SPEAKER_00 0:15

Most people who say I'm not a leader are already leading. The issue isn't influence, it's identity. When your responsibility grows and your self-understanding doesn't, that's when you hit the identity threshold.

Most People Already Lead

SPEAKER_00 0:30

The question, who am I to lead this? So that's where we're going today, man. Yeah. Just thinking about leadership.

The Identity Threshold Defined

SPEAKER_00 0:37

And I know I had shared previously that the first space for me was the football field. Yeah. But I'm curious, man, I don't think I ever heard you talk about this. When's the first time you felt like a leader?

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Yeah, I was thinking about this, man. So uh it makes me makes me think back to my childhood. Um, I was 10 years old. Uh, but some of the backstory was my family and I, we grew up in, I grew

First Leadership Memories

SPEAKER_01 1:00

up in church. And one of the things about church is that growing up for me, it wasn't just about religious practices as much as it was about community and development. Like this was the place, you know, you're growing up in a city, uh, lower income. Like this was the spot where you learn how to do so many things. Um, like we didn't have all the extracurricular or couldn't afford it. So it's like, all right, here's what I'm learning. So we grew up in church, and a part of that was I got my first taste of a lot of things. Like I was able, I was in a school, I was in a play at church. I sung on the choir at church. And so one day one day, one day, one day. So I'm I realized church helped me see that I was talented, right? I saw that I was talented, and my family was really involved, and everybody was really involved. But I remember being 10 years old and them actually giving me the opportunity to give my first sermon. And I was like, What? I'm 10 years old and I'm working and I'm doing this, and I and I'm I I'm just like, I'm talented, but I don't know if I'm that talented. So 10 years old, I gave the sermon, dude. It was trash. Like looking back at it, it's like it's the worst, worst moment ever. But hey, good thing they didn't have recordings back then, huh? I'm so grateful because it was terrible. YouTube, what? No. Right. So, but but the best part about that was something shifted. I realized that I just wasn't talented. Um, but I actually had like leadership abilities. Like people actually trusted me to share a message and not only share the message, but people actually listen. I'm sitting there, I'm thinking like, oh, I'm just I'm just James. But I just started to see over time, like, oh, this person actually wants to hang out with me or this person wants to be with me. This person actually thinks that my voice adds value. And so I saw something when I was 10 that just kind of uh, you know, maybe matriculated or or matured. That's a better word. But they matured. And so when I was about uh 17, it's really when it was like, no, you're actually a leader. So yeah, man, that was a story I keep thinking about. That 10-year-old James giving his first sermon and finally realizing, like, oh, my words have weight. My, my, you know, what I do, people actually are paying attention to. Right. Right?

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Like, so So based on what you know now about leadership and the spaces you've let in, drill down with me a little bit. And you were getting at some of it. Yeah, yeah. Like, what exactly about that moment or the moments that followed made that feel like leadership?

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Yeah. So I had I thought for a moment that, you know, maybe they gave me this opportunity because my family was really involved in the church. So I'm just thinking, oh, you know, they just gotta do this, they gotta give me this opportunity. But then um what I also remembered about

Realizing Words Have Weight

SPEAKER_01 3:53

that moment was my pastor at the time, again, thinking this community and development, um, and in the way I grew up, this pastor was one of the first people to speak like life into me. And he would always go around and he would call me Dr. James. I'm like, Dr. James. So I blame, I blame him for the these pursuits of like, I want to do more. So, but something about that moment was I I knew that there was I was different because not all the kids had an opportunity to give a message. The other side I realized is not all the kids wanted to give a message. So he was speaking to something that actually was already in me and already visible to others. Um, I just didn't uh probably see it that way. And so from that moment, um, I was like, oh, well, now I'm gonna show up at the Bible studies and I'm gonna be the one to read the scripture, or I'm going to show up at these spaces and I'm gonna be the one to to pour in. Like, that's where I started to see a lot more of it. It was just this that moment was a um kind of really put it all into frame, right? But it was all these things happening around the picture, if you will, that were like, yeah, you I was doing some leading time.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Yeah, that's so level too, because there was a defining moment, but it was a bunch of moments that led up to that. And we're gonna dig deeper in this, but I just I can't I can't lay off it right now. I heard you say a couple things. I'm like, wow, people trusted you. Yep. Okay. That didn't happen in that moment, right? That happened over time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You had a desire to lead, to impact, whatever it was, we'll we'll pull that apart. And you had a willingness to like step out and actually do it.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

That's good.

SPEAKER_00 5:33

In our work, what we've been realizing is that we are uh when we're working with a different business leader, even a founder, uh, executive director, different people in different spaces leading on teams, that they don't always see themselves as a leader. And so we thought, wait a second, we need to stop, we need to take a step back. We had assumed some things, yeah, like for sure. Oh, what do you really? You don't it's okay. So, what is leadership? We want to define that, but I actually want to go to this threshold we were talking about first. So let's let's let's tee this up for everybody. The identity threshold. You hit the identity threshold when your responsibility grows and your self-understanding doesn't. You hit the identity threshold when your responsibility grows and your self-understanding doesn't. So crossing

What Made It Leadership

SPEAKER_00 6:17

that threshold is really about recognizing that you have influence and believing that you can become the leader this role requires. Yeah. And we really want to sit today mostly in that recognizing space. Yeah. Okay, recognizing that you have influence. So let's do this. We we pulled a couple of our favorite leaders and leadership scholars, and of course, we have our own. Yeah. So give us give us a couple, I'll throw a couple out there. Let's let's put some definitions for leadership down.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Yeah, the best leadership definition I've heard, um, and I haven't gotten rid of it all these years, is John Maxwell. Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Yeah. I love that so much. It's three words. Amazing. Yeah, I mean, I can remember it.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Everybody can remember it.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Yeah, leadership is influence. I love it. One of my favorite leaders all time is Andy Stanley. I actually just heard this recently, which I've been following him for so long. He said, Leadership is inspiring people to do the work that needs to be done. Leadership is inspiring people to do the work that needs to be done. And he says this thing that you can rent hands, but you can't rent hearts. Meaning it's not just about hiring someone to do a task, but to be inspired to want to do what needs to be done. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

You mentioned that you got another definition that we wrote down from a high school student. Yeah. And I thought this one was interesting that leadership is making other people successful. Brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

It's just when he said that, I was thinking about we were going to the Global Leadership Summit and I was trying to say, who do I want to invite? And of course, we happened to be at one of our community members' houses who was getting surgery. We're like, we got this like garden hoe and this pickaxe and the shovel. Where and I'm like, hey man, what what do you think it means to be a leader? And he dropped that on me. He's like, I think leadership is about making other people successful. I'm like, you for president, you are in hired, whatever. What do you need? Here are my keys. I just thought it was amazing. All right, you had we were we were chewing on this a little bit before we before we hopped on. What what's what's your definition?

SPEAKER_01 8:21

My definition of uh leadership is helping people move from where they are to rear where they really want to be.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

That's so good. And me, this is this is it for me. And I'm obviously it's always evolving and growing, but leadership is growing as much as possible to serve as many as possible. That might just be the learner in me, where I'm like, I gotta put that growth thing in there. I gotta put that growth thing in there. That's so good. Yeah, man. So, this identity threshold, the core question we have there is who am I to lead this? And before we can pull some of that apart, we want to start today. This is part one of part two, y'all. We want to start today with the lead part. Who am I to lead this? Lead, what does leadership mean? So that's a couple definitions, but give us give us some examples of when people maybe come against this threshold and they say, Wow, okay, I I need to cross this threshold, or this

Defining Leadership With Influences

SPEAKER_00 9:12

is that's when it becomes a constraint for them.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Yeah, it it is. I I've seen it a lot where again your responsibility increases, but your uh your self-understanding doesn't. And so I've seen it, you know, I remember uh graduating from college and I've seen this time and time again, working with young folks. They're so excited, they get the degree, and then they're like, How do I do adulting? Like, what do I even do? So it's now going from student to this young professional. Uh I've seen it where uh the top performer, right, goes from like, man, I'm killing it in sales, I'm killing it with recruitment, I'm killing it with this, I'm doing all these things great. And this top performer now is tasked with being team leader. That's another, that's another ballgame. Or you even see it where somebody is a parent and they go from no kids to one, no kids to multiple kids, whatever it is. And any each each kid adds a different threshold. I got three, I know some folks with six and folks with more. Each kid adds a different dynamic, right? Um, but then the other one that I've seen so often is when you go from volunteering with something, I just love this organization, I'm passionate about it, or I'm just on this team and now somehow you became the coordinator. So there's all of these things that I've seen where your responsibility uh increases. But you mentioned something when we were talking about this, that it's not just when your responsibility increases, but there is this demand that increases as well.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Right, yeah. Like maybe you don't get the promotion or you don't step into some new formal role. Like it's not all just upward mobility. That doesn't define leadership, but I do think those spaces are super critical to pay attention to. But the idea is like you can affect change where you are, and so if your demands increase, maybe you didn't get the promotion, maybe you have a challenging boss, but you're realizing uh that things need to change. Things are not going well. Maybe you're on a team and the team is dysfunctional, maybe it's your own household. I mean, it could it could really, it could really be wherever. That's real. I also think uh we worked with like a couple founders, and uh that's always fun because they're just always getting after it. But a lot of times for a founder or someone who uh starts a startup, they are really good at doing a thing. I'm really good at building. Yep, I'm really good at designing, I'm really good at software, whatever it is for you, and then all of a sudden the demands increase. Yeah. Where now you hit this ceiling, this threshold where okay, what do I need to do? And I think our hope is well, I don't just need to be a manager or a business owner, and those things are great. They're great, but I need to move and start thinking about oh, I'm a leader. I'm a leader. How am I inspiring these people to move in a certain direction? It's so good, man.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Because you you were hitting on that before we dive into the next part. I also thought about the the employee or the person who's so used to being an employee, and then they make that shift of becoming a founder, they make that shift of becoming a business owner. That's a that's a huge threshold because there's you go from clear containers, clear this, that, and the third, to now you're the one setting the direction. That's right, it's just mind blowing to me. And I've I've experienced that, so I I know what that feels like.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

No, it's big. I can't, I was just you have three kids. Yeah. As we record this, it is my

Who Am I To Lead This

SPEAKER_00 12:21

only son, my first son, his first birthday. Yeah, um, yeah. And wow, okay, that is a whole different space to think about. Now I lead where am I leading him to rather than like I think here's the shift. Oh, my job is to keep him alive. Yes, and yep. My job is to lead him to become all that he could be. Yeah, yeah. My job is to build these things and whatever, it's construction or it's design or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Yes, and now you're leading other people to do those things. It's not just me. And I think that's been the biggest one. It's taking my mind from top performer, I'm uh, you know, number one in my space. I can handle all of this to now saying, okay, it's not just about me, it's actually about others as well.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Yeah, you know what's crazy as you're saying that what we measure needs to change if we're gonna cross that threshold. Yep. It's like, well, I I did all this work, I whatever dotted all these I's, crossed all these Ts, I had all this output. Now we're measuring it by the output of others. Yeah, that's good, man. And how we helped, whether it's the systems we created, the clarity that we gave them, um, what needs to measure needs to change. So, what do you say? I guarantee you there's someone listening right now who's going, Yeah, I listen to this podcast because James's voice sounds like butter. By the way, I'm James. That's James. Right, yeah. Man, we're getting we gotta get better at that. We don't even introduce ourselves. I know. Noelle did though. That's good.

When Responsibility Outgrows Identity

SPEAKER_00 13:57

James has the butter voice, the the so good. You're gonna be singing on this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

You don't know it.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

But but what do you say to someone who's listening right now, and they're like, Yeah, uh, but I'm not a leader. Yeah. And maybe they have this idea of a leader in their head, yeah, and it doesn't look like them in this season. Yep. What do you say? Where do we how do we how do we speak to that person?

SPEAKER_01 14:21

I think we've got a the starting point, like the start here button would be we all have a story, right? And we we all lead from our stories. Um, I think it's so important to recognize that every one of us has these gifts, these abilities, these talents, these experiences, these things that make us, right? Those are our stories. And those stories are so significant because sometimes we're afraid of our story. Like you shared on one of our uh other episodes about what you navigated because you shared about the uh football team and the leadership piece, but you also share, like, man, I went down this path. Right. That all became a part of your story, right? The same with me. My story is what allows me to understand that I'm I'm not just existing in this world, like there's actually purpose to me being here. And so I think that when we understand that our stories are important, we also understand that our stories are impactful, right? So your story is your story, number one. But the other part is that leadership is using that story, right? It's using that story.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Let me pause you for a second because I think let's let's pull on that first thread a little bit. I have a dramatic story, and by God's grace, it is a story of redemption, right? And sure. I, you know, I put some work in, but man, I feel like it's a gift more than anything else. Yeah, yeah. A lot of times people will say, Well, JC, you have this powerful story. And say, I my story's kind of boring. My story's kind of plain. I'll never forget the student uh gave a message at the youth center, and uh the title of his message was uh Am I Weird? And the reason being is because you know, being a teenager is a tough time, and everyone's going through this anxiety and this depression, or their parents are divorced, or they had they lost someone. I mean, real stuff. And he had like a pretty pretty pretty vanilla life. He just he was, I mean, he was great as an athlete, he's a smart guy. He said, Am I weird? And it turns out that when he spoke that story, there were other people in the crowd that were like, I've been thinking the same thing. I thought I didn't have this dramatic, oh my gosh, this thing happened. And so, uh, whatever it is for you, this too doesn't have to be wasted. This too is part of your story, and there's someone that will connect with that story. That's brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

That that's the magic of it, right? Is that we all have a story and something about your story impacts or influences or connects with someone else, right? I I think I've heard that so many times because not everybody, I don't have your story, but you don't have my story either. And and the truth is, I've been, I remember sitting on stage, right? I had a mentor of mine, really love this dude, Melvin Adams. Melvin Adams, uh, shout out to Melvin. Uh

Founder To Leader Shifts

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Melvin was a former Harlem Globetrotter, and Melvin was spoken to, I mean, he spoke to millions of kids. And he brought me one week, I was just talking to him a few weeks ago. He brought me one week to come and speak with him, and I felt so much insecurity. Uh, I was struggling imposter syndrome huge because I'm like, this dude has played basketball. He's he's he he was even playing professionally. He was playing basketball with NBA players all around the world. And here's just this kid named James. I just got, I think at the time I got one, I didn't even have a kid yet. And I just this kid named James, I didn't do anything. I grew up in the church, I didn't have a crazy story, I didn't do drugs, I didn't do this, and I'm just like, who am I? And what he told me is something that I'll never forget. He says, and this is uh you guys can believe what you want, but he says, God could have given your gift to a frog, but he gave it to you. Ribbit, dude, and I'm like, wow. He said he could have given it to a rock, but he gave it to you. And you he says, use what you have. He says, That's your magic. Use what you have so I could sing. He said, Sing, that's your that's your thing. Go sing. And so, man, it that really influenced me. So when I go out and I would talk to students or I would talk to leaders, now there was somebody in the crowd that connected with my particular story, and that's where the leadership journey begins. So you start with your story, but then you also now understand is that leadership is using that story. It's not just knowing the story, it's important for you to know it, but it's actually using it. And I think that

Measuring Output Through Others

SPEAKER_01 19:22

when we get when we kind of strip down the layers and you and I talk to leaders and we start to get to some of their origin story, they all had the same kind of desire, the same like unction, something like, I actually want it to make a difference. Right. I actually want to help others thrive. Have you seen some of that too?

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Yeah, that's so good. Yeah. I mean, I think I think all of us deep down want to do something significant. Yeah. And I think it's what difference can I make? Is this core, this core question about purpose? That's good. Which feeds into this identity of okay, leadership is using that story. I love, I love how you put that. I think it starts there. Yeah. Like that is this this hey, you have a story, yeah, and then if you want to step into leadership, it's about using that story, that story, and and that desire to impact others, you will find how that story intersects with their story. Yeah, and it's as you go to over. It isn't like, oh, I went in this room and I figured it out, and now I'm gonna come and tell the people about how my story changes their story. It's like, no, it happens on the way. Yeah, yeah. Rubbing, rubbing shoulders with people, really being in it, really, really, really listening. Yeah, it's a refinement process. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally a refinement process.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Because it leads to that piece. You it's speaking of process, I it as we're talking out, like I'm like bursting at the seams because when you hit something, you and I were talking, and you mentioned this that leadership is a journey, it's not a destination, right? Right. So the time that we're talking about is not just uh a vacuum of time. It's actually in it's important, it's intentional. It's actually you becoming something. So you may not see yourself as a leader right now, right? But the reality is you're doing something, you're becoming something. I I love we were kind of hitting on some of those insights that a lot of folks show up to the leadership chair, whatever that chair is, uh, and they're like, Well, I don't have a title, right? I don't, I don't have a platform, I don't have a circle. And you and I kind of were laughing at it because you're like, but you're running this business. Yeah, and you're leading this team and you're you're showing up in this space.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Your family is looking to you, right? Yeah, you are in this organization and you know people. Yeah, yeah. No, it's so

For The “I’m Not A Leader” Listener

SPEAKER_00 21:41

good.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

And so I I think one of the things that we want people to get out of this is you understand your story, you lead from your story, but understanding that you're also in a journey. Yeah. And some of it is probably less about the destination of oh, I didn't do this, I don't look like that person. And more of it's about actually jumping into the journey and understanding that process over platform, right? Hard work over the highlight, sacrifice over the spotlight. It's it's just engaging a little bit more in that.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

That's so good. I heard, I think someone was talking to John Maxwell, and he was reflecting on how uh this whatever young man asked him, said, John, I want to do what you do. And he said, That's great. That's really great. Yeah. So then you're gonna have to do what I did to get here. Yes. And we kind of see these people, whatever, social media, or we go to a conference, we see someone speaking from stage, or they have this big business and they impact all these people. I'm like we don't I think if we I think if the goal is you and I talk about this, some people disagree with me, and and please email podcast at ctt leader. I'm not a big goal setter when it comes to outcomes. I do think we set some financial goals, we set some people goals, great. But what I think moves the needle is when we set goals according to inputs, not outcomes, but inputs. So I know that if I do these things as part of this process, I believe it'll lead to where I want to go, or to me becoming who I want to become rather than oh, I want to make X amount of dollars. I'm like, okay, well, I want I'm gonna call 20 people this week and see how I can add value. There's a whole different space.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

All right. So we got you have a story, and that story is significant. Yep. We need to have a desire to use that story, which we all really have deep down inside us. We have a story, we need to use that story, and then to understand that that story is still unfolding. Yeah. Leadership is a process, it's about who we're becoming, not necessarily about performing. That's right. That's really good, man. That's right, right. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

So let's let's get a little practical. Um, because I know when you we have these conversations and a part of this identity threshold is that it can be somewhat high level, right? Uh somewhat uh, you know, reflective. And so, how do we get from this 30,000 foot view to actually getting on the ground with people?

SPEAKER_00 24:12

That's so good. I think it's simple. The first one, right? We were talking about this, just name your story. Yeah.

unknown 24:18

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

And that feels like, oh, that's a waste of time. That might be the that is, we believe, is one of the greatest assets that you possibly have is your story. That's it. So, what does that look like? Okay. Uh it's write it down. Write a little life story out. Where, where, where did I come from? Who was I around? What were my challenges? What gifts have been discovered along the way, what significant experiences. Yeah. We need to name our story. You talked about uh who before do. Yeah. We need to figure out who we are. Who am I? And and not like before in the sense of um we can't do anything until we figure that out. Because it's as we do in that process that we figure out, but to take some time and that high-level reflection.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

I think I think one of the key insights on that though, that name your story is realizing that your story is not someone else's story. Yeah. Right? We we get and we hear it all the time. Don't, you know, compare your starting line with someone else's finish line, like, or even their where they are in the journey. Like you have to own your story. Like, I know when

Your Story Is The Starting Point

SPEAKER_01 25:20

I show up to places, um, I've dude, I I could riff on this all day, but I showed up in I was at a high school on uh one day, I was at a middle school the next day, I was at a middle school, high school, and then on Saturday, I'll be in a college environment. And I told you that when I was like years ago, probably like 10 years ago, I would show up in these environments. I wanted my best clothes on. I wanted to like, oh man, I'm gonna show up. I'm gonna be a rock star of a speaker. Now, when I show up, man, I usually wear my cardigans. Um, I might wear my suit jacket with the sweater, with some jeans, whatever. And I realize now that I'm not trying to be impressive anymore. Um, I'm not trying to be the big brother. I'm unk now. Like I'm unknown. Like I'm a dad now. Like I'm I'm cool with that. And that's that's a part of my story. So whenever I'm connecting with someone, I'm not trying to own their story, but I'm actually naming my own story because that actually has value.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

Yeah, and man, stories are what, like 22 times more memorable than facts. I mean, the greatest teachers always use stories, and we all have a story, so we got to name it. Yeah, man. This one, you were you were teaching me a little bit about this before, so I want you to unpack this. You were talking about we want to name the story, then we need to live the story. Yeah, yeah. Okay, tell me.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Yeah, so it's probably very similar to what I was just saying. It's it's that your story is not someone else's. Like when you get into this tug of war of your own story, like I, I really, I really want this, and I really want that, I really want that. And the truth is, that's probably not what you want as much as that's what you've seen others get. And so even when we talk about process, like, what do you truly want? And what do you what's your story? What's your context? And so you you have to begin to say and ask the question of if I was the leader that I wanted to be, what would they do? Like, if I was the CEO, if I was the like, whatever that is, I think some of that where where it starts is your self-talk, right? I've noticed that in so many leaders that I've worked with, is that often the the biggest uh detractor, the biggest constraint is the voice in their head. The biggest constraint is them. Like I was just talking to a friend of mine looking to start a business, and he's got this great idea, and I think it's an awesome idea. Um, the challenge is he went through this whole process of like, yeah, but um, and I don't, yeah, but yeah, but yeah, but and it's like, yeah, but what? Just just do it. Like this question of what if it actually works? What if you actually are capable? What if you what if you actually could do it? So I think what we have to do is start saying, uh, my self-talk is changing. So you're not just a fundraiser, you're not just a manager, you're not just a business owner, you're not just a stay-at-home mom, you're not just uh, you know, this volunteer at

Leadership As A Journey

SPEAKER_01 28:08

this youth center. You actually are a leader.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Man, next time you hear yourself thinking I'm just stop. Yeah, I am a leader. I have influence, I have a story, I have a desire. That is so good, man. Yeah, bro. I'm just eh, nope. Try again. Thank you for sharing. Yeah, yeah, wow. Keep your mind. All right, last one for the for the practical. And I think we could we could keep going on this, but let's let's let's land here in this space. Here it is. Uh we need to identify our sphere. Or I like how you put it. We need to look around who, if leadership is influence, who are the people that we have influence with? And that's a very important distinction. I did not say influence over, I said influence with. That's good. First of all, if you have direct reports entrusted to your care, it is still influence with, it is not influence over. That's good. That shift will help you. But it isn't just about, oh, I have some formal authority where people report to me. No, we all have influence. You have influence with your boss, you have influence with the people in your family, with your friends, the people in your community, wherever that is. And so it's time to just look around.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Look around.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

Who look around and who are the people looking to you? And and if you feel like there's no one looking to you, then just keep serving, keep trying to impact, keep making a difference, keep articulating that story and be so bold as to tell that story and share that story. Look around to who needs your story, too.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Yeah, that's good, man. That's good, brother. Dude, I I I as you all can hear from the sub aside. Right, we gotta get a little passionate about this. Oh my gosh. But let's let's land the plane. Um, and I think we might even want to do a part two. Uh yeah, part two are coming. Yeah. So, what what is your one line? How do we close this, man?

SPEAKER_00 29:57

Yeah, let me say part two, right? We're gonna go with okay, what are the obstacles? Yeah, let's get a little deeper. This is kind of high level, like high level, yeah. Hey, who who is a leader? Am I a leader? Uh, yes, great. Yeah, covered. Let's talk about it. So I would just say this uh and and I don't know how you get it better than John Maxwell. Leadership is influence, and we all have influence. I have influence. You're a leader, come on. Yeah, I would just say to you as we close, your story matters, and someone else needs to hear your story. That's so good. All right, one step, one step. Let's distill it down for you. We gave a couple practical things. Please go back, listen, do it. Um, I think those things will definitely impact you. But if you could just

Inputs Over Outcomes

SPEAKER_00 30:39

do one thing to cross the threshold this week, it would be this write this question down and put it in a place that you will see it often. What would a leader do?

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

What would a leader do? As you start your day, what would a leader do before you go to bed at night? What would a leader do? What would a leader do as you step into that meeting? Whether or not you were the person in charge or not, what would a leader do? And you don't even have to believe it yet, but you do need to start acting like it's true.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

That's good. Hey, so if you guys want help with this, uh, we are here. We would love to help you. Please reach out to us, podcast at cttleadership.com. But this is exactly why we created Threshold Starter Guide.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

That's it, man. Like we've been spending our time and our energy wanting to provide a free resource to leaders, like people with influence. And so if that's you, and if you're figuring trying to figure out how do I cross the threshold, go ahead and check us out cttleadership.com. You can actually get the free starter guide there.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Yeah. See you there. See you there. All right. All right.