courage to trust other people. Let it go.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

That's a great starting point for someone. Because I mean, you you think I mean the same thing that I think the two of y'all do with the business. I mean, your dad built it, then you guys took it to a totally new level. And so you're trying to figure out, well man, like I feel like we were, I mean, you were there from the beginning of it, and you're like, well, I it's tough to let some of that go or give things up. Like, are people going to do it at the level I did? Yes. And, you know, and it's something I've learned a lot too, that's something that we've talked about. Nobody's gonna care about the business more than the two of you. Doesn't matter who works for you, how long they've worked for you, how invested they are in being a Wilson, nobody's gonna care about the business more than the two of you. I feel the same way with what we're doing uh what Emily and I do with our uh our media, our creative company. Like nobody's going to care to get that photo or that shot more than than I am, but I've got to trust that others are going to do to the best of their ability that they can. And so I've got to put that trust into them and believe that they're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Yeah, yeah. So just a couple updates. Again, we've we've kind of talked through leadership, uh, dreaming. Um, obviously, we had a dream that we wanted to all be in the same room one day. It's here, it's happening. A new uh fresh space creates this fresh energy, you know. We're gonna we we are gonna have, we've talked to you guys before that uh on a couple of few few uh previous episodes, we're gonna have some guests on this year. That's one of our goals.

SPEAKER_03 18:12

It's gonna be cool.

Alignment, Goals, And Shared Vision

SPEAKER_02 18:12

Yeah, we want to we want to have some key guests on. Uh and we're again, we're gonna be talking about how in their business they're utilizing the leadership skills, but at the same time, how they're entrusting the Lord to help them and their company. Um, and again, with the with the fresh space, um, we have to have leadership to continue to push it, push it forward. So uh just a couple of quick things for you guys. Um, don't just make goals for the year. Make an impact on those goals because you, as a leader, as a manager, have the control to do that. Again, you got to be a current, you got to have the courage to step out and do it uh with with the dream that you have, but don't just make it a goal. Everybody can make New Year's resolutions. What do they say after 21 days something becomes a habit? Some people would say seven seconds you can make a first first impression. A lot of times people drop their goals off. What's the number one thing people do every year?

SPEAKER_03 19:03

New Year's resolutions.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

New Year's resolutions, you know? So then they they look up and they're past the month of January going into February, and where'd my January go?

SPEAKER_00 19:11

We always joke the gym right now, goodness gracious, in the morning it's packed. But I'm like, we always joke like just make it to February. Yeah, just get to February and all right. I mean, you hate that, you don't want people not having a healthy life, but then there's a there's the selfish side of you that's like, just make it to February and things will get back to normal.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Yeah. Actually, I'm to your point. Till spring break. I am I am training for a half marathon right now and getting back into running, my knee has been bothering me. So I'm trying to trying to relax it a little bit so I don't injure myself. And Sarah was telling me the other day, she said, Hey, I'm just glad you were able to, you know, run another 375 again. Yeah, yeah, it took me 30 minutes to do it, but hey, it's part of part of the process. New year, new goal. Don't just make a goal, make an impact in your business. That's that's what matters. Um, whether this is your first episode or your fourth. 40th. Thank you guys so much for listening and tuning in. If you're watching on YouTube, thank you for watching us. I'd encourage you if you have only listened, go check us out on YouTube again. You'll kind of see the studio space. We'd love for you to be a part. And look, tag us on your social media platforms. Share the content out there because I'm telling you, it's making an impact in the community. And we're glad that you're being a part of that. Um, welcome to season four. It's time for us to lead higher. Go out there and choose to live a higher up life. We'll see you next time.