The Answers From Leadership Podcast

I'm thrilled to introduce today's guest on the Answers From Leadership podcast to you. I've known Chris Jordan for awhile on Facebook and other social media platforms. There's something about Chris that is so authentic and genuine. And I wanted you to get to know him. So, without further ado, let's get to the podcast episode!   Show Notes Chris, let our listeners know about you today. A lot of it is done out of a passion for people. I want to see people reach their potential and beyond that. One reason we started our business was because people weren't living their dreams. We help people to live their dreams. We help people recognize the gift they've been given. Then how to use it in the world. How does being intentional impact the way we lead? Any time you're in a business organization or team, if you're not valuing people they're not going to work at a level that is needed. That takes intentionality. It takes you initiating that relationship and growth. You have to make a decision to be intentional in developing those relationships. Intentional in sharing your vision and working with people. It works the same with family or business or anything you do. Can you expand on the thought of family and business are intertwined? There's a thought process out there that says "My personal life is just that: Personal. They integrity that I carry in my business life has nothing to do with my personal life." The truth of the matter is that your personal life and business life should mirror each other if you want to be seen as an authentic leader. There's a trust and integrity issue when you're living life completely different in your personal life and it just doesn't fly in this world today. Get the rest of today's Answers From Leadership podcast show notes at www.jmlalonde.com/045.

Derek Magill is a college dropout. But don't let that make you think Derek doesn't know what's going on. Derek realized something during his time in school. He was learning more outside of the classroom. His classmates were there for the credit hours. And a successful career is not made from humanities courses. Then, he went on to work on a campaign for a US congressional race. To selling guns. To doing photography. Derek's been able to work with incredible businesses around the United States all without a college degree. In episode 44 of the Answers From Leadership Podcast, Derek and I discuss what the changing landscape of education looks like and what that looks like for organizations today. Listen in and discover why apprenticeships are the next big thing in business.   Show Notes What else would you like listeners to know about you? I would say I could add to that a little. I'm the director of marketing at Praxis. Praxis is a 12-month start-up apprenticeship program for young people who want to sidestep some of the traditional barriers to entry to building a great career. One of those barriers is college. How would you define leadership? There are different ways I could look at it. I think, off the top of my head, something that is common in most leaders is the ability to take very abstract positions and thoughts and principles and motivate people to apply the concrete manifestations of those ideas and principles. [Tweet "The best leaders are people who are very good at thinking abstractly and making it concrete in reality. @DerekMagill"] To get the rest of today's show notes, head to jmlalonde.com/044.

Today's Answers From Leadership podcast episode is slightly different. Rather than getting answers from a world-class leader, I'm doing a solo episode. I hope you enjoy this episode where I share the benefits of watching movies, why you shouldn't be ashamed to do so as a leader, and why moderation is okay. Listen To The Answers From Leadership Podcast:   Show Notes: Are TV shows, music, and movies bad? No, they're not. They're a form of storytelling that can bring you insights into leadership. Use them in moderation. What is Reel Leadership Reel Leadership is both a blog series and an upcoming book. Reel Leadership shares leadership lessons from movies and how you can apply those to your life. To get the rest of today's show notes, please go to jmlalonde.com/043

Brand Vs. Wild With Jonathan David Lewis

We all know social media has become an important part of our lives, even our businesses. Yet many leaders are reluctant to join social media and begin using it to enhance their reach. Why is it people are scared of social media? That’s what Bobby Umar and I discuss in this episode of the Answers From Leadership podcast. I dig deep with Bobby, a social media wizard who has close to half a million followers, about the dangers and benefits of social media, what one can do to quickly grow their social media following, and more.   Show Notes Is there anything else you’d like listeners to know about you? You got that pretty well. I focus on networking, personal branding, and social media. Those are the things that I care about. And helping stuck or lost leaders and people who feel unfulfilled. That’s what I do. In your helping of leaders, do you have a definition of leadership? Yeah, there’s lots of variables in how people define leadership. I would define leadership as anything and everything you do to evolve as a person to better yourself and better your teams and better the world.   How has social media impacted your leadership? The biggest thing that social media has done for me is to amplify the reach of my voice and my content/message. The second thing it has helped me build a huge thought-leadership brand. I think I’ve had more impact with social media. Social media has been huge in building a legacy.   To get the rest of the show notes, please go to jmlalonde.com/041.

What else would you like listeners to know about you? For today’s purposes, we’re talking about virtual leaders. So, I’m going to focus on leaders in the virtual world. How would you define leadership? Whether virtual or physical leadership? I would define leadership as qualities or skills of a leader that is able to empower others to lead their best selfs. What does virtual leadership look like? How does virtual leadership differ from other kinds of leadership? I think it just adds different components. It’s different in that you have to engage people via virtual technology. You can’t walk down the hall and engage people face-to-face. To get the rest of the show notes for this episode, please go to jmlalonde.com/040.

I was introduced to Adam Kirk Smith by my friend Leo Lampinen a year or two ago. Adam’s created a massive following through his blog and social media accounts. He also knows a thing or two about leadership. He’s been a leader at Chick-Fil-A (the best chicken around) and owns his own shoe store. When I heard Adam was releasing a new book, The Bravest You, I wanted to have him on the show. Thankfully, he agreed and now you get to benefit from our conversation. Listen in as Adam Kirk Smith and I discuss bravery, how bravery impacts leadership, and The Bravest You. Show Notes: Adam, what else would you like listeners to know about you? I’d like to give them the backstory to getting a book deal because it was full of trial and error. I started out on Xanga, if you can remember that. It went from there to me feeling like I’m doing all this writing and I need direction. So let’s do something else. I started Tumblr and gained 100 readers or so.   There was more community on Tumblr than Xanga. Even still, I felt like I wanted to grow this to something more. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to start a business and write about my journey. I started blogging about business and self-help. My advice to anyone out there to someone starting a blog or writing is to persevere.   You’ve been a leader at Chick-Fil-A, your own shoe store, and more. How would you define leadership? I would define leadership as going first so other people can follow. The great leaders I remember, are the leaders who went first to influence other people to follow and tying a deep conviction to doing what is right to that. Every leader that you go back through history and look at had a deep conviction of doing what was right to them in that moment and going first so they could influence others to follow.   People are looking for this one golden nugget that’s going to completely change their lives. But principles are principles for a reason. They’ve stood the test of time. It’s because principles work. It’s always going to come back to work. You’ve got to put in the work. Ideas are ideas. They’re great but you’ve got to go do something. These leaders we talk about and remember, can you imagine how much effort Martin Luther King Jr. put in? I’m not going to compare him to anyone else but to give listeners examples. It’s important to know who you are and put in the work. To get the rest of today’s show notes, please go to jmlalonde.com/039

A lot of buzz has been created in regards to creating multigenerational churches and organizations. Zach Yentzer believes churches and organizations are moving in the right direction but they’re focusing on the wrong thing. Rather than multigenerational, organizations and churches need to focus on helping the generations engage together and not just exist together. This shift in mindset is slight but makes a major impact on the organizations who get the intergenerational concept. That’s why Zach is on the Answers From Leadership podcast. He’s ready to share the message churches and organizations need to engage the generations together.   Show Notes: Zach, what else do you want listeners to know about you? The latest, most exciting thing is our family expanded. My wife and I just had our first little baby girl. How would you define leadership? My definition of leadership is someone who can offer a clear vision and the tools to execute on the vision.   Your new book Creative recently released, can you tell us what Creative is all about? The book is trying to offer a bigger why and propose a better way for engaging this current generation, the millennials in the church.   To get the rest of the show notes for this episode of Answers From Leadership, go to jmlalonde.com/038.

Do you believe kindness can change one person? And then that one person can change the world? Leon Logothetis watched The Motorcycle Diaries and a thought popped into his head. He wanted to see if he could travel around the world on the kindness of strangers. This birthed The Kindness Diaries, a book and an original series on Netflix where Leon travels the globe on Kindness One relying on the kindness of others. After being introduced to The Kindness Diaries by my author friend Brian Lund, I knew I had to have Leon on the show to talk about the amazing power of kindness. Kick back, pop in your headphones, and listen to this great episode of Answers From Leadership. Show Notes: Leon, what else would you like listeners to know about you? I support the Liverpool football club. I’m a big soccer fan. And I love connecting with people. So… What inspired you to do the Kindness Diaries? Did you think people would be kind enough to get you across the United States and the world? The Motorcycle Diaries was the first foray into traveling around the world on kindness. I was a broker and I felt disconnected with no sense of purpose. There was something about Che’s travels around South America where he relied on the kindness of strangers that touched me. So I started to travel. What did you discover about kindness as you traveled across the country on your motorcycle Kindness One? The thing that I found predominantly about traveling around the world was that ultimately people were all the same. By that, I mean we simply want to be seen. We want to be heard. And we want to be loved. [Tweet “We simply want to be seen. We want to be heard. And we want to be loved @LeonLogothetis #AnswersFromLeadership”] The simplest way to do that is to be kind. By being kind, we make someone else feel less alone. To get the rest of today’s show notes, please go to jmlalonde.com/037.

Leading in the world can seem to be a complicated matter. You don’t know how to speak up or share your faith. Or maybe you think you can’t. But you can. And that’s why I’m excited to have Charlotte Gambill on the Answers From Leadership podcast today. She’s going to share some things you can do to lead like Jesus in the workplace. Charlotte leads LIFE Church, UK in England with her husband Steve. Charlotte has a deep love for people and a zealous love for God’s house. Her passion is to build the local church, see people reach their full potential, and to develop and strengthen leadership. Listen To The Answers From Leadership Podcast   Show Notes What else would you like listeners to know about you? I’m bilingual and we have 2 great kids back in England. How would you define leadership? I think if someone is following you, then you’re a leader. If that’s a small bunch or a large bunch, I think leadership, that at some level, we all have a responsibility for.   Leadership is not a badge, its not a title, it’s not a microphone. It’s a decision that we make to become that in our society. How would you say Jesus or the church plays a role in leadership? It is essential. If we’re going to be different or shape our culture, then we’ve got to get Jesus back to the centrality of our leadership. Jesus was the ultimate leader. He dealt with opposition. He dealt with those who didn’t agree with what he said. And he dealt with young leaders and the old leaders. He lad in all the different spheres of leadership.   For the rest of the show notes, go to jmlalonde.com/036.

Credibility is a powerful factor in any leader’s life. Without credibility, people will struggle to find a reason to follow you. When you have credibility, people realize you get things done. Susan M. Barber, our guest today on Answers From Leadership, knows a thing or two about building, keeping, and transferring credibility. And that’s what Susan and I discuss in episode 35 of Answers From Leadership.   Show Notes Susan, what else would you like listeners to know about you? No, you did a great job introducing me. How would you define leadership? I define leadership as inspiring others with a shared vision. Empowering them to deliver objectives and having integrity. What’s interesting is helping people achieve things they didn’t even think as possible. As people develop, they begin to move into new roles… Yeah, that’s the hard part. You develop them and make them so great that they go somewhere else. To get the rest of the show notes for this episode, go to jmlalonde.com/035. 

Do you want something more for your family? Do you want them to be more, do more, and have more? Today’s guest on the Answers From Leadership podcast is Mark Timm. And he knows a little something about transforming your family by treating it like a business. Not only does Mark consider his FAMILY the most important business in the world. His family IS a business. Listen to today’s Answers From Leadership podcast to hear the why and how behind this. And listen to the end to hear about the Ziglar 7-Day Family Challenge. Mark, what else would you like listeners to know about you? I’m not looking for extra empathy here but it’s not just six of the coolest kids on the planet. They’re all teenagers right now. I love it. There’s nothing I love more than my family. It hasn’t always been this way. This is a decision I made about 5 years ago to take everything I knew about life and business and apply it to my family. [Tweet “What if my family was actually my most valuable business? How would things be different? @themarktimm”] How has your family changed since putting them first and foremost? It has changed my life forever in the fact that I’ve never looked at my family the way I did then which was that I was providing for them. I was doing what I was doing because I wanted to be a good husband or father. The reality is they needed me to bring the best of me to home. My family wasn’t getting the best of me. Now that they are, my kids are radically transformed. We started researching families and have interacted with over 3,000 families. We asked them a question and 98.5% of the families have said their family is the most important part of their lives next to their faith. However, we then asked them: Do you have written down goals for your family? That 98.5% drops to under 10%. Now if we ask do you have any family goals? It’s almost 100%. So they have goals and their families are the most important but they don’t have a single written down family goal. Then we go a step further. Most businesses have a mission statement. A mission statement tells you where you’re going. The target you’re shooting for. Yet less than 1% had a written family mission statement. To get the rest of today’s show notes, go to jmlalonde.com/034.

Creative conversations… What do creative conversations look like? How can you have more creative conversations? What do you do if your conversation partner is considered an adversary? Brit Poulson and I sat down to discuss these important questions regarding creative conversations. And Brit knows a bit about creative conversations. He’s the author of The Clarity Compass: See More Clearly. Have Creative Conversations. Live the Life you Want. Brit is also the owner and principal of Clarity Compass Consulting where he specializes in transformative coaching and leadership programs.   Brit, what else would you like listeners to know about you? I’d like them to know that even though I’m doing business work and leadership consulting work, my overall approach is a psychological approach. I start on the cognitive level and then work down to deep understandings of the world. And how would you define leadership? I’d define leadership as making a significant difference that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. One of the benefits readers of The Clarity Compass should walk away with is the ability to have more creative conversations. What is a creative conversation? A creative conversation is one where you’re actually opening up the possibilities. We come into conversations with specific outcomes in mind. Creative conversations open a third conversation. [Tweet “Creative conversation is inviting people to be on the same team @Clarity_Compass #AnswersFromLeadership”] Want to get the rest of the show notes? Head to JMLALONDE.COM/033 to find the rest of the notes for today’s show.

Joel Boggess knows a thing or two about building confidence as a leader. As the host of the ReLaunch Podcast and best-selling author of Finding Your Voice, Joel helps leaders around the world improve their confidence and live the life they were meant to. I’m excited to have Joel on the show to share how you can increase your confidence and lead well.   Show Notes: How would you describe leadership? Leadership is being clear on your best features and enduring qualities and leading with them. Let those features and qualities take the forefront.  Some leadership qualities just keep the beat. Keep the harmony. @JoelBoggess #AnswersFromLeadership CLICK TO TWEET We use the different qualities we have in our leadership toolbox. As leaders, we hone and develop those tools over time. We do that by steeping ourselves in the best leadership resources we can find. What role does confidence have in leading? Confidence is a primary role. You can’t lead others if you can’t lead yourself. And if you’re not confident in who you are and who God has created you to grow into, your responsibility is to become a better, more powerful version of yourself. How can a leader become more confident? The answer is so obvious it’ll probably hit you square between the eyes. I know it’s done that to me. That is to understand what you bring to the table as far as your strengths, your skills, your abilities and then being able to harness those in the best way possible. To get the rest of the show notes, go to jmlalonde.com/032.

Steve Armstrong is a Calgary-based speaker, educator, and consultant. He’s skilled at helping leaders develop followers into leaders and building dedicated, loyal, and remarkable teams. Through the lessons learned from 35 years as a leader, soldier, and humanitarian, Steve has the unique ability to inspire and teach others to lead. Show Notes: Steve, what else do you want listeners to know about you? A couple of things is after a 22-year army career and retiring as a company sergeant major and a career with the Canadian Red Cross, I’ve spent the last couple of years teaching and developing others to become a better leader. What does leadership look like to you? It’s not a bunch of old, dead white guy quotes. To me, leadership is actually accomplishing something. Leadership skills come from motivating and engaging people. Can you share some of your experiences leading in the tough times of disasters? There’s 2 things I would say. One is to be clear about what you know what you’re there to do. Explain in clear language what each person is there to do. Mostly, as the leader, in those situations, you state the objective but you have to trust the people will get it done. The other thing around this is if someone has done a good job, then that’s good enough. I have to trust people will do their job. It might not be the way I would do it. That’s okay. If you’d like the rest of the show notes for today’s episode, please go to http://www.jmlalonde.com/031. Also, please consider visiting our sponsor Audible.com to receive your free 30-day trial and audiobook. My recommendation for this week is How to Stay Motivated: Developing the Qualities of Success by Zig Ziglar.

Leadership requires a constant stretching of our current skill set. Answers From Leadership podcast guest Jon Stolpe knows this all too well. Jon is a Christ-follower first and foremost, and also a husband and father. He’s an engineer by background, and serves as an operations manager for a local branch of a major international building automation company. I’m excited for Jon to share about his experience stretching and leading in his family and the organization he works for. Show Notes: Jon, what else would you like listeners to know about you? First, thanks for the opportunity to be on your podcast. I’ve become friends with you through the blog world. A little bit about me. I’m an engineer. I went to school for engineering. Later, I went to get my MBA. And I’m an operations manager for a large manufacturer in Philedelphia. I love what I do but I also like what I get to do on the side. One of those things is to be a husband. I get to be a dad. I get to be a writer and a blogger. I’ve been doing more speaking lately and that’s been exciting. I’m also a runner. And I would definitely consider myself to be a leader. How did you come to consider yourself a leader? I think I’ve probably been a leader in some form of a leader in one way or another as long as I can remember. I’m not sure if that’s something my parents pushed on me or if leadership was just natural. But I’ve been leading for most of my life. In Sunday School, I was one of the kids who took charge. I was a leader in school and school plays. I had leadership roles in student government. Even into college, I was leading. All of those experiences have contributed to who I am today. So, today I have the opportunity to lead in my church. In the youth group. I’ve also had the opportunity to lead in small group ministries. To get the rest of the show notes, go to jmlalonde.com/030.

The guest for episode 29 of the Answers From Leadership podcast is Michael Teoh. Michael is a global speaker, consultant, and trainer whose passion is geared towards developing the human potential for success. Michael founded Thriving Talents Pte. Ltd, co-curated TEDxKL and TEDxYouth from 2009-2014, and was appointed as a Global Advisor for Microsoft’s YouthSpark Initiative. Show Notes: What else would you like listeners to know about you? I’ve been able to travel the world, doing what I love. I’m also the co-author of the Potential Matrix. It looks like you’ve done quite a bit in your life so far… Haha… Here’s what I’m going to say: People have always asked me what the secret to success is [Tweet “People have always asked me what the secret to success is. @michaelteoh #AnswersFromLeadership”] Success is rather subjective. In our world today, a lot of people fall into the trap of thinking success is all about money. I have 2 mentors. Both of them could be considered highly successful. One of those mentors is making a million dollars a month. Yet he has health conditions and major concerns. He may be successful with income but is he really successful with life? One of the traits of highly successful people is that we work extremely hard. We also work extremely smart. You mentioned your two mentors view success differently. How does that play into your view of success? What I’ve learned is a 3 step process on how you can define success. Number one, I believe success comes from your personal satisfaction by getting in touch with your personal purpose. Step number 2 is how do you now find a way to sustain that drive, that purpose in life.   To see the rest of the show notes for today’s episode of Answers From Leadership, go to jmlalonde.com/029.

Getting Children To Lead Early

The guest for today’s show is Dan Dwyer. Dan has spent time as an army officer and retired 10 years ago. He’s now helping guide leaders and organizations to achieve transformational results.   Show Notes: Dan, can you tell us a little about yourself? I spent 22 as an army officer. I’m a paternal twin and my twin brother still serves in the navy, he’s in his 32nd year. We were raised by our aunt and uncle. This month will be 10 years since I took off the uniform. Most of my focus is on leadership development at coachtoperform.com. That’s really my passion. We’d discussed on LinkedIn about today’s topic: Leading veterans and servicemen in the workplace… Yeah, particularly this time of the year, as leaders, we have to be mindful of some of the stressors, typically the holiday season, both at peacetime and especially the last decade plus, it’s been where suicides have increased. You have to watch out for those indicators. And, as a leader, put some effort on suicide prevention. The challenges aren’t always with service members themselves. There are risk signs and warning factors for family members as well. And a lot of organizations, I know certainly, in the military and some organizations in corporate America are starting to stand up and look at resiliency programs. You said there are some warning signs leaders should be aware of. What are some of those warning signs? When a service member presents, he or she can present any of the combination of the following and recognize them. Discussions not necessarily with leaders but with peers about thoughts of suicide or killing someone else.Discussions or anecdotes about giving away property or disregard for what happens to one’s property.Sometimes they’ll withdraw from friends and activities.Sometimes they’ll have troubles with their boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse.Any abnormal actions. Acting bizarre or unusual.Misconduct or a significant change in performance in the workplace.You start seeing or hearing about financial problems. To get the rest of the show notes for today’s episode, head over to jmlalonde.com/027.

Today’s guest on the Answers From Leadership podcast is Karin Hurt. Karin is a keynote speaker, leadership consultant, and MBA professor. Karin helps leaders improve business results by building deeper trust and connection with their teams. As a former Verizon Wireless executive, she has over twenty years of experience in sales, marketing, customer service, and human resources. Show Notes: Karin, what else do you want listeners to know about you? I am just passionate about helping people discover their true authentic leadership style and helping people to grow. How did you become a leader? My mother would tell you that I was a leader when I was in diapers. She said I was the only kid she ever met who would organize her stuffed animals and tell them what to do. Leadership just kind of came naturally to me. And what does leadership look like to you? Leadership is all about achieving great results. It’s having a significant vision that you are working on rallying a team towards that vision. I always talk about 4 components of leadership: the continuum of confidence and humility, then results and relationships. Would you be willing to share a difficulty you’ve encountered? A couple of things come to mind. The biggest struggle for me has been the balance between patience and impatience. As a leader, one of my greatest strengths is that I’m impatient about mediocrity. I’m impatient when things aren’t going the way they should. And you need that. But you also need to be patient with human beings. If you don’t have that balance, you begin to frustrate people. If you’d like the rest of the show notes for today’s episode, head over to jmlalonde.com/026.