August 1, 2025 • 48 mins
In this episode of the Biblical Leadership @ Work podcast, host Jason Woodard introduces Chad Brignac an experienced entrepreneur and author. Chad shares his journey from early entrepreneurial ventures to discovering his divine purpose and becoming a compassionate leader. He discusses the impact of losing his first wife, his current wife’s stroke recovery, and his transition from authority-focused leadership to one centered on empathy and emotional intelligence. Chad also highlights his book 'Blend Don't Break,' his current business ventures, and his advice for young leaders. The episode emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and fostering a culture of growth and compassion.
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Episode Transcript
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Jason (00:01):
Welcome to the Biblical Leadership at Work podcast.
I'm your host, Jason Woodard.
On this month's show, you'llmeet Chad Brina, an
entrepreneur, author, and atransformationist who's
redefining what it means to leadwith purpose.
With over 30 years of experienceacross industries like
construction tech and culinaryarts, Chad's Ventures include
(00:24):
pathways group, food and flavor,and construction ops software.
But his deepest impact comesthrough something less tangible.
His commitment toself-awareness, emotional
intelligence, and compassionateleadership.
Chad's story is one oftransformation, moving from
pragmatism to empathy, fromauthority to influence.
(00:47):
And today you'll hear how he'shelping leaders create thriving
workplaces, healthy families,and lives of true fulfillment.
And this is one that you won'twanna miss.
So brother Chad.
Thanks for being on the show,man.
I can't wait to, uh, talk to youand have our audience get to
know you better.
Chad (01:05):
Thank you for having me.
I'm looking forward to it.
Jason (01:07):
Yeah.
So let's go back, go throughkind of a resume background.
How has the Lord taken you, kindof from your education on,
through where you're at?
I know you and I have talked alittle bit before and it's a
fascinating story.
You've done a lot of differentthings.
So let's, uh, give a briefoverview of, of that.
Chad (01:27):
Yeah, I'll try to make it as quick as possible.
Entrepreneurship started at theage 15 in my parents' driveway
when I was tinting windows.
Art that I taught myself beforeit was available to learn how to
do it on YouTube, and that justled me to always want to start
new businesses, do new things.
By the age of 19, I had my ownconstruction company building
(01:50):
residential homes.
So fast forward through the lastthree decades, most of that was
spent in the constructionindustry, bridges, hotels,
hospitals.
In all different levels ofleadership, VP COO,
superintendent, seniorsuperintendent, general Manager.
And the culinary side was morean inspirational piece of, to
(02:13):
learn cooking techniques, tolearn ways to maintain sauces
and keep things together, whichironically became the subtitle
to our book, creating YourFamily's Secret Sauce as it
related to learning how to makedifferent liquids, men together
with the perfect balance,temperature, and timing.
So that's always fascinating howGod wove everything into this
(02:35):
perfect.
Piece of art that I totallymessed up for a lot of years.
At the beginning, I was notsaved.
I gave my life to the Lord in1998, was still an entrepreneur.
I had nine, nine businesses overthat 30 year span.
Plus in and out of differentleadership roles in construction
(02:56):
and just trying to find my wayinto something that really gave
me purpose.
It was never my defined purposeuntil I came to a place of
healing and restoration, whichhas been a journey over the last
two years, and that processbegan as, as part of writing the
book Blend Don't Break.
Jason (03:15):
So your, your foundation of your career, Chad was
construction, right?
Sounds like you spent a lot ofyears doing that, but then you
got into culinary arts.
Was that.
A passion, a hobby, that kind ofturned into a business as well.
Chad (03:28):
Yeah, it gave me great inspiration.
To vision different things, justplaying with culinary arts.
And it came from a, being apicky eater and.
Being inspired in my palette,igniting on what was a food tour
for us, and I just becamecurious.
So I spent time in the culinaryarts.
I would did some catering,different things like that.
(03:50):
Never did launch it into a fullfledged restaurant, but I, I
have envisioned a restaurantgroup coming forth still on the
back end of all of this.
Right now my focus is on thistransformation and personal
development, something that Ispeak into every business that
I'm a part of now.
The Lord had built teams aroundme to take these other ventures
(04:13):
and give them fuel from mypassion and my vision of what it
can be.
But I have to walk and live inmy divine purpose, which I've
discovered at the age of 50, andmost people don't discover that
their entire life.
And it would be wonderful ifpeople would start to discover
it early in life because it putsyou on a platform to speak
(04:35):
boldly for Christ when you arein your purpose.
Jason (04:39):
yeah.
Once you know that you're doingwhat God has called you and
wired you to do, um, it givesyou a different level of
confidence and peace.
Hey, tell us a little bit aboutyour family, Chad.
Like where, where are you fromand children, marriage, what's
that look like?
Chad (04:55):
Yeah, so I'm from a little town called Narco in South
Louisiana.
It's named after.
New Orleans refinery company.
So there's a large shell plantin that town.
Um, and I grew up there my wholelife.
My wife is from Metrie.
My first wife was also fromNarco.
She passed away at the age of30.
(05:16):
I was 28 years old.
We had two young kids, one infour when she passed, and I got
remarried roughly a year and ahalf later.
And I married my wife now whohad two older kids.
When we met, they were 10 and15.
So we're a blended family, whichis the reason and the story
behind Blend.
Don't Break, creating YourFamily Secret Sausage.
(05:38):
Written from the heart of ourblended family, we transitioned
to a town called Mandeville,which.
Where we're from, it's calledacross the lake.
We cross over Lake Poncho train.
So you live on the North Shorenow instead of the South shore.
So all those things, Godtransitioned us to Oklahoma for
eight and a half years in 2019after my wife had recovered her
(06:01):
mom from some medical stuff and,and some mild strokes.
We transitioned her back homefor Thanksgiving that year and
four days later, my wife had amassive stroke.
Jason (06:13):
Hmm, your current wife?
Chad (06:15):
Correct.
Jason (06:16):
Yeah.
Chad (06:16):
We, um, she's five and a half years past now a warrior.
Stroke warrior.
She survived.
She is doing well.
She has left side ailments.
Um, I used the word pass and Iwant to clarify.
She didn't pass away.
We're five years beyond it andshe is doing well.
She has a tremendous heart.
Her heart actually led us to ournonprofit foundation, which.
(06:39):
Pathways to triumph, a strokerecovery foundation that we
started this year, and it's tohelp people through the recovery
journey.
So there's a lot of things goingon in our life, but my purpose
is really helping people to findself-awareness, grow an
emotional intelligence, not froma place of just knowing how to
manage your emotions, but toactually have a true
(07:02):
transformation that allows youto respond with the right
emotions and, and operate andwalk in compassionate
leadership.
Jason (07:09):
And I wanted to, I definitely want to talk more
about that whole idea of movingfrom authority to influence.
'cause I know you have quite ajourney in your leadership that
God has led you through.
But I wanna ask a little bitabout, you've been through, you
lost a wife when you were inyour late twenties, and then
your current wife had a stroke.
I mean, how did God use those?
(07:30):
Super difficult situations, uh,to just strengthen you
spiritually, like were you, wereyou a believer when your first
wife passed away yet?
Chad (07:39):
Yes, I had been, uh, I had given my life to Christ roughly
two years prior, and she gaveher life to Christ right about a
year prior to her passing.
I write a, um, a workshop thatI'm working on called
Perseverance, and it's about howscripture says.
By the testing of your faith,you have an opportunity to grow
(08:01):
in perseverance.
If you look at what it says alot of people say, by the
testing of your faith, you willgrow in perseverance.
No, you will not automaticallygrow.
Your response determines thatgrowth
Jason (08:12):
you have an opportunity.
Chad (08:13):
and how you respond.
You will grow.
That's God's heart.
That's his intent.
That's what he wants for us.
But we have to take the choiceto respond properly.
Jason (08:23):
Yeah.
Chad (08:24):
And a ano a moment is fresh in my mind.
It's standing outside thehospital just minutes after they
pronou, they pronounce my wife,my dad came outside to love on
me and he said, Chad, I don'tknow how you do it.
And I said, dad, you know what?
I'll never ask God Y.
That didn't come from me.
That came from a place of hisinner work in me.
(08:45):
That was the one thing that Iwould say that I got right in my
Christian walk for probably 15to 18 years'cause I messed so
many other things up.
Jason (08:54):
Yeah.
Chad (08:55):
And it's not that asking God why is a problem that the
issue is if you get stuck on thewhy, you will be stuck in that
moment.
If you get stuck on Godanswering for me what I want to
know, you'll get stuck in Godtrying to answer what it is that
you want to know that you willnever fully comprehend anyway.
(09:16):
So my approach in that momentwas, okay, God, what next?
Not why.
What next?
Jason (09:22):
Yeah.
Chad (09:23):
And if you have a moment of why I would encourage anyone
to take that why and turn itinto what next.
'cause God can spend a lot oftime trying to heal us, trying
to understand why, or we canshorten that time in focusing on
what he has for us next.
And that moment in my lifedeveloped a certain level of
perseverance that I was able toaccept my second wife having a
(09:48):
stroke.
Recognizing that God is fully incharge, God is fully in command,
and my faith has been built toso high relative to a health
issue that I was grateful that Ididn't lose my second wife.
I was grateful for what we had,and that opportunity brought us
closer together in our marriagethan we had ever been.
Jason (10:10):
Yeah, I think Chad, when you're, when you're talking
about that moment outside thehospital, and it reminds me of,
of Job, the book of job, youknow, towards the end when he,
and he was asking God why, andas you said, I, I think.
People will ask why that's gonnabe, I think, natural for us.
But God didn't tell him why.
He didn't answer why, and in theend Job realized that that
(10:32):
wasn't really the question thathe should be asking at that
time.
So, no, that's, that's amazing,man.
I, I appreciate you beingwilling to share that because I
think that's, God leads usthrough difficult situations and
that's.
I mean, I can't think of a muchmore difficult situation than
losing a spouse or a child.
(10:53):
And we have the opportunity inthose situations to, to grow and
persevere and, uh, it's notgonna automatically happen, as
you said, even for believers,that could really turn'em.
Into a dark place.
Um, but yeah.
And that, you know, in the endhere, before we, before we wrap
up, we'll give a chance topeople to, to get to know where
(11:15):
they can reach out to you.
'cause maybe, you know, maybeI've got people that are
listening that have faced or,you know, are going through a
dark time like that and, um,yeah, you could be an
encouragement to'em for sure.
So, yeah.
Chad (11:26):
I've come to learn that we don't understand each other's
situations, but.
There's moments of that we canrelate from our own perspective,
and it's that that puts therelate in relationship.
Jason (11:36):
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
So Chad, let's talk about thistransformation that you've gone
through as a leader.
I really love this.
I, I went through a similar, um,transformation.
I, I don't dunno, 15 years ago,I think in my leadership, but I
want to hear about yours even asa believer.
(11:57):
You, this was, it wasn't thatwhen you became a believer, you.
Changed as a leader right away.
Right.
That's something God had to workin you in, in this next many
years to develop these differentmindsets of how you relate to
others.
If I recall from our priordiscussions,
Chad (12:17):
Yeah, so I would say even as a believer, I was a strong
manager.
I was a great builder, but apoor leader,
Jason (12:26):
yeah.
Chad (12:27):
and I can look at when I led, well, my mouth was closed.
And I use that.
I use an example in theconstruction industry.
When I would walk up on the job,the workers would go, here comes
Chad, stop cursing.
I never asked him to stopcursing.
I never said that there wastaboo or there was anything
(12:48):
wrong with cursing around me butmy life, whenever I was
correcting, molding, shaping,managing, or even leading'cause
there was moments of leading.
I didn't use foul language.
And that influenced them in away that transitioned their
life, that transformed theirlife.
And I didn't ask for it.
(13:09):
I just simply lived it so manyother places.
I messed that up with my tone,my volume, my criticism, my
ridicule, all of those thingsthat I had to walk through.
And I realized that it came froma place of brokenness.
It came from a place ofinsecurity.
It came from a place of me notbeing confident in who I was in
Christ.
(13:29):
I, I mentioned to my wife in aconversation just the other day,
we have to disconnect our valueand our worth from what we do,
and we have to reconnect it towhat he did.
Jason (13:41):
Yep.
Yep.
Chad (13:42):
And we will actually accomplish more when we make
that connection with Christ andwho we are.
Hint him than we will everaccomplish when our value and
our worth is a, is associated towhat we can actually pull off of
what we can accomplish.
And that, that was my story.
That was my journey.
And it unfortunately camethrough moments after the
(14:02):
stroke.
I have a moment, 15 years agowhen I said to one of my
pastors, I don't even likepeople.
And in the moment, it was truththat came out.
That was revelation to even meand God was like, well, how can
you lead people if you don'tlike people?
And God began a work in me 15years ago.
(14:24):
Over the course of that years,it was after the stroke, after
my head came up above the water,about a year, a year and a half
after the stroke.
I looked around and I said, Ican see many things that have
been built.
But I see destruction in thelives around me.
And I was like, is that thelegacy you want to leave?
And it was a resounding no, ofcourse.
(14:48):
So what I did in my moment is Isaid, okay, in this moment I am
gonna say I am responsible forall of the destruction.
I see.
Whether I was or I wasn't.
I was willing to take ownershipof everything broken.
It was in that moment that Godbegan to do a mighty work in me
because I came to a place ofvulnerability.
(15:10):
I came to a place of beingwilling to be hurt, willing to
be trampled on, willing to bedisrespected, and none of that
was going to impact my value ormy worth, and that was really my
story.
Jason (15:26):
Yeah, so talk about.
Where God has taken you in yourleadership, and let's get
practical on some things, Chad,and like how did your approach
change and how did, how did thatimpact your ability to influence
others?
Chad (15:43):
Yeah.
So instead of, I'll just startwith my family.
Instead of telling my older, nowolder children and my wife what
they're supposed to do, myconversation started to become,
what do you see in me that Icould do different to help you
become your best you?
And it didn't matter the answer.
(16:04):
I was not gonna have a reactionto it.
Jason (16:07):
Yeah, you weren't gonna defend it.
That'd be the
Chad (16:09):
wasn't gonna defend it.
I wasn't gonna step up in pride.
I wasn't gonna let, I was gonnalet my ego and my pride be
crushed.
And one moment was with myoldest son and said, what was I
missing that I didn't haveenough influence in your life
that you felt I was acontrolling person or the only
authority?
And he said, you lackedemotional intelligence.
Jason (16:31):
He said that, well, how old was he when he, when he,
Chad (16:33):
he was, um.
In his mid twenties
Jason (16:38):
Okay.
That's pretty mature.
Chad (16:40):
and he said that I didn't just do that right away, I, I
created the space for thatquestion to be asked and for him
to be confident enough to answerit.
Now, he had done his own selfwork to be confident enough as
well, but I was willing to takethat answer and I didn't react
to it other than a simple thankyou.
(17:02):
I love you.
And I took that back, and thatbegan a journey in my life.
Recently, my grandson, who isnow 10, influences my life on
how he loves people.
His kindness, his compassion,his, I believe if I saw Jesus as
a kid, it would look just likemy grandson.
(17:25):
That's how compassionate it is.
That's how loving he is.
It doesn't matter what someonesays to him, he first thinks of
that person before he has anyreaction, and that has
influenced how I see people.
Jason (17:42):
Yeah.
Chad (17:42):
So what's practically changed for me is in every
conversation, in every moment,positive or negative, I am
looking for opportunities for meto grow.
Jason (17:52):
Yeah.
Chad (17:52):
putting aside my opinion so God can reveal to me some
truth.
That's what's changed for mepractically.
Jason (18:00):
I think that's, I mean, I love that example that here you
have a 10, I have twogranddaughters, and they're two
and six.
I think I just, they're such ablessing.
But you look at your 10-year-oldgrandson and you're being
influenced by this, this giftthat God has given him.
I mean, he's has this specialdisposition that'll probably,
you know, if.
Lord willing, he will be able touse it for God's glory.
(18:21):
But I, yeah, that's great.
I mean, you look around atpeople that we can learn from
and if you, if you, what I hearyou saying is if we're humble
enough and you know, set our ownpride away and look around and
see what we can learn fromothers, there are
characteristics and others thatwe can see that they are.
(18:42):
Um, more strong in, more godlyin, if you know believers that
we know, but even, even someunbelievers, right?
We learn from those that, um,just do things very well and
are, uh, allow ourselves to beinfluenced by them.
That, that vulnerability piecethat you talk about, I can
remember the first time thatever really, um, I understood
(19:07):
it.
I think at least mentally, Icertainly.
Didn't change overnight.
I was reading a book by PatrickLencioni, uh, who I love.
He's a great author.
I know this book was the FiveTemptations of a CEO, and it
just talks about one of thetemptations is, and I'm
paraphrase, but not beingwilling to be vulnerable and let
(19:29):
our guard down and allow trustto start being built with other
people.
And at the time I had a mentorwho I was working with who was.
Happened to be also talking tome about that.
It was obviously God at work inmultiple ways, you know, trying
to teach me,'cause I'm prettythickheaded so I think you and I
probably gone through some ofthe same things that God's gotta
(19:49):
hit us kind of hard over thehead to get through that.
So, so now you, so you wrote abook.
I wanna talk a little bit aboutyour book and your passion and
how you're trying to work tohelp other.
People, leaders, and, um,families with this kind of
(20:10):
change in mindset.
So let's talk a little bit aboutyour book and that the concept
there.
Chad (20:16):
Yeah, so the book we put out in 2024 is Blend Don't
Break, creating Your Family'sSecret Sauce.
Co-authored with my wife and ourfour children actually have an
interview chapter in the book.
Each of them do telling theirversion of our home as a blended
family, what we set out to writeto help blended families, and we
(20:39):
know it will help blendedfamilies.
God chose to write to help allfamilies.
All marriages.
All pre marriages.
In his infinite wisdom, he putout a book that will help anyone
in any relationship dynamic thatthere is, and I would encourage
everyone to read it.
(20:59):
Yes, I'm partial and I'm biasedto a book that I wrote, but the
Holy Spirit wrote this bookthrough us.
I've read this book five times,and all five times it's changed
my life again and again.
Um, it's amazing what he put pento paper and, and it comes from
a place of us, us getting mostof this wrong and God showing us
(21:21):
in the process of writing thisbook, just from being in a place
of a humbled heart, being in aplace of vulnerability, being in
a place of openness for him towork, he showed us things, the
reverse script of what we coulddo and what we love about
creating your family.
Secret sauces.
(21:41):
To, to make a great sauce, youhave to first understand the
ingredients.
You have to understandeverything that's going into it.
You have to understand what it'smade of, it's makeup and how it,
how you can get that to blendwithout breaking.
Well, a family is equallyunique.
A business is unique that way,and churches are unique that
way.
(22:01):
We actually are going to turnthis into a series.
And where?
We'll, right blend.
Don't break.
Creating your business's secretsauce blend.
Don't break creating yourchurch's secret sauce.
'cause all of these people cometogether.
And what it is, is thisuniqueness of individual.
Your primary ingredients arepeople.
And when you try to addeverything else into it without
(22:22):
first understanding people andeach individual person, it will
break.
Jason (22:28):
Yeah.
Chad (22:29):
And that whole thing came full circle.
That was not the subtitle.
When we set out to write thisbook, God just put that all
together, and he tied it intothe food journey and the food
adventures that we've been on,the culinary arts knowledge and
stuff that he brought to me.
He brought that into their fullcircle, which was totally
(22:49):
unexpected, and that landed inthe, in the final chapter, the
closing, which created thesubtitle.
Jason (22:57):
Yeah.
Chad (22:58):
And that book, that authorship of that book and the
reading of the book five timesover the last two years is
really what brought me to thisplace of what I teach, why I
teach it, and why I live it.
And God told me, in order toteach it, you have to first
embody it.
Jason (23:16):
Yeah.
Well, I lo I love what you saidabout what, that you've read it
five times and learned from it.
That's, yeah, that's super cool.
But the fact that, you know, youadmit that.
Like, we did a lot of thingswrong, and this is how we got to
where we are by learning, youknow, and allowing God to work
in our lives and, and, uh.
know, especially in a blendedfamily, I grew up in a blended
(23:38):
family and it's tough.
I mean, I love my siblings, um,that I grew up with absolutely
dearly love them.
And, uh, but it was tough as anadolescent, you know, it's kind
of middle school age when wecame together and, um, that's
tough, but it's all, it's allabout relationships, right?
So, like you said, the thoughtaround writing.
(24:01):
This book in a series, um, basedon business, business culture
and relationships and church andchurch unity.
I mean, that's Christ prayed forthe unity of the body.
One of his last prayer.
It's, and it's, it's so, it's soimportant and it's so easily
upended through pride andthrough being easily offended
(24:26):
over silly, minor little things.
And it's, but it's just amazesme over and over again how
quickly it can happen and howeasy, you know, Satan can allow
that destruction to come into arelationship, into the church,
into a family, uh, into abusiness that we just, it's
pride.
It's, you know, lack ofvulnerability.
It's, um, you know, just beingeasily offended, which really is
(24:49):
a pride issue.
So that's good.
We'll set up, we'll put a link,uh, in the show notes for people
to check that out.
Hey, what, uh, Chad, what areyour spiritual disciplines?
I get a little personal here,and like, what do you do to stay
close to the Lord on a daily,weekly basis?
Like, what's your, what's yourroutine there?
Chad (25:06):
So you'll con, you'll continue to hear me say over
this two year journey, and it'simportant I go back to November
of 2023.
God put us in a city.
We're in Baton Rouge, Louisiananow, and God put us here.
And in the moment of landinghere, leading up to November,
many times I would tell God,okay, I'm, I'm accepting being
(25:27):
here, but in six months I'll bethere.
In a year.
I'll be there.
In three months I'll be there.
And God's like, would you let goof where you're gonna grow and
plant where I have you.
And in November I surrenderedthat moment, and I call it my
road to Damascus.
(25:47):
'cause while I was saved, Ilived a life that I was always
reliant on myself.
I heard from God, I knew Godgifted me.
I knew God gave me talents, butI would say, thank you, Lord.
I got it from here.
I wouldn't say those words, butthat was my actions.
Jason (26:04):
Yeah.
Chad (26:05):
And on that day, November of 2023.
On what I call my road toDamascus.
God shone a light on me andsaid, I am now going to be in
charge of your life and you aregonna let me, and I surrendered
my life to him in that moment.
I had been saved 25 years prior.
I surrendered my life to him inthat moment, and I gave up my
(26:29):
agenda.
I gave up my desires, my wants,my self-reliance, all of that I
gave to him.
Six months after that, I learneda discipline that I could walk
with the Lord.
I had been taught prayer closet.
I had been taught prayer time,read the Bible in a year, spend
(26:52):
this much time in worship, spendthis much time in prayer, this
much time in the Word, and I gotcaught up in the religion of
Christianity, and I tried tofulfill those religious.
Things and I failed.
My walk with the Lord was veryweak on a daily basis because it
never fit what I wanted to do.
(27:14):
Would it never fit?
Not what I wanted to do'causethat's what I just gave up.
But what worked for me and Idiscovered at a prayer night at
church one night, I got up and Iwent walk and I, my prayer voice
just blew up.
I was saying prayers in ways Ihad never said'em before.
I had felt his presence in waysI'd never felt it before.
(27:36):
And he spoke to me.
He said, Chad, if walkin worksfor you, walk with me every
Jason (27:42):
Yeah.
Chad (27:43):
So that's what I do.
I walk with the Lord every dayfor an hour to two hours every
day.
I don't put a clock on it.
I put.
In, in his presence on it.
And I do worship and I, and Ilisten to the word and I pray
and I take notes and I talk tomy phone to take notes, and I go
(28:03):
back and I study them later.
So every week I review what theLord had given me throughout the
week.
I turn those into articles andblogs and things like that every
day.
And then of course, we we'realways at church every week.
We're at prayer every Wednesday.
But my transition and mytransformation in life really
(28:25):
started to explode when I beganto walk with the Lord on a
consistent basis, and I movedfrom religion to relationship.
Jason (28:35):
Uh, it's interesting.
I have a friend who is actuallyon the podcast a couple years
ago.
He's a runner and he says that'swhere he does most of his
praying.
When he is running.
He runs every day, like milesevery day.
And, uh, so yeah, I thinkthat's, I'd never heard of that,
but if that's where you'regrowing, close to the Lord and
(28:56):
that's where you're in communewith him.
That's great.
Chad (29:00):
Yeah, my mind is fixed on the Lord.
Jason (29:04):
Yeah,
Chad (29:05):
Finally in my Christian walk.
That's, that's the difference.
When I go to bed at night, I'mthinking of Jesus.
When I wake up in the morning,I'm thinking of Christ when I.
When I'm going throughout theday, it's, what do you say,
Christ?
What do you think?
Christ and I have reached thisplace that even in moments of
what would be 9 1 1, am I in aplace where my instinct will say
(29:29):
God before I dial the phone?
Jason (29:33):
Yeah.
Chad (29:34):
And when you're living there, you're, you're living in
relationship with him where heis your primary source and
relationship, and that is whatan investment made.
And God will meet us wherever itworks for us.
So if you can.
You clearly can't drive andclose your eyes without running
into something, and that be yourtime.
I hear people say, my time's inthe car, and all of that, and
(29:56):
maybe that works for you.
God can be with us any place weare.
I don't close my eyes when wewalk, but every for, you know,
every few minutes for a secondI'll do because I feel led by
the Lord to close my eyes, soI'm at risk to run into
something even while I'm walkingor step in a hole, but it works
for me and sitting in a prayercloset.
(30:17):
Flipping through the pages ofthe word wasn't working for me.
I tried it year after year and Ifailed.
And God wants to meet us in aplace where, where it works for
us.
It's not saying, Hey God, thisis my way.
Come join me.
I'm not, it's our wiring, it'sour uniqueness, it's our design.
(30:40):
He put Adam and Eve in a gardenand he walked with them in the
garden.
He didn't say, come over to thiscorner of the garden and I'll
meet you there and spend an hourthere.
And what it did was thistransition in my life has now
caused me to be mentally andemotionally in his presence all
throughout the day.
Jason (31:01):
Yeah, that's good.
I, I'll tell you, you know, fora long time I tried to spend
time in the word and prayer atnight, and it was never
effective.
I'm just, that's not my time, aday to do that.
And over years I've realized forme it's morning, early morning.
you know, an hour in the morningwhen it's still quiet and
nobody's up and it's dark.
(31:22):
And, uh, I put on some, youknow, some, uh, instrumental
worship music and my headphones,and that's just me and the Lord.
And that's been s it's, itrelate to what you're saying
because it finally was like,this is different.
You know, it was finallydifferent and it wasn't just, it
wasn't just.
Checking a box, you know, I, Idid this, I got this done.
(31:44):
It's really meaningful and deepand, uh, it's beautiful.
So, no, I appreciate you sharingthat.
That's, uh, that is cool to hearthat how God's working in your
life.
On that, Chad, I wanna talk alittle bit again about
leadership.
What if, what would you say islike your core leadership
principle, um, that you go backto all the time?
Like what's the main thing foryou when it comes to leadership?
Chad (32:07):
Compassionate leadership is broad, but that's really what
it's about.
It's from the model of Jesus,but for me it's real.
Success is inward peace, notoutward performance or position.
That would be the core of what,of what resonates with me that I
led a career and a path and ajourney control every voice in
(32:30):
my life, every action in mylife.
I treated my family like anotherproject and another job.
I treated the drive home to andfrom work.
Like it was an assignment that Ihad to check off at the end of
the day and accomplished a lotof things in my businesses.
But failed in the people areaand my people.
I call it a people Compass wasbroken.
(32:52):
My people Compass was way off.
It had crack screens andmisplaced dials It, it was
terrible, but really inwardpeace is the true measure of
success, and it has nothing todo with out outward performance
or position.
Jason (33:07):
Yeah, it's, it is putting the relationships and the people
before the task, right?
Because you're a, you're a taskdriven guy.
I can sense that already.
I am too.
And it's easy for me at least toget focused on the task no
matter what the, uh,relationship is.
And yeah, and God has grown me alot in that.
It's like, slow down.
(33:27):
That can't be your number onepriority all the time.
You have.
It's how you do things mattersgreatly.
As a believer, as a, as aleader, as a child of Christ,
just how we do things, not justwhat we do, but how we do those
things is matters greatly.
When you talk a little bit aboutthis, but when I hit on this
(33:48):
again, when you were a youngerleader, um, what was it that you
struggled the most with as youlook back?
Like what, what were the thingsthat you really struggled with?
Chad (33:59):
Given space for people to be heard.
Jason (34:02):
Hmm.
Chad (34:03):
And you know, a lot of, a lot of leaders I believe,
struggle with this, thateverything, I used to have this
mindset.
If you tell me before it's areason and I can help you with
reasons, but if you tell meafter the fact it's an excuse
and I don't want to hear any ofthose, and it's putting an
expectation and an assumption onpeople that they are in a way
(34:25):
wired the way that I'm wired, ina way, think the way that I
think.
Putting an expectation thatthey're gonna do a job the way
that I expected them to do itwhen I didn't give them
opportunity to learn the job theway they would do it.
And it, that was probably mybiggest thing, is I would
(34:45):
silence people the minute itlooked like excuses to me.
And while there may have been amoment to say.
Let's get back to that rightnow.
Let's do this because there's aconcrete truck just 30 minutes
away.
I never went back to thoseconversations to say, okay, let
me help you unpack that.
Jason (35:07):
Yeah.
Chad (35:08):
I didn't care.
Jason (35:09):
yeah.
Yep.
Yep.
Yep.
No, I understand that.
Yeah.
It was like, I, yeah, I've beentold before that, you know,
there was times in my careerwhen I would, I would get, I
would get it done, but I'd leavea trail of dead bodies in my
wake.
You know, we'd get it done.
But you, and I'm not proud ofthat.
And God, God took me through atime when he broke me of that,
and it was pretty painful.
(35:29):
But I'm glad that he did.
Hey, uh, I always like to askpeople that I have on, who do
you follow, read podcast, listento, to help you stay sharp as a
leader?
Like what are some books orthings that you listen or, uh,
read or listen to, uh, to helpyou?
Yeah, just stay on top of yourgame as a leader.
(35:50):
Who do you like?
Chad (35:51):
Yeah, one of my most important is John Maxwell.
I was in the first room when helaunched the John Maxwell team,
so I'm a certified speaker withthe John Maxwell team.
I can teach six of his books.
Um, that's always been aninspiration to me.
It's, it's the honesty about hislife that's been inspired to me.
(36:12):
There was a season in which Ijust wanted to be like John
Maxwell, and I had to come intomy own and realize that I had a
different message, I had adifferent purpose, I had a
different, God was gonna use mein a different way.
He remains that person that Ilook to.
We have a lot of the samethinking, but we come at it from
a couple different ways.
But Patrick Lit, you mentioned,uh, Renee Brown, Craig,
(36:36):
Rochelle, those people is who Ifollow, who I track with.
John Gordon is another one.
I love his positive message thathe talks about, the message
about positivity, and there'sjust so many, but those are
probably my primary ones that I,that I follow and keep connected
with.
Jason (36:54):
John Maxwell was transformational for me when I
first became interested in.
Learning to be a leader, youknow, learning to lead well.
21 year Refutable Laws ofLeadership.
I remember reading it
Chad (37:06):
Yes.
Jason (37:07):
and that would've been in like the late nineties I think,
when I first read that.
So yeah, he's actually, I wasjust yesterday at a meeting.
Um.
With a nonprofit I was, that I'mon the board of, and we were
having kind of a, an offsite forthe day and somebody shared a
devotional that was from a JohnMaxwell book.
(37:28):
So yeah, he's prolific.
God's used him a lot and broadlyfor many, many decades.
If you had a young leader whocame to you, and maybe you've
had this before with children orsomebody that you know, that ask
you for advice because theyfirst, they got their first
chance, um, in a formalleadership role, uh, in their
(37:51):
profession or even in a ministrysetting, what advice would you
give'em?
Chad (37:56):
The main thing that I teach young leaders, and even
leaders that I believe havetried to control too much in
their space what's actually inour book, which is why we
believe it's, it's part of abusiness program that we, that
we, that I'm going to teach andit's, it's the greenhouse.
That you are responsible tocreate an environment where
(38:20):
people can be nourished andpeople can be grown.
You're not responsible tocontrol their growth and you're
not responsible to stunt theirgrowth or for the fully
development.
If you create the rightenvironment, you will create the
right opportunity for growth.
Jason (38:40):
Yeah, I like that greenhouse effect.
I love doing that too as aleader.
Seeing people on my team grow.
We've got, yeah, I work inmanufacturing and we've got, you
know, we've got apprentices now.
We have other people who havenew into team leadership roles
or supervisor roles and justsupporting them.
Right.
You know, watch'em struggle andhonestly, I don't want to say
(39:02):
fail, but fail a little bit,have rough days, you know, and
just making sure as a leaderthough, that we're there to
support them and encourage themand give them guidance.
Yeah.
That's, that's exciting.
I mean, for me, that's been themost rewarding thing.
And that's, that's an area thatI've grown in.
Like you talked about, you know,more than the accomplishments,
(39:23):
the metrics, the objectives,those are all, uh, good and fun
to hit.
But when you see people developand you had a chance to be a
part of that, God's used you intheir lives.
Um, that's.
That's stuff that you think youjust, you, you remember.
And I think they remember fordecades there's people that I've
had a, had had the opportunityto help them grow 15, 20 years
(39:48):
ago.
You know, and we still have aconnection, you know, and a
friendship.
And same for people who gave mea shot, you know, all those
years ago, you know, who gave mea shot and Dev helped develop me
and saw something in me thatothers didn't, or even I didn't.
Um, that's, yeah, that's a lotmore.
Impactful.
It's a lot more long lasting,and I think as leaders,
(40:10):
especially believers, we'recalled to, to strive to have
that kind of influence on, uh,on others.
So Chad, let's talk a little bitabout like, what are you doing
right now?
What to, for your newestentrepreneurial focus and, you
know, what do you, what, whatthing has God called you to do
(40:30):
right now?
What's that area?
Chad (40:32):
Yeah, so three businesses right now, construction Ops,
software Co, which is a.
A tech company focused onconstruction software to help
that industry be more userfriendly and more robust.
On the Back End Pathways group,which is where my Che and Brina
brand, my wife's brand is wherewe teach leadership, we write,
(40:55):
we author books, and thenPathways to Triumph, a Stroke
Recovery Foundation, which isour nonprofit to help people
after that 30 to 45 day markwhen the.
Hospital care ends youtransition, home recovery really
begins, and you're left with twodays of outpatient therapy and
trying to navigate this life onyour own at home.
(41:17):
That's the other thing.
Chet and Brina, I am in acoaching program right now to.
Develop and improve my publicspeaking.
So I am looking for 20 to 25stages in 2026, and I am working
on some course content on thosetopics that we talked about.
(41:41):
Perseverance, um, identity andvulnerability blend.
Don't break theory.
The brand don't breakphilosophy.
I didn't drill down the nameyet, but I'm working on some
things where it talks to alldynamics of life.
And then I got another talkingtopic called eggshells, um,
which is what my family walkedon, including myself.
(42:04):
And how do we create anenvironment where there are no
longer any eggshells and, and inthat we use, I do use a tree
analogy a lot.
And plotted potted plants in thegreenhouse and roots being
severed when you go from oneposition to a next.
So that is really my passionright now, is how can I get more
(42:26):
public facing conversations,more public facing disciplines
out there from what I havewalked through through my
speaking engagements.
And I just finished the roughdraft of my second book called
The Visionary Storm.
Which is talking about the mindof the visionary and how chaotic
(42:46):
they are in the rooms when theyjust blast ideas everywhere and
people have to navigate thisjourney with them, and we help
teams on how to navigate it.
We help the visionary gainawareness and we introduce what
we call a strategist.
That is really the funnel toharness the visionary mind and
make it deliver the mostpowerful results that it can.
(43:08):
In 2026, I'll be writing a bookcalled Let's Get Naked.
Patrick Lencioni wrote a bookthat has the word naked in it as
well.
I'll actually be reading thatbook before I author mine to see
if there's any insights that Ican pull in.
But mine really comes from mylife journey, and it's called
Living a Life of Vulnerability,openness, and Unshakeable
(43:28):
Confidence.
Jason (43:30):
Yeah, that's good man.
You got a lot going on.
I love it.
I
Chad (43:34):
Yes, and it's fun.
Jason (43:37):
That's good.
You know it's funny'cause youtalked about being an
entrepreneur since you were 15and I think.
There's a streak ofentrepreneurism.
So I don't know if that's aword, but in my family, my
grandfather was one, my dad iskind of skipped me, and now my
oldest son is one.
And I remember my oldest son,man, he was doing lemonade stand
when he was like, I don't know,eight, nine years old.
(43:58):
I was like, this kid's, it'swhat he, it's what he wanted to
do, you know?
It was always a, a dream for himthat God planted in his heart.
So now that's, that's, that'samazing.
Uh, a couple last questionsbefore we wrap up.
What do you hope will be yourlegacy, Chad, when God calls
you, you know, into aretirement, if I know
retirement, but you know awayfrom a full-time professional
(44:20):
career, even as he calls youhome, what do you hope will be
your legacy?
Chad (44:24):
Yeah, I'm, so, I'm gonna step back just a minute'cause
the, the entrepreneurial spirit.
I have now realized that I can'toperate outside of my purpose
and my defer.
My purpose is divine, and mypurpose is to help people to
become more self-aware.
Emotional intelligence andwalking, compassionate
leadership help people to makesmall internal shifts that
(44:46):
leaves a lasting outward result.
That is my purpose.
So in every venture I have torealize my lane is right there,
Jason (44:55):
Yeah.
No matter what, whether it's,yep.
Chad (44:57):
That is different from my past entrepreneurial journeys
that I have to recognize thatthat is my lane.
That is my contribution toeverything that we embark on.
And that brings me to what mylegacy would be is I lived my
first 50 years for somethingthat gave me purpose, and I will
(45:19):
live the rest of my life in mypurpose.
There is a big difference.
So if I leave a legacy, thebiggest legacy that I could
leave is that my life impactedmy family, my friends, and my
network to find their truepurpose.
Jason (45:38):
Yeah, that's, no, that's great.
I think, um.
That's, it reminds me of, youknow, developing your own like
mission statement.
Like what has God called you todo in understanding that and
staying focused on it.
Even across, you just namedthree different businesses that
are pretty different.
Software consulting, you know,these are really different
(45:58):
businesses, but all along thereyou have that, that focus
mission that you wanna, that youwanna stay on, on task with.
So I really respect that.
Uh, what are some ways thatpeople, what's the best way for
people to get ahold of you, man?
Chad (46:12):
The best way to reach me is through my website, Chad m
brina.com.
Jason (46:17):
all right.
Yeah, we'll have a link to thatas well as your book.
And, uh, you said you're lookingfor some speaking engagements
for 2026, so you'd be sure toreach out to Chad, um, if you
wanna put him in front of agroup to talk about.
Leading, uh, in a way that'swith vulnerability and love and
(46:39):
compassion for others.
I think that's come out veryclearly.
And I would say that you'reprobably not the only leader,
uh, that we're engaging withtoday who has gone through that,
you know, that gone from taskoriented, you know, people, uh,
are a means to an end to.
(47:00):
Focused on the, you know, thepeople in the relationship are,
are the means, you know, thatthose relationships that we have
so well, brother, I appreciateyou being on today.
Um, love your story.
Love to hear how God has usedsome difficult situations
through your life to grow youand to glorify himself and, uh,
(47:20):
the relationship that you havenow with he, him, and your
family.
Yeah, that's great.
I love, I love hearing thesethings.
It's, it's so good to see whatGod is doing in another, uh,
person's life and a family clearacross the country, way down
south in New Orleans.
So thank you for being on today,man.
Appreciate it.
Chad (47:38):
Thank you for having me.
It's great.
When I started writing the book,God said, I'm gonna make you a
vulnerable author and.
I fought with him a little bitabout that, and now we're at a
place where he's just made mylife completely vulnerable.
So I love sharing.
I love being a part of it.
It's not about me.
I hope that our conversationtoday challenges people to look
(47:59):
within themselves and find theopportunity for God to show them
something that needs to betransformed according to his.
Jason (48:06):
Yeah.
No, I, I do too.
That's the goal here is, uh, forpeople to grow, uh, in as
leaders, but grow closer to theLord and grow in sanctification.
So thank you, uh, for being on,and, uh, thank you to the, my
listeners, appreciate you tuningin again.
Uh, be sure to join us nextmonth as we meet another
faith-driven leader who'spursuing excellence and
(48:27):
influence for God's glory.
Uh, in the meantime, keepleading with courage and
compassion because impact alwaysbegins with insight.
I.
Welcome to the Biblical Leadership at Work podcast.
I'm your host, Jason Woodard.
On this month's show, you'llmeet Chad Brina, an
entrepreneur, author, and atransformationist who's
redefining what it means to leadwith purpose.
With over 30 years of experienceacross industries like
construction tech and culinaryarts, Chad's Ventures include
(00:24):
pathways group, food and flavor,and construction ops software.
But his deepest impact comesthrough something less tangible.
His commitment toself-awareness, emotional
intelligence, and compassionateleadership.
Chad's story is one oftransformation, moving from
pragmatism to empathy, fromauthority to influence.
(00:47):
And today you'll hear how he'shelping leaders create thriving
workplaces, healthy families,and lives of true fulfillment.
And this is one that you won'twanna miss.
So brother Chad.
Thanks for being on the show,man.
I can't wait to, uh, talk to youand have our audience get to
know you better.
Chad (01:05):
Thank you for having me.
I'm looking forward to it.
Jason (01:07):
Yeah.
So let's go back, go throughkind of a resume background.
How has the Lord taken you, kindof from your education on,
through where you're at?
I know you and I have talked alittle bit before and it's a
fascinating story.
You've done a lot of differentthings.
So let's, uh, give a briefoverview of, of that.
Chad (01:27):
Yeah, I'll try to make it as quick as possible.
Entrepreneurship started at theage 15 in my parents' driveway
when I was tinting windows.
Art that I taught myself beforeit was available to learn how to
do it on YouTube, and that justled me to always want to start
new businesses, do new things.
By the age of 19, I had my ownconstruction company building
(01:50):
residential homes.
So fast forward through the lastthree decades, most of that was
spent in the constructionindustry, bridges, hotels,
hospitals.
In all different levels ofleadership, VP COO,
superintendent, seniorsuperintendent, general Manager.
And the culinary side was morean inspirational piece of, to
(02:13):
learn cooking techniques, tolearn ways to maintain sauces
and keep things together, whichironically became the subtitle
to our book, creating YourFamily's Secret Sauce as it
related to learning how to makedifferent liquids, men together
with the perfect balance,temperature, and timing.
So that's always fascinating howGod wove everything into this
(02:35):
perfect.
Piece of art that I totallymessed up for a lot of years.
At the beginning, I was notsaved.
I gave my life to the Lord in1998, was still an entrepreneur.
I had nine, nine businesses overthat 30 year span.
Plus in and out of differentleadership roles in construction
(02:56):
and just trying to find my wayinto something that really gave
me purpose.
It was never my defined purposeuntil I came to a place of
healing and restoration, whichhas been a journey over the last
two years, and that processbegan as, as part of writing the
book Blend Don't Break.
Jason (03:15):
So your, your foundation of your career, Chad was
construction, right?
Sounds like you spent a lot ofyears doing that, but then you
got into culinary arts.
Was that.
A passion, a hobby, that kind ofturned into a business as well.
Chad (03:28):
Yeah, it gave me great inspiration.
To vision different things, justplaying with culinary arts.
And it came from a, being apicky eater and.
Being inspired in my palette,igniting on what was a food tour
for us, and I just becamecurious.
So I spent time in the culinaryarts.
I would did some catering,different things like that.
(03:50):
Never did launch it into a fullfledged restaurant, but I, I
have envisioned a restaurantgroup coming forth still on the
back end of all of this.
Right now my focus is on thistransformation and personal
development, something that Ispeak into every business that
I'm a part of now.
The Lord had built teams aroundme to take these other ventures
(04:13):
and give them fuel from mypassion and my vision of what it
can be.
But I have to walk and live inmy divine purpose, which I've
discovered at the age of 50, andmost people don't discover that
their entire life.
And it would be wonderful ifpeople would start to discover
it early in life because it putsyou on a platform to speak
(04:35):
boldly for Christ when you arein your purpose.
Jason (04:39):
yeah.
Once you know that you're doingwhat God has called you and
wired you to do, um, it givesyou a different level of
confidence and peace.
Hey, tell us a little bit aboutyour family, Chad.
Like where, where are you fromand children, marriage, what's
that look like?
Chad (04:55):
Yeah, so I'm from a little town called Narco in South
Louisiana.
It's named after.
New Orleans refinery company.
So there's a large shell plantin that town.
Um, and I grew up there my wholelife.
My wife is from Metrie.
My first wife was also fromNarco.
She passed away at the age of30.
(05:16):
I was 28 years old.
We had two young kids, one infour when she passed, and I got
remarried roughly a year and ahalf later.
And I married my wife now whohad two older kids.
When we met, they were 10 and15.
So we're a blended family, whichis the reason and the story
behind Blend.
Don't Break, creating YourFamily Secret Sausage.
(05:38):
Written from the heart of ourblended family, we transitioned
to a town called Mandeville,which.
Where we're from, it's calledacross the lake.
We cross over Lake Poncho train.
So you live on the North Shorenow instead of the South shore.
So all those things, Godtransitioned us to Oklahoma for
eight and a half years in 2019after my wife had recovered her
(06:01):
mom from some medical stuff and,and some mild strokes.
We transitioned her back homefor Thanksgiving that year and
four days later, my wife had amassive stroke.
Jason (06:13):
Hmm, your current wife?
Chad (06:15):
Correct.
Jason (06:16):
Yeah.
Chad (06:16):
We, um, she's five and a half years past now a warrior.
Stroke warrior.
She survived.
She is doing well.
She has left side ailments.
Um, I used the word pass and Iwant to clarify.
She didn't pass away.
We're five years beyond it andshe is doing well.
She has a tremendous heart.
Her heart actually led us to ournonprofit foundation, which.
(06:39):
Pathways to triumph, a strokerecovery foundation that we
started this year, and it's tohelp people through the recovery
journey.
So there's a lot of things goingon in our life, but my purpose
is really helping people to findself-awareness, grow an
emotional intelligence, not froma place of just knowing how to
manage your emotions, but toactually have a true
(07:02):
transformation that allows youto respond with the right
emotions and, and operate andwalk in compassionate
leadership.
Jason (07:09):
And I wanted to, I definitely want to talk more
about that whole idea of movingfrom authority to influence.
'cause I know you have quite ajourney in your leadership that
God has led you through.
But I wanna ask a little bitabout, you've been through, you
lost a wife when you were inyour late twenties, and then
your current wife had a stroke.
I mean, how did God use those?
(07:30):
Super difficult situations, uh,to just strengthen you
spiritually, like were you, wereyou a believer when your first
wife passed away yet?
Chad (07:39):
Yes, I had been, uh, I had given my life to Christ roughly
two years prior, and she gaveher life to Christ right about a
year prior to her passing.
I write a, um, a workshop thatI'm working on called
Perseverance, and it's about howscripture says.
By the testing of your faith,you have an opportunity to grow
(08:01):
in perseverance.
If you look at what it says alot of people say, by the
testing of your faith, you willgrow in perseverance.
No, you will not automaticallygrow.
Your response determines thatgrowth
Jason (08:12):
you have an opportunity.
Chad (08:13):
and how you respond.
You will grow.
That's God's heart.
That's his intent.
That's what he wants for us.
But we have to take the choiceto respond properly.
Jason (08:23):
Yeah.
Chad (08:24):
And a ano a moment is fresh in my mind.
It's standing outside thehospital just minutes after they
pronou, they pronounce my wife,my dad came outside to love on
me and he said, Chad, I don'tknow how you do it.
And I said, dad, you know what?
I'll never ask God Y.
That didn't come from me.
That came from a place of hisinner work in me.
(08:45):
That was the one thing that Iwould say that I got right in my
Christian walk for probably 15to 18 years'cause I messed so
many other things up.
Jason (08:54):
Yeah.
Chad (08:55):
And it's not that asking God why is a problem that the
issue is if you get stuck on thewhy, you will be stuck in that
moment.
If you get stuck on Godanswering for me what I want to
know, you'll get stuck in Godtrying to answer what it is that
you want to know that you willnever fully comprehend anyway.
(09:16):
So my approach in that momentwas, okay, God, what next?
Not why.
What next?
Jason (09:22):
Yeah.
Chad (09:23):
And if you have a moment of why I would encourage anyone
to take that why and turn itinto what next.
'cause God can spend a lot oftime trying to heal us, trying
to understand why, or we canshorten that time in focusing on
what he has for us next.
And that moment in my lifedeveloped a certain level of
perseverance that I was able toaccept my second wife having a
(09:48):
stroke.
Recognizing that God is fully incharge, God is fully in command,
and my faith has been built toso high relative to a health
issue that I was grateful that Ididn't lose my second wife.
I was grateful for what we had,and that opportunity brought us
closer together in our marriagethan we had ever been.
Jason (10:10):
Yeah, I think Chad, when you're, when you're talking
about that moment outside thehospital, and it reminds me of,
of Job, the book of job, youknow, towards the end when he,
and he was asking God why, andas you said, I, I think.
People will ask why that's gonnabe, I think, natural for us.
But God didn't tell him why.
He didn't answer why, and in theend Job realized that that
(10:32):
wasn't really the question thathe should be asking at that
time.
So, no, that's, that's amazing,man.
I, I appreciate you beingwilling to share that because I
think that's, God leads usthrough difficult situations and
that's.
I mean, I can't think of a muchmore difficult situation than
losing a spouse or a child.
(10:53):
And we have the opportunity inthose situations to, to grow and
persevere and, uh, it's notgonna automatically happen, as
you said, even for believers,that could really turn'em.
Into a dark place.
Um, but yeah.
And that, you know, in the endhere, before we, before we wrap
up, we'll give a chance topeople to, to get to know where
(11:15):
they can reach out to you.
'cause maybe, you know, maybeI've got people that are
listening that have faced or,you know, are going through a
dark time like that and, um,yeah, you could be an
encouragement to'em for sure.
So, yeah.
Chad (11:26):
I've come to learn that we don't understand each other's
situations, but.
There's moments of that we canrelate from our own perspective,
and it's that that puts therelate in relationship.
Jason (11:36):
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
So Chad, let's talk about thistransformation that you've gone
through as a leader.
I really love this.
I, I went through a similar, um,transformation.
I, I don't dunno, 15 years ago,I think in my leadership, but I
want to hear about yours even asa believer.
(11:57):
You, this was, it wasn't thatwhen you became a believer, you.
Changed as a leader right away.
Right.
That's something God had to workin you in, in this next many
years to develop these differentmindsets of how you relate to
others.
If I recall from our priordiscussions,
Chad (12:17):
Yeah, so I would say even as a believer, I was a strong
manager.
I was a great builder, but apoor leader,
Jason (12:26):
yeah.
Chad (12:27):
and I can look at when I led, well, my mouth was closed.
And I use that.
I use an example in theconstruction industry.
When I would walk up on the job,the workers would go, here comes
Chad, stop cursing.
I never asked him to stopcursing.
I never said that there wastaboo or there was anything
(12:48):
wrong with cursing around me butmy life, whenever I was
correcting, molding, shaping,managing, or even leading'cause
there was moments of leading.
I didn't use foul language.
And that influenced them in away that transitioned their
life, that transformed theirlife.
And I didn't ask for it.
(13:09):
I just simply lived it so manyother places.
I messed that up with my tone,my volume, my criticism, my
ridicule, all of those thingsthat I had to walk through.
And I realized that it came froma place of brokenness.
It came from a place ofinsecurity.
It came from a place of me notbeing confident in who I was in
Christ.
(13:29):
I, I mentioned to my wife in aconversation just the other day,
we have to disconnect our valueand our worth from what we do,
and we have to reconnect it towhat he did.
Jason (13:41):
Yep.
Yep.
Chad (13:42):
And we will actually accomplish more when we make
that connection with Christ andwho we are.
Hint him than we will everaccomplish when our value and
our worth is a, is associated towhat we can actually pull off of
what we can accomplish.
And that, that was my story.
That was my journey.
And it unfortunately camethrough moments after the
(14:02):
stroke.
I have a moment, 15 years agowhen I said to one of my
pastors, I don't even likepeople.
And in the moment, it was truththat came out.
That was revelation to even meand God was like, well, how can
you lead people if you don'tlike people?
And God began a work in me 15years ago.
(14:24):
Over the course of that years,it was after the stroke, after
my head came up above the water,about a year, a year and a half
after the stroke.
I looked around and I said, Ican see many things that have
been built.
But I see destruction in thelives around me.
And I was like, is that thelegacy you want to leave?
And it was a resounding no, ofcourse.
(14:48):
So what I did in my moment is Isaid, okay, in this moment I am
gonna say I am responsible forall of the destruction.
I see.
Whether I was or I wasn't.
I was willing to take ownershipof everything broken.
It was in that moment that Godbegan to do a mighty work in me
because I came to a place ofvulnerability.
(15:10):
I came to a place of beingwilling to be hurt, willing to
be trampled on, willing to bedisrespected, and none of that
was going to impact my value ormy worth, and that was really my
story.
Jason (15:26):
Yeah, so talk about.
Where God has taken you in yourleadership, and let's get
practical on some things, Chad,and like how did your approach
change and how did, how did thatimpact your ability to influence
others?
Chad (15:43):
Yeah.
So instead of, I'll just startwith my family.
Instead of telling my older, nowolder children and my wife what
they're supposed to do, myconversation started to become,
what do you see in me that Icould do different to help you
become your best you?
And it didn't matter the answer.
(16:04):
I was not gonna have a reactionto it.
Jason (16:07):
Yeah, you weren't gonna defend it.
That'd be the
Chad (16:09):
wasn't gonna defend it.
I wasn't gonna step up in pride.
I wasn't gonna let, I was gonnalet my ego and my pride be
crushed.
And one moment was with myoldest son and said, what was I
missing that I didn't haveenough influence in your life
that you felt I was acontrolling person or the only
authority?
And he said, you lackedemotional intelligence.
Jason (16:31):
He said that, well, how old was he when he, when he,
Chad (16:33):
he was, um.
In his mid twenties
Jason (16:38):
Okay.
That's pretty mature.
Chad (16:40):
and he said that I didn't just do that right away, I, I
created the space for thatquestion to be asked and for him
to be confident enough to answerit.
Now, he had done his own selfwork to be confident enough as
well, but I was willing to takethat answer and I didn't react
to it other than a simple thankyou.
(17:02):
I love you.
And I took that back, and thatbegan a journey in my life.
Recently, my grandson, who isnow 10, influences my life on
how he loves people.
His kindness, his compassion,his, I believe if I saw Jesus as
a kid, it would look just likemy grandson.
(17:25):
That's how compassionate it is.
That's how loving he is.
It doesn't matter what someonesays to him, he first thinks of
that person before he has anyreaction, and that has
influenced how I see people.
Jason (17:42):
Yeah.
Chad (17:42):
So what's practically changed for me is in every
conversation, in every moment,positive or negative, I am
looking for opportunities for meto grow.
Jason (17:52):
Yeah.
Chad (17:52):
putting aside my opinion so God can reveal to me some
truth.
That's what's changed for mepractically.
Jason (18:00):
I think that's, I mean, I love that example that here you
have a 10, I have twogranddaughters, and they're two
and six.
I think I just, they're such ablessing.
But you look at your 10-year-oldgrandson and you're being
influenced by this, this giftthat God has given him.
I mean, he's has this specialdisposition that'll probably,
you know, if.
Lord willing, he will be able touse it for God's glory.
(18:21):
But I, yeah, that's great.
I mean, you look around atpeople that we can learn from
and if you, if you, what I hearyou saying is if we're humble
enough and you know, set our ownpride away and look around and
see what we can learn fromothers, there are
characteristics and others thatwe can see that they are.
(18:42):
Um, more strong in, more godlyin, if you know believers that
we know, but even, even someunbelievers, right?
We learn from those that, um,just do things very well and
are, uh, allow ourselves to beinfluenced by them.
That, that vulnerability piecethat you talk about, I can
remember the first time thatever really, um, I understood
(19:07):
it.
I think at least mentally, Icertainly.
Didn't change overnight.
I was reading a book by PatrickLencioni, uh, who I love.
He's a great author.
I know this book was the FiveTemptations of a CEO, and it
just talks about one of thetemptations is, and I'm
paraphrase, but not beingwilling to be vulnerable and let
(19:29):
our guard down and allow trustto start being built with other
people.
And at the time I had a mentorwho I was working with who was.
Happened to be also talking tome about that.
It was obviously God at work inmultiple ways, you know, trying
to teach me,'cause I'm prettythickheaded so I think you and I
probably gone through some ofthe same things that God's gotta
(19:49):
hit us kind of hard over thehead to get through that.
So, so now you, so you wrote abook.
I wanna talk a little bit aboutyour book and your passion and
how you're trying to work tohelp other.
People, leaders, and, um,families with this kind of
(20:10):
change in mindset.
So let's talk a little bit aboutyour book and that the concept
there.
Chad (20:16):
Yeah, so the book we put out in 2024 is Blend Don't
Break, creating Your Family'sSecret Sauce.
Co-authored with my wife and ourfour children actually have an
interview chapter in the book.
Each of them do telling theirversion of our home as a blended
family, what we set out to writeto help blended families, and we
(20:39):
know it will help blendedfamilies.
God chose to write to help allfamilies.
All marriages.
All pre marriages.
In his infinite wisdom, he putout a book that will help anyone
in any relationship dynamic thatthere is, and I would encourage
everyone to read it.
(20:59):
Yes, I'm partial and I'm biasedto a book that I wrote, but the
Holy Spirit wrote this bookthrough us.
I've read this book five times,and all five times it's changed
my life again and again.
Um, it's amazing what he put pento paper and, and it comes from
a place of us, us getting mostof this wrong and God showing us
(21:21):
in the process of writing thisbook, just from being in a place
of a humbled heart, being in aplace of vulnerability, being in
a place of openness for him towork, he showed us things, the
reverse script of what we coulddo and what we love about
creating your family.
Secret sauces.
(21:41):
To, to make a great sauce, youhave to first understand the
ingredients.
You have to understandeverything that's going into it.
You have to understand what it'smade of, it's makeup and how it,
how you can get that to blendwithout breaking.
Well, a family is equallyunique.
A business is unique that way,and churches are unique that
way.
(22:01):
We actually are going to turnthis into a series.
And where?
We'll, right blend.
Don't break.
Creating your business's secretsauce blend.
Don't break creating yourchurch's secret sauce.
'cause all of these people cometogether.
And what it is, is thisuniqueness of individual.
Your primary ingredients arepeople.
And when you try to addeverything else into it without
(22:22):
first understanding people andeach individual person, it will
break.
Jason (22:28):
Yeah.
Chad (22:29):
And that whole thing came full circle.
That was not the subtitle.
When we set out to write thisbook, God just put that all
together, and he tied it intothe food journey and the food
adventures that we've been on,the culinary arts knowledge and
stuff that he brought to me.
He brought that into their fullcircle, which was totally
(22:49):
unexpected, and that landed inthe, in the final chapter, the
closing, which created thesubtitle.
Jason (22:57):
Yeah.
Chad (22:58):
And that book, that authorship of that book and the
reading of the book five timesover the last two years is
really what brought me to thisplace of what I teach, why I
teach it, and why I live it.
And God told me, in order toteach it, you have to first
embody it.
Jason (23:16):
Yeah.
Well, I lo I love what you saidabout what, that you've read it
five times and learned from it.
That's, yeah, that's super cool.
But the fact that, you know, youadmit that.
Like, we did a lot of thingswrong, and this is how we got to
where we are by learning, youknow, and allowing God to work
in our lives and, and, uh.
know, especially in a blendedfamily, I grew up in a blended
(23:38):
family and it's tough.
I mean, I love my siblings, um,that I grew up with absolutely
dearly love them.
And, uh, but it was tough as anadolescent, you know, it's kind
of middle school age when wecame together and, um, that's
tough, but it's all, it's allabout relationships, right?
So, like you said, the thoughtaround writing.
(24:01):
This book in a series, um, basedon business, business culture
and relationships and church andchurch unity.
I mean, that's Christ prayed forthe unity of the body.
One of his last prayer.
It's, and it's, it's so, it's soimportant and it's so easily
upended through pride andthrough being easily offended
(24:26):
over silly, minor little things.
And it's, but it's just amazesme over and over again how
quickly it can happen and howeasy, you know, Satan can allow
that destruction to come into arelationship, into the church,
into a family, uh, into abusiness that we just, it's
pride.
It's, you know, lack ofvulnerability.
It's, um, you know, just beingeasily offended, which really is
(24:49):
a pride issue.
So that's good.
We'll set up, we'll put a link,uh, in the show notes for people
to check that out.
Hey, what, uh, Chad, what areyour spiritual disciplines?
I get a little personal here,and like, what do you do to stay
close to the Lord on a daily,weekly basis?
Like, what's your, what's yourroutine there?
Chad (25:06):
So you'll con, you'll continue to hear me say over
this two year journey, and it'simportant I go back to November
of 2023.
God put us in a city.
We're in Baton Rouge, Louisiananow, and God put us here.
And in the moment of landinghere, leading up to November,
many times I would tell God,okay, I'm, I'm accepting being
(25:27):
here, but in six months I'll bethere.
In a year.
I'll be there.
In three months I'll be there.
And God's like, would you let goof where you're gonna grow and
plant where I have you.
And in November I surrenderedthat moment, and I call it my
road to Damascus.
(25:47):
'cause while I was saved, Ilived a life that I was always
reliant on myself.
I heard from God, I knew Godgifted me.
I knew God gave me talents, butI would say, thank you, Lord.
I got it from here.
I wouldn't say those words, butthat was my actions.
Jason (26:04):
Yeah.
Chad (26:05):
And on that day, November of 2023.
On what I call my road toDamascus.
God shone a light on me andsaid, I am now going to be in
charge of your life and you aregonna let me, and I surrendered
my life to him in that moment.
I had been saved 25 years prior.
I surrendered my life to him inthat moment, and I gave up my
(26:29):
agenda.
I gave up my desires, my wants,my self-reliance, all of that I
gave to him.
Six months after that, I learneda discipline that I could walk
with the Lord.
I had been taught prayer closet.
I had been taught prayer time,read the Bible in a year, spend
(26:52):
this much time in worship, spendthis much time in prayer, this
much time in the Word, and I gotcaught up in the religion of
Christianity, and I tried tofulfill those religious.
Things and I failed.
My walk with the Lord was veryweak on a daily basis because it
never fit what I wanted to do.
(27:14):
Would it never fit?
Not what I wanted to do'causethat's what I just gave up.
But what worked for me and Idiscovered at a prayer night at
church one night, I got up and Iwent walk and I, my prayer voice
just blew up.
I was saying prayers in ways Ihad never said'em before.
I had felt his presence in waysI'd never felt it before.
(27:36):
And he spoke to me.
He said, Chad, if walkin worksfor you, walk with me every
Jason (27:42):
Yeah.
Chad (27:43):
So that's what I do.
I walk with the Lord every dayfor an hour to two hours every
day.
I don't put a clock on it.
I put.
In, in his presence on it.
And I do worship and I, and Ilisten to the word and I pray
and I take notes and I talk tomy phone to take notes, and I go
(28:03):
back and I study them later.
So every week I review what theLord had given me throughout the
week.
I turn those into articles andblogs and things like that every
day.
And then of course, we we'realways at church every week.
We're at prayer every Wednesday.
But my transition and mytransformation in life really
(28:25):
started to explode when I beganto walk with the Lord on a
consistent basis, and I movedfrom religion to relationship.
Jason (28:35):
Uh, it's interesting.
I have a friend who is actuallyon the podcast a couple years
ago.
He's a runner and he says that'swhere he does most of his
praying.
When he is running.
He runs every day, like milesevery day.
And, uh, so yeah, I thinkthat's, I'd never heard of that,
but if that's where you'regrowing, close to the Lord and
(28:56):
that's where you're in communewith him.
That's great.
Chad (29:00):
Yeah, my mind is fixed on the Lord.
Jason (29:04):
Yeah,
Chad (29:05):
Finally in my Christian walk.
That's, that's the difference.
When I go to bed at night, I'mthinking of Jesus.
When I wake up in the morning,I'm thinking of Christ when I.
When I'm going throughout theday, it's, what do you say,
Christ?
What do you think?
Christ and I have reached thisplace that even in moments of
what would be 9 1 1, am I in aplace where my instinct will say
(29:29):
God before I dial the phone?
Jason (29:33):
Yeah.
Chad (29:34):
And when you're living there, you're, you're living in
relationship with him where heis your primary source and
relationship, and that is whatan investment made.
And God will meet us wherever itworks for us.
So if you can.
You clearly can't drive andclose your eyes without running
into something, and that be yourtime.
I hear people say, my time's inthe car, and all of that, and
(29:56):
maybe that works for you.
God can be with us any place weare.
I don't close my eyes when wewalk, but every for, you know,
every few minutes for a secondI'll do because I feel led by
the Lord to close my eyes, soI'm at risk to run into
something even while I'm walkingor step in a hole, but it works
for me and sitting in a prayercloset.
(30:17):
Flipping through the pages ofthe word wasn't working for me.
I tried it year after year and Ifailed.
And God wants to meet us in aplace where, where it works for
us.
It's not saying, Hey God, thisis my way.
Come join me.
I'm not, it's our wiring, it'sour uniqueness, it's our design.
(30:40):
He put Adam and Eve in a gardenand he walked with them in the
garden.
He didn't say, come over to thiscorner of the garden and I'll
meet you there and spend an hourthere.
And what it did was thistransition in my life has now
caused me to be mentally andemotionally in his presence all
throughout the day.
Jason (31:01):
Yeah, that's good.
I, I'll tell you, you know, fora long time I tried to spend
time in the word and prayer atnight, and it was never
effective.
I'm just, that's not my time, aday to do that.
And over years I've realized forme it's morning, early morning.
you know, an hour in the morningwhen it's still quiet and
nobody's up and it's dark.
(31:22):
And, uh, I put on some, youknow, some, uh, instrumental
worship music and my headphones,and that's just me and the Lord.
And that's been s it's, itrelate to what you're saying
because it finally was like,this is different.
You know, it was finallydifferent and it wasn't just, it
wasn't just.
Checking a box, you know, I, Idid this, I got this done.
(31:44):
It's really meaningful and deepand, uh, it's beautiful.
So, no, I appreciate you sharingthat.
That's, uh, that is cool to hearthat how God's working in your
life.
On that, Chad, I wanna talk alittle bit again about
leadership.
What if, what would you say islike your core leadership
principle, um, that you go backto all the time?
Like what's the main thing foryou when it comes to leadership?
Chad (32:07):
Compassionate leadership is broad, but that's really what
it's about.
It's from the model of Jesus,but for me it's real.
Success is inward peace, notoutward performance or position.
That would be the core of what,of what resonates with me that I
led a career and a path and ajourney control every voice in
(32:30):
my life, every action in mylife.
I treated my family like anotherproject and another job.
I treated the drive home to andfrom work.
Like it was an assignment that Ihad to check off at the end of
the day and accomplished a lotof things in my businesses.
But failed in the people areaand my people.
I call it a people Compass wasbroken.
(32:52):
My people Compass was way off.
It had crack screens andmisplaced dials It, it was
terrible, but really inwardpeace is the true measure of
success, and it has nothing todo with out outward performance
or position.
Jason (33:07):
Yeah, it's, it is putting the relationships and the people
before the task, right?
Because you're a, you're a taskdriven guy.
I can sense that already.
I am too.
And it's easy for me at least toget focused on the task no
matter what the, uh,relationship is.
And yeah, and God has grown me alot in that.
It's like, slow down.
(33:27):
That can't be your number onepriority all the time.
You have.
It's how you do things mattersgreatly.
As a believer, as a, as aleader, as a child of Christ,
just how we do things, not justwhat we do, but how we do those
things is matters greatly.
When you talk a little bit aboutthis, but when I hit on this
(33:48):
again, when you were a youngerleader, um, what was it that you
struggled the most with as youlook back?
Like what, what were the thingsthat you really struggled with?
Chad (33:59):
Given space for people to be heard.
Jason (34:02):
Hmm.
Chad (34:03):
And you know, a lot of, a lot of leaders I believe,
struggle with this, thateverything, I used to have this
mindset.
If you tell me before it's areason and I can help you with
reasons, but if you tell meafter the fact it's an excuse
and I don't want to hear any ofthose, and it's putting an
expectation and an assumption onpeople that they are in a way
(34:25):
wired the way that I'm wired, ina way, think the way that I
think.
Putting an expectation thatthey're gonna do a job the way
that I expected them to do itwhen I didn't give them
opportunity to learn the job theway they would do it.
And it, that was probably mybiggest thing, is I would
(34:45):
silence people the minute itlooked like excuses to me.
And while there may have been amoment to say.
Let's get back to that rightnow.
Let's do this because there's aconcrete truck just 30 minutes
away.
I never went back to thoseconversations to say, okay, let
me help you unpack that.
Jason (35:07):
Yeah.
Chad (35:08):
I didn't care.
Jason (35:09):
yeah.
Yep.
Yep.
Yep.
No, I understand that.
Yeah.
It was like, I, yeah, I've beentold before that, you know,
there was times in my careerwhen I would, I would get, I
would get it done, but I'd leavea trail of dead bodies in my
wake.
You know, we'd get it done.
But you, and I'm not proud ofthat.
And God, God took me through atime when he broke me of that,
and it was pretty painful.
(35:29):
But I'm glad that he did.
Hey, uh, I always like to askpeople that I have on, who do
you follow, read podcast, listento, to help you stay sharp as a
leader?
Like what are some books orthings that you listen or, uh,
read or listen to, uh, to helpyou?
Yeah, just stay on top of yourgame as a leader.
(35:50):
Who do you like?
Chad (35:51):
Yeah, one of my most important is John Maxwell.
I was in the first room when helaunched the John Maxwell team,
so I'm a certified speaker withthe John Maxwell team.
I can teach six of his books.
Um, that's always been aninspiration to me.
It's, it's the honesty about hislife that's been inspired to me.
(36:12):
There was a season in which Ijust wanted to be like John
Maxwell, and I had to come intomy own and realize that I had a
different message, I had adifferent purpose, I had a
different, God was gonna use mein a different way.
He remains that person that Ilook to.
We have a lot of the samethinking, but we come at it from
a couple different ways.
But Patrick Lit, you mentioned,uh, Renee Brown, Craig,
(36:36):
Rochelle, those people is who Ifollow, who I track with.
John Gordon is another one.
I love his positive message thathe talks about, the message
about positivity, and there'sjust so many, but those are
probably my primary ones that I,that I follow and keep connected
with.
Jason (36:54):
John Maxwell was transformational for me when I
first became interested in.
Learning to be a leader, youknow, learning to lead well.
21 year Refutable Laws ofLeadership.
I remember reading it
Chad (37:06):
Yes.
Jason (37:07):
and that would've been in like the late nineties I think,
when I first read that.
So yeah, he's actually, I wasjust yesterday at a meeting.
Um.
With a nonprofit I was, that I'mon the board of, and we were
having kind of a, an offsite forthe day and somebody shared a
devotional that was from a JohnMaxwell book.
(37:28):
So yeah, he's prolific.
God's used him a lot and broadlyfor many, many decades.
If you had a young leader whocame to you, and maybe you've
had this before with children orsomebody that you know, that ask
you for advice because theyfirst, they got their first
chance, um, in a formalleadership role, uh, in their
(37:51):
profession or even in a ministrysetting, what advice would you
give'em?
Chad (37:56):
The main thing that I teach young leaders, and even
leaders that I believe havetried to control too much in
their space what's actually inour book, which is why we
believe it's, it's part of abusiness program that we, that
we, that I'm going to teach andit's, it's the greenhouse.
That you are responsible tocreate an environment where
(38:20):
people can be nourished andpeople can be grown.
You're not responsible tocontrol their growth and you're
not responsible to stunt theirgrowth or for the fully
development.
If you create the rightenvironment, you will create the
right opportunity for growth.
Jason (38:40):
Yeah, I like that greenhouse effect.
I love doing that too as aleader.
Seeing people on my team grow.
We've got, yeah, I work inmanufacturing and we've got, you
know, we've got apprentices now.
We have other people who havenew into team leadership roles
or supervisor roles and justsupporting them.
Right.
You know, watch'em struggle andhonestly, I don't want to say
(39:02):
fail, but fail a little bit,have rough days, you know, and
just making sure as a leaderthough, that we're there to
support them and encourage themand give them guidance.
Yeah.
That's, that's exciting.
I mean, for me, that's been themost rewarding thing.
And that's, that's an area thatI've grown in.
Like you talked about, you know,more than the accomplishments,
(39:23):
the metrics, the objectives,those are all, uh, good and fun
to hit.
But when you see people developand you had a chance to be a
part of that, God's used you intheir lives.
Um, that's.
That's stuff that you think youjust, you, you remember.
And I think they remember fordecades there's people that I've
had a, had had the opportunityto help them grow 15, 20 years
(39:48):
ago.
You know, and we still have aconnection, you know, and a
friendship.
And same for people who gave mea shot, you know, all those
years ago, you know, who gave mea shot and Dev helped develop me
and saw something in me thatothers didn't, or even I didn't.
Um, that's, yeah, that's a lotmore.
Impactful.
It's a lot more long lasting,and I think as leaders,
(40:10):
especially believers, we'recalled to, to strive to have
that kind of influence on, uh,on others.
So Chad, let's talk a little bitabout like, what are you doing
right now?
What to, for your newestentrepreneurial focus and, you
know, what do you, what, whatthing has God called you to do
(40:30):
right now?
What's that area?
Chad (40:32):
Yeah, so three businesses right now, construction Ops,
software Co, which is a.
A tech company focused onconstruction software to help
that industry be more userfriendly and more robust.
On the Back End Pathways group,which is where my Che and Brina
brand, my wife's brand is wherewe teach leadership, we write,
(40:55):
we author books, and thenPathways to Triumph, a Stroke
Recovery Foundation, which isour nonprofit to help people
after that 30 to 45 day markwhen the.
Hospital care ends youtransition, home recovery really
begins, and you're left with twodays of outpatient therapy and
trying to navigate this life onyour own at home.
(41:17):
That's the other thing.
Chet and Brina, I am in acoaching program right now to.
Develop and improve my publicspeaking.
So I am looking for 20 to 25stages in 2026, and I am working
on some course content on thosetopics that we talked about.
(41:41):
Perseverance, um, identity andvulnerability blend.
Don't break theory.
The brand don't breakphilosophy.
I didn't drill down the nameyet, but I'm working on some
things where it talks to alldynamics of life.
And then I got another talkingtopic called eggshells, um,
which is what my family walkedon, including myself.
(42:04):
And how do we create anenvironment where there are no
longer any eggshells and, and inthat we use, I do use a tree
analogy a lot.
And plotted potted plants in thegreenhouse and roots being
severed when you go from oneposition to a next.
So that is really my passionright now, is how can I get more
(42:26):
public facing conversations,more public facing disciplines
out there from what I havewalked through through my
speaking engagements.
And I just finished the roughdraft of my second book called
The Visionary Storm.
Which is talking about the mindof the visionary and how chaotic
(42:46):
they are in the rooms when theyjust blast ideas everywhere and
people have to navigate thisjourney with them, and we help
teams on how to navigate it.
We help the visionary gainawareness and we introduce what
we call a strategist.
That is really the funnel toharness the visionary mind and
make it deliver the mostpowerful results that it can.
(43:08):
In 2026, I'll be writing a bookcalled Let's Get Naked.
Patrick Lencioni wrote a bookthat has the word naked in it as
well.
I'll actually be reading thatbook before I author mine to see
if there's any insights that Ican pull in.
But mine really comes from mylife journey, and it's called
Living a Life of Vulnerability,openness, and Unshakeable
(43:28):
Confidence.
Jason (43:30):
Yeah, that's good man.
You got a lot going on.
I love it.
I
Chad (43:34):
Yes, and it's fun.
Jason (43:37):
That's good.
You know it's funny'cause youtalked about being an
entrepreneur since you were 15and I think.
There's a streak ofentrepreneurism.
So I don't know if that's aword, but in my family, my
grandfather was one, my dad iskind of skipped me, and now my
oldest son is one.
And I remember my oldest son,man, he was doing lemonade stand
when he was like, I don't know,eight, nine years old.
(43:58):
I was like, this kid's, it'swhat he, it's what he wanted to
do, you know?
It was always a, a dream for himthat God planted in his heart.
So now that's, that's, that'samazing.
Uh, a couple last questionsbefore we wrap up.
What do you hope will be yourlegacy, Chad, when God calls
you, you know, into aretirement, if I know
retirement, but you know awayfrom a full-time professional
(44:20):
career, even as he calls youhome, what do you hope will be
your legacy?
Chad (44:24):
Yeah, I'm, so, I'm gonna step back just a minute'cause
the, the entrepreneurial spirit.
I have now realized that I can'toperate outside of my purpose
and my defer.
My purpose is divine, and mypurpose is to help people to
become more self-aware.
Emotional intelligence andwalking, compassionate
leadership help people to makesmall internal shifts that
(44:46):
leaves a lasting outward result.
That is my purpose.
So in every venture I have torealize my lane is right there,
Jason (44:55):
Yeah.
No matter what, whether it's,yep.
Chad (44:57):
That is different from my past entrepreneurial journeys
that I have to recognize thatthat is my lane.
That is my contribution toeverything that we embark on.
And that brings me to what mylegacy would be is I lived my
first 50 years for somethingthat gave me purpose, and I will
(45:19):
live the rest of my life in mypurpose.
There is a big difference.
So if I leave a legacy, thebiggest legacy that I could
leave is that my life impactedmy family, my friends, and my
network to find their truepurpose.
Jason (45:38):
Yeah, that's, no, that's great.
I think, um.
That's, it reminds me of, youknow, developing your own like
mission statement.
Like what has God called you todo in understanding that and
staying focused on it.
Even across, you just namedthree different businesses that
are pretty different.
Software consulting, you know,these are really different
(45:58):
businesses, but all along thereyou have that, that focus
mission that you wanna, that youwanna stay on, on task with.
So I really respect that.
Uh, what are some ways thatpeople, what's the best way for
people to get ahold of you, man?
Chad (46:12):
The best way to reach me is through my website, Chad m
brina.com.
Jason (46:17):
all right.
Yeah, we'll have a link to thatas well as your book.
And, uh, you said you're lookingfor some speaking engagements
for 2026, so you'd be sure toreach out to Chad, um, if you
wanna put him in front of agroup to talk about.
Leading, uh, in a way that'swith vulnerability and love and
(46:39):
compassion for others.
I think that's come out veryclearly.
And I would say that you'reprobably not the only leader,
uh, that we're engaging withtoday who has gone through that,
you know, that gone from taskoriented, you know, people, uh,
are a means to an end to.
(47:00):
Focused on the, you know, thepeople in the relationship are,
are the means, you know, thatthose relationships that we have
so well, brother, I appreciateyou being on today.
Um, love your story.
Love to hear how God has usedsome difficult situations
through your life to grow youand to glorify himself and, uh,
(47:20):
the relationship that you havenow with he, him, and your
family.
Yeah, that's great.
I love, I love hearing thesethings.
It's, it's so good to see whatGod is doing in another, uh,
person's life and a family clearacross the country, way down
south in New Orleans.
So thank you for being on today,man.
Appreciate it.
Chad (47:38):
Thank you for having me.
It's great.
When I started writing the book,God said, I'm gonna make you a
vulnerable author and.
I fought with him a little bitabout that, and now we're at a
place where he's just made mylife completely vulnerable.
So I love sharing.
I love being a part of it.
It's not about me.
I hope that our conversationtoday challenges people to look
(47:59):
within themselves and find theopportunity for God to show them
something that needs to betransformed according to his.
Jason (48:06):
Yeah.
No, I, I do too.
That's the goal here is, uh, forpeople to grow, uh, in as
leaders, but grow closer to theLord and grow in sanctification.
So thank you, uh, for being on,and, uh, thank you to the, my
listeners, appreciate you tuningin again.
Uh, be sure to join us nextmonth as we meet another
faith-driven leader who'spursuing excellence and
(48:27):
influence for God's glory.
Uh, in the meantime, keepleading with courage and
compassion because impact alwaysbegins with insight.
I.
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