March 17, 2025 • 51 mins
What does it truly mean to serve others? In this episode of IMPACT Podcast, hosts Jeremy Melton, Daniel Brown, and Maddie Atkinson dive into one of the most powerful leadership principles—servanthood.
From honoring others before ourselves to choosing ethics over personal gain, we break down the fundamentals of servant leadership and discuss how embracing a servant’s heart can transform not just leadership but everyday life. We also revisit key takeaways from last week’s episode with Pastor Danny Harrell, including the powerful message: "Lead with grace, land with truth."
We explore:
✅ How society has distorted the meaning of servanthood
✅ The role of humility in true leadership
✅ The impact of servant leadership in business, family, and community
✅ A real-life example of leadership in action—and how it changed someone’s perspective
We even take a moment to reflect on Jesus washing the feet of His disciples—one of the most profound acts of servanthood in history. And we ask: What does washing feet look like in today’s world?
Whether you’re leading a company, a team, or simply trying to be a better human, this episode challenges you to embrace serving others as the key to true leadership.
🔹 What kind of IMPACT are YOU making in the world? Join the conversation!
🎧 Listen now and let’s grow together.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:20):
Welcome back to Impact Podcast.
My name is Jeremy Melton, andI'm your host, along with Daniel
and Maddie.
And what kind of impact are wemaking on the world that we live
in?
That's what we're going to talkabout today.
This is episode number 11, andtoday we're going to discuss the
mandate of servanthood, which Iwas telling Daniel a while ago
(00:42):
is going to be my favorite.
It is very likely my favoritetalk that we will do.
I'm so excited about this one.
So we're going to get started.
Last week we met with DannyHarrell.
Y'all, that was great.
Our pastor.
Yeah.
So let's do some takeaways.
And I have to start because ifnot, you might steal my thunder
(01:03):
here.
Okay.
He said, lead with grace andland with truth.
That was one of the best thingsthat I heard him say.
I mean, look, he said a lot ofgood stuff, but that stuck with
me, and I don't know why.
Say it again.
Lead with grace, land withtruth.
And I thought, wow, that is theembodiment.
(01:25):
Anyway, y'all go.
Daniel, what was your takeaway?
SPEAKER_01 (01:28):
And this is an excuse I was producing and not
as engaged as everyone else.
But just really having Dannyhere and having him communicate
with us, he's just so down toearth.
He is so relatable.
He is so just easy to talk with.
I actually ran into him.
Uh, since then and just soapproachable and just regular
(01:52):
old guy, just a regular old guy,regular old dude.
And, uh, yeah, he was, he wasfantastic.
It was great to have
SPEAKER_02 (01:58):
him.
Maddie.
SPEAKER_00 (02:00):
Um, I thought it was really cool that he was, he gave
us the same quote that Nick, Ithink did.
Was it Nick?
One of our previous guests was,um, nobody cares what you know
until they know what you, thatyou care.
Um, And I think that was my keytakeaway from Nick's episode,
and I just think that it wasreinforced with Danny.
(02:20):
But then also kind of not that Iwas intimidated by having Danny
on the show, but I think I'vejust completely changed from
meeting Danny, then having himon the show last week, and then
to today.
I mean, he's...
really opened up my eyes andit's helped my family
(02:42):
tremendously and it's beengreat.
SPEAKER_02 (02:44):
Good.
Well, another thing that he saidand kind of echoes what Danny's
talking about.
He said several times, he said,just be real.
Like there's not a lot of fakein Danny, right?
So he, he's just being real.
And that's what he says.
Just be real.
Like there's nothing to hide.
We're all full of sin, you know?
And so, um, that was one of thethings, and I thought that was
(03:06):
great.
Um, But it was cool to have himon the show.
So anyway, before I start thisweek, I was going to go ahead
and roll, but I said I wanted toshare something.
And I think I shared with y'allpersonally, individually, but
I'm not going to call out anynames.
But I do want to highlightsomething that last week
happened.
And y'all remember when I calledy'all and told you that I had
(03:27):
someone call and tell me that...
I'm not going to give any names,but several weeks ago, I had a
guy call me and...
was using me as a soundboard andhe was complaining about an
employee at his job and theemployee was not listening and
it was a subordinate employeeand this guy was a leader.
And the leader told me that, youknow, I asked the question, you
(03:53):
know, again, he was beingsoundboard, right?
But I asked the question of, didyou communicate clearly?
And the answer was, yeah.
Oh yeah.
And I was like, well, if youfeel like you've communicated
clearly, well, then maybe you dohave a right to have the
conversation, right?
The conflict.
And I said, but as a leader,your responsibility is to make
(04:14):
sure you communicate clearly.
And they said, oh yeah, yeah,yeah.
Well, our podcast was aired andthey have been listening and
following and they listened toone of our, one of the ones that
we've already produced.
I don't know which one.
SPEAKER_01 (04:29):
It had to be episode three with the mandates.
SPEAKER_02 (04:31):
Yeah.
And, and Basically, he called metwo weeks later and he's like,
dude, I just want you to knowthat I was wrong.
In fact, I did not communicateclearly.
After listening to your podcast,I feel like I owe an apology.
I was like, you owe me anapology.
You owe the employee an apology,right?
(04:52):
Anyway, it was very cool to seethat, hey, look, this is
working.
People that are following onthis journey with us are going
to use this information tobecome a better human being.
a better leader.
And then there were so manyother people that just called me
and encouraged me over the lastcouple weeks, and it just gave
(05:13):
me some more fuel for this show.
So I want to say that.
And to the listeners, genuinely,if you go back and listen to
these and you implement them,you will find yourself being a
better human being.
Right?
SPEAKER_00 (05:27):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (05:28):
I've shared that with several people.
I'm like, yeah, it's aboutleadership and leadership's
like, but it's just human stuff.
It's just like treat peoplebetter.
The golden rule.
Be a human.
Be a good one.
Go be a good human.
SPEAKER_02 (05:42):
Anyways, so back to anything, any comments on any of
that?
Y'all ready to rock?
SPEAKER_00 (05:48):
Yeah, I mean, I've had a lot of people reach out
too.
I spent a couple of hoursyesterday with some people and
who one of them brought it up,you know, brought the podcast up
and, um, and we all got totalking about it and yeah,
hopefully we have a few morelisteners today.
SPEAKER_02 (06:05):
Absolutely.
I think, I think we're going tobuild some, some steam here.
Um, especially as we get intosome of these deep dives, which
we're going to do today.
Um, uh, I, I, I would just hopeand pray that more than a
million people hear this very,uh, discussion that we're about
to have because it is lifechanging.
So, um, The mandate today isservanthood, the state of being
(06:31):
a servant.
That's what I call it.
So what is a servant?
Let me tell you.
I'll just say the definition.
Servant is a person who performsduties for others, especially a
person employed in a house ordomestic duties as a personal
attendant.
But the main thing you shouldhear is a person who performs
duties for others.
(06:52):
Okay, so...
Society today, in my opinion,has stained the Word.
When you hear servant, again,society stained it.
But it's not a bad word.
It's not a bad thing.
In fact, it is the most powerfulthing that you can do.
(07:12):
And that's in our nature.
God created us that way.
And I believe that in serving,that is where you find life,
find fulfillment in life.
And so...
When you're serving, you will behappier.
When you're not serving, youwill be less happy.
(07:33):
And we're not about being happyon the show.
I'm just saying that those twogo together.
And there's no way around that.
And no one could ever tell meotherwise.
But serving others is the ticketto life.
And so we should seek to serve.
So, Maddie, I'll put you on thespot.
What are your first thoughtswhen you hear the word servant?
Servant.
SPEAKER_00 (07:52):
Um, I'm very excited about this episode because I am
the person in the world whothinks of it in a negative ish
way.
Yeah.
Like I've not your servant, youknow, like when my kids are
like, yeah, like, I mean, mom,will you go in my room?
No, you've got, I'm not yourservant, you know?
Um, so I definitely have more ofa negative, not a negative.
(08:14):
I mean, I understand servingpeople, um, It's totally
different than how I just usedan example.
But looking at servant as adifferent way than– or in a
different way than how I'venormally always looked at it,
I'm excited to know.
(08:35):
I'm excited to learn today.
SPEAKER_02 (08:38):
Good.
Dee?
SPEAKER_01 (08:39):
Well, it jumps back for me because we've talked
about– we've had servantleaders.
We've been talking to servantleaders, and it's all about–
being willing to do whateveryou're asking someone else to do
and not asking someone to dosomething that you're not
willing to do.
And that's the servant leader.
I think Tyler, like we just hitTyler with that and, and just in
(09:06):
serving so natural to me.
I mean, it's just what, what, Imean, I was, I was a server in
my restaurant days and that was,I excelled at that just because
of my personality traits and whoI am.
But that stuck with me in everybusiness venture that I've gone
into and with my kids andrelationships.
And I mean, yeah, I serve.
(09:28):
I serve.
And I've never thought about itlike that, but I understand that
it does have like a negative.
But no, I want to serve.
That's who I want to be.
Just naturally.
SPEAKER_02 (09:37):
It does have a negative connotation, like she
said.
And look, let's just be real.
Honestly, a lot of women...
feel that way.
Okay.
I mean, cause look again,society has, and I'm not getting
into the male female stuff heretoday cause we're not talking
about that, but society hastaught women, you know, you're
not going to serve man andyou're going to, you know, and
(10:00):
there's, and it also societyteaches men the same thing, but
at the end of the day, it is oursinful flesh that desires to
serve ourself.
Okay.
And so, um, God delivers us fromthat, despite whatever you may
hear.
(10:21):
You must be delivered fromyourself, and that is where you
find life, okay?
And so that's why this is myfavorite.
But we're going to get started.
So either way, we can all agreethat society would have us
believe that we don't need toserve anybody, right?
They kind of just do for you,and that's...
(10:43):
counterproductive in leadership,period.
I mean, when we're talkingabout, you know, desiring to
serve only comes when the desireto lead for what it actually is
comes into play.
(11:06):
And so when you fully embracethe position of leadership,
fully embrace it, that is whenyou understand what it means to
serve and what the fruit of thatlooks like.
Now, we're talking about theendowment of leadership, not the
position of it, because a lot oftimes when we talk about the
(11:28):
position of leadership, youstart thinking about the boss.
Again, we're not talking aboutthat.
We're talking about a leader,someone that leads, so it
doesn't have to be a boss.
But The leader's greatest assetis, in fact, what?
Say I'm a leader.
(11:51):
What is my greatest asset as aleader in order to hold my
position, in order to hold myinfluence?
My greatest asset is my people.
That's right.
I was like,
SPEAKER_00 (12:02):
is this a trick question?
No, no,
SPEAKER_02 (12:06):
no.
So as a leader, their greatestasset is their people.
Right.
Because without that, they're nolonger leading.
Okay, so makes sense?
All right.
So when leaders come under theirpeople and they acknowledge how
great that asset is, that iswhen they begin to understand
(12:26):
what it means to serve.
Okay?
You heard me say when they comeunder their people.
How often do you hear leaders,bosses, people in position of
leadership coming under theirpeople?
Very seldom.
Okay.
It's funny when I draw out the,you know, you have an org chart
(12:47):
at a company.
So you have a hundred milliondollar business.
You got an org chart.
You got a CEO, CFO.
You got all the people and yougot all the teams.
Well, one time I went into afacility, you know, typically
when you draw those out, it's atree.
Boss at the top, all the waydown at the bottom are all the
worker bees, right?
Well, I went into a facility onetime and that chart was turned
(13:08):
upside down.
And I said, tell me about thatright there.
He said, well, and it was theCEO.
He said, well, I'm the CEO.
That's me at the bottom.
I support those people.
Those people support thosepeople.
That's how we look at leadershiphere.
And the culture there wasamazing.
I love it.
Look, at the end of the day,that dude was a servant leader.
(13:29):
And so, again, the leader'sgreatest asset is his or her
people.
And When leaders come undertheir people and hold them up
and esteem them for who theyare, then you learn what serving
is.
Y'all remember Tyler?
He came week five, several weeksback.
I taught a class one time atHVH, the company that I work
(13:55):
for.
I taught a class on leadership.
I was actually teaching thesemandates.
This was like two years ago.
And we got to this class, and Ithought to myself, Tyler's one
of the best servant leaders Iever had.
I'm going to have him come inand teach.
So he came in and taught onservant leadership at HVH.
He got up in front of the peopleand led a class.
(14:16):
And so some of today, what I'mgoing to talk about is stuff
that I'm stealing from him.
So I'm letting him know.
I called him last night.
I was like, bro, just so youknow, I'm taking this stuff from
you.
He's like, no, it's good.
But some of the things that hesaid, he had made his own
fundamentals.
of servant leadership.
And so we're about to learnthose.
So get your pen out.
Take some notes.
(14:37):
Number one, and this wasdirectly from Tyler.
I stole it.
He gets the credit.
Number one was honor others, butfor yourself.
Number two, and we're going togo back over these.
Inspire vision.
Number three, choose ethics.
Number four, empower others.
Number five, Privileged people.
We'll talk about that in aminute.
(14:58):
Number six, balance, focus withflexibility.
And number seven was serve withhumility.
And we're going to spend just aminute talking about Tyler, and
then we've got some other stuff.
But one of the things he saidduring that time that really
stuck out was being a servantleader is quite simple.
And I was like, well, just tellme how simple it is, bro.
(15:21):
It's simple yet profound.
And he said, no, it's notcomplicated.
I'll never forget.
It's not complicated.
And I was like, you can saythat, bro, but it's not easy.
It's not complicated, but it'snot easy.
And so it's not easy because ofwhat it takes, and it is
complete sacrifice.
And so we're going to talk aboutthat.
(15:42):
Tyler said, I've got some quotesin here, find the balance
between the mission and what isbest for the people.
We as leaders must believe thatwe incur a debt of as we take a
leadership role within anorganization.
That debt is a debt to take careof our people.
(16:03):
He quoted this.
It's pretty good stuff.
We need to post it on our page.
SPEAKER_00 (16:08):
I was about to say.
SPEAKER_02 (16:09):
We as leaders must believe that we incur a debt.
As a leader, when you accept arole, if you get asked to lead
something, you acceptresponsibility to lead it well.
And you accept theresponsibility to be in debt to
those people, period.
If you don't look at it thatway, then you don't deserve the
(16:30):
position to lead.
So if someone comes to you andsays, Hey, man, I got this thing
going on.
I need you to lead it.
And you say, Yeah, great.
Oh, yeah, I'll do it.
But you don't take it seriously.
Then you're directly responsiblefor not leading well.
If you don't look at it as ifyou have a debt to those people,
(16:50):
And so that's some strong stuffthat Tyler had put pen to paper
on.
He said leadership goes beyondthe job.
We have an opportunity forimpact, positive or negative.
He wrote this two years ago.
Yeah, yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (17:05):
yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (17:06):
He wrote this two years ago, and I went back and
got it because I'd kept it.
Leadership goes beyond the job.
We have an opportunity forimpact, positive or negative,
and this can really changesomeone's trajectory in life.
Strong stuff.
All right.
So now that we're done with hisquotes, anything on that?
Did that string a cool word,struck a cool word or anything?
(17:28):
Y'all good?
SPEAKER_00 (17:29):
Positive or negative.
SPEAKER_02 (17:31):
Positive or negative.
SPEAKER_00 (17:32):
Yeah, I mean that, you know, if you're a leader,
everything that you do, positiveor negative, is going to impact
the people underneath you, thepeople watching you.
SPEAKER_02 (17:45):
Good or bad.
SPEAKER_00 (17:46):
Good or bad.
Doesn't matter.
And that's a, it's a weird wayto think of it because in my
head, I think of a leader, youknow, we, we have very few
leaders that have every singleone of these mandates, you know,
like we were like, Oh, but we'restill trying, you know, trying
to become and striving to becomethis better leader.
But you also have to think,yeah.
Okay.
(18:06):
So I'm doing all of thispositive stuff, but if there's
negative things that you'redoing too, that's going to have
an even bigger impact.
I feel like 100.
SPEAKER_02 (18:16):
Yeah.
I agree.
SPEAKER_00 (18:17):
That's what stuck out.
SPEAKER_02 (18:18):
Yeah, positive or negative.
That's good.
SPEAKER_01 (18:22):
Well, I'm just over here thinking, Tyler, two years
ago, are you giving him creditfor coming up with the name of
our podcast?
Hey, whatever.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, you know, I
SPEAKER_02 (18:37):
went back and read this.
Like I said, when it came timeto do the serverhood, I was
like, I got to go back and lookat Tyler's PowerPoint.
So I dug it up, and some of thenotes that I had taken– And
that, man, this stuff just hitme in the mouth.
It's some real good stuff rightthere.
So what I want to do, we're justgoing to talk through the seven
(18:59):
fundamentals, okay?
And then I've got something elseI want to share that's really,
really, really, really good.
But honor others.
Okay, so the first fundamentalwas to honor others before
yourself.
Let's talk about that for aminute.
So how do you, first of all, howdo you honor someone?
(19:22):
Like, if I told you that I'mbringing somebody in two weeks,
man, an honorable individual,and we should show them honor,
SPEAKER_01 (19:30):
how do you do that?
It's kind of tricky.
SPEAKER_02 (19:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:34):
How do we show them?
How do
SPEAKER_02 (19:35):
you show someone honor?
SPEAKER_01 (19:37):
I mean, I'm going to give them like a firm handshake.
Yeah.
Firm handshake, eye contact.
Yeah.
Is that weird?
No.
Is that the end?
I don't know.
I don't know.
It's good.
So when
SPEAKER_02 (19:48):
I think about that, I think about opening the door
for someone.
Yep.
Okay.
Not rolling a rug out, butpulling their chair out.
Uh-huh.
Serving them coffee.
Uh-huh.
That's how you honor someone,right?
So you...
Right, right.
Where's my coffee today?
But look, you don't understandwhat that does to someone.
(20:11):
And especially...
when you do it without an illmotive, when you just do it.
Maddie, I don't want to call youout on this, but does Ruben do
things to you and Daniel, samething?
(20:33):
But do we honor people?
I mean, do you show your husbandhonor, Maddie?
SPEAKER_00 (20:39):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (20:39):
Yeah.
So...
SPEAKER_00 (20:42):
Well, I think where I was a little confused just a
minute ago because you said anhonorable person was coming to
our podcast, just say.
How do we honor them?
I feel like this is differentbecause you may have employees
or whoever in your life who maynot be honorable people but
(21:05):
still deserve honor.
SPEAKER_02 (21:06):
Well, you have to do it.
You have to give it to them,whether they deserve it or not.
It's unmerited, by the
SPEAKER_00 (21:10):
way.
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (21:11):
Yeah.
That's what a leader does.
So a lot of people, if I toldyou that Donald Trump was coming
over, everybody would, would,would honor him.
SPEAKER_00 (21:20):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (21:22):
Well, not everyone, but most people
SPEAKER_00 (21:24):
around here.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (21:26):
But an honorable individual, most people show
honor to, but someone that's noteven, that's not honorable,
someone that's not, do you stillshow them honor?
And the leader does.
That's what we're, where I'mgoing.
So I'll tell you this.
And I, Look, my wife is notalways the...
I'm not always the greatestperson to my wife.
(21:49):
I'm not.
We get it sideways.
I have found that if I willcontinue to honor her despite
however she's acting, it's muchbetter for me.
But it's not easy.
And so that's why I told Tyler,it's not complicated, but it's
not easy.
So it's two different things.
(22:10):
But In the end, the leader showshonor to everybody before
himself.
So that's a way to have servantleadership.
That's just one of thefundamentals.
And so when you fully embracethat, like literally showing up
(22:32):
with every person around you,the people that you lead, and
this includes your spouse, Andobviously, Ruben is the leader
of your home, should be.
And so he should be honoringyou.
And that's just the way it is.
That's one of the things that'snecessary.
So number two, inspire visionbefore setting the course.
(22:53):
This is from Tyler here.
Inspire vision.
What does that make you thinkabout?
SPEAKER_00 (23:00):
Forward thinking.
SPEAKER_02 (23:02):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (23:03):
Just having a goal, sharing the goal.
Hype.
Hype, man.
Once you have the goal, how areyou delivering the message that
this is how we're getting to thegoal?
SPEAKER_02 (23:15):
Right.
So when you inspire vision, youtell the team where we're going,
right?
And it says before setting thecourse.
So before you start.
So you don't go rally the troopsand then start trying to cast
vision, right?
(23:35):
You cast the vision.
What I gathered from this, andTyler is not here to speak, so
I'm just going to take itbecause he's not here to talk
about it.
But when I hear this, I'mthinking, inspire the vision,
which means before you go.
So I owe it to my team toprepare myself.
What is the vision?
Make it clear to me.
(23:56):
And then go cast it to them.
And then go.
Right?
And if I don't do that, again,then I'm not...
doing what I need to do to be aservant leader.
And you'll notice all of thesethings go back to what's good
for them.
Always good for them.
That's what a servant leader isfocused on is them.
(24:19):
I'm for them, right?
I was part of a men's groupyears ago, and the men's group
was called I'm for You.
And then I've seen braceletsgoing around where it says I'm
for them.
But number three, was chooseethics over profit or gain.
Now, you could use profit, butthen you might think about
(24:40):
monetary things, but it's justgain.
I think I added that to Tyler'sthing.
Choose ethics over profit orgain, which means what?
SPEAKER_00 (24:51):
Treating your people right over...
I think of monetary, over profitor gain or growth or any...
Anything.
Any, any form of game.
SPEAKER_01 (25:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (25:03):
Any form of game.
SPEAKER_01 (25:04):
So, I mean, I just think like, don't sell out your
guys.
I mean that, that simple.
Don't sell them out for you.
Move yourself forward.
Whether that be a promotion or,you know, just the glory, you
know, don't keep it foryourself.
SPEAKER_02 (25:18):
When you talk about choosing ethics and you remember
Tyler's of Italian chief atRockdale fire.
Oh, maybe I shouldn't have saidthat, but yeah.
Um, He said that oftentimesthere's decisions that we face
where we have to choose ethicaldecisions.
And that's obviously ethicaldecisions are for the people.
(25:40):
You have to do the right thingby the people before the money.
SPEAKER_00 (25:45):
For yourself, too.
SPEAKER_02 (25:47):
Or the department.
And that's counterintuitivebecause you heard that you go to
work.
And you reach a situation whereyou have to compromise your
people for an incentive orsomething that the company wants
(26:08):
you to do.
The company wants to meet Xgoal, right?
The goal's over here.
The company wants you to meetthat.
And here's what you have to doto get there.
And along the way, you have tostep on a person to get there.
No, you don't step on a personto get there.
You stop.
You lift that person up andbring them with you, right?
(26:31):
And you don't hear– that's notcommonly taught today.
I'm just– it's not.
But the true leader embracesthat.
And so that is very hard tofind.
And so those people that embracethat.
I
SPEAKER_00 (26:45):
also think that like a true leader, this one's hard.
I mean, because especially ifyou're put in a position where
you have to– or you're given–the compromise or you have to
step on the person or whatever,it's scary.
SPEAKER_02 (27:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (27:00):
So it's like you've got to be brave.
SPEAKER_02 (27:03):
Courage.
SPEAKER_00 (27:04):
And, you know, know that ethically you're choosing
not to step on this person,which might get you into trouble
or it might get you, you know,whatever personally, you know,
less money or whatever it mightbe.
You could lose
SPEAKER_02 (27:20):
your job.
You could lose money.
Absolutely.
And let me tell you something.
This is the raw truth.
Mm-hmm.
A strong leader absolutely comesto these obstacles all the time.
I asked Danny last week, I said,Danny, has there ever been a
time in your ministry where youhad to compromise anything along
the way and it was a setback?
(27:41):
And I think he went through acouple things.
But in business, and not alwaysin church, because most of the
time church people do follow bythe ethical way.
But in business, when you ask abusiness leader if he's ever
compromised his convictions,he's been challenged on it more
(28:04):
than once, a bunch of times,most likely.
I mean, I've been challenged onit, and I choose to plant my
feet, and that gets me introuble.
But that's the way it was, justthe way it is.
And so when the leader does notchoose ethics, choose— The right
thing to do over the game, it'snoticed.
(28:26):
And that leader loses capital.
Mm-hmm.
Okay?
SPEAKER_01 (28:30):
That's right.
SPEAKER_02 (28:30):
Every single time.
And he doesn't even realize it,but he's lost it.
And if the people that are underhim are smart enough, they'll
seek it out.
And he loses credibility.
And he takes it a long time toget it back.
SPEAKER_00 (28:46):
He never can compromise.
These are really hard.
really great fundamentalsbecause there are things that,
um, they're not, you don't seethem as soon as it happens.
Right.
So it's like, you know, honorothers before yourself.
Okay.
You can do that.
It's going to gradually change.
You know, it's gonna, it's notjust like a, Oh, well I honored
(29:07):
this person, you know, and it'snow I'm this great leader.
It is a gradual thing.
Inspire the vision beforesetting the course and choosing
ethics over, uh, Profit or gain.
I mean, if you do it one time,it's a habit.
That's right.
You've got to do it all thetime.
SPEAKER_02 (29:28):
That's good.
So number four was empowerothers before personal gain.
SPEAKER_00 (29:34):
This is my favorite.
SPEAKER_02 (29:36):
That's a good one.
Tell me about it.
What do you think?
SPEAKER_00 (29:39):
Because I think when I empower others, I love lifting
other people up.
I think it's one of my favoritethings to do, whether it's in my
personal life or at work.
I love being able to just...
What do you think?
We have this thing at work wherewe ask our employees, what do
you think?
SPEAKER_02 (29:57):
That's good.
SPEAKER_00 (29:58):
It could be something totally random, but
you're giving them some sort ofsense of belonging, that they're
helping you shape a decision.
And I love that.
But I think that empoweringothers before my personal gain,
I think empowering others...
is my personal gain.
SPEAKER_02 (30:18):
100.
SPEAKER_00 (30:21):
You know, like I just think that when you do it
or when I do it personally, I,I'm, it makes me happy.
Yeah.
You know, so maybe that is, Imean,
SPEAKER_02 (30:32):
maybe that's your game, but that's not your, your,
that's not the goal.
Your goal is to empower them.
Right.
And the fruit of that is thatyou have in fact gained.
Yeah.
Well, you've gained leadershipcapital, right?
Well, for one, um, But, yeah,empowering others is leadership.
You can't lead without doingthat because you can lead from
(30:56):
position, but you can't leadfrom influence.
And that, to be honest with you,is one of, I mean, again, that
one is right in the middle ofthe lineup too, and it's
necessary.
You have to empower others.
Number five is, and I had tocall Tyler out on this one,
privilege people.
before tasks.
(31:17):
I read that and I called him andI was like, bro, what are you
talking about privileged people?
I'll look this up.
I don't, it's not clicking.
And he said, well, and he triedto explain it to me.
Essentially put the peoplefirst.
Okay.
Before the task.
So, and he, he likened it to atask at work where you got to
(31:38):
get it done.
You got a certain amount of timeto do it.
And, you know, essentially keepthe people first during the
task, no matter how dangerous itis.
And he was likening it to afire.
Say you have a dangerous task todo, and everyone acknowledges
that it's dangerous.
(32:00):
But you put the people first inthe task, even though it's
dangerous, and then you have tokeep them as the central effort
despite the danger around it.
And, you know, when you'rethinking about business, I mean,
it could be a job that you'redoing that happens to be...
(32:22):
I mean, again, there's a hundredways to skin the cat here, but
the point was the paramountissue is to keep the people
first.
And no matter what you're doing,and if you can do that with
every...
If that's your central unifiedgoal, keep the people first,
then...
everything else falls into placein its time, right?
(32:46):
And maybe not when you want itto or when you've been told it
has to, but you can never, aleader, a leader, a true great
leader can never sacrifice hispeople for the task.
Never.
No matter what.
SPEAKER_01 (32:59):
It makes me think of like, when you do that, it might
even lead to failure.
100%.
We're not focused on the task.
We're focused on the people andthat might turn to failure,
but...
SPEAKER_02 (33:10):
But your people are good.
SPEAKER_01 (33:11):
People are good.
SPEAKER_02 (33:12):
And they trust you because of that.
And again, that's one of thosethings that normal day-to-day
people in your flesh, when notbeing intentional on these
things, you will sacrifice thatbecause you want to get it done.
And the servant leader, the truegreat servant leader does not do
(33:37):
that.
It's a no-no.
If it's not good for the people,it's not good for the business.
It's not good for thedepartment.
It's not good for the company.
If it's not good for the people,we don't do it.
Here, that's where you've got toplant your feet.
And that's what's hard.
Because trust me, I know fromexperience that this, this one
(34:00):
right here, will hold you backin growth.
Okay?
It will hold you back in growthbecause...
It's not progressive all thetime, right?
It's not progressive all thetime.
And this one right here willslow you down and get you left
behind.
I
SPEAKER_00 (34:20):
think that if you have your employees who are
beneath you and you do empowerthem, you give them tasks,
you're going to find that you'regoing to succeed.
Because if they are...
all in on it because they trustyou and they love working for
(34:43):
you.
And there's just so much morethat you'll get out of it than
what I think is even expected byrunning a good business or
whatever you want to.
SPEAKER_02 (34:57):
Number six was balance, focus with flexibility
when making decisions.
So as a leader, you're going tomake a lot of decisions.
And one of the things that youhave to balance is being focused
on the goal while being flexiblefor the people.
Okay.
So we are humans.
(35:21):
And a lot of times, and a lot oftimes, you know, someone wants
to iron fist and we're not,we're not budging from this.
Well, the reality is, is we'redealing with people.
And so you got to be flexible atthe same time.
So you want to maintain that.
intentional focus on the goalthat you have.
(35:41):
But you also want to rememberwhile being firm that you will
have to be flexible.
And that is a servant leader.
There's
SPEAKER_00 (35:53):
more than one way to skin a cat.
SPEAKER_02 (35:55):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (35:57):
More hiccups, you
SPEAKER_02 (35:59):
know.
Number seven was serve withhumility above all.
We're going to talk...
Have we talked about humility?
I
SPEAKER_00 (36:08):
think so.
SPEAKER_02 (36:10):
No.
I don't think we have.
SPEAKER_01 (36:12):
Like a full...
SPEAKER_02 (36:14):
A full mandate study?
No.
No.
I don't think so.
No.
I don't think so.
No.
I don't think so.
But we'll get there if wehaven't.
And if we have, I need to goback and check my memory.
SPEAKER_01 (36:24):
If we can just recap real quick, we did ownership and
then we did clarity.
That's right.
And this is number three, if I'mnot mistaken.
SPEAKER_02 (36:33):
That's right.
You're right.
Yeah.
I think you're right.
Good memory, Dee.
Yeah, I'm like...
Thank you, sir.
So we talked about humility, butit was just in the...
Brief.
Yeah, we were going over the 20mandates.
SPEAKER_00 (36:45):
I just remember it because it's the hardest one.
SPEAKER_02 (36:46):
Yeah, so humility will be another one of my
favorites after this one.
This is my favorite, but...
SPEAKER_01 (36:51):
They're all going to be your favorites.
SPEAKER_00 (36:53):
I know, by the end of it, Jeremy's like, this one's
my favorite.
This one's my favorite.
Okay.
I love this one.
This one's my favorite.
Today.
Serve
SPEAKER_02 (37:03):
with humility and...
I remember Maddie saying, thisis difficult.
This is hard for me.
You remember?
And it's hard for everyonebecause it's not in our nature
to be humble.
It's just not.
When we're operating in theflesh, it is not in our nature.
Okay, so that's the sevenfundamentals of servant
(37:25):
leadership.
And so, you know, take notesbecause those are things you
want to be intentional about.
SPEAKER_00 (37:33):
We'll put the notes in the description too.
SPEAKER_02 (37:36):
Wow.
Oh, boy.
Maddie's getting down.
I love it.
We're starting to figure thisthing out.
Yeah, we're getting it figured
SPEAKER_00 (37:43):
out.
We'll get it.
We'll get it.
Hopefully, hopefully by, youknow, the end of it.
SPEAKER_02 (37:48):
So, I've got one more thing I want to do, and
then we're going to wrap this,land the plane here, but
anything y'all want to go overbefore I do?
Good.
So, if you're listening todayand you think, well, you know,
how can I be a servant leader?
Well, first you can Follow theseven fundamentals that we just
(38:09):
read.
And you take everything youheard today and you can put it
into practice.
You can literally take thoseseven fundamentals and you could
say, how can I honor people?
And you could do what I said.
You could open the door forthem.
You could serve them coffee.
You can do a lot of things.
How can I inspire vision?
(38:31):
And again, write that down.
And literally, you could write10 ways you can do that with
your team.
And then you literally, like achecklist, you go through and
grab those and you write itdown.
And you do it.
And again, this is where therubber meets the road, what I
(38:51):
like to say.
But I can't let us go withoutsharing this.
And this is why it's my favoritepart.
I think about Jesus washing thedefeat of His disciples.
So you hear people say, well,Jesus was the greatest leader of
them all.
And then you'd think, well, thenwhat I need to do is see what
Jesus did.
(39:11):
And so it leads me to where theultimate pinnacle of serving
another person, if you can justthink about washing someone's
feet.
And so I went back and read itin the Bible this week, and I
was like, wow.
(39:32):
So, I mean, look, most people'sfeet are pretty gross, okay?
Maybe not.
Maybe everyone has pretty feet,but my feet ain't pretty, okay?
And I know lots of dudes outthere, their feet are not
pretty, all right?
But I thought about, well, whatif I lined my people up on my
team and I said, all right,guys, let's just sit down in
(39:54):
chairs, put your feet in thisbucket, and I'm about to wash
your feet, okay?
Number one, they would look atme like I was crazy.
SPEAKER_01 (39:59):
Hey, and number two, make sure I'm there with the
camera when
SPEAKER_02 (40:04):
you do it.
Look, bro, I'm serious.
I thought to myself, could I dothat?
And it would be so difficult.
And then to do it in front of anaudience on a stage.
Could you do it?
And I thought to myself, thatwould define a servant leader.
And so anyway, I actually wantto read that.
(40:26):
In the Bible, right now.
Because some people have neverheard it, and they need to.
But I'm going to read it.
It's John chapter 13, verse 5through 20.
And I just want to read it.
So, it says, Then He pouredwater into the basin, talking
(40:51):
about Jesus, and began to washthe disciples' feet.
And to wipe them with the towelwith which he was girded.
And so he came to Simon Peterand he said to him, Lord, do you
wash my feet?
And Jesus answered and said tohim, What I do, you do not
(41:13):
realize now, but you willunderstand hereafter.
Peter said to him, Never shallyou wash my feet.
And Jesus answered him, If I donot wash you, You have no part
with Me.
Simon Peter said to Him, Lord,then wash not only my feet, but
(41:34):
also my hands and my head.
And Jesus said to him, He whohas bathed needs only to wash
his feet, but is completelyclean.
And you are clean, but not allof you.
For He knew the one who wasbetraying Him.
For this reason He said, Not allof you are clean.
And so when he had washed theirfeet and taken his garments and
(41:55):
reclined at the table again, hesaid to them, Do you know what I
have done to you?
You call me teacher and Lord,and you're right, for so I am.
If I then, the Lord and theteacher, washed your feet, you
also ought to wash one another'sfeet.
(42:16):
For I gave you an example thatyou also should do as I did to
you.
Truly, truly, I say to you, aslave is not greater than his
master, nor is one who is sentgreater than the one who sent
him.
If you know these things, youare blessed if you do them.
I do not speak of all of you.
(42:38):
I know the ones I have chosen,but it is that the Scripture may
be fulfilled.
He who eats my bread has liftedup his heel against me.
And from now on, I'm tellingyou, before it comes to pass, So
that when it does occur, you maybelieve that I am He.
And truly, truly, I say to you,He who receives whomever I send
(43:01):
receives me.
And he who receives me receivesHim who sent me.
So that's verse 5 through 20.
And again, this is the pictureof what it means to be a servant
leader.
Right here in the Word, righthere in the Scripture, just
(43:24):
picturing that to me was really,really, really good.
But modeled by the greatestleader of all time, he
considered himself, Jesus did, aservant of all, of all people.
And so when given the honor ofleading God's people, we have
the responsibility to serve inthis way.
(43:46):
And so I want to go through thisreal quick.
There's five things that stuckout to me.
in that reading of passage.
And I'm going to hit them righthere.
The number one thing that stuckout was in verse 8 where Peter
said, Never shall you wash myfeet.
And Jesus told him this.
He said, If I do not wash you,you have no part with me.
(44:07):
So the leader, because we'reputting this into the context of
a servant leader, the leadersays, If I don't serve you, then
you have no part with me.
You just don't see that today,okay?
But if I don't serve you, youhave no part with me.
(44:31):
That, to me, is very strong.
And Peter, what did Peter say?
Well, if that's the case, washmy hands, my feet, my head, wash
me all over.
And so when I read that, thefirst time I wept because
Peter's saying, well, if that'sthe case, then wash me all over
because I want to be I want tobe fully with you, so just wear
(44:55):
me out.
Wash me all over.
So that was the second thingthat stuck out, was that Peter
said, wash my whole body.
Number three, in verse 15, hebasically said that he gave us
an example as we should do.
So he told his disciples rightthere, I've given you an
example.
You do this.
(45:17):
Now, how often...
Look, maybe I'm just weird.
But I bet you these people,these disciples, washed each
other's feet.
Because why?
Because Jesus did it to them.
And he told them to.
He said, go and do as I've doneto you with each other.
(45:38):
And so my only guess is, if myleader exhibited that for me,
and it was something that hedid, and I watched him lead
people, the way Jesus led, Iwould, this is what I need.
I mean, you do what people teachyou to do.
They taught, he taught them todo this.
So my guess is that maybe forthe next hundred years, they did
(46:01):
it.
And at some point it died off.
And, you know, do we need to gowash each other's feet?
You know, I, yeah, but look,I've never seen people do it,
but think about it, how powerfulthat is.
Number four, A slave is notgreater than his master.
(46:21):
The one that's sent is notgreater.
He said that.
So I put that in today's terms.
An employee is equal to theboss, and the boss is equal to
the employee.
At least that's what Jesus said.
I mean, never forget that.
We are all the same, and webleed the same red blood.
(46:44):
And then number five, he said,you know these things in verse
17.
If you know these things, youare blessed if you do them.
He said that.
So we know those things.
Again, take the foot washing outfor a minute.
Just say that it's just anexample that Jesus wanted us to
(47:04):
follow.
Again, did He really want you towash feet?
I don't know.
Maybe.
Maybe.
Maybe.
And we're not doing it.
So go do it.
Okay, what's it going to hurt?
It can't hurt.
But nonetheless, serve eachother.
Serve people.
A leader today must serve hispeople.
And if he's not serving hispeople, then he's not leading.
(47:27):
That's just the way it is.
At least not leading to thecapacity that he could be.
And so all the people that we'veinterviewed here the past three
or four episodes, whatever,they've all exhibited and
they've talked about servantleadership.
SPEAKER_00 (47:44):
That's their favorite type of leadership,
I've realized.
That's what they say.
SPEAKER_02 (47:48):
What
SPEAKER_00 (47:48):
type of leader are you?
We haven't
SPEAKER_02 (47:50):
had anybody say any other thing.
Maybe that's because of the typeof leaders I'm bringing on.
I'm drawn to those type ofleaders.
So we can look at that from3,000 feet.
I like to say pull up and lookdown.
Maybe it's because of who I'veinvited.
We'll continue to invite and I'msure at some point we'll spice
(48:11):
it up.
But This is the greatestleadership attribute that there
is.
Because when you do this, whenyou serve other people, you're
tickling heartstrings.
And it's in your nature to bedrawn to that.
And so if you're a leader todayand you're listening to this,
(48:35):
find a way to serve your people,man.
Because that's what matters.
And that's your duty is to serveothers.
Your people.
So anything to take away fromthat?
It
SPEAKER_01 (48:48):
was beautiful.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_00 (48:49):
What do you think today's washing feet would be?
I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (48:55):
That's good.
Let's circle back on that.
That's the meaningful question.
SPEAKER_00 (49:02):
Man, I'm full of them.
I'll tell you that.
I just sat here and I'm justthinking, like you keep talking
about, well, maybe we should bewashing each other's feet.
And I'm like, surely there'ssomething in today's world, like
nowadays.
Yeah.
What is the equivalent?
I don't know.
To that.
We need to think about that.
SPEAKER_01 (49:19):
Because whatever it is, I want to do it.
SPEAKER_00 (49:20):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (49:21):
I want to share something with you guys.
There was this wedding that Iwent to probably about three
years ago.
And my buddy Matt Evans, just anamazing man, communicator, just
good people.
But him and his bride washedeach other's feet.
And I didn't know much about it,but I thought I was moved just
(49:44):
automatically.
I was
SPEAKER_00 (49:45):
like, that's amazing.
I've been to a few
SPEAKER_01 (49:47):
weddings.
Did you really?
I'm with that.
Bro, I've never seen it.
It was just the most beautifulthing.
Well, now you
SPEAKER_02 (49:54):
know where it comes
SPEAKER_01 (49:55):
from.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, which makes perfectsense knowing Matt.
Like, it makes perfect sense.
I love it.
SPEAKER_02 (50:00):
Well, kudos to Matt.
Matt Evans, wherever you are, ifyou're listening.
That's awesome.
So, wash feet.
I don't know what else to say.
I'm lost for words.
So, thank y'all for joining us.
In closing, anybody ever needsanything and wants to chat, hit
us up.
(50:23):
message us on DM us or messagesor call us or whatever.
SPEAKER_00 (50:28):
You, we have this new option on our podcast now
where you can send us a text andit'll, it doesn't go to, it just
is a generic number.
So our numbers aren't publishedout there.
It's just a, and we get a
SPEAKER_02 (50:42):
cool
SPEAKER_01 (50:43):
text message.
Oh man,
SPEAKER_02 (50:45):
Maddie's
SPEAKER_00 (50:45):
doing it up.
If you need a friend or to chat,just text us.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (50:50):
I love it.
All righty.
We're signing off.
This is Jeremy.
SPEAKER_00 (50:54):
Maddie.
SPEAKER_02 (50:54):
Danny.
Thanks, guys.
Love y'all.
See y'all.
Welcome back to Impact Podcast.
My name is Jeremy Melton, andI'm your host, along with Daniel
and Maddie.
And what kind of impact are wemaking on the world that we live
in?
That's what we're going to talkabout today.
This is episode number 11, andtoday we're going to discuss the
mandate of servanthood, which Iwas telling Daniel a while ago
(00:42):
is going to be my favorite.
It is very likely my favoritetalk that we will do.
I'm so excited about this one.
So we're going to get started.
Last week we met with DannyHarrell.
Y'all, that was great.
Our pastor.
Yeah.
So let's do some takeaways.
And I have to start because ifnot, you might steal my thunder
(01:03):
here.
Okay.
He said, lead with grace andland with truth.
That was one of the best thingsthat I heard him say.
I mean, look, he said a lot ofgood stuff, but that stuck with
me, and I don't know why.
Say it again.
Lead with grace, land withtruth.
And I thought, wow, that is theembodiment.
(01:25):
Anyway, y'all go.
Daniel, what was your takeaway?
SPEAKER_01 (01:28):
And this is an excuse I was producing and not
as engaged as everyone else.
But just really having Dannyhere and having him communicate
with us, he's just so down toearth.
He is so relatable.
He is so just easy to talk with.
I actually ran into him.
Uh, since then and just soapproachable and just regular
(01:52):
old guy, just a regular old guy,regular old dude.
And, uh, yeah, he was, he wasfantastic.
It was great to have
SPEAKER_02 (01:58):
him.
Maddie.
SPEAKER_00 (02:00):
Um, I thought it was really cool that he was, he gave
us the same quote that Nick, Ithink did.
Was it Nick?
One of our previous guests was,um, nobody cares what you know
until they know what you, thatyou care.
Um, And I think that was my keytakeaway from Nick's episode,
and I just think that it wasreinforced with Danny.
(02:20):
But then also kind of not that Iwas intimidated by having Danny
on the show, but I think I'vejust completely changed from
meeting Danny, then having himon the show last week, and then
to today.
I mean, he's...
really opened up my eyes andit's helped my family
(02:42):
tremendously and it's beengreat.
SPEAKER_02 (02:44):
Good.
Well, another thing that he saidand kind of echoes what Danny's
talking about.
He said several times, he said,just be real.
Like there's not a lot of fakein Danny, right?
So he, he's just being real.
And that's what he says.
Just be real.
Like there's nothing to hide.
We're all full of sin, you know?
And so, um, that was one of thethings, and I thought that was
(03:06):
great.
Um, But it was cool to have himon the show.
So anyway, before I start thisweek, I was going to go ahead
and roll, but I said I wanted toshare something.
And I think I shared with y'allpersonally, individually, but
I'm not going to call out anynames.
But I do want to highlightsomething that last week
happened.
And y'all remember when I calledy'all and told you that I had
(03:27):
someone call and tell me that...
I'm not going to give any names,but several weeks ago, I had a
guy call me and...
was using me as a soundboard andhe was complaining about an
employee at his job and theemployee was not listening and
it was a subordinate employeeand this guy was a leader.
And the leader told me that, youknow, I asked the question, you
(03:53):
know, again, he was beingsoundboard, right?
But I asked the question of, didyou communicate clearly?
And the answer was, yeah.
Oh yeah.
And I was like, well, if youfeel like you've communicated
clearly, well, then maybe you dohave a right to have the
conversation, right?
The conflict.
And I said, but as a leader,your responsibility is to make
(04:14):
sure you communicate clearly.
And they said, oh yeah, yeah,yeah.
Well, our podcast was aired andthey have been listening and
following and they listened toone of our, one of the ones that
we've already produced.
I don't know which one.
SPEAKER_01 (04:29):
It had to be episode three with the mandates.
SPEAKER_02 (04:31):
Yeah.
And, and Basically, he called metwo weeks later and he's like,
dude, I just want you to knowthat I was wrong.
In fact, I did not communicateclearly.
After listening to your podcast,I feel like I owe an apology.
I was like, you owe me anapology.
You owe the employee an apology,right?
(04:52):
Anyway, it was very cool to seethat, hey, look, this is
working.
People that are following onthis journey with us are going
to use this information tobecome a better human being.
a better leader.
And then there were so manyother people that just called me
and encouraged me over the lastcouple weeks, and it just gave
(05:13):
me some more fuel for this show.
So I want to say that.
And to the listeners, genuinely,if you go back and listen to
these and you implement them,you will find yourself being a
better human being.
Right?
SPEAKER_00 (05:27):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (05:28):
I've shared that with several people.
I'm like, yeah, it's aboutleadership and leadership's
like, but it's just human stuff.
It's just like treat peoplebetter.
The golden rule.
Be a human.
Be a good one.
Go be a good human.
SPEAKER_02 (05:42):
Anyways, so back to anything, any comments on any of
that?
Y'all ready to rock?
SPEAKER_00 (05:48):
Yeah, I mean, I've had a lot of people reach out
too.
I spent a couple of hoursyesterday with some people and
who one of them brought it up,you know, brought the podcast up
and, um, and we all got totalking about it and yeah,
hopefully we have a few morelisteners today.
SPEAKER_02 (06:05):
Absolutely.
I think, I think we're going tobuild some, some steam here.
Um, especially as we get intosome of these deep dives, which
we're going to do today.
Um, uh, I, I, I would just hopeand pray that more than a
million people hear this very,uh, discussion that we're about
to have because it is lifechanging.
So, um, The mandate today isservanthood, the state of being
(06:31):
a servant.
That's what I call it.
So what is a servant?
Let me tell you.
I'll just say the definition.
Servant is a person who performsduties for others, especially a
person employed in a house ordomestic duties as a personal
attendant.
But the main thing you shouldhear is a person who performs
duties for others.
(06:52):
Okay, so...
Society today, in my opinion,has stained the Word.
When you hear servant, again,society stained it.
But it's not a bad word.
It's not a bad thing.
In fact, it is the most powerfulthing that you can do.
(07:12):
And that's in our nature.
God created us that way.
And I believe that in serving,that is where you find life,
find fulfillment in life.
And so...
When you're serving, you will behappier.
When you're not serving, youwill be less happy.
(07:33):
And we're not about being happyon the show.
I'm just saying that those twogo together.
And there's no way around that.
And no one could ever tell meotherwise.
But serving others is the ticketto life.
And so we should seek to serve.
So, Maddie, I'll put you on thespot.
What are your first thoughtswhen you hear the word servant?
Servant.
SPEAKER_00 (07:52):
Um, I'm very excited about this episode because I am
the person in the world whothinks of it in a negative ish
way.
Yeah.
Like I've not your servant, youknow, like when my kids are
like, yeah, like, I mean, mom,will you go in my room?
No, you've got, I'm not yourservant, you know?
Um, so I definitely have more ofa negative, not a negative.
(08:14):
I mean, I understand servingpeople, um, It's totally
different than how I just usedan example.
But looking at servant as adifferent way than– or in a
different way than how I'venormally always looked at it,
I'm excited to know.
(08:35):
I'm excited to learn today.
SPEAKER_02 (08:38):
Good.
Dee?
SPEAKER_01 (08:39):
Well, it jumps back for me because we've talked
about– we've had servantleaders.
We've been talking to servantleaders, and it's all about–
being willing to do whateveryou're asking someone else to do
and not asking someone to dosomething that you're not
willing to do.
And that's the servant leader.
I think Tyler, like we just hitTyler with that and, and just in
(09:06):
serving so natural to me.
I mean, it's just what, what, Imean, I was, I was a server in
my restaurant days and that was,I excelled at that just because
of my personality traits and whoI am.
But that stuck with me in everybusiness venture that I've gone
into and with my kids andrelationships.
And I mean, yeah, I serve.
(09:28):
I serve.
And I've never thought about itlike that, but I understand that
it does have like a negative.
But no, I want to serve.
That's who I want to be.
Just naturally.
SPEAKER_02 (09:37):
It does have a negative connotation, like she
said.
And look, let's just be real.
Honestly, a lot of women...
feel that way.
Okay.
I mean, cause look again,society has, and I'm not getting
into the male female stuff heretoday cause we're not talking
about that, but society hastaught women, you know, you're
not going to serve man andyou're going to, you know, and
(10:00):
there's, and it also societyteaches men the same thing, but
at the end of the day, it is oursinful flesh that desires to
serve ourself.
Okay.
And so, um, God delivers us fromthat, despite whatever you may
hear.
(10:21):
You must be delivered fromyourself, and that is where you
find life, okay?
And so that's why this is myfavorite.
But we're going to get started.
So either way, we can all agreethat society would have us
believe that we don't need toserve anybody, right?
They kind of just do for you,and that's...
(10:43):
counterproductive in leadership,period.
I mean, when we're talkingabout, you know, desiring to
serve only comes when the desireto lead for what it actually is
comes into play.
(11:06):
And so when you fully embracethe position of leadership,
fully embrace it, that is whenyou understand what it means to
serve and what the fruit of thatlooks like.
Now, we're talking about theendowment of leadership, not the
position of it, because a lot oftimes when we talk about the
(11:28):
position of leadership, youstart thinking about the boss.
Again, we're not talking aboutthat.
We're talking about a leader,someone that leads, so it
doesn't have to be a boss.
But The leader's greatest assetis, in fact, what?
Say I'm a leader.
(11:51):
What is my greatest asset as aleader in order to hold my
position, in order to hold myinfluence?
My greatest asset is my people.
That's right.
I was like,
SPEAKER_00 (12:02):
is this a trick question?
No, no,
SPEAKER_02 (12:06):
no.
So as a leader, their greatestasset is their people.
Right.
Because without that, they're nolonger leading.
Okay, so makes sense?
All right.
So when leaders come under theirpeople and they acknowledge how
great that asset is, that iswhen they begin to understand
(12:26):
what it means to serve.
Okay?
You heard me say when they comeunder their people.
How often do you hear leaders,bosses, people in position of
leadership coming under theirpeople?
Very seldom.
Okay.
It's funny when I draw out the,you know, you have an org chart
(12:47):
at a company.
So you have a hundred milliondollar business.
You got an org chart.
You got a CEO, CFO.
You got all the people and yougot all the teams.
Well, one time I went into afacility, you know, typically
when you draw those out, it's atree.
Boss at the top, all the waydown at the bottom are all the
worker bees, right?
Well, I went into a facility onetime and that chart was turned
(13:08):
upside down.
And I said, tell me about thatright there.
He said, well, and it was theCEO.
He said, well, I'm the CEO.
That's me at the bottom.
I support those people.
Those people support thosepeople.
That's how we look at leadershiphere.
And the culture there wasamazing.
I love it.
Look, at the end of the day,that dude was a servant leader.
(13:29):
And so, again, the leader'sgreatest asset is his or her
people.
And When leaders come undertheir people and hold them up
and esteem them for who theyare, then you learn what serving
is.
Y'all remember Tyler?
He came week five, several weeksback.
I taught a class one time atHVH, the company that I work
(13:55):
for.
I taught a class on leadership.
I was actually teaching thesemandates.
This was like two years ago.
And we got to this class, and Ithought to myself, Tyler's one
of the best servant leaders Iever had.
I'm going to have him come inand teach.
So he came in and taught onservant leadership at HVH.
He got up in front of the peopleand led a class.
(14:16):
And so some of today, what I'mgoing to talk about is stuff
that I'm stealing from him.
So I'm letting him know.
I called him last night.
I was like, bro, just so youknow, I'm taking this stuff from
you.
He's like, no, it's good.
But some of the things that hesaid, he had made his own
fundamentals.
of servant leadership.
And so we're about to learnthose.
So get your pen out.
Take some notes.
(14:37):
Number one, and this wasdirectly from Tyler.
I stole it.
He gets the credit.
Number one was honor others, butfor yourself.
Number two, and we're going togo back over these.
Inspire vision.
Number three, choose ethics.
Number four, empower others.
Number five, Privileged people.
We'll talk about that in aminute.
(14:58):
Number six, balance, focus withflexibility.
And number seven was serve withhumility.
And we're going to spend just aminute talking about Tyler, and
then we've got some other stuff.
But one of the things he saidduring that time that really
stuck out was being a servantleader is quite simple.
And I was like, well, just tellme how simple it is, bro.
(15:21):
It's simple yet profound.
And he said, no, it's notcomplicated.
I'll never forget.
It's not complicated.
And I was like, you can saythat, bro, but it's not easy.
It's not complicated, but it'snot easy.
And so it's not easy because ofwhat it takes, and it is
complete sacrifice.
And so we're going to talk aboutthat.
(15:42):
Tyler said, I've got some quotesin here, find the balance
between the mission and what isbest for the people.
We as leaders must believe thatwe incur a debt of as we take a
leadership role within anorganization.
That debt is a debt to take careof our people.
(16:03):
He quoted this.
It's pretty good stuff.
We need to post it on our page.
SPEAKER_00 (16:08):
I was about to say.
SPEAKER_02 (16:09):
We as leaders must believe that we incur a debt.
As a leader, when you accept arole, if you get asked to lead
something, you acceptresponsibility to lead it well.
And you accept theresponsibility to be in debt to
those people, period.
If you don't look at it thatway, then you don't deserve the
(16:30):
position to lead.
So if someone comes to you andsays, Hey, man, I got this thing
going on.
I need you to lead it.
And you say, Yeah, great.
Oh, yeah, I'll do it.
But you don't take it seriously.
Then you're directly responsiblefor not leading well.
If you don't look at it as ifyou have a debt to those people,
(16:50):
And so that's some strong stuffthat Tyler had put pen to paper
on.
He said leadership goes beyondthe job.
We have an opportunity forimpact, positive or negative.
He wrote this two years ago.
Yeah, yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (17:05):
yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (17:06):
He wrote this two years ago, and I went back and
got it because I'd kept it.
Leadership goes beyond the job.
We have an opportunity forimpact, positive or negative,
and this can really changesomeone's trajectory in life.
Strong stuff.
All right.
So now that we're done with hisquotes, anything on that?
Did that string a cool word,struck a cool word or anything?
(17:28):
Y'all good?
SPEAKER_00 (17:29):
Positive or negative.
SPEAKER_02 (17:31):
Positive or negative.
SPEAKER_00 (17:32):
Yeah, I mean that, you know, if you're a leader,
everything that you do, positiveor negative, is going to impact
the people underneath you, thepeople watching you.
SPEAKER_02 (17:45):
Good or bad.
SPEAKER_00 (17:46):
Good or bad.
Doesn't matter.
And that's a, it's a weird wayto think of it because in my
head, I think of a leader, youknow, we, we have very few
leaders that have every singleone of these mandates, you know,
like we were like, Oh, but we'restill trying, you know, trying
to become and striving to becomethis better leader.
But you also have to think,yeah.
Okay.
(18:06):
So I'm doing all of thispositive stuff, but if there's
negative things that you'redoing too, that's going to have
an even bigger impact.
I feel like 100.
SPEAKER_02 (18:16):
Yeah.
I agree.
SPEAKER_00 (18:17):
That's what stuck out.
SPEAKER_02 (18:18):
Yeah, positive or negative.
That's good.
SPEAKER_01 (18:22):
Well, I'm just over here thinking, Tyler, two years
ago, are you giving him creditfor coming up with the name of
our podcast?
Hey, whatever.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, you know, I
SPEAKER_02 (18:37):
went back and read this.
Like I said, when it came timeto do the serverhood, I was
like, I got to go back and lookat Tyler's PowerPoint.
So I dug it up, and some of thenotes that I had taken– And
that, man, this stuff just hitme in the mouth.
It's some real good stuff rightthere.
So what I want to do, we're justgoing to talk through the seven
(18:59):
fundamentals, okay?
And then I've got something elseI want to share that's really,
really, really, really good.
But honor others.
Okay, so the first fundamentalwas to honor others before
yourself.
Let's talk about that for aminute.
So how do you, first of all, howdo you honor someone?
(19:22):
Like, if I told you that I'mbringing somebody in two weeks,
man, an honorable individual,and we should show them honor,
SPEAKER_01 (19:30):
how do you do that?
It's kind of tricky.
SPEAKER_02 (19:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:34):
How do we show them?
How do
SPEAKER_02 (19:35):
you show someone honor?
SPEAKER_01 (19:37):
I mean, I'm going to give them like a firm handshake.
Yeah.
Firm handshake, eye contact.
Yeah.
Is that weird?
No.
Is that the end?
I don't know.
I don't know.
It's good.
So when
SPEAKER_02 (19:48):
I think about that, I think about opening the door
for someone.
Yep.
Okay.
Not rolling a rug out, butpulling their chair out.
Uh-huh.
Serving them coffee.
Uh-huh.
That's how you honor someone,right?
So you...
Right, right.
Where's my coffee today?
But look, you don't understandwhat that does to someone.
(20:11):
And especially...
when you do it without an illmotive, when you just do it.
Maddie, I don't want to call youout on this, but does Ruben do
things to you and Daniel, samething?
(20:33):
But do we honor people?
I mean, do you show your husbandhonor, Maddie?
SPEAKER_00 (20:39):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (20:39):
Yeah.
So...
SPEAKER_00 (20:42):
Well, I think where I was a little confused just a
minute ago because you said anhonorable person was coming to
our podcast, just say.
How do we honor them?
I feel like this is differentbecause you may have employees
or whoever in your life who maynot be honorable people but
(21:05):
still deserve honor.
SPEAKER_02 (21:06):
Well, you have to do it.
You have to give it to them,whether they deserve it or not.
It's unmerited, by the
SPEAKER_00 (21:10):
way.
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (21:11):
Yeah.
That's what a leader does.
So a lot of people, if I toldyou that Donald Trump was coming
over, everybody would, would,would honor him.
SPEAKER_00 (21:20):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (21:22):
Well, not everyone, but most people
SPEAKER_00 (21:24):
around here.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (21:26):
But an honorable individual, most people show
honor to, but someone that's noteven, that's not honorable,
someone that's not, do you stillshow them honor?
And the leader does.
That's what we're, where I'mgoing.
So I'll tell you this.
And I, Look, my wife is notalways the...
I'm not always the greatestperson to my wife.
(21:49):
I'm not.
We get it sideways.
I have found that if I willcontinue to honor her despite
however she's acting, it's muchbetter for me.
But it's not easy.
And so that's why I told Tyler,it's not complicated, but it's
not easy.
So it's two different things.
(22:10):
But In the end, the leader showshonor to everybody before
himself.
So that's a way to have servantleadership.
That's just one of thefundamentals.
And so when you fully embracethat, like literally showing up
(22:32):
with every person around you,the people that you lead, and
this includes your spouse, Andobviously, Ruben is the leader
of your home, should be.
And so he should be honoringyou.
And that's just the way it is.
That's one of the things that'snecessary.
So number two, inspire visionbefore setting the course.
(22:53):
This is from Tyler here.
Inspire vision.
What does that make you thinkabout?
SPEAKER_00 (23:00):
Forward thinking.
SPEAKER_02 (23:02):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (23:03):
Just having a goal, sharing the goal.
Hype.
Hype, man.
Once you have the goal, how areyou delivering the message that
this is how we're getting to thegoal?
SPEAKER_02 (23:15):
Right.
So when you inspire vision, youtell the team where we're going,
right?
And it says before setting thecourse.
So before you start.
So you don't go rally the troopsand then start trying to cast
vision, right?
(23:35):
You cast the vision.
What I gathered from this, andTyler is not here to speak, so
I'm just going to take itbecause he's not here to talk
about it.
But when I hear this, I'mthinking, inspire the vision,
which means before you go.
So I owe it to my team toprepare myself.
What is the vision?
Make it clear to me.
(23:56):
And then go cast it to them.
And then go.
Right?
And if I don't do that, again,then I'm not...
doing what I need to do to be aservant leader.
And you'll notice all of thesethings go back to what's good
for them.
Always good for them.
That's what a servant leader isfocused on is them.
(24:19):
I'm for them, right?
I was part of a men's groupyears ago, and the men's group
was called I'm for You.
And then I've seen braceletsgoing around where it says I'm
for them.
But number three, was chooseethics over profit or gain.
Now, you could use profit, butthen you might think about
(24:40):
monetary things, but it's justgain.
I think I added that to Tyler'sthing.
Choose ethics over profit orgain, which means what?
SPEAKER_00 (24:51):
Treating your people right over...
I think of monetary, over profitor gain or growth or any...
Anything.
Any, any form of game.
SPEAKER_01 (25:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (25:03):
Any form of game.
SPEAKER_01 (25:04):
So, I mean, I just think like, don't sell out your
guys.
I mean that, that simple.
Don't sell them out for you.
Move yourself forward.
Whether that be a promotion or,you know, just the glory, you
know, don't keep it foryourself.
SPEAKER_02 (25:18):
When you talk about choosing ethics and you remember
Tyler's of Italian chief atRockdale fire.
Oh, maybe I shouldn't have saidthat, but yeah.
Um, He said that oftentimesthere's decisions that we face
where we have to choose ethicaldecisions.
And that's obviously ethicaldecisions are for the people.
(25:40):
You have to do the right thingby the people before the money.
SPEAKER_00 (25:45):
For yourself, too.
SPEAKER_02 (25:47):
Or the department.
And that's counterintuitivebecause you heard that you go to
work.
And you reach a situation whereyou have to compromise your
people for an incentive orsomething that the company wants
(26:08):
you to do.
The company wants to meet Xgoal, right?
The goal's over here.
The company wants you to meetthat.
And here's what you have to doto get there.
And along the way, you have tostep on a person to get there.
No, you don't step on a personto get there.
You stop.
You lift that person up andbring them with you, right?
(26:31):
And you don't hear– that's notcommonly taught today.
I'm just– it's not.
But the true leader embracesthat.
And so that is very hard tofind.
And so those people that embracethat.
I
SPEAKER_00 (26:45):
also think that like a true leader, this one's hard.
I mean, because especially ifyou're put in a position where
you have to– or you're given–the compromise or you have to
step on the person or whatever,it's scary.
SPEAKER_02 (27:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (27:00):
So it's like you've got to be brave.
SPEAKER_02 (27:03):
Courage.
SPEAKER_00 (27:04):
And, you know, know that ethically you're choosing
not to step on this person,which might get you into trouble
or it might get you, you know,whatever personally, you know,
less money or whatever it mightbe.
You could lose
SPEAKER_02 (27:20):
your job.
You could lose money.
Absolutely.
And let me tell you something.
This is the raw truth.
Mm-hmm.
A strong leader absolutely comesto these obstacles all the time.
I asked Danny last week, I said,Danny, has there ever been a
time in your ministry where youhad to compromise anything along
the way and it was a setback?
(27:41):
And I think he went through acouple things.
But in business, and not alwaysin church, because most of the
time church people do follow bythe ethical way.
But in business, when you ask abusiness leader if he's ever
compromised his convictions,he's been challenged on it more
(28:04):
than once, a bunch of times,most likely.
I mean, I've been challenged onit, and I choose to plant my
feet, and that gets me introuble.
But that's the way it was, justthe way it is.
And so when the leader does notchoose ethics, choose— The right
thing to do over the game, it'snoticed.
(28:26):
And that leader loses capital.
Mm-hmm.
Okay?
SPEAKER_01 (28:30):
That's right.
SPEAKER_02 (28:30):
Every single time.
And he doesn't even realize it,but he's lost it.
And if the people that are underhim are smart enough, they'll
seek it out.
And he loses credibility.
And he takes it a long time toget it back.
SPEAKER_00 (28:46):
He never can compromise.
These are really hard.
really great fundamentalsbecause there are things that,
um, they're not, you don't seethem as soon as it happens.
Right.
So it's like, you know, honorothers before yourself.
Okay.
You can do that.
It's going to gradually change.
You know, it's gonna, it's notjust like a, Oh, well I honored
(29:07):
this person, you know, and it'snow I'm this great leader.
It is a gradual thing.
Inspire the vision beforesetting the course and choosing
ethics over, uh, Profit or gain.
I mean, if you do it one time,it's a habit.
That's right.
You've got to do it all thetime.
SPEAKER_02 (29:28):
That's good.
So number four was empowerothers before personal gain.
SPEAKER_00 (29:34):
This is my favorite.
SPEAKER_02 (29:36):
That's a good one.
Tell me about it.
What do you think?
SPEAKER_00 (29:39):
Because I think when I empower others, I love lifting
other people up.
I think it's one of my favoritethings to do, whether it's in my
personal life or at work.
I love being able to just...
What do you think?
We have this thing at work wherewe ask our employees, what do
you think?
SPEAKER_02 (29:57):
That's good.
SPEAKER_00 (29:58):
It could be something totally random, but
you're giving them some sort ofsense of belonging, that they're
helping you shape a decision.
And I love that.
But I think that empoweringothers before my personal gain,
I think empowering others...
is my personal gain.
SPEAKER_02 (30:18):
100.
SPEAKER_00 (30:21):
You know, like I just think that when you do it
or when I do it personally, I,I'm, it makes me happy.
Yeah.
You know, so maybe that is, Imean,
SPEAKER_02 (30:32):
maybe that's your game, but that's not your, your,
that's not the goal.
Your goal is to empower them.
Right.
And the fruit of that is thatyou have in fact gained.
Yeah.
Well, you've gained leadershipcapital, right?
Well, for one, um, But, yeah,empowering others is leadership.
You can't lead without doingthat because you can lead from
(30:56):
position, but you can't leadfrom influence.
And that, to be honest with you,is one of, I mean, again, that
one is right in the middle ofthe lineup too, and it's
necessary.
You have to empower others.
Number five is, and I had tocall Tyler out on this one,
privilege people.
before tasks.
(31:17):
I read that and I called him andI was like, bro, what are you
talking about privileged people?
I'll look this up.
I don't, it's not clicking.
And he said, well, and he triedto explain it to me.
Essentially put the peoplefirst.
Okay.
Before the task.
So, and he, he likened it to atask at work where you got to
(31:38):
get it done.
You got a certain amount of timeto do it.
And, you know, essentially keepthe people first during the
task, no matter how dangerous itis.
And he was likening it to afire.
Say you have a dangerous task todo, and everyone acknowledges
that it's dangerous.
(32:00):
But you put the people first inthe task, even though it's
dangerous, and then you have tokeep them as the central effort
despite the danger around it.
And, you know, when you'rethinking about business, I mean,
it could be a job that you'redoing that happens to be...
(32:22):
I mean, again, there's a hundredways to skin the cat here, but
the point was the paramountissue is to keep the people
first.
And no matter what you're doing,and if you can do that with
every...
If that's your central unifiedgoal, keep the people first,
then...
everything else falls into placein its time, right?
(32:46):
And maybe not when you want itto or when you've been told it
has to, but you can never, aleader, a leader, a true great
leader can never sacrifice hispeople for the task.
Never.
No matter what.
SPEAKER_01 (32:59):
It makes me think of like, when you do that, it might
even lead to failure.
100%.
We're not focused on the task.
We're focused on the people andthat might turn to failure,
but...
SPEAKER_02 (33:10):
But your people are good.
SPEAKER_01 (33:11):
People are good.
SPEAKER_02 (33:12):
And they trust you because of that.
And again, that's one of thosethings that normal day-to-day
people in your flesh, when notbeing intentional on these
things, you will sacrifice thatbecause you want to get it done.
And the servant leader, the truegreat servant leader does not do
(33:37):
that.
It's a no-no.
If it's not good for the people,it's not good for the business.
It's not good for thedepartment.
It's not good for the company.
If it's not good for the people,we don't do it.
Here, that's where you've got toplant your feet.
And that's what's hard.
Because trust me, I know fromexperience that this, this one
(34:00):
right here, will hold you backin growth.
Okay?
It will hold you back in growthbecause...
It's not progressive all thetime, right?
It's not progressive all thetime.
And this one right here willslow you down and get you left
behind.
I
SPEAKER_00 (34:20):
think that if you have your employees who are
beneath you and you do empowerthem, you give them tasks,
you're going to find that you'regoing to succeed.
Because if they are...
all in on it because they trustyou and they love working for
(34:43):
you.
And there's just so much morethat you'll get out of it than
what I think is even expected byrunning a good business or
whatever you want to.
SPEAKER_02 (34:57):
Number six was balance, focus with flexibility
when making decisions.
So as a leader, you're going tomake a lot of decisions.
And one of the things that youhave to balance is being focused
on the goal while being flexiblefor the people.
Okay.
So we are humans.
(35:21):
And a lot of times, and a lot oftimes, you know, someone wants
to iron fist and we're not,we're not budging from this.
Well, the reality is, is we'redealing with people.
And so you got to be flexible atthe same time.
So you want to maintain that.
intentional focus on the goalthat you have.
(35:41):
But you also want to rememberwhile being firm that you will
have to be flexible.
And that is a servant leader.
There's
SPEAKER_00 (35:53):
more than one way to skin a cat.
SPEAKER_02 (35:55):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (35:57):
More hiccups, you
SPEAKER_02 (35:59):
know.
Number seven was serve withhumility above all.
We're going to talk...
Have we talked about humility?
I
SPEAKER_00 (36:08):
think so.
SPEAKER_02 (36:10):
No.
I don't think we have.
SPEAKER_01 (36:12):
Like a full...
SPEAKER_02 (36:14):
A full mandate study?
No.
No.
I don't think so.
No.
I don't think so.
No.
I don't think so.
But we'll get there if wehaven't.
And if we have, I need to goback and check my memory.
SPEAKER_01 (36:24):
If we can just recap real quick, we did ownership and
then we did clarity.
That's right.
And this is number three, if I'mnot mistaken.
SPEAKER_02 (36:33):
That's right.
You're right.
Yeah.
I think you're right.
Good memory, Dee.
Yeah, I'm like...
Thank you, sir.
So we talked about humility, butit was just in the...
Brief.
Yeah, we were going over the 20mandates.
SPEAKER_00 (36:45):
I just remember it because it's the hardest one.
SPEAKER_02 (36:46):
Yeah, so humility will be another one of my
favorites after this one.
This is my favorite, but...
SPEAKER_01 (36:51):
They're all going to be your favorites.
SPEAKER_00 (36:53):
I know, by the end of it, Jeremy's like, this one's
my favorite.
This one's my favorite.
Okay.
I love this one.
This one's my favorite.
Today.
Serve
SPEAKER_02 (37:03):
with humility and...
I remember Maddie saying, thisis difficult.
This is hard for me.
You remember?
And it's hard for everyonebecause it's not in our nature
to be humble.
It's just not.
When we're operating in theflesh, it is not in our nature.
Okay, so that's the sevenfundamentals of servant
(37:25):
leadership.
And so, you know, take notesbecause those are things you
want to be intentional about.
SPEAKER_00 (37:33):
We'll put the notes in the description too.
SPEAKER_02 (37:36):
Wow.
Oh, boy.
Maddie's getting down.
I love it.
We're starting to figure thisthing out.
Yeah, we're getting it figured
SPEAKER_00 (37:43):
out.
We'll get it.
We'll get it.
Hopefully, hopefully by, youknow, the end of it.
SPEAKER_02 (37:48):
So, I've got one more thing I want to do, and
then we're going to wrap this,land the plane here, but
anything y'all want to go overbefore I do?
Good.
So, if you're listening todayand you think, well, you know,
how can I be a servant leader?
Well, first you can Follow theseven fundamentals that we just
(38:09):
read.
And you take everything youheard today and you can put it
into practice.
You can literally take thoseseven fundamentals and you could
say, how can I honor people?
And you could do what I said.
You could open the door forthem.
You could serve them coffee.
You can do a lot of things.
How can I inspire vision?
(38:31):
And again, write that down.
And literally, you could write10 ways you can do that with
your team.
And then you literally, like achecklist, you go through and
grab those and you write itdown.
And you do it.
And again, this is where therubber meets the road, what I
(38:51):
like to say.
But I can't let us go withoutsharing this.
And this is why it's my favoritepart.
I think about Jesus washing thedefeat of His disciples.
So you hear people say, well,Jesus was the greatest leader of
them all.
And then you'd think, well, thenwhat I need to do is see what
Jesus did.
(39:11):
And so it leads me to where theultimate pinnacle of serving
another person, if you can justthink about washing someone's
feet.
And so I went back and read itin the Bible this week, and I
was like, wow.
(39:32):
So, I mean, look, most people'sfeet are pretty gross, okay?
Maybe not.
Maybe everyone has pretty feet,but my feet ain't pretty, okay?
And I know lots of dudes outthere, their feet are not
pretty, all right?
But I thought about, well, whatif I lined my people up on my
team and I said, all right,guys, let's just sit down in
(39:54):
chairs, put your feet in thisbucket, and I'm about to wash
your feet, okay?
Number one, they would look atme like I was crazy.
SPEAKER_01 (39:59):
Hey, and number two, make sure I'm there with the
camera when
SPEAKER_02 (40:04):
you do it.
Look, bro, I'm serious.
I thought to myself, could I dothat?
And it would be so difficult.
And then to do it in front of anaudience on a stage.
Could you do it?
And I thought to myself, thatwould define a servant leader.
And so anyway, I actually wantto read that.
(40:26):
In the Bible, right now.
Because some people have neverheard it, and they need to.
But I'm going to read it.
It's John chapter 13, verse 5through 20.
And I just want to read it.
So, it says, Then He pouredwater into the basin, talking
(40:51):
about Jesus, and began to washthe disciples' feet.
And to wipe them with the towelwith which he was girded.
And so he came to Simon Peterand he said to him, Lord, do you
wash my feet?
And Jesus answered and said tohim, What I do, you do not
(41:13):
realize now, but you willunderstand hereafter.
Peter said to him, Never shallyou wash my feet.
And Jesus answered him, If I donot wash you, You have no part
with Me.
Simon Peter said to Him, Lord,then wash not only my feet, but
(41:34):
also my hands and my head.
And Jesus said to him, He whohas bathed needs only to wash
his feet, but is completelyclean.
And you are clean, but not allof you.
For He knew the one who wasbetraying Him.
For this reason He said, Not allof you are clean.
And so when he had washed theirfeet and taken his garments and
(41:55):
reclined at the table again, hesaid to them, Do you know what I
have done to you?
You call me teacher and Lord,and you're right, for so I am.
If I then, the Lord and theteacher, washed your feet, you
also ought to wash one another'sfeet.
(42:16):
For I gave you an example thatyou also should do as I did to
you.
Truly, truly, I say to you, aslave is not greater than his
master, nor is one who is sentgreater than the one who sent
him.
If you know these things, youare blessed if you do them.
I do not speak of all of you.
(42:38):
I know the ones I have chosen,but it is that the Scripture may
be fulfilled.
He who eats my bread has liftedup his heel against me.
And from now on, I'm tellingyou, before it comes to pass, So
that when it does occur, you maybelieve that I am He.
And truly, truly, I say to you,He who receives whomever I send
(43:01):
receives me.
And he who receives me receivesHim who sent me.
So that's verse 5 through 20.
And again, this is the pictureof what it means to be a servant
leader.
Right here in the Word, righthere in the Scripture, just
(43:24):
picturing that to me was really,really, really good.
But modeled by the greatestleader of all time, he
considered himself, Jesus did, aservant of all, of all people.
And so when given the honor ofleading God's people, we have
the responsibility to serve inthis way.
(43:46):
And so I want to go through thisreal quick.
There's five things that stuckout to me.
in that reading of passage.
And I'm going to hit them righthere.
The number one thing that stuckout was in verse 8 where Peter
said, Never shall you wash myfeet.
And Jesus told him this.
He said, If I do not wash you,you have no part with me.
(44:07):
So the leader, because we'reputting this into the context of
a servant leader, the leadersays, If I don't serve you, then
you have no part with me.
You just don't see that today,okay?
But if I don't serve you, youhave no part with me.
(44:31):
That, to me, is very strong.
And Peter, what did Peter say?
Well, if that's the case, washmy hands, my feet, my head, wash
me all over.
And so when I read that, thefirst time I wept because
Peter's saying, well, if that'sthe case, then wash me all over
because I want to be I want tobe fully with you, so just wear
(44:55):
me out.
Wash me all over.
So that was the second thingthat stuck out, was that Peter
said, wash my whole body.
Number three, in verse 15, hebasically said that he gave us
an example as we should do.
So he told his disciples rightthere, I've given you an
example.
You do this.
(45:17):
Now, how often...
Look, maybe I'm just weird.
But I bet you these people,these disciples, washed each
other's feet.
Because why?
Because Jesus did it to them.
And he told them to.
He said, go and do as I've doneto you with each other.
(45:38):
And so my only guess is, if myleader exhibited that for me,
and it was something that hedid, and I watched him lead
people, the way Jesus led, Iwould, this is what I need.
I mean, you do what people teachyou to do.
They taught, he taught them todo this.
So my guess is that maybe forthe next hundred years, they did
(46:01):
it.
And at some point it died off.
And, you know, do we need to gowash each other's feet?
You know, I, yeah, but look,I've never seen people do it,
but think about it, how powerfulthat is.
Number four, A slave is notgreater than his master.
(46:21):
The one that's sent is notgreater.
He said that.
So I put that in today's terms.
An employee is equal to theboss, and the boss is equal to
the employee.
At least that's what Jesus said.
I mean, never forget that.
We are all the same, and webleed the same red blood.
(46:44):
And then number five, he said,you know these things in verse
17.
If you know these things, youare blessed if you do them.
He said that.
So we know those things.
Again, take the foot washing outfor a minute.
Just say that it's just anexample that Jesus wanted us to
(47:04):
follow.
Again, did He really want you towash feet?
I don't know.
Maybe.
Maybe.
Maybe.
And we're not doing it.
So go do it.
Okay, what's it going to hurt?
It can't hurt.
But nonetheless, serve eachother.
Serve people.
A leader today must serve hispeople.
And if he's not serving hispeople, then he's not leading.
(47:27):
That's just the way it is.
At least not leading to thecapacity that he could be.
And so all the people that we'veinterviewed here the past three
or four episodes, whatever,they've all exhibited and
they've talked about servantleadership.
SPEAKER_00 (47:44):
That's their favorite type of leadership,
I've realized.
That's what they say.
SPEAKER_02 (47:48):
What
SPEAKER_00 (47:48):
type of leader are you?
We haven't
SPEAKER_02 (47:50):
had anybody say any other thing.
Maybe that's because of the typeof leaders I'm bringing on.
I'm drawn to those type ofleaders.
So we can look at that from3,000 feet.
I like to say pull up and lookdown.
Maybe it's because of who I'veinvited.
We'll continue to invite and I'msure at some point we'll spice
(48:11):
it up.
But This is the greatestleadership attribute that there
is.
Because when you do this, whenyou serve other people, you're
tickling heartstrings.
And it's in your nature to bedrawn to that.
And so if you're a leader todayand you're listening to this,
(48:35):
find a way to serve your people,man.
Because that's what matters.
And that's your duty is to serveothers.
Your people.
So anything to take away fromthat?
It
SPEAKER_01 (48:48):
was beautiful.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_00 (48:49):
What do you think today's washing feet would be?
I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (48:55):
That's good.
Let's circle back on that.
That's the meaningful question.
SPEAKER_00 (49:02):
Man, I'm full of them.
I'll tell you that.
I just sat here and I'm justthinking, like you keep talking
about, well, maybe we should bewashing each other's feet.
And I'm like, surely there'ssomething in today's world, like
nowadays.
Yeah.
What is the equivalent?
I don't know.
To that.
We need to think about that.
SPEAKER_01 (49:19):
Because whatever it is, I want to do it.
SPEAKER_00 (49:20):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (49:21):
I want to share something with you guys.
There was this wedding that Iwent to probably about three
years ago.
And my buddy Matt Evans, just anamazing man, communicator, just
good people.
But him and his bride washedeach other's feet.
And I didn't know much about it,but I thought I was moved just
(49:44):
automatically.
I was
SPEAKER_00 (49:45):
like, that's amazing.
I've been to a few
SPEAKER_01 (49:47):
weddings.
Did you really?
I'm with that.
Bro, I've never seen it.
It was just the most beautifulthing.
Well, now you
SPEAKER_02 (49:54):
know where it comes
SPEAKER_01 (49:55):
from.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, which makes perfectsense knowing Matt.
Like, it makes perfect sense.
I love it.
SPEAKER_02 (50:00):
Well, kudos to Matt.
Matt Evans, wherever you are, ifyou're listening.
That's awesome.
So, wash feet.
I don't know what else to say.
I'm lost for words.
So, thank y'all for joining us.
In closing, anybody ever needsanything and wants to chat, hit
us up.
(50:23):
message us on DM us or messagesor call us or whatever.
SPEAKER_00 (50:28):
You, we have this new option on our podcast now
where you can send us a text andit'll, it doesn't go to, it just
is a generic number.
So our numbers aren't publishedout there.
It's just a, and we get a
SPEAKER_02 (50:42):
cool
SPEAKER_01 (50:43):
text message.
Oh man,
SPEAKER_02 (50:45):
Maddie's
SPEAKER_00 (50:45):
doing it up.
If you need a friend or to chat,just text us.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (50:50):
I love it.
All righty.
We're signing off.
This is Jeremy.
SPEAKER_00 (50:54):
Maddie.
SPEAKER_02 (50:54):
Danny.
Thanks, guys.
Love y'all.
See y'all.
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