Great Leaders are Generous in these Three Areas!

 keywords

leadership, generosity, employee growth, business success, John Maxwell, home service industry, leadership development, servant leadership, business values, community impact


 summary

In this episode of the Off the Ladder Podcast, Branden Sewell discusses the importance of generosity in leadership, drawing insights from John Maxwell's teachings. He emphasizes the need for leaders to serve others, help employees grow, and create a purpose-driven business that benefits the community. Branden shares personal experiences and challenges in maintaining a generous mindset while leading, and he encourages business owners to invest in their employees' success and well-being.


 takeaways

Generosity is a key trait of great leaders.
Leaders should serve others to help them thrive.
It's important to solve problems that hinder potential.
Business owners have a mandate to elevate their employees' lives.
Employees want to be part of something bigger than themselves.
Creating opportunities for growth is essential in leadership.
A purpose-driven business attracts better employees.
Leaders must teach financial responsibility to their employees.
Gratitude and recognition are important in leadership.
Evaluate your business's impact on the community.


Titles

The Generosity Factor in Leadership


 sound bites

"You need to teach them to budget."
"Lead great people well."


Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Leadership and Generosity
01:30 The Role of Generosity in Leadership
07:18 Elevating Employees and Creating Opportunities
12:06 Building a Purpose-Driven Business

Grow Your Business with Jobber
Sign up for a 14-day free trial or get a special discount when you sign up!

Get More Reviews w/ NiceJob
NiceJob Automates Your Review Requests!

The Perfect Payroll Solution
Gusto is a powerful and user friendly payroll provider. With Gusto you can integrate with Jobber and

Maximize Marketing Dollars w/ CallRail
Attach call tracking numbers to all your marketing campaigns and track their success!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Branden Sewell (00:01.442)
Good morning. My name is Brandon Sewell. I'm the owner of Seal Pro Painting and the host of the Off the Ladder Podcast. And we exist to help home service business owners learn so that they can lead well and ultimately live life off of the ladder. Welcome to today's show. this is one of our daily episodes, shorter episodes that we're doing just to bring a quick bit of value to you in your leadership and to help you get off the ladder.

these episodes are 15 minutes or less. hopefully it's something that you can listen to, whether it's on your drive to a job site, maybe while you're working or on your drive home. And again, just to give you something that is actionable and something that you can use to grow today and to put into action today. I've been reading from the devotional, it's called Leadership Promises for Every Day by John Maxwell.

John Maxwell is a great leader, probably one of the most notable leaders in our generation, that has authored numerous books on leadership, highly respected when it comes to leadership. So let's jump into today. It says, The generous leader. If there is among you a poor man of your brethren within any of the gates in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him, and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. Deuteronomy fifteen seven through eight. John Maxwell goes on to write If great leaders err, they do so on the side of generosity. They are givers, not takers. They feel motivated too.

One, serve others to help them grow and thrive. Two, solve problems that prevent potential from being reached. Three, save causes that benefit mankind. God instructs his leaders and the entire nation of Israel to imitate his generosity and grace. At the end of every seventh year, every Isra Israelite was to cancel all debts owed by fellow citizens.

Branden Sewell (02:29.854)
If they would indeed cancel debts, model graciousness and forgiveness, and care for the poor, God would favor their land with abundant crops and freedom from invasion. Imagine. They simply needed to trust that God was in control and let him worry about rain and sun and fruitful harvest times. This is a this is a really good one. It's also a challenging one. for myself,

I don't really I think sometimes you know I love how it says if great leaders err, they do so on the side of generosity. I think sometimes I can give out of fault, if there is such a thing, whereas meaning like sometimes I I question whether I should just because it's maybe what I'm doing to give or be generous at the time could be working against the progress of

the organization as a whole and maybe creating a problem in another area which you know could extend you know challenges that we might face as a company if that makes sense. but either way, I still try to give and to be generous as much as I can. and I think, you know, taking on a leadership mindset

You know, when you're trying to get off the ladder, you have to realize like you're being put in a place of leading others and leading from a place of servitude is challenging. It's a lot of times you're you're doing a lot of things without gratitude in return or you're doing things to serve when people may not have the big picture. And that's honestly been one of the

hardest things for me to grasp as a leader is continuing to be giving and and gracious when people maybe because they don't have like the whole picture of like how business is doing and how you know the cause and effects of everything are in the business. that they it's almost like they take for granted the the times when you are gracious.

Branden Sewell (04:56.446)
or maybe gratitude isn't showed or things just seem to be expected or entitled. And that's super challenging for me sometimes to to deal with. But as I as I kind of work my way through that as a leader myself, I just try to resolve that you know what, if I feel like God has led me to give something, I'm going to give it and kind of like

this says in the latter part where John Maxwell says every seventh year the Israelites would cancel all debts owed to fellow citizens. I I think that's a great way to approach giving is you know, I was just actually talking to one of my employees about this that when I give

I want the gift that I give to be given with graciousness and no expectation of anything in return. And if I can't give that gift without the expectation of it being returned to me, then I don't want to give it at all. because I don't want somebody to owe me something. I want it I mean, if they if they can and they have that ability, great. But I don't want somebody

to be a slave to the the feeling of owing someone something, right? I want them to get the gift, receive it freely. If they can pay it back, great. But if not, then let them go on their way free of that and not have to worry about it. excuse me. That is that's how I like to give. Now

All that to say, when it comes to giving, being gracious to your employees, I think there's just gonna there's gonna be a time as a business owner that those moments are gonna come. And I think you have to realize you've been put in a position of leadership to help others. And

Branden Sewell (07:18.348)
We can't just look at our businesses as ways to profit off the hard work of those that work for us. At least that's not the position that I take as a business owner. I want my employees to win in in life. And the reality is I feel a mandate as the owner and the leader of my business.

To help elevate my employees' lives. Now, I think one of the hardest things to do is to help my employees understand their role in that process. Like I can't do it for them. I also have to make sure that I don't feel guilt for doing well because I make decisions.

That place me in a position of doing well. For example, if I make the same amount of money as somebody else, but I'm frugal and I I save money and I invest my money and I have no debt and and all of those things, and I seemingly I I look like I'm in a better position financially than somebody. Well, that that's because I've done the I've made the decisions, right?

I've studied, I've researched, I've I've put time and effort into everything that I'm doing to be successful. And I have to realize my employees need to do the same thing. Like they have to I need to teach them that, hey, if you want to do well financially, you don't it's not necessarily you don't necessarily need a raise. You just need to budget.

Or live below your means if you're not good at budgeting. if if you want to do better financially, you don't necessarily need a raise. You need to stop overspending, save some money, invest some money, make some wise choices. you know, there's there's been, you know, obviously seasons of my life where

Branden Sewell (09:38.472)
I've made bad decisions financially, but I've also made good decisions financially. And at the end of the day, I'm not going to I well, actually I can't say I'm not going to because sometimes I do. I need to be in a place where I'm okay with the fact that I'm doing well financially because I've made better choices personally.

And then I need to encourage my employees to do the same. so not sure if you're following there, but I think ultimately it's just you you get you have to want your employees to do better and elevate them. so what does this say? Let's see. So just going back over those three points. So serve others, yep, help them grow and thrive, to solve problems.

Branden Sewell (10:40.11)
So with your people, you know, if they have problems that are preventing their potential, you want to address those. we kind of hit on that. Three, save causes that benefit mankind. So, you know, we want to make a positive impact as a a business. I think I think employees, like when we bring this into the context of getting off the ladder, I think great employees, they want to be invested in.

They want to have opportunity and they want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. And so I think those are three obligations you have as a business owner. and if you're gonna get off the ladder successfully and have great people, you need to focus on, okay, how does my business you know, help my employees grow, give them greater opportunity and be a part of something bigger than themselves.

And so if your business doesn't do those three three things, then you need to evaluate that and implement it so that great people will be attracted to you working for your business. so keep those things in mind, those three things. Create a business that helps elevate others. You want to have something in place to help them to grow strategically and invest in them.

two, they need to see that they have the opportunity to grow within your company and have greater opportunity. So create that, outline that. What does that look like? How do you go from this job to this job and make more money? and lastly, what is the bigger purpose? What is the thing that you do that makes a bigger impact, that makes the the employees that come to work you feel like

They are part of something bigger than themselves. Are you investing in your community? Are you making a difference? Are you giving towards a a great cause? What are you doing as a business to make a difference? make that a part of your mission, make that a part of your values, and I think you'll attract better people. I'm gonna bring this episode to a close. I hope that this has maybe got some thoughts going for you on what you can do to strengthen your own leadership.

Branden Sewell (13:00.102)
what you can do to bring change in your organization so that you can attract better people, lead, lead great people well. Great people will stay where they're being invested in and where they're growing and where they have opportunity and where they feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves. Hope that helps you today. if you need any resources to get off the ladder, check the show notes below. as always, please share this rate and review the show.

if you got something out of this, share that. if you have any feedback, please reach out to me. Let me know. I'd love to hear any feedback or any topics or specific things that you'd like to to hear me talk about here on the Off the Ladder podcast. and as always, I will see you next time on the next episode of the Off the Ladder Podcast. Thanks so much for joining.

Mm-hmm.