The Leadership Drop Podcast
This is a podcast for Pastors, leaders, and anyone who wants to grow to be all that God has called them to be.
The Leadership Drop Podcast
Transformative Leadership: Moving Beyond the Comfort Zone
Ever wondered why some leaders always seem to be ahead of the curve while others fall behind? In this episode of the Leadership Drop Podcast, we promise to equip you with the mindset of proactive leadership that drives success. Join us as Adam Wade, typically behind the camera, steps into the spotlight for an engaging conversation that begins with the lively transition of Oklahoma to the SEC and a friendly football rivalry with Tennessee. As our banter about mascots and team prospects unfolds, we transition to a deep dive into the leader's head, emphasizing the critical difference between forward-thinking leaders and those who settle into a defensive mindset. Whether you lead a church, a business, or just yourself, this episode is packed with actionable insights designed to propel you forward. Tune in and transform your leadership approach today!
Welcome to the Leadership Drop Podcast. In each episode, pastor Jackie, along with selected guests from time to time, aim to drop some leadership insights that are designed to help you thrive, whether you're leading a church, a business, a team, a family or simply yourself. So lean in, listen, laugh and learn as we drop some leadership truth. And watch out for that leadership mic drop moment.
Speaker 2:Let's go. Hey, welcome to the newest edition of the Leadership Drop podcast. Last month, we talked about the leader and his heart. Today, we're going to talk about the leader and his head. But before we get to the head, I want to talk about the heart a little bit, because I have on set with me a guy who's normally behind the camera. This is Adam Wade. Adam, welcome to the podcast. You're normally on the other side making us look and sound better than what we are, and so I don't know who's going to help you. But before we get started, I know this is the time of the year, man, this is it. I have my OU football shirt on and as I was walking over here, I'm like you're a Tennessee fan. Yep, tennessee, really. Yep, the Vols, right, go, vols, all right. And something significant is happening for Oklahoma this year. Yep, we're going into the SEC, the Southeast Conference, because you know it just means more for us now it's a real conference.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, okay. And the first team that we're playing as an SEC team is the Tennessee Vols. Your team is coming to Norman and my heart tells me and we're going to talk about the leaders ahead in a little bit but my heart tells me, and we're going to talk about the leader's head in a little bit but my heart tells me we're going to destroy you guys. I don't know about that. Come on, we're pretty good this year. What makes you good? You can't even pronounce your quarterback's name. His name's Nico.
Speaker 1:Nico, tell me his whole name.
Speaker 2:I don't speak Hawaiian. Okay, so you've got a Hawaiian quarterback who's like how tall 6'6", 6'6", 2'15". We had a Hawaiian quarterback last year at OU that was 5'6", so maybe 6'6 will be better. But here's a little known fact about you you were once the mascot for the Tennessee Vols. Who was the quarterback when you were in school back in the day.
Speaker 1:We had a few of them. We had Peyton Manning. No, peyton was already gone. T Martin won the national championship and then I came the year after.
Speaker 2:Wait, you guys won a national championship.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, One yeah 1998.
Speaker 2:That's nice one, yeah, yeah, yeah, Call me when you get to seven all right. Yeah, yeah, but anyways, you were the mascot for the Tennessee Vols, and is it Smokey? Yeah yeah, Okay, here's a question If in Norman on September the 21st the Tennessee mascot gets in a fight with the Oklahoma mascot, who wins?
Speaker 1:Definitely Smokey.
Speaker 2:Really yeah. Did you not know that OU has two mascots? Oh they do Boomer and Sooner?
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I'm going with Boomer and Sooner taking down Smokey.
Speaker 1:We got Davy Crockett too, though.
Speaker 2:Oh damn, davy Crockett yeah yeah, what does he do?
Speaker 1:He carries a musket rifle Is that legal. I don't know, maybe in Oklahoma it is All right.
Speaker 2:Well, listen, thanks for all you do behind the scenes. Here, september 21st, we will be talking, but we will not be talking nicely.
Speaker 1:I heard we're going to your house Come on over.
Speaker 2:That's what Tyler said. Big football party and it's going to be on our first SEC game, and all of that is an example of me talking with my heart. And now we want to talk about the leader's head. Thanks, adam, for letting us talk a little bit about football, sec football. The Sooners are going to win the SEC championship this year I just know it in their first season. But that's me talking with my heart, not my head. And so, as we think about leadership, the last podcast we dropped was all about the leader's heart and how important it is to guard our hearts.
Speaker 2:Today I want to talk about the leader and his head, or her head, and how a leader thinks is many times just different than how other people may think about a subject. And I want to talk to you specifically about the leader and thinking about what is next and how we can advance the cause, not how we can just kind of keep what we already have. Most people have a tendency to sort of want to just keep what they have, but real leaders have a tenacity to want to advance the cause. Most people want to kind of Cover their tracks, hedge their bets and sort of dig in, just sort of hold out mentality, but leaders realize that that's not an option if your organization is going to go forward. I recently talked about this with some guys over in New Mexico. I titled this little talk the Fallacy of Forts and, for whatever reason, I've read a couple of history books this past summer about forts and, for whatever reason, I've read a couple of history books this past summer about forts. Fort Craig on the Rio Grande River, there between Texas and New Mexico, near Val Verde, was an epic battle where a ragtag group of Confederate officers in the beginning and the middle of the Civil War overcame a group of Union soldiers that were stationed at Fort Craig. And now recently I just read a book about the demon of unrest, which was all the things going on prior to the launch of the Civil War Very interesting in the day and time that we live in as well and a lot of transferable principles and lessons. But it really centers around that book, centers around what's going on at Fort Sumter and you can debate all of the things that caused the Civil War and all the things going on at that time.
Speaker 2:One of the things that's curious about the South, the deep South you don't get much deeper than South Carolina and Charleston, and Fort Sumter was chivalry man. They loved their chivalry. And they go out and they tell the people in the fort at Fort Sumter, the union officers, that at tomorrow, at precisely 4.30, we're going to commence shooting cannons at you and we promise that we won't do it until exactly 4.30. And we promise that we won't do it until exactly 430. And if, by some reason, you die before we see you again, may God be with you. That's an example of chivalry. We do not have that in warfare today, nor on the streets of our cities today, but we had it back in the day. But here's the problem with a fort like Fort Sumter or Fort Craig. Here's what we think about forts and here's what we now know about forts. We think forts are always safe. We think, man, if we could get to the fort, everything will be great. But here's what we know looking back through history at forts.
Speaker 2:You can't stay in a fort forever. You just can't. Forts, like organizations, have life cycles. Back at the first of 2024, I had the privilege of going to Puerto Rico and while at Puerto Rico, my wife and I visited one of the several forts on the coast there of Puerto Rico and they're all empty now. They're all museums now and they serve no purpose moving forward. Forts can serve a purpose for a while, but eventually their purpose runs out. The problem with forts is that they always have to be resupplied from the outside and if you're not constantly resupplying them, if somebody interrupts the supply chain, a fort can easily be destroyed. My point is that if we are not careful as leaders, our organizations, our churches, our businesses, our teams, our educational systems can become forts. They can adopt a fort mentality. The leader in his head begins to think that a fort is safe and that you can stay in the fort forever. Forts are wonderful. If they understand their purpose, if they see themselves as outposts of future expansion, then a fort can be very valuable. If they are forward-leaning, forts aresuccessful organizations, businesses or churches. They're just doing enough to kind of give the impression that everything is okay. But if there's not forward momentum, they'll soon begin to die.
Speaker 2:Here's a principle of engineering. I'm far from an engineer, but I've been told that a closed system will eventually regulate itself to the point of death. Now think about that. Systems need energy from the outside to survive. A combustion engine cannot exist in and of itself. It needs the outside energy of fuel and oxygen and all the things that make a combustion engine work. Your church, if you're leading a church, your ministry if you're leading a ministry inside of a church, your business, if you own a business, or if you're in a managerial role in a business, your sports team if you lead a team always needs the infusion of outside energy and focus in order to continue to grow and continue to exist. That's why the future hope of existing churches is starting new churches. The future hope of ministries is empowering new people to come and be a part of those ministries new people to come and be a part of those ministries. The future hope of businesses is business expansion and expanding into another market or expanding into another line of sales. It is incumbent upon us to always be moving forward. Here's a key thought. Too often we are tempted to stay where we are, to hunker down and wait it out, and yet that is the farthest thing from what Jesus prescribes in Scripture for us, as leaders, to do.
Speaker 2:Here's a great parable. I love this story. It's the parable of the talents. One guy was given five talents. I believe Another was given four or two, I can't remember. The guy was given five talents, I believe Another was given four or two, I can't remember. The other was given one. The one with five doubled his talents and the one with two doubled his talents, but the one with one buried it in the ground and refused to do anything with it. It was us four and no more. It was hedge our bets, cover our tracks, dig in and pray. The master comes back soon.
Speaker 2:But when the master came back, he commended those that had invested, who had taken some risk with the talents that the master had given them the master symbolic of God here, but the one that didn't take any risk at all, who buried his talent in the ground and waited for the master return. When he returned, the master said to the servant you are a wicked and lazy servant. Now think about that. Here's a guy. He said man, I'm just going to hedge my bets, cover my tracks, dig in, hold out to the end and I'm not going to put at risk anything the master's given me. And the master looks at him and says you are both wicked and lazy. And I've always been amazed by that parable. And years ago, when I was thinking about planting a church I hadn't done it yet, but I was thinking about doing it.
Speaker 2:One of the teachings that God used in my life to give me the courage to think outside of the box and to literally move across the country to start a church was a teaching on this parable by a Methodist pastor by the name of Lynn Sweet. And Lynn said in this talk on this parable he said two things that have stayed with me and I hope they stay with you today. He said as Christians, we have a tendency to think that safety is in the chair. Just like I'm hedging my bets, covering my tracks, I'm digging in, I'm going to hold out until the master gets back. And as Christians, we also have the tendency to think that danger is in the dare. I'm not going to get out there, I'm not going to risk too much, I'm not going to be on the edge too often, I'm going to just play it safe. We don't want danger. But he flipped the script in his talk. That changed my perspective. It actually was a catalyst that God used to move me from Oklahoma all the way to Arizona to plant our first church here.
Speaker 2:He said here's the truth of the kingdom. The truth of the kingdom is that danger is in the chair that it is more dangerous to hedge our bets, to cover our tracks and to dig in than it is to take a risk. And he says the reality is, for us, safety is in the dare. Those that risk everything made doubled what they had been given and were commended for it. And here's the problem of forts, here's the problem of leaders thinking the wrong way. We think that we just need to guard what we already have, and the moment we begin to do that, we begin to lose market share, we begin to lose kingdom advance.
Speaker 2:Dawson Trotman, the founder of the Navigators many, many years ago, said this about our spiritual lives, but it also applies to leadership in business. He said in life you are either moving forward or going backwards. There's no standing still. And how true that is of our spiritual lives. It's abundantly true. In your spiritual life, you're either moving forward, you're getting closer to the Lord, or you're moving away from the Lord. But you never are able to get to a place that you're like. I like it where I'm at, I'm just going to stop here and I'm going to live here for the rest of my life. It doesn't work that way. But that also is true of your church, your organization, your business, your team. The moment you get to the place is like man, we just like it where we are. We like our team. We're not going to try to do anything to make our team better, we're just going to hit the pause button. We're going to live here. That's the moment you start going in the opposite direction.
Speaker 2:At the filming of this, we're on the back end of the trade deadline for Major League Baseball and here's what I know watching teams that think they have a chance to win. They do not settle for what they currently have. Think about that. Teams that think they have a chance to win are what they call in the trade market buyers, not sellers. They're willing to take what they have, which is good they're in contention but they're willing to do something different to make it better. They're always trying to look for that next position, that next player, that next thing, because you're either listen very carefully you're either moving forward or you're going backward in your organization. There is no standing still. So, as we thought about the leader and his heart, we said put some guardrails in. We think about the leader in his head. I'd say get out of the fort and see the frontier that is before you and how you can leverage what you have to impact the world greater than ever before. Thanks, and have a great day.