The Power of Empathy as a Leader

summary

Branden Sewell shares insights on leadership rooted in biblical principles, emphasizing love, patience, and wisdom in managing people, especially in challenging situations. This episode offers practical advice for business owners and leaders to influence positively and lead with humility.


 keywords

leadership, biblical principles, employee management, patience, humility, business growth, emotional intelligence, leadership development


 key  topics

Leadership with biblical principles
Managing challenging employees with patience
The importance of humility and empathy in leadership
The role of wisdom and emotional control in leadership
Influencing others through love and service


 takeaways

Lead with biblical principles rooted in love and humility.
Be slow to speak and quick to listen in challenging situations.
Pause and assess before reacting emotionally to employee issues.
Love and influence people by demonstrating patience and humility.
Recognize the potential for growth in challenging employees.


Titles

Leading with Love: Biblical Principles for Business Success
The Power of Patience and Humility in Leadership


 sound bites




Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Leadership and Faith
01:24 The Heart of a Godly Leader
03:19 Leading with Biblical Principles
05:46 Loving the Unlovely
08:03 The Challenge of Leadership
10:28 Wisdom in Leadership
12:51 Controlling the Room's Temperature

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Transcript

Branden Sewell (00:01.226)
My name is Brandon Sole. 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. this is a daily episode. These episodes are meant to be shorter, 15 minutes or less, and just bring you some quick value.

what I've been doing is going through Leadership Promises for Every Day by John Maxwell. It's a devotional. I am a Christian business owner, so if you are listening to this, you know, I I try to bring my faith as a perspective for leadership and also just kind of share with you how that that has helped me to lead well and leading with godly principles. And so

Let's jump into today's topic or devotional. It says a leader's heart of love for the unlovely. Therefore I will bewail the vine of Sibma with the weeping of Jezer, I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Eli. For battle cries have fallen over your summer fruits and your harvest. Isaiah sixteen nine.

John Maxwell goes on to write, someone must have forgotten to tell Isaiah that he lived in Old Testament times. The picture of most ancient Hebrew leaders is anger and eagerness for God's righteous judgment to fall upon the wicked. And yet, here stands Isaiah, crying out for heathen Moab and weeping for Wayward Heshbon. Isaiah demonstrates

The attitude of a godly leader who sees approaching judgment for unbelievers. He grieves over what is coming for lost souls. Isaiah's lament over the fate of these ancient nations reveals the attitude of a truly godly leader. We ought to stand in awed silence when we see the judgment of God falling on those who have forsaken his way. But we should never see his judgment.

Branden Sewell (02:21.876)
As an occasion to celebrate our own righteousness. We should grieve for the loss and reflect deeply on the grace and mercy God has extended to us. You know, I always try to bring these devotionals back to the whole topic of getting off the ladder. And, you know, I've shared this before. I think the most important thing that you can learn to get off the ladder is leadership. And

It is my belief that the best leaders in the world are leaders who lead with biblical principles. and that's not just because it's about success and money. It's because there is a this deeper purpose that is attached to the leadership, right? it really

in in my opinion focuses in on how important people are. And we have one of the greatest responsibilities as owners of our businesses and the leaders in our communities to serve people well. And when we look at Jesus example for what it looked like to serve

I think that is one of the greatest examples of leadership that we can follow. So when we look at this topic today and loving the unlovely, I think there's something powerful that happens when we realize that of course we have a a standard, right? We have biblical standards, we have biblical principles that we try to adhere to.

in our personal lives and as owners of our businesses and leaders in our community. And what we have to realize is that not everybody is going to share those beliefs, those values, those principles that we have or those standards. Now, how can we lead effectively if those that don't have those same

Branden Sewell (04:49.538)
beliefs or values or whatnot. Well, I think when we lead authentically, that's when we can have the biggest impact on our employees' lives and the people that we serve, our customers, and our community. And we have this opportunity, we don't just want to surround ourselves just with people who

think just the way we do, right? It's okay to have people on your team that maybe don't believe exactly what you believe. And I think that's biblical as well. Like Jesus didn't surround himself you know, just with people who thought just like him or were believers. He went to the sinners, he went out

And he he was around people who weren't like him. And, you know, I think we have an opportunity to make an impact on people's lives when they work for us and they get to see the way we do business, the way we live our lives, the way we serve our customers, the values that we have. And here's my thing is like you don't have to be perfect.

you don't have to live the way I live or make the decisions that I I make. But when you work for me, when you show up on jobs, when you work with your team, you are going to adhere to our values, and that is the standard. And so

the the reality is like the people that end up working for you have this ability to like step into this avi environment and be influenced and changed by your leadership. And I think that's a powerful thing. And to s have the opportunity to make an impact on people's lives. And so I think there are people out there who do really great work, who have great work ethic who

Branden Sewell (07:09.538)
you know, can can do their their job well and maybe don't believe exactly like you do. And how do you view those people that work for you? do you have a self righteous mentality or do you have a mentality of like being humble, looking at their lives and, you know, you have a sense of

What is the word I'm looking for? You know, it's almost like compassion and empathy and a a desire to pray for them and you know, try to to see them change their lives and to walk in the the purpose and the calling that God has for so they can experience the the fruit of that. But the reality is, is that takes time, it may not happen.

while they work for you, but you have an opportunity to love people well and to lead people well. And I think that's a great opportunity as leaders that we have. And you know, I try to this is kind of shifting a little bit. I've had people work for me where I've had challenges with them. And the people who you know bring challenges or are challenging

And there are you know things that areas where they need to grow. If that person or those people have a an attitude of humility and willingness to grow and to learn, then I will be long suffering and let them work for me, even if they cause some problems.

Now that might not be a popular opinion because I think some people would say, like, just fire them, you know, if they're not doing anything for you, then just fire them. But I connect a greater purpose to each individual that works for me. And I look at it as an opportunity to have access to their lives and influence in their lives to hopefully make a lasting change.

Branden Sewell (09:35.073)
in their lives. And so I think that you really have to evaluate how you perceive that. The way I perceive it is if if they're willing to learn and grow, but they're making mistakes, I can work with that. Where I can't work with it is if they have a a unwillingness to be humble and an unwillingness to learn

And to grow and they have a negative attitude. In that case, it's like, well, I can't really have much influence or impact in that person's life because they're resisting it, right? They're they're not receptive to feedback, they're not receptive to constructive criticism, they're not receptive to what I'm trying to instill, or they're not receptive to our values and

So in that situation, those people either find their way out, you know, just themselves, they they leave on their own, or I end up having to let those people go. But I just want to encourage you to be long suffering. be be very quick to forgive when people make mistakes and evaluate their attitude in the midst of it. And you know, don't

you know, some of my greatest employees are the ones where they were super challenging in the beginning and now they're amazing, you know. But if I would have given up on them, or if I would have been quick to speak and quick to anger, and quick to take action against those people, then they would be gone and I wouldn't have those amazing employees, right? But what does the Bible teach? It says to be slow to speak, to be slow to anger.

Right. So I think there is a wisdom in pausing. When people are being people, they're being human, their humanity is showing up in their work. Stop. Pause. Assess the person's attitude. Assess their willingness to learn and grow. assess their potential.

Branden Sewell (12:00.664)
Don't be quick to just react, right? That's emotional. But you don't want to be emotional. You want to use wisdom because you're a leader. Don't let somebody else's foolishness drag you into foolishness. Use wisdom. That's one of the most important things I think I've learned as a business owner and as a leader is like to pause and kind of realize what is emotion, right? Based on a circumstance and

Is my reaction or or how I'm going to respond to a situation, is it driven by emotion or is it driven by wisdom and and that pause? And so I just want you to hear that right now. If you're listening to this and you're trying to grow in your leadership as a business owner and you face challenges with employees, and there's maybe there's heated moments that come up or

An employee is heated, whatever the situation is. I want you to remember this. Pause. You determine the temperature of the room, right? So if that person, if you get into elev elevated, you know, temperaments and attitudes and things are firing up, you control the temperature. You are the one who is calm, cool, collected, slow to speak, slow to anger.

And you'll see that those you can disarm those situations and turn them into constructive ones. And so I think that sometimes we ruin opportunities with great people because we can't grasp that principle. So I hope that's helpful. I hope that you got something from that. if you did enjoy this episode, please

share it with somebody. invite them to listen to the Off the Ladder podcast. Come back for the next episode tomorrow morning. Listen to it on your drive to work on your way home, whenever. please rate and review the show. that helps us. And if you need any resources to get off the ladder, check the show notes below. if you do use those, I do get credit, so I do really appreciate it. when I get

Branden Sewell (14:22.168)
paid for you signing up for any of those resources, those softwares that I use and systems that helps to support me and support the show. So thank you so much guys for joining into this episode of the Off the Letter podcast and I will see you next time.