SELDI Podcast with Tony Williams

"Love - A Leader's Greatest Asset!"

• Tony Williams

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What if the most powerful leadership strategy is the one we’ve overlooked—love? Not the performative kind that flatters or aims to please, but the unconditional, durable love described in 1 Corinthians 13. We trace a personal turning point back to 1999, when striving for eloquence, polish, and approval gave way to a deeper truth: being grounded in love changes everything—how you lead, how you listen, how you endure.

Across this conversation, we unpack why love is patient and kind becomes more than a verse—it’s an operating system for teams, families, and communities. We explore the freedom that arrives when inferiority and insecurity loosen their grip, and how that freedom shows up in decision-making, time stewardship, and conflict. We look at the shift from head-to-head exchanges to heart-to-heart connection, why people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care, and how that insight transforms client work, coaching moments, and daily interactions into catalysts for trust. Real stories reveal joy and impact multiplying in practical ways: greeting by name, listening longer, correcting with dignity, and choosing hope when metrics lag.

Longevity is the quiet outcome of love-led leadership. Serving nearly five decades in one company becomes possible when purpose is renewed by care—especially for early-career and seasoned professionals who carry untapped potential. This message extends across borders—North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, Oceania —because patience, humility, and hope translate anywhere. If you’ve been chasing success and still feel restless, consider this reframing: love never fails. Subscribe for more conversations that blend faith, leadership, and practical wisdom, and share this with someone who needs a reminder that care is a competitive advantage. Then tell us: where could you lead with more love today?

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Speaker 00:

Greetings, my friends. Tony Williams here. God loves us unconditionally, and what a liberating truth this is. Love never fails. God speaks to us today in this message. Love, a leader's greatest attribute. It was 1999, July the 18th, when the Lord revealed this truth to me, that He loved me unconditionally.

Speaker 00:

I did not have to work or strive and do all these things that I thought were necessary to receive the love of Christ. And finally, God got through to me with this truth. And it changed everything.

Speaker 00:

Today, this morning, God spoke to my heart and said, this is the message for today. Love, a leader's greatest attribute. Before I experienced the love of God through Jesus Christ as my Savior and my Lord, I used to think eloquence was the key to success. I used to think that dressing well was the key to success. I used to think that being loved by many people, love as the world defines it, was success. All these thoughts of idea and ideas of success were really not success at all. And God revealed to me that true success was found in love. And why do I say that? Because many people around the world desire success. As a matter of fact, for God's children, he desires and he has already provided everything we need to be successful in life and career. And the first step of that is knowing and realizing that God loves you unconditionally. When you receive Jesus as your Savior and your Lord, the Holy Spirit of God comes to live on the inside of you. I knew of that truth, but I didn't realize it and live it until 1999. Up until then, 25 years in sales and various roles in my company, seemingly successful on the outside, but struggling deeply on the inside. God revealed this truth for me and it was liberating. The three things that happened when I received this truth I want to share with you. First of all, I had freedom. Freedom from what? Freedom from inferiority, freedom from insecurity, freedom of fear and doubt. God delivered me from all of those when He showed me that He loved me unconditionally. And He manifested it in a verse that I saw in the scriptures that date. As a matter of fact, as I was preparing for this message, God led me to the Bible in which I was reading and I made this note "bless you, lead you, guide you in life. July the 18th, 1999." Here's what it says. 1 Corinthians the 13th chapter, verses 4 through 7. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Listen to this, Rich. Three things will last forever faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love. My friends in the UK, my friends in Germany, my friends in Africa, my friends in India, my friends in the United States, my brothers and sisters, I thank God for you. This message is for you. And don't just hold it to yourself, spread it to others, engage others with the love that God is revealing to you. And let me share with you what it means to me and what it means for you potentially. Love means something different to everyone, but is consistently provided by our Father in heaven. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life is consistently available to us wherever we are on the globe. And God is saying to us today, when we have the love of Christ in us, the love as God has exemplified in those scriptures, these things will happen for us. This is what it happened for me, and I shared with you. Freedom, joy, and impact, and longevity. First of all, freedom. Up until this point, until 1999, I was successful on the outside but struggling on the inside. When God revealed the truth of His love for me, everything changed. The shackles of being inferior or feeling less than, the shackles of fear and doubt and unbelief fell away. And I was free for the first time. Free in my spirit to be and do and become everything that my Father in heaven created me to be and do and become. And that was the freedom that made all the difference in the world. Wherever you are in the world, my friends, God wants you free. Free from the things that bind you in your mind, your will, and your emotions. And with that freedom, you then have the ability to experience the joy of the Lord as your strength and impact people as you go. When I discovered this in 1999, my relationships changed in my family first, and then with my friends, and then with my clients and my customers and my colleagues. I had a brand new perspective. I no longer saw them as just individuals along my way to achieve my goals and my objectives. No, I saw them as people. I saw them as individuals that God loved just as much as He loved me. And with that attitude, it changed everything. It changed how I engaged with people. And here's what someone once said people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. When people began to see that I genuinely cared about them, I was able to reach them in a different way. I used to coach young professionals that when you communicate it, try to move from just head-to-head communication to heart-to-heart communication. How do you get there? You first have to love the person. You first have to care for the person and see them as individuals. Oh, glory to God. And when you do, people respond to you in a different way. The success you were seeking to acquire, you now first seek that in them. And as you see it manifest in them, it overflows into you. And it just multiplies as you go. Get that, my friends. That's a game changer. Oh, glory to God. I'm so excited. I love you wherever you are. Know that God loves you and I love you too. And so that was the second thing that I noticed. The third thing was longevity. I'm 75 years old, and I served in one company for 49 years. How did I do that? I didn't do it. It was my Father in heaven, the Holy Spirit inside of me that kept me there all those years. And the last decade, he had me there just for a specific purpose to manifest the love of Christ to all the early career professionals and all the seasoned professionals that I was working with on a daily basis. And now he still gives me the potential and the opportunity to touch millions around the world with the truth of the living God. God loves you, and the greatest attribute of a leader is love. Because when you experience the love of Christ, everything changes. Your family relationships, your friend relationships, your client relationships, people that you meet just on going to the grocery store, you engage them with the spirit of love. And when you do that, my friends, you are being a force multiplier. You are letting the God who lives on the inside of you overflow to those around you. So my friends in India, don't keep the love of Christ within you. Share it to those that you meet. My friends in Germany, don't keep the love of Christ in you. Share it, my brothers and my sisters, to those you meet. My friends in the UK, don't keep the love of Christ in you. Let it overflow wherever you go. My friends, my brothers and my sisters in the United States, let the love of Christ flow through you in your leadership. My friends, Africa, wherever you are in the world, when you hear this message, know that love never fails. This is what God says. Three things will last forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love. Oh Father God, Abba Father, you are love and you show us your love every day. And the greatest expression of your love was when you gave Jesus, your son, to die on the cross, to pay the penalty for my sins and all the people that you created around the world throughout all generations. That through him we would have eternal life. Eternal life to know God and Jesus his son. So be it. For us and for those that we meet and share your love with wherever we are, whenever and wherever you send us. In Jesus' name. Amen.