Servant Leadership That Drives Results: How Great Leaders Build Trust, Retain Teams & Scale Success

Leadership is not about titles. It is about impact.

In this powerful episode of Unstoppable Success, Jaclyn Strominger sits down with Kevin Wayne Johnson, founder of The Johnson Leadership Group, bestselling author of 21 books, and a leadership expert with over 34 years of experience in government and corporate leadership. 

This conversation goes beyond theory and into the real work of leadership. What it takes to build trust, develop people, and create a culture where individuals and organizations thrive.

At the center of it all is one powerful concept.
 Leadership with a servant’s heart.

 In this episode, you will learn:

• The difference between servant leadership and leading with a servant’s heart
• Why emotional intelligence is critical to leadership success
• How great leaders build trust, respect, and connection
• The real reason companies struggle with retention and turnover
• How leadership directly impacts culture and performance
• Why employees leave and what keeps them engaged
• The role of succession planning in long-term business success
• How to develop, prepare, and equip your team for growth
• The hidden cost of poor leadership on teams and organizations
• How to create unstoppable success through people-first leadership

Key Insight:
People are not just looking for direction.
They are asking three silent questions:
Will you help me?
Will you give me hope?
Will you advocate for me?

Leaders who answer “yes” to all three build loyalty, performance, and long-term success.

This episode also explores one of the biggest challenges facing organizations today.

The leadership gap.

With increasing turnover, burnout, and disengagement, many companies are missing the one thing that matters most. Strong, human-centered leadership that connects, develops, and inspires.

 Who this episode is for:

• CEOs and executives
• Entrepreneurs building teams
• Managers and team leaders
• High performers stepping into leadership roles
• Anyone who wants to lead with impact and purpose

 Connect with Kevin Wayne Johnson:
https://thejohnsonleadershipgroup.com

 Take the next step:

👉 Book a strategy call with Jaclyn Strominger

Leadership is not a position.
It is a responsibility.

And the leaders who get this right create impact that lasts far beyond their title.

Transcript

Recording Started

Jaclyn Strominger 0:02

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Unstoppable Success Podcast, the show where we where extraordinary leaders pull back the curtain on what it really takes to build a legacy, lead with purpose, and create impact that outlasts a title. I'm your host, Jaclyn Strominger leadership strategist, executive coach, keynote speaker, and your partner in building the one asset that compounds faster than any investment you'll ever make, and that's relationship capital. So every episode, I bring you real conversations with leaders who have done the work, not just the theory, but the decisions, the pivots, and the hard, hard-won wisdom that separates leaders who survive from those who are truly transformed. And today's guest, he's the real deal. We have Kevin Wayne Johnson. He is the founder and CEO of the Johnson Leadership Group, best-selling author of 21 books. God, it would take a lifetime to write all those in general, including an award-winning leadership. I'm time tried this morning. I'm like overwhelmed. Including the award-winning leadership with a Servant Heart series, which has earned 16 literary awards. He's a John Maxwell certified coach, trainer, and speaker, an ordained minister, and a man who spent 34 years inside government and corporate America before making it his life's mission to close the leadership gap that is costing organizations every single day. His philosophy is simple and powerful: know better, do better, leave better. So, Kevin, welcome to Unstoppable Success. I am so glad you are here.

Kevin Wayne Johnson 1:40

Thank you. Thank you for the invitation. It's a joy to be here with you, Jaclyn. Looking forward to a great show.

Jaclyn Strominger 1:46

Yeah, you know, it's uh yeah. I was so excited to have you on. So, all right, so I always like to kind of start with a little bit of that origin story because your mission is sort of deeply personal. And you said your own story molded your passion for preparing today's, you know, workforce for leadership. So without giving everything away, what was the main defining moment that you said this is what I'm here to do?

Kevin Wayne Johnson 2:11

Well, everything starts at home. So I'm the son, I'm the son of a U.S. Marine, and my mom worked for the federal government briefly. She didn't make a career out of it. I don't have any sisters. I have one brother. He's about three and a half years younger than I, and he was born with a mental disability. So when I was a child, even before I started kindergarten, I was at home with mom helping to support, raise, advocate for, fight for, and love my younger brother who could not necessarily advocate for himself. Dad was away fighting in America's wars, Vietnam twice and Okinawa, Japan once. And I learned a few things, and it stayed with me. Fast forward, I get to high school and then I matriculate to Virginia Commonwealth University, right there in my hometown of Richmond, Virginia. I study business and I start to learn something fascinating about leadership, strategies, and principles that make a difference. And I sort of adopted what I learned, and I and I call them tools that I would add to my toolbox that I could take out when needed. One year after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth, I entered into the federal government. My mother is the one that really encouraged me to do it. I didn't know anything about the federal government. And I ended up staying 34 years. Interesting. And I served as a frontline, mid-level, and senior level leader. Well, during that same time, Jaclyn, I met this young lady, and we started to date, and we fell in love and got married. And from our union, we had three sons. And interestingly enough, the third son, when he was born, we noticed something really, really different about him. And that he didn't speak. He didn't say a word. He would laugh and cry and run and jump and skip and swing on the swing set and ride in the wagon and play ball, but he never said a word. And we thought that was really odd. So, right around 24 months of age, we had him diagnosed and we kind of thought something was going on, but the doctors came back and he was diagnosed with autism. Very similar to my younger brother. So here we go again, right? Do I get angry and get upset and ask why me? Or do I step into my role as a father and advocate for my son and again love him, support him, fight for him, and be his representative in the earth to kind of help him along? Because these neurological challenges are no joke. They're a big deal. And so again, I'm applying leadership principles right at home as a child with my brother, and then as an adult, as a father to my son. And I carried that into the marketplace. And I found out that it works. I saw it up close and personal. I saw how people respond when they're led well. And I saw how people respond when they're not led well. And there's a huge gap. And so I started the company so that we can narrow that gap.

Jaclyn Strominger 5:20

Yeah, I truly love this. And so one thing that I want to pick out, and listeners, I think this is really, really important to just like a nugget that just came into my brain. You, you know, it's not it's not that it's a concept, because we should do this in general, but it's like love him, fight for him, advocate. Right. So those those words, it's like love your team, fight for your team, advocate for your team, just as you would do, as you said, like with your son and for your brother. And so listeners, I I want you to really take that nugget because that is something that to embody, you know, for unstoppable success. So, how can you think about people that you can love on, fight for, and advocate for? Anyway, so Yeah.

Kevin Wayne Johnson 6:21

So in doing all of the above, Jaclyn, and everyone who's watching and listening, here's something that's really dynamic and really core to human behavior. This is across the board with all eight plus billion people on the planet. When you and I show up as the leader, or when someone new comes onto our team and our organization and we're already the established leader, what they're really looking for, but they never say it, is number one, will we help them? Number two, will we usher in some hope? And then number three, is this leader going to advocate for me, i.e., share resources, provide information, grant me opportunities, and develop me for the next level. Now, that's what people are thinking. They don't say it, but that's what they're thinking. That's part of human behavior. I submit to you that unstoppable success is tied to yes to all of those questions.

Jaclyn Strominger 7:28

100% agree. Yep. You know, and I I think I think that, you know, again, listeners, if you are running a team, or think about I, as I always say, each and every one of you has to be the CEO of you. So you need to fight for yourself, love yourself, and advocate for yourself too. But it's finding those people around you that can be that advocate, someone that, and as you said, develop. That's a key word. And if anybody knows my story, one of the things that I've always said is I spend years in magazine publishing and I was searching for the person to develop me, like to help, like, and it was missing. So, okay, I have to do it, you have to do it yourself. But wow, when you, you know, you you not to compare because it's not about comparing, but when I saw other people, and even when I have people on my podcast, and I see the impact that that one person could have on their life. That one person, it is like, wow. So lead listeners, be the one person for everybody else and yourself.

Kevin Wayne Johnson 8:36

Okay, absolutely. And I also use interchangeably with develop, I also use the words prepare and equip.

Jaclyn Strominger 8:44

Yes, right.

Kevin Wayne Johnson 8:45

They're interchangeable. You can kind of switch them back and forth because we are always in a position as a leader to pour into others and to help them because one day they're going to move on. Oh, so people have opinions and they're not shy. But as we move up in any organization, we're going to be more visible. Yes. And so we've got to be prepared. You know, I always tell leaders, I tell everyone in the workforce as a part of workforce development, it's always better to be prepared and not have an opportunity than it is to have an opportunity and not be prepared.

Jaclyn Strominger 9:36

Right.

Kevin Wayne Johnson 9:36

I've done both. And I tell you, it's a big difference.

Jaclyn Strominger 9:40

You know, it it really is. And so this brings me to something that I that I really want to bring up because it's it's come up in quite a few conversations actually this week, and I'm glad that you actually have a whole book, you know, series on it. You know, this is the you know, developer, pair, equip, that's serving others. So your series, you know, leadership with the servants heart, you know, it's obviously it's got is or earned a bunch of awards. But how do you help, you know, executives and other people get into that servant mindset when when sometimes people resist that word servant? Or and and I don't I don't want to also, I guess I also want to say sometimes I feel like the word almost is overused. We talk about serving, but do we do it?

Kevin Wayne Johnson 10:34

Yeah, the actual concept hit the marketplace back in 1970 around servant leadership. And I think it was pretty well explained in terms of what it means, but I add a little extra explanation to help leaders to help to help frontline, mid-level, and senior level leaders understand with an emphasis on the heart. Leadership with a servant's heart is different than servant leadership. And here's why. Many of us have been trained over a series of years of career that it's all about intellect, acumen, and subject matter expertise. And in part, that's true. That's how we get to those positions because we've demonstrated that we have the subject matter expertise to get it done. We've we've rolled up our sleeves and we've been proficient. The annual performance rating is good, two thumbs up, and we kind of move up to the next level. But there's less emphasis on the heart. And so we want leaders to align the mind with the heart. Well, Kevin, what's the heart got to do with anything? The heart is where the emotions come. That's where the care, the respect, the honor, and the value for other people come. That's where empathy and compassion reside. And by the way, being an empathetic and compassionate leader does not make you weak. It makes you human. And that's what people are looking for in their leader: someone who's genuine and authentic and real, someone I can count on who respects me so I can respect them, because respect isn't given, it's earned. Just like trust, it's not given, it's earned over time. So when we can align what's in the heart with what's in the mind, now we're leading with a servant's heart. That's a step beyond just being a servant leader. It unpacks it even more. And then we have an opportunity to help our leaders to really, really understand it and make sure they put the proper tools in their toolbox so they can pull those tools out when they need it. No different than a roofer and a car mechanic and a carpenter, right? They all have a toolbox, but they have slightly different tools, but they go into that toolbox when needed. Leaders are the same thing. So that that's my that's how I go about explaining it. Sometimes it's over a full day. Sometimes I'm with a team or an organization for a whole week. And sometimes we're just together just for a few hours, but we spend some time helping them to understand it. And I see eyes open and I see mouths open. Oh, now I get it. I've never heard that before. I said that's that's why we're here. You're not going to get this in business school. You're just not.

Jaclyn Strominger 13:35

Well, okay, so a couple things here. So, first of all, I love what you're saying because it's like it's like music to my ears. I, you know, aligning, aligning, you know, alignment is so important in general. So if you're not aligned and values are so important, but the hard part of it is what really helps the leader connect with the the team member because they're gonna get to know the team member and understand, like I, you know, get to know Kevin, where do you want to go? Where's what are your goals?

Kevin Wayne Johnson 14:07

And I I yeah, I love that word, Jaclyn, connect.

Jaclyn Strominger 14:11

Yeah.

Kevin Wayne Johnson 14:12

Because when we connect with others, a couple of other things are happening as well. In addition to connecting with another person, we're also building bridges and we're also finding common ground.

Jaclyn Strominger 14:23

Yes.

Kevin Wayne Johnson 14:24

And guess what that does? That equates to effective communication. So leading with a servant's heart also helps us to be much more efficient and effective with our communication because what we're doing is we're opening ourselves up as a leader so that our people get to know us, but at the same time, we're getting to know our people. Now we're on our way to doing some really, really good thing. That's unstoppable success.

Jaclyn Strominger 14:54

That is, and you know what's so funny is like how many times have you seen the leader who's like, who's, you know, and those of you who are listening to this, I'm showing, you know, a level field, and then the the pyramid up, the leaders wants to be at the top, and they don't understand that they need to be with the team.

Kevin Wayne Johnson 15:15

Yep. Absolutely, absolutely. And when that revelation hits, things start to happen, performance increases, productivity goes up out of the roof, and guess what? People want to do what you ask them to do. They don't feel like there's a resistance because you're no longer dictating, demanding, and mandating. You're now asking because you have a good working relationship. We're not talking about being friends, quote unquote, but we're talking about having good, meaningful relationships where everybody wants to get things done. And you don't have to threaten people and you don't have to dictate to people. And I tell you, that culture makes a difference between people voting with their feet and people staying and becoming productive and having a great career right where they are. So leadership with a servant's heart distinguishes itself for all of those reasons and many others from just servant leadership. And that's the difference.

Jaclyn Strominger 16:24

Okay, so here's a here's a sort of a thought that's going through my brain as we're as we're talking, because so many people right now, you know, at least when I first got out of college, right? And now too, I think you don't necessarily see people staying at a company for very long. Maybe it's two years and then they're gonna go up and they're you know, it's like two years, I need to get that jump to the next level. Two years. So do you feel that with what you're bringing, that that maybe it's also creating longevity within the company?

Kevin Wayne Johnson 17:01

Yeah, yeah, because the one thing we haven't talked about yet, and I'll just kind of dive in, yeah, is is this is also a division of succession planning.

Jaclyn Strominger 17:10

Yes.

Kevin Wayne Johnson 17:11

And so if the person that's at the C-suite can really keep his or her his or her eye open for those that are at the mid-level and even at the front level in their career and start that process of preparing, equipping, and developing, even then, you're doing succession planning, you're leading with a servant's heart, and you're helping them to make sure that they'll be ready once they get to that next level. There's a very, very higher probability that that person will stay at that organization or at that company versus no one ever reaching out and offering a helping hand. And that's all part of what we help leaders to understand. Because listen, Jaclyn, time goes by so fast. And I worked 34 years with the federal government. I don't know where the time went. I just looked up one day and people looked younger than me, and I said, it's time to go. But I don't know where the time went. That's almost three and a half decades, and it's gone. And it's time to move on to the next season of life. And if if we can get more of our leaders to understand that across the landscape, deep into the marketplace, more people will stay and you'll have more longevity. Our HR professionals are not constantly reaching out, trying to find new candidates to bring in because the retention rates will be higher, and you'll start to see a big difference in terms of culture and uh overall performance for the company and for the organization. In my case, it was the federal government, which is different because the federal government is so gigantic. And so I would transition from Department of Defense, for example, to from the department level, I could go and work for one of the agencies, Defense Logistics Agency, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or many of the agencies under that umbrella, and my overall service would continue. Likewise, I also went to work for the Department of Treasury. And they had different agencies that I could work at, and my overall federal service would continue. So that's a little bit different. But when it comes to corporations and maybe academic institutions and some of the nonprofits, if you want people to stay longer and increase your retention rates and do a big favor to our HR professionals, then start to do the secession planning much sooner. And you'll see people stay because they appreciate that.

Jaclyn Strominger 19:52

You know, and I'm so glad that you brought that up. Because, you know, I'm thinking about this and I think how great. I mean, this is one of the reasons why I love doing this, this, this podcast, because it's the ultimate goal, which is to have people walk in and, you know, maybe it's not your first position out of college, but maybe it's your second or whatever, maybe it's the second company. But you walk into that company and that person know gets to know you, the leader, and you you begin to get not just somebody who is going to help guide you on your career, because that's a leader, is is a guide, right? They are gonna lead, but you also then feel a sense of ownership and pride because you want to see the company succeed, and it's and it, and you don't want to leave because you want to be part of that success of the company, right? And it it it's and it's so important, but also a lot of that takes part of what you just said, clear communication. Because if the if the CEO doesn't communicate, you know, where the company's going and talk about and get to know people and share it, you know, share the good, the bad, and the ugly, people, you know, people want to know what's going on, but they also want to have a path. So I don't mean I just I love that that so I you know I'm I'm I'm curious, you know, a lot of it, you know, there's uh you know, the whole part of the ROI of the company, and it's it's a huge cost. I mean, I think the cost of turnover in the United States alone is it's it's gotta be next to it in the dollar amount. So that's really, really huge. So besides that turnover cost, like when you see it, like what what other costs are we are we forgetting about that we need to let people know like do these things so your costs will be lower?

Kevin Wayne Johnson 21:50

It's the cost on the human resource who's still there.

Jaclyn Strominger 21:54

Yeah.

Kevin Wayne Johnson 21:55

So when people leave a team, they leave an organization, they leave A government agency, they leave a company, there's a void until that person can be replaced. This is the burden that is on the shoulders of our HR professionals. Until they can get someone in the door, you and I and our teammates are left to pick up the slack. Uh-oh, you're going to get some complaints. You're going to get some valid concerns. You may even have some backlash. You're going to have some opinions that are going to be stated publicly in the staff meetings. You're going to have some folks not get along now because they will observe that perhaps I have a little bit more on my plate than my teammate. And I may not appreciate that. And I might verbalize that. So above and beyond the financial cost that can be quantified and validated and verified is the cost on the human resource. And if it's too much of a cost, guess what? They might end up voting with their feet and leaving. And you have to go through this whole problem, this revolving door is a cost that is not necessarily quantifiable, but you can observe it. And it starts to now play on people's mental, physical, and emotional health. So this is serious. This conversation that we're having around unstoppable success, leadership as a profession, it's not just something casual that people should fall into, but there should be an element and a season of preparation and development because you're dealing with people. And the hardest aspect of leadership is people. Yeah. Personalities, hidden agendas, private agendas. We should do it this way. Why are we doing it that way? I mean, there's all different types of factors that come into it. So we never say it's easy, but we do provide principles and strategies to help teams and organizations and individuals understand what it takes to really be good in this space. Because we're trying to get to that unstoppable, unstoppable success. And the way that we do it in part is leading well, right? So based upon what we know, now we do better.

unknown 24:26

Right.

Kevin Wayne Johnson 24:27

And because we're doing better, we lead better. And that's the whole premise, and that's the whole theme that undergirds the Johnson Leadership Group. We keep it simple because we want people to understand it, but we take our time and unpack it to make sure that now they can implement it. So we want to go from understanding to implementation. And that's the difference.

Jaclyn Strominger 24:48

So I could talk to you for hours about this. So you offer, correct me if I'm wrong, a complimentary 30-minute discovery session, because obviously that everything begins with you know rich insights. So who, you know, for our listeners who are sitting here thinking, I might need that. One sign, what's one sign that tells you a leader is ready to invest in their next level?

Kevin Wayne Johnson 25:13

Typically, people have had it up to here. There's something going on on the team, in the workplace, in the culture that's ingrained. And that individual knows it's not right, but maybe struggling with what do I do? Because I'm not necessarily here to ruffle feathers. I am a team player, but someone has to do something or say something because there has to be a change. And you know that deep down inside, it's in your gut. I would encourage you to be bold enough, but also to be very diplomatic and tactful in how you go about doing it. That's that's very, very key for all of us as professionals. You know, are always advised to always be tactical and always be diplomatic in how you approach things, because unfortunately, it doesn't take much to offend people. And that's never the intent. I don't believe it's ever our intent to offend another person. But because you don't walk in their shoes and you don't know their story, just about anything you say or do could potentially offend them. So you have to be really careful. But don't just sit there because you're given the green light for it to continue if you say if you don't say anything or if you don't do anything. So these are the types of coaching sessions that I provide just to give some tips on what to do and how to do it, and to know that you have somebody on your side and confident that you can have a conversation with. And oftentimes that's the difference maker.

Jaclyn Strominger 26:49

Yeah, that's actually huge. Kevin, I could talk to you forever, and this conversation has been everything I knew would be rich, real, and full of the kind of insights that basically people can take take this information and put it to work absolutely immediately. And I hope everyone listening that you do. But also, if something Kevin's has said today, and there's a lot that has been said, has landed for you, don't let it just stop here. Take an insight and write it down, and then do something that I think is really important, and that is connect with Kevin. Reach out to him directly at his website, which is share your website.

Kevin Wayne Johnson 27:31

Yeah, it's www.thejohnsonleadershipgroup.com. The name of the company is the Johnson Leadership Group and the website, the Johnson Leadership Group.com.

Jaclyn Strominger 27:42

Awesome. And do me a favor, take him up on his complimentary 30-minute discovery session. The conversation I know will will give you clarity and a next step. And it's really important. And also, again, reach out to him, go to his website, make that connection. So let's make that happen. Now, if today's episode has reminded you that leadership is not a solo sport, and you want to personally want to personally invite you into a brand new community, the Unstoppable Success Community on School, this is a curated space for driven executives and leaders who are have really said uncle and they're done playing small and ready to lead to the highest level. You'll be networking with great people. There's insight leaders to open doors, create opportunities, and you'll build real real relationship capital. So you'll get training, leadership frameworks, and a community that challenges you, challenges you and celebrates you. So it's for you to get started, and it's open to the first 100 people for free. So again, join us at school, and I'll leave the link in the show notes. And if you're not yet a subscriber to this podcast, please do me for the favor and hit the follow button so you never miss an episode. And every week, actually twice a week, we bring you conversations and strategies and the leadership insights that help you build your legacy. Kevin, thank you for being an amazing guest. Thank you. And being on Unstoppable Success. I'm Jaclyn Strominger, and this has been Unstoppable Success. We help you keep leaping to your greatest success.