September 16, 2025 • 32 mins
Scaling an agency beyond seven figures can come at a cost: sleepless nights, constant bottlenecks, and the creeping sense that the business is running you instead of the other way around. If you’ve ever wondered how to build sustainable systems that protect both your growth and your life outside the agency, this episode is for you.
I sit down with Donzel Leggett, Principal at Destiny Development Delta LLC and former Fortune 200 senior executive, who has led global teams of 10,000 people while creating a proven model for clarity and execution. Donzel shares why less than 10% of leaders can answer the question, “Where do you want to be in 20 years?”—and how his agency life plan framework helps you close that gap.
We dig into how to operationalize discipline, build a long-term roadmap that integrates business, family, and well-being, and stay resilient in a world being reshaped daily by AI and automation. If you want to scale without burning out or losing control, this conversation will help you reframe how you lead your agency—and your life.
Books Mentioned
- Make Your Destiny Happen by Donzel Leggett
Connect with Donzel at destinydevdelta.com or at makeyourdestinyhappen.com to learn more about his new book, Make Your Destiny Happen. You can also find him on LinkedIn, YouTube, and his short-form Make Your Destiny Happen Petite Podcast, where he shares lessons drawn from his own leadership journey and stories of his late father.
Join Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence.
- Free 30-Minute Discovery Call:
Ready to elevate your business? Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Dr. William Attaway and start your journey to success.
- Special Offer:
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Connect with Dr. William Attaway:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. William Attaway (00:00):
It is an honor today to have Donzel
Leggett on the podcast.
Donzel is the principal atDestiny Development Delta LLC, a
US-based internationalconsultancy focused on executive
leadership development.
He's an accomplished seniorexecutive with over 32 years of
experience leading and drivingbusiness growth at Fortune 200
(00:22):
consumer product companies.
During his career, donzelsuccessfully led large, diverse
organizations of up to 10,000team members dispersed across
the globe through highly complexand dynamic environments.
Donzel's career reflects aproven track record of
unparalleled results, whileleading transformational change
(00:45):
on a global scale with hisunique combination of strategic
vision, executional excellenceand inspirational leadership.
As the magnitude and demands ofhis leadership accountabilities
continue to expand, donzeldeveloped the proprietary
leadership models andmethodology that are now at the
center of the DestinyDevelopment Delta LLC
(01:08):
consultancy.
To inspire and empowerindividuals to determine their
goals, take charge of theirlives and shape their destinies,
donzel is launching Make yourDestiny Happen Happen, a
transformative guide thatdistills over 30 years of
Donzel's personal experience andprofessional success into a
(01:29):
practical, actionable frameworkfor envisioning one's destiny,
creating a life plan, takingcontrol and achieving lasting
transformation.
Donzel, I'm so glad you're here.
Thanks for being on the show.
Donzel Leggett (01:44):
Thank you, william, and thank you for the
introduction.
You brought tears to my eyes,literally.
Intro (01:52):
Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed
to help leaders intentionallygrow and thrive.
Here is your host author andleadership and executive coach,
dr William Attaway.
Host author and leadership andexecutive coach, dr William.
Dr. William Attaway (02:07):
Attaway as we were putting it together.
I was excited.
I was like man I can't wait forthis conversation.
Donzel Leggett (02:18):
This is going to add so much value.
I hope so.
You know one of my passions istrying to help people.
As you mentioned, I wrote thebook Make your Destiny Happen
and you know the main driverwriting that book was to give
everyone the opportunity to maketheir life dreams happen and to
ensure that they also achievepersonal well-being and balance
in their lives.
Dr. William Attaway (02:34):
So, yeah, I'm really happy to be here to
share is often discussed butrarely experienced, and so I'm
looking forward to this, to thisconversation.
I want to start with yousharing a little bit of your
story with our listeners.
I hit a few of the high points,but how did you get started?
Donzel Leggett (02:55):
Yeah, you know, I'm originally from Key West,
florida.
Not everyone thinks thatthere's actually people who are
from Key West, but uh, but I'mactually from Key West, born and
raised from Key West.
But I'm actually from Key Westborn and raised.
I go back several generations.
My great, great greatgrandparents came over from the
(03:16):
Bahamas in the 1860s, so ourfamily been there a long time
and so a lot of growing up therewas kind of on an island, but
similar to any other small townacross the globe where
grandparents are around,great-grandparents, cousins,
aunties.
So I grew up with a lot offamily, a lot of people watching
out for me, got a lot ofguidance.
But the difference in Key Westfrom a lot of other small towns
is because it was a touristattraction.
(03:37):
We had people from all over theworld coming through and it was
a big naval base, a largemilitary presence.
We have people from all overthe country there.
So I got exposed to a lot ofdifferent people, a lot of
different languages, cultures,everything, and that really
shaped me quite a bit.
I left there when I was 17, wentto the Midwest to Purdue
(03:59):
University and was therestudying but also playing
college football.
I was there for four years Iplayed football.
I was there for four years Iplayed, then I stayed on for a
couple more years, got mymaster's degree and met my wife.
We've been married for 31 years.
It'll be 31 in September.
We have four adult kids youngadults, so they range from 32
(04:22):
down to 24.
And you know it's been a greatride.
As you mentioned, I had a longcareer in corporate America and
the biggest thing that I learnedthroughout my career that
really impacted a lot of thestories in the book are
represented from my career.
(04:43):
No matter where you meet peopleand where you engage them around
the country, around the worldand I work with people ranging
from Southern Ohio to the EastCoast, the West Coast, missouri,
or around the world, whetherit's in Mexico or Canada, china,
malaysia, greece, australiapeople all want the same thing,
(05:05):
you know.
They want to be viewed asindividuals, not as numbers.
They want to feel like someonecares about them.
They want to take care of theirfamilies and they want the
opportunity to have agency overtheir lives.
And if you can connect withpeople and you spend the time to
do that, even if you don'tspeak the same language, they
(05:26):
can feel it, they can understandit and it crosses across all
these boundaries that we believeare up.
That keeps us apart.
If you really care about people, you want to help them achieve
those things.
Not just for them, but themagical thing is for the
organization, the overall goalyou're trying to strive for.
(05:47):
So that's how I was able to getsuch great results at the same
time help transform people'slives, and so I want to take
that, put that in this book.
But that's kind of what I'm allabout.
Dr. William Attaway (05:59):
I often say that one of the best ways to
impact your bottom line is toview the people that you lead on
your team as actual 3D humanbeings, not as cogs in a machine
, and it resonates so deeplywith what you're saying because
I believe that is a way to makea dramatic difference.
You talk in your book aboutcreating a life plan.
(06:20):
That's an interesting phrase.
I'm curious how do you definethat?
And for the listeners who arewondering, how do they get
started creating that?
Donzel Leggett (06:30):
Yeah, you know, life plan to me is the strategic
plan of your life.
It's the guide path of whereyou want to go and most people,
like you mentioned, I've ledorganizations over 10,000 people
.
I've had one-on-ones or smallgroup discussions with over
10,000 people.
Literally I've spent over50,000 hours in those
(06:53):
discussions, just one-on-one.
If I take it into small groups,to consider even outside of
work, you know 10,000 hours tomaster a skill.
I've done that 10 times, I mean.
So I know I know people, right,I'm not a psychologist, I'm not
saying I'm anything like that,but I do know people from all
over the world and the one thingI could tell you for sure is
(07:16):
when I would ask them thequestion where do you want to be
in 20 years?
Less than 10% could answer thatquestion.
Oh, my goodness, less than 10%.
Most people don't sit down andreally think about where they
want to go long-term and whetherthat will make them happy or
not.
You have to bring thingstogether your professional, your
(07:40):
family, your financial, yourcommunity and your
wellbeing-being all together tosay this is where I want to go,
right.
And so when I was about 24years old and I was just
starting my professional career24, 25, you know, some things
happened in my life and I saidyou know, I have to think about
(08:01):
what I want to do and where Iwant to go.
My wife and I were not marriedat the time.
I wanted to make sure sheunderstood and I want to know
where she wanted to go.
So I had this idea of draftingthis life plan and I imagined
okay, let me look 40 years downthe line to when I'm 65.
What would I have?
What do I want to be doing atthat time?
What would I want to accomplish?
(08:22):
How do I want to feel as I lookback in those 40 years?
Am I proud?
Am I sad?
Am I regretful?
Those are the questions I askmyself.
Those are hard questions.
People don't like answeringthose questions.
Right, but I did that.
And then I started breaking itdown and okay, professional,
(08:42):
financial, family, what I wantto do in the community, and how
does all that make me feel, andI started making tweaks because
I wanted to make sure I couldlook back and say, yeah, I feel
good about that.
That's what started the idea ofmy life plan.
And once I had that vision, Istarted working back in
five-year increments Okay, whatwould I have been doing at 60?
(09:02):
What about 55?
So that's kind of how the lifeplan came about.
So I've had this life plan, youknow, for geez.
Now it's been 30 years at least, and I've actually on track.
Now I've made some adjustmentshere and there because the world
changes.
And that's the great thingabout the Destiny Development
Delta model it's all based onthe fact that the world is
(09:23):
dynamic, and so are you, and weall need to make adjustments.
But it's always better to havea game plan and make adjustments
than to have no plan at all.
And then you're kind of justlike scrambling right, and so
that's kind of where it camefrom.
And you know I talk about thebook.
Where do you get started?
And I just kind of mentioned it.
It all starts with you have tobe authentic with yourself and a
(09:45):
lot of times I think we getinto a mode, especially today,
with social media having such abig impact and being so
available to us, it tends tomake us think what we should be
doing, what we should look like.
You know what we should thinklike, instead of put that down
and say, no, who am I really?
(10:06):
What do I really want?
It's okay to have weaknesses,it's okay to not be perfect.
It's okay because I have toembrace that, because I need to
factor that in to what I want todo long-term.
And once you have thatauthentic thought about yourself
, then you can start feelingconfident in yourself and be
assured in yourself.
Then you can start that processof thinking again.
(10:27):
Okay.
And if 40 years down the line istoo long for you to think,
think 10 years, think 20 years,but really sit down and think
okay, what, where do I want tobe?
How do I want to feel?
At least start there.
That's good.
And so in the book I have amodel that takes people through
this process of how to get there.
But that's the number one thingI always try to tell any young
(10:50):
person, anyone that's closer tomy age, it's never too late.
No, we don't know.
I don't know if I'm going tolive another minute.
I mean, I literally could havecardiac arrest right now.
That could happen, but I cantell.
If it did, I'm not regretfulbecause I know I'm on track to
where I want to be and I wanteveryone to feel that Right.
So anyway, that's a long answerto your question, but you can
(11:10):
see I got a lot of passion aboutthis.
Dr. William Attaway (11:12):
Well, no doubt, and rightly so, and I
love that phrase no regrets.
You know, if this is it noregrets?
Because you had a plan andyou've been executing that plan.
It's impossible to hit abullseye that you can't see,
that you don't define, and whatyou have done is increased
clarity, which I think is one ofthe kindest things you can do
(11:35):
for yourself, and now you helpother people to do that very
thing.
Absolutely For the listenerswho are like well, I have
somewhat of a plan, I have anidea or a sense, but I feel like
I'm not making traction.
Why do you think that is?
Why do you think people fail attheir version of what you're
describing?
Donzel Leggett (11:55):
Yeah, again, it starts with that have they
really spent the time to definea real plan?
You have to have a real planthat you're very confident.
A lot of times people have aplan they think is a good plan,
but it's usually based onsomeone else.
Oh, my dad did this, so I'll dothat.
Oh man, I read about Elon Musk.
(12:17):
He's doing this.
I should do that.
He does these.
Let me do that kind of a thingversus wait a minute.
What about me?
What am I really wanting to doand what's my strengths?
What do I need to get better?
Let me put that on paper.
So that's the number one thingis just doing that work, as I
mentioned earlier.
But the second thing is thediscipline to actually
consistently make it happen.
(12:39):
No-transcript why?
(13:12):
Because they're the leader oftheir life and what I want
people to recognize.
You have to be the leader ofyour life.
So the first piece istransforming people to take
charge of their lives, asleaders know themselves,
understand what they want, builda strategic plan.
But then the next piece isoperationalize that leadership,
build the discipline to actuallymake it happen, which is hard,
(13:34):
tedious work Every day you gotto live up to.
Okay, I have to do this, this.
So we have a plan.
I have a process that basicallyidentifies here's how you keep
yourself motivated and inspired.
Here's how you make sure you'reclear on what you want to do.
Here's how you make sure thatyou have a plan.
That's everyday actions I willtake.
And then here's what I'm goingto do to keep making myself
(13:56):
better Because, as I mentioned,the world changes.
It gets tougher, it gets harder, storms come.
You got to be better andprepared to stand strong.
That's where people tend tofall down.
It's the execution, becausethat's the tedious part and we
tend to fall off.
It's kind of like, you know,when all of us have our new
year's resolutions and we're allhappy and I follow about it on
(14:17):
January 1st and then by February15th, we're already worried
about, I guess, tax season'scoming and I got to forget about
that stuff.
You got to stay focused.
Dr. William Attaway (14:26):
That's really good.
So, good man, you know youwrite in the book about the
importance of creating aconnection with the people that
you work with, people that youmeet, but not just any
connection, a personalconnection.
Donzel Leggett (14:41):
Yes.
Dr. William Attaway (14:42):
This grabbed my attention and I'm
curious.
You must have a lot ofconnections.
Yes, this grabbed my attentionand I'm curious.
You must have a lot ofconnections that you have built
through the years, a whole lotof relationships.
How do you ensure personallythat each one feels meaningful?
Donzel Leggett (15:01):
You know I'm kind of saying a lot of the same
things, but again, it allstarts with authenticity.
You know one thing if people,if someone, asked me to describe
myself, I'll tell you whatpeople would say about me If I'm
not around.
If you ask them what aboutDownsville, they're going to
tell you I'm authentic.
You know, they know that whatI'm saying to them, they can
(15:21):
believe it.
They can trust me.
I never I'm not trying to puton a front, I'm not trying to be
someone.
I'm not.
I'm authentic.
I wear my emotions on my sleeve.
So you know, you can tell howI'm feeling.
I don't hide that.
I want you to feel that rightand I'm willing to share love.
I'm willing to share love.
(15:43):
I believe that everyone hassomething good in them.
I really do, and there'sseveral stories in the book
where I'm interacting withsomeone who you would think we'd
be enemies.
But we become very close andthey're big supporters.
And the reason is again, whenthey meet me, no matter what
(16:04):
their first impression is,pretty quickly they say, ok,
this guy's authentic, he's nottrying to pretend like he's
somebody, he's not.
They see that they can feel myemotions.
That's why I have so manystories where I'm interacting
with people and I still havepeople today that don't speak
English and I don't speak theirlanguage, but we're close.
You know that we're close, andthe reason is because they can
(16:26):
feel it and that's what theytell people.
We can feel that he cares aboutus and so, whether I'm on a
Zoom call with them or a phonecall with them, or if I'm in
their presence but onlyavailable for, you know, a
couple of minutes, I go out ofmy way to make sure they can
feel and see that I see them asindividual, I see them as a
(16:49):
person, I recognize their valueand I love them and, and that's
that's his best work for me, andand, uh, you know now, will it
work for everyone?
I believe it will.
If you're authentic, if youreally care about people, um,
and if you really want them tobe successful, they'll feel it.
You know, there's a story Iused to.
(17:10):
One time I was in Brazil and Iwas there and I met this guy
once.
He was in a manufacturing plant, didn't speak any English.
I spoke a little Portuguese.
We were able to communicate alittle bit, but I didn't speak
great Portuguese at the time, begreat Portuguese at the time.
But I remember telling him,through a translator, how
important it was for him to besafe in everything he did in
(17:30):
that plant, because he had toldme that he had you just had a
little baby, and I said thatbaby is counting on you, not
just today, tomorrow, but when,when that baby grows to be
ayear-old woman, you have to behere.
So he could feel that.
So six months later I went back.
This guy wasn't even workingthat day.
(17:52):
He heard I was coming, came inon his own time to give me a
magnet picture of his baby oh mygoodness and tell me how much
what I said to him impacted him,because I said it out of love
and care as a dad, not as a vicepresident and just a guy
working on the floor, but as afather, and he wanted me to know
(18:15):
how that touched him.
That's how you build theseconnections.
That's why it's important.
Dr. William Attaway (18:21):
That's so good.
You know, we talk on the show alot about the importance of the
people that you lead, feelingheard, feeling seen, feeling
known, and, as a leader, it'sour responsibility to create an
environment where those thingsare true.
Donzel Leggett (18:35):
Yes.
Dr. William Attaway (18:36):
But what you just described is a whole
different level.
It's creating an environment sothat they feel loved.
Yes, these are core pieces ofwhat it means to be human.
Yes, and you create thatenvironment for the people that
you meet through the words thatyou speak, the attention that
you give them.
I love this man.
(18:57):
I think this is something thatevery leader listening can take
and go execute today, right now.
This does not cost you a nickel, but it does take
intentionality.
It's not just going to happen.
Intro (19:11):
That's right.
Dr. William Attaway (19:12):
In the book you talk about the importance
of mentors and mentees.
You have mentored so manydifferent people and I know you
continue to do that to this day.
Yes, what are some of themistakes that you see coming
from the people that you mentor?
Donzel Leggett (19:28):
Biggest mistake that I see is again defining
their success in life by whatthey see others do, not by what
they truly want.
Truly want and this is againthe key that I just want to
continue to impress on people isit's so easy in this day and
(19:48):
age to be wrapped up inexpectations of society, and
it's very easy for people to dothat.
I mean it's you know.
You look at a lot of stats,they've done many studies, you
know who's willing to reallystep up, and you know and lead
something versus follow.
It's one of the reasons not alot of people want to do that.
(20:10):
It's one of the reasons why,when they do a top 10 list of
the scariest things for someoneyou know somewhere in top 10 is
going to be public speakingbecause you got to stand up in
front of everyone else.
And what I try to help peopleunderstand is look, I'm not
telling you got to get up and gospeak in front of thousands of
people, but what you do have todo is take charge of your own
life and don't be afraid, youknow, because ultimately it's
going to be on you anyway.
(20:31):
So if you, if you're trying tomake decisions based on what you
think others expect.
All right, you know you'renever going to be happy.
And, yeah, you can look aroundand see that there are.
There are people who arebillionaires, who treat people
terribly.
I just saw there there's a guywho's a software company, just
bought this software company andhe basically is telling all of
(20:51):
his employees that if you're notprepared to work a minimum 80
hour week work week minimum,he's going to buy you out.
He wants them to understandtheir life is not their family,
their life is work and gettingthis software company up and
running.
Right, he can do that and I'msure there's business people say
, oh, I applaud this guy.
You know good for him that atleast he's telling people up
front.
I'll give him that he's atleast telling people up front.
(21:14):
But what we always lose sight ofis we don't know how happy this
guy is.
You know people talk aboutSteve Jobs.
He was a great guy, but hewasn't a great guy to work with
and work for.
So do I think he was a happyguy.
I don't know.
All I know is what I want andwhat makes me happy.
(21:35):
And what makes me happy is, yes, striving to achieve goals I
have, but being there for mykids when they had sporting
events.
Yes, you know being there.
So my kids never they hadsporting events.
You know being there, so mykids never could say I wasn't
home.
You know making sure that mydad, I was going to take my dad
to an NBA finals game.
You know, last year he passedaway.
This past January, february.
(21:56):
You know he was 88, but I gotto do those things.
So am I sad he's gone?
Yes, but do I feel great that Iwas able to do those things
with him?
Absolutely.
So the biggest thing I want mymentees to understand is it has
to start with what are youtrying to accomplish?
And if you ask them, what's thenumber one question?
I always ask them every timeI'm meeting with them what are
(22:17):
you trying to accomplish?
How does this fit into what youwant and what you want for your
family?
Intro (22:23):
Is this making?
Donzel Leggett (22:23):
you happy and you want and what you want for
your family, is this making youhappy?
And if it's not, then youshould move and do something
different.
You should figure that out,even if that meant someone on my
team leaving the company.
If they're not happy and it'snot what they want I'd rather
them go somewhere where they'rehappy.
I'd rather them pursuesomething that makes them feel
better, because I know thateventually they're going to talk
to someone else and they'regoing to say you know what?
(22:45):
Donzel listened to me, donzelcared about me.
He wasn't just saying that tomeet his own goals.
He was saying that because hereally did care.
And if that's, they bringsomeone to me, want to come work
with me at some point in time,because they know that my
objective yeah, we're trying tohit our goals while you're here,
but I'm caring about you and Iwant you to live the life that
(23:05):
you want for yourself.
So that's the biggest piece ofadvice I'd give to mentees
Figure out what you want, builda plan to get there.
That's what the book's allabout I got my proof here, man.
Dr. William Attaway (23:17):
So good.
Well, and I think you'vecircled around so many times
around this idea I think it's sogood that you have agency.
Every person listening hasagency.
You get to choose right.
And it really is a veryseparate place from what we see
so often in our culture, whichis this idea of a victim mindset
(23:39):
, that I'm just the victim of mycircumstances, victim of
everything in my life, of otherpeople.
I'm just the victim of mycircumstances, victim of
everything in my life, of otherpeople.
You are presenting a verydifferent idea, that you get to
choose, and I love that, Iresonate with that and I affirm
that and I hope our listenersare grabbing onto this and
understanding this is truth,this is your reality.
You get to choose.
Donzel Leggett (24:01):
You get to choose.
We all have agency.
And hey, don't get me wrong,there are some people who are in
a very difficult circumstancesmuch more difficult
circumstances than we are andtheir agency is limited.
But what am I trying to do?
I'm saying, hey, if I can besuccessful and if I can make it,
what can I do to set up aframework to help those folks?
(24:23):
How can I inspire someone elseout there who might be able to
help someone who can't helpthemselves?
So it's on us Use your agencyto achieve what you want and to
make yourself and put yourselfin a position where you can help
someone else.
Absolutely.
That's what we're trying to do.
And again, what does that do?
It makes me happy, it makes mefulfilled.
When I know that I've helpedsomeone, I feel so much better
(24:44):
about life.
Man, Again, if I have a problemand I'm gone tomorrow, I know
that I was on track and I helpedpeople Like that father that
came to me that day in thatplane and brought that magnet
and told me Donzo, I'm givingyou this magnet because I want
you to always remember theimpact you had on at least one
guy one guy and one little girl,at least us and I can multiply
(25:07):
that, but I know, I'm confidentthat one person, that feeling,
that's like winning the SuperBowl.
Man, yeah, that's exactly right.
So that's what I want listenersto hear.
Go ahead.
Dr. William Attaway (25:16):
Yeah, it's the difference in trying to be a
reservoir of everything thatcomes into your life, of all the
experiences and wisdom that yougain, or choosing to be a
conduit and allowing that toflow not just to you but through
you for the benefit of thosearound you.
Donzel Leggett (25:33):
Absolutely.
Dr. William Attaway (25:33):
And I think both of us have devoted our
lives to being that conduit, andin your book, you are all about
pouring this out for thebenefit of the readers,
absolutely.
And today, for those who arelistening, I want to dive into
you for just a second.
You know we've talked a lotabout your story and your
journey and what you're doing,but you have to lead at a
(25:56):
different level today than youdid five, ten years ago, and
that same thing is going to betrue five, ten years from now.
You're going to have tocontinue to level up your team,
your clients, your family.
They're going to need you tolead at a higher level in the
years to come.
How do you stay on top of yourgame?
How do you level up with thenew leadership skills that your
(26:21):
team and your clients andeverybody around you is going to
need you to have in the days tocome?
Donzel Leggett (26:26):
Yeah, man, it's always challenging myself to get
better and you know, I do thinkI mentioned technology a couple
of times and so I don't wantpeople to think I'd say ignore
technology.
That's not what I'm saying.
I'm just saying don't use allyour time there.
I mean in the book I mentioned.
I think on average, most peoplespend like two and a half hours
on social media a day and about16 minutes or so on just like
(26:52):
reading or learning.
You know what I mean.
On their own time.
Dr. William Attaway (26:54):
Oh my goodness yeah.
Donzel Leggett (26:56):
So I'm just saying, maybe reverse that, if
you can a little bit right.
Intro (27:00):
So that's what.
Donzel Leggett (27:01):
I try to do, but , but right now I will say that,
look, I understand where theworld is going and you know,
generative AI is thedevelopments that are happening
are.
You know it's multiplicative ona daily basis and so I have to
(27:21):
get better at that.
I have to understand that.
I have to understand how ourfinancial markets are being
impacted by that, by Bitcoin.
I have to understand how, youknow, we're going back and forth
in terms of global strategiesversus nationalist strategies.
All these things are importantto understand because they will
(27:45):
impact people.
You know, general of AI isgoing to it's already impacting
millions of people, and so everyday, I try to spend at least 30
minutes to an hour justlearning about AI,
cryptocurrency, the impact ofthese things on marketing, on
leadership, on financial markets, because for me to be able to
(28:07):
provide context, it has to becontext in this world that's
changing dramatically.
So I'd say that's the numberone thing that I'm doing right
now, because that's the biggestchange.
You know, over the course of mycareer I would say I haven't
seen a change this significant,and I've seen AI has been around
for a long time.
It's just that it's taken, youknow, decades.
(28:29):
You know I remember putting inautomated systems, you know,
back in the early 90s, that usea very rudimentary form of AI to
control the process.
It's just taken 40 years forthem to get to a point now where
you know they can do thingslike it's doing today, and I
wouldn't say think, but it'scertainly the ability to compute
(28:52):
and leverage all theinformation on the internet to
quickly come up with answers,come up with processes.
It's pretty, it's impressive,and's it's impressive, and, and
so I think, as leaders, we allhave to have that context,
especially for the youngerpeople coming up, because
they've grown up with this andit's, it's.
(29:16):
It can be a positive, but it canbe a negative.
I mean, one quick stat I'llgive you is you know they talked
to all the top universities,did a study, asked their, their
faculty administrators how muchdo they?
Talked to all the topuniversities, did a study, asked
their faculty administratorshow much do they think students
are cheating with AI?
Then they asked the students, Ithink the faculty came back,
said 50%.
The students said 90%, cool,yeah, whoa.
So think about how many ofthese students really coming out
(29:40):
really know what they're doingyou know and just little pieces
of context that we we just haveto understand and know and be
able to leverage.
I mean the definition ofknowledge.
They asked one really smart kidat an Ivy league school what's
the definition of knowledge forus?
It would have been that we knowthe information.
Right, his answer was no, Iknow where to find the
(30:02):
information.
Yeah, I know how to get it.
I know how to you know type init.
So it's a big difference.
So, to lead in this type ofenvironment, we all have to
continue to evolve.
Right now, my evolution is Igot to get better at the
technology developments.
Dr. William Attaway (30:16):
That's so good and I think that's a
challenge for all of us.
You know there was a day intime where I feel like I was on
the cutting edge.
Technologically, that is anever-moving target.
And as the miles, on my odometercontinue to climb.
I find that a little morechallenging than I used to.
Absolutely, I think that's agood challenge for us all.
Donzel, I'm so thrilled andhonored that you would share
(30:39):
your time with us today and somany of the insights from your
book.
I know folks are going to wantto stay connected to you,
continue to learn from you andgrab a copy of this book.
What is the best way for themto do that?
Donzel Leggett (30:51):
Yeah, so we have a website.
It's the name of the company isDestiny Development Delta LLC.
Our website isdestinydevdeltacom.
But the book Make your DestinyHappen.
But the book Make your DestinyHappen will be available
starting Tuesday next week, soAugust 25th.
You can certainly buy the book.
I'd love for you to buy it andhear from you Put a review up as
(31:14):
well.
That would certainly help me.
But if you just type inmakeyourdestinyhappencom,
that'll take you directly to ourwebsite.
You know we're on social media.
I'm on LinkedIn.
You know, reach out to me onLinkedIn.
There's not a lot of Don'sLeggits out there, so my son and
me, that's pretty much it.
So you'll find me if you searchfor me there, if you search for
Make your Destiny Happen.
You know we're also on Facebookand Instagram as well.
(31:37):
I have a YouTube channel.
I have a podcast that is a veryshort.
I call it the petite podcast,the Make your Destiny Happen
petite podcast.
It's only five or six minutesper episode and I take a lesson
from the book and then I bringit to life with a story and in
this first season I'm using Imentioned my dad passed away
earlier this year.
I'm using stories from my dadto illustrate these lessons, and
(32:01):
I think the fourth episode justcame out yesterday.
So anyway, there's a lot ofdifferent ways to reach out, but
just remember make your destinyhappen.
You put that in, or you justput in my name, donzel Leggett.
There's not a lot of us outthere, you'll find me.
Dr. William Attaway (32:15):
I love it.
We'll have all those links inthe show notes, Donzel.
Thank you so much for your timetoday.
Donzel Leggett (32:25):
Thank you, william.
I tell you you are a greatinterviewer.
The context that you brought tothis discussion just made me
even more passionate about thetopic, so this is probably the
most enjoyable podcast that I'vebeen on, and I really
appreciate what you are doingfor the audience.
Thank you, well, I'm honored bythat.
Thank you, man.
It is an honor today to have Donzel
Leggett on the podcast.
Donzel is the principal atDestiny Development Delta LLC, a
US-based internationalconsultancy focused on executive
leadership development.
He's an accomplished seniorexecutive with over 32 years of
experience leading and drivingbusiness growth at Fortune 200
(00:22):
consumer product companies.
During his career, donzelsuccessfully led large, diverse
organizations of up to 10,000team members dispersed across
the globe through highly complexand dynamic environments.
Donzel's career reflects aproven track record of
unparalleled results, whileleading transformational change
(00:45):
on a global scale with hisunique combination of strategic
vision, executional excellenceand inspirational leadership.
As the magnitude and demands ofhis leadership accountabilities
continue to expand, donzeldeveloped the proprietary
leadership models andmethodology that are now at the
center of the DestinyDevelopment Delta LLC
(01:08):
consultancy.
To inspire and empowerindividuals to determine their
goals, take charge of theirlives and shape their destinies,
donzel is launching Make yourDestiny Happen Happen, a
transformative guide thatdistills over 30 years of
Donzel's personal experience andprofessional success into a
(01:29):
practical, actionable frameworkfor envisioning one's destiny,
creating a life plan, takingcontrol and achieving lasting
transformation.
Donzel, I'm so glad you're here.
Thanks for being on the show.
Donzel Leggett (01:44):
Thank you, william, and thank you for the
introduction.
You brought tears to my eyes,literally.
Intro (01:52):
Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed
to help leaders intentionallygrow and thrive.
Here is your host author andleadership and executive coach,
dr William Attaway.
Host author and leadership andexecutive coach, dr William.
Dr. William Attaway (02:07):
Attaway as we were putting it together.
I was excited.
I was like man I can't wait forthis conversation.
Donzel Leggett (02:18):
This is going to add so much value.
I hope so.
You know one of my passions istrying to help people.
As you mentioned, I wrote thebook Make your Destiny Happen
and you know the main driverwriting that book was to give
everyone the opportunity to maketheir life dreams happen and to
ensure that they also achievepersonal well-being and balance
in their lives.
Dr. William Attaway (02:34):
So, yeah, I'm really happy to be here to
share is often discussed butrarely experienced, and so I'm
looking forward to this, to thisconversation.
I want to start with yousharing a little bit of your
story with our listeners.
I hit a few of the high points,but how did you get started?
Donzel Leggett (02:55):
Yeah, you know, I'm originally from Key West,
florida.
Not everyone thinks thatthere's actually people who are
from Key West, but uh, but I'mactually from Key West, born and
raised from Key West.
But I'm actually from Key Westborn and raised.
I go back several generations.
My great, great greatgrandparents came over from the
(03:16):
Bahamas in the 1860s, so ourfamily been there a long time
and so a lot of growing up therewas kind of on an island, but
similar to any other small townacross the globe where
grandparents are around,great-grandparents, cousins,
aunties.
So I grew up with a lot offamily, a lot of people watching
out for me, got a lot ofguidance.
But the difference in Key Westfrom a lot of other small towns
is because it was a touristattraction.
(03:37):
We had people from all over theworld coming through and it was
a big naval base, a largemilitary presence.
We have people from all overthe country there.
So I got exposed to a lot ofdifferent people, a lot of
different languages, cultures,everything, and that really
shaped me quite a bit.
I left there when I was 17, wentto the Midwest to Purdue
(03:59):
University and was therestudying but also playing
college football.
I was there for four years Iplayed football.
I was there for four years Iplayed, then I stayed on for a
couple more years, got mymaster's degree and met my wife.
We've been married for 31 years.
It'll be 31 in September.
We have four adult kids youngadults, so they range from 32
(04:22):
down to 24.
And you know it's been a greatride.
As you mentioned, I had a longcareer in corporate America and
the biggest thing that I learnedthroughout my career that
really impacted a lot of thestories in the book are
represented from my career.
(04:43):
No matter where you meet peopleand where you engage them around
the country, around the worldand I work with people ranging
from Southern Ohio to the EastCoast, the West Coast, missouri,
or around the world, whetherit's in Mexico or Canada, china,
malaysia, greece, australiapeople all want the same thing,
(05:05):
you know.
They want to be viewed asindividuals, not as numbers.
They want to feel like someonecares about them.
They want to take care of theirfamilies and they want the
opportunity to have agency overtheir lives.
And if you can connect withpeople and you spend the time to
do that, even if you don'tspeak the same language, they
(05:26):
can feel it, they can understandit and it crosses across all
these boundaries that we believeare up.
That keeps us apart.
If you really care about people, you want to help them achieve
those things.
Not just for them, but themagical thing is for the
organization, the overall goalyou're trying to strive for.
(05:47):
So that's how I was able to getsuch great results at the same
time help transform people'slives, and so I want to take
that, put that in this book.
But that's kind of what I'm allabout.
Dr. William Attaway (05:59):
I often say that one of the best ways to
impact your bottom line is toview the people that you lead on
your team as actual 3D humanbeings, not as cogs in a machine
, and it resonates so deeplywith what you're saying because
I believe that is a way to makea dramatic difference.
You talk in your book aboutcreating a life plan.
(06:20):
That's an interesting phrase.
I'm curious how do you definethat?
And for the listeners who arewondering, how do they get
started creating that?
Donzel Leggett (06:30):
Yeah, you know, life plan to me is the strategic
plan of your life.
It's the guide path of whereyou want to go and most people,
like you mentioned, I've ledorganizations over 10,000 people
.
I've had one-on-ones or smallgroup discussions with over
10,000 people.
Literally I've spent over50,000 hours in those
(06:53):
discussions, just one-on-one.
If I take it into small groups,to consider even outside of
work, you know 10,000 hours tomaster a skill.
I've done that 10 times, I mean.
So I know I know people, right,I'm not a psychologist, I'm not
saying I'm anything like that,but I do know people from all
over the world and the one thingI could tell you for sure is
(07:16):
when I would ask them thequestion where do you want to be
in 20 years?
Less than 10% could answer thatquestion.
Oh, my goodness, less than 10%.
Most people don't sit down andreally think about where they
want to go long-term and whetherthat will make them happy or
not.
You have to bring thingstogether your professional, your
(07:40):
family, your financial, yourcommunity and your
wellbeing-being all together tosay this is where I want to go,
right.
And so when I was about 24years old and I was just
starting my professional career24, 25, you know, some things
happened in my life and I saidyou know, I have to think about
(08:01):
what I want to do and where Iwant to go.
My wife and I were not marriedat the time.
I wanted to make sure sheunderstood and I want to know
where she wanted to go.
So I had this idea of draftingthis life plan and I imagined
okay, let me look 40 years downthe line to when I'm 65.
What would I have?
What do I want to be doing atthat time?
What would I want to accomplish?
(08:22):
How do I want to feel as I lookback in those 40 years?
Am I proud?
Am I sad?
Am I regretful?
Those are the questions I askmyself.
Those are hard questions.
People don't like answeringthose questions.
Right, but I did that.
And then I started breaking itdown and okay, professional,
(08:42):
financial, family, what I wantto do in the community, and how
does all that make me feel, andI started making tweaks because
I wanted to make sure I couldlook back and say, yeah, I feel
good about that.
That's what started the idea ofmy life plan.
And once I had that vision, Istarted working back in
five-year increments Okay, whatwould I have been doing at 60?
(09:02):
What about 55?
So that's kind of how the lifeplan came about.
So I've had this life plan, youknow, for geez.
Now it's been 30 years at least, and I've actually on track.
Now I've made some adjustmentshere and there because the world
changes.
And that's the great thingabout the Destiny Development
Delta model it's all based onthe fact that the world is
(09:23):
dynamic, and so are you, and weall need to make adjustments.
But it's always better to havea game plan and make adjustments
than to have no plan at all.
And then you're kind of justlike scrambling right, and so
that's kind of where it camefrom.
And you know I talk about thebook.
Where do you get started?
And I just kind of mentioned it.
It all starts with you have tobe authentic with yourself and a
(09:45):
lot of times I think we getinto a mode, especially today,
with social media having such abig impact and being so
available to us, it tends tomake us think what we should be
doing, what we should look like.
You know what we should thinklike, instead of put that down
and say, no, who am I really?
(10:06):
What do I really want?
It's okay to have weaknesses,it's okay to not be perfect.
It's okay because I have toembrace that, because I need to
factor that in to what I want todo long-term.
And once you have thatauthentic thought about yourself
, then you can start feelingconfident in yourself and be
assured in yourself.
Then you can start that processof thinking again.
(10:27):
Okay.
And if 40 years down the line istoo long for you to think,
think 10 years, think 20 years,but really sit down and think
okay, what, where do I want tobe?
How do I want to feel?
At least start there.
That's good.
And so in the book I have amodel that takes people through
this process of how to get there.
But that's the number one thingI always try to tell any young
(10:50):
person, anyone that's closer tomy age, it's never too late.
No, we don't know.
I don't know if I'm going tolive another minute.
I mean, I literally could havecardiac arrest right now.
That could happen, but I cantell.
If it did, I'm not regretfulbecause I know I'm on track to
where I want to be and I wanteveryone to feel that Right.
So anyway, that's a long answerto your question, but you can
(11:10):
see I got a lot of passion aboutthis.
Dr. William Attaway (11:12):
Well, no doubt, and rightly so, and I
love that phrase no regrets.
You know, if this is it noregrets?
Because you had a plan andyou've been executing that plan.
It's impossible to hit abullseye that you can't see,
that you don't define, and whatyou have done is increased
clarity, which I think is one ofthe kindest things you can do
(11:35):
for yourself, and now you helpother people to do that very
thing.
Absolutely For the listenerswho are like well, I have
somewhat of a plan, I have anidea or a sense, but I feel like
I'm not making traction.
Why do you think that is?
Why do you think people fail attheir version of what you're
describing?
Donzel Leggett (11:55):
Yeah, again, it starts with that have they
really spent the time to definea real plan?
You have to have a real planthat you're very confident.
A lot of times people have aplan they think is a good plan,
but it's usually based onsomeone else.
Oh, my dad did this, so I'll dothat.
Oh man, I read about Elon Musk.
(12:17):
He's doing this.
I should do that.
He does these.
Let me do that kind of a thingversus wait a minute.
What about me?
What am I really wanting to doand what's my strengths?
What do I need to get better?
Let me put that on paper.
So that's the number one thingis just doing that work, as I
mentioned earlier.
But the second thing is thediscipline to actually
consistently make it happen.
(12:39):
No-transcript why?
(13:12):
Because they're the leader oftheir life and what I want
people to recognize.
You have to be the leader ofyour life.
So the first piece istransforming people to take
charge of their lives, asleaders know themselves,
understand what they want, builda strategic plan.
But then the next piece isoperationalize that leadership,
build the discipline to actuallymake it happen, which is hard,
(13:34):
tedious work Every day you gotto live up to.
Okay, I have to do this, this.
So we have a plan.
I have a process that basicallyidentifies here's how you keep
yourself motivated and inspired.
Here's how you make sure you'reclear on what you want to do.
Here's how you make sure thatyou have a plan.
That's everyday actions I willtake.
And then here's what I'm goingto do to keep making myself
(13:56):
better Because, as I mentioned,the world changes.
It gets tougher, it gets harder, storms come.
You got to be better andprepared to stand strong.
That's where people tend tofall down.
It's the execution, becausethat's the tedious part and we
tend to fall off.
It's kind of like, you know,when all of us have our new
year's resolutions and we're allhappy and I follow about it on
(14:17):
January 1st and then by February15th, we're already worried
about, I guess, tax season'scoming and I got to forget about
that stuff.
You got to stay focused.
Dr. William Attaway (14:26):
That's really good.
So, good man, you know youwrite in the book about the
importance of creating aconnection with the people that
you work with, people that youmeet, but not just any
connection, a personalconnection.
Donzel Leggett (14:41):
Yes.
Dr. William Attaway (14:42):
This grabbed my attention and I'm
curious.
You must have a lot ofconnections.
Yes, this grabbed my attentionand I'm curious.
You must have a lot ofconnections that you have built
through the years, a whole lotof relationships.
How do you ensure personallythat each one feels meaningful?
Donzel Leggett (15:01):
You know I'm kind of saying a lot of the same
things, but again, it allstarts with authenticity.
You know one thing if people,if someone, asked me to describe
myself, I'll tell you whatpeople would say about me If I'm
not around.
If you ask them what aboutDownsville, they're going to
tell you I'm authentic.
You know, they know that whatI'm saying to them, they can
(15:21):
believe it.
They can trust me.
I never I'm not trying to puton a front, I'm not trying to be
someone.
I'm not.
I'm authentic.
I wear my emotions on my sleeve.
So you know, you can tell howI'm feeling.
I don't hide that.
I want you to feel that rightand I'm willing to share love.
I'm willing to share love.
(15:43):
I believe that everyone hassomething good in them.
I really do, and there'sseveral stories in the book
where I'm interacting withsomeone who you would think we'd
be enemies.
But we become very close andthey're big supporters.
And the reason is again, whenthey meet me, no matter what
(16:04):
their first impression is,pretty quickly they say, ok,
this guy's authentic, he's nottrying to pretend like he's
somebody, he's not.
They see that they can feel myemotions.
That's why I have so manystories where I'm interacting
with people and I still havepeople today that don't speak
English and I don't speak theirlanguage, but we're close.
You know that we're close, andthe reason is because they can
(16:26):
feel it and that's what theytell people.
We can feel that he cares aboutus and so, whether I'm on a
Zoom call with them or a phonecall with them, or if I'm in
their presence but onlyavailable for, you know, a
couple of minutes, I go out ofmy way to make sure they can
feel and see that I see them asindividual, I see them as a
(16:49):
person, I recognize their valueand I love them and, and that's
that's his best work for me, andand, uh, you know now, will it
work for everyone?
I believe it will.
If you're authentic, if youreally care about people, um,
and if you really want them tobe successful, they'll feel it.
You know, there's a story Iused to.
(17:10):
One time I was in Brazil and Iwas there and I met this guy
once.
He was in a manufacturing plant, didn't speak any English.
I spoke a little Portuguese.
We were able to communicate alittle bit, but I didn't speak
great Portuguese at the time, begreat Portuguese at the time.
But I remember telling him,through a translator, how
important it was for him to besafe in everything he did in
(17:30):
that plant, because he had toldme that he had you just had a
little baby, and I said thatbaby is counting on you, not
just today, tomorrow, but when,when that baby grows to be
ayear-old woman, you have to behere.
So he could feel that.
So six months later I went back.
This guy wasn't even workingthat day.
(17:52):
He heard I was coming, came inon his own time to give me a
magnet picture of his baby oh mygoodness and tell me how much
what I said to him impacted him,because I said it out of love
and care as a dad, not as a vicepresident and just a guy
working on the floor, but as afather, and he wanted me to know
(18:15):
how that touched him.
That's how you build theseconnections.
That's why it's important.
Dr. William Attaway (18:21):
That's so good.
You know, we talk on the show alot about the importance of the
people that you lead, feelingheard, feeling seen, feeling
known, and, as a leader, it'sour responsibility to create an
environment where those thingsare true.
Donzel Leggett (18:35):
Yes.
Dr. William Attaway (18:36):
But what you just described is a whole
different level.
It's creating an environment sothat they feel loved.
Yes, these are core pieces ofwhat it means to be human.
Yes, and you create thatenvironment for the people that
you meet through the words thatyou speak, the attention that
you give them.
I love this man.
(18:57):
I think this is something thatevery leader listening can take
and go execute today, right now.
This does not cost you a nickel, but it does take
intentionality.
It's not just going to happen.
Intro (19:11):
That's right.
Dr. William Attaway (19:12):
In the book you talk about the importance
of mentors and mentees.
You have mentored so manydifferent people and I know you
continue to do that to this day.
Yes, what are some of themistakes that you see coming
from the people that you mentor?
Donzel Leggett (19:28):
Biggest mistake that I see is again defining
their success in life by whatthey see others do, not by what
they truly want.
Truly want and this is againthe key that I just want to
continue to impress on people isit's so easy in this day and
(19:48):
age to be wrapped up inexpectations of society, and
it's very easy for people to dothat.
I mean it's you know.
You look at a lot of stats,they've done many studies, you
know who's willing to reallystep up, and you know and lead
something versus follow.
It's one of the reasons not alot of people want to do that.
(20:10):
It's one of the reasons why,when they do a top 10 list of
the scariest things for someoneyou know somewhere in top 10 is
going to be public speakingbecause you got to stand up in
front of everyone else.
And what I try to help peopleunderstand is look, I'm not
telling you got to get up and gospeak in front of thousands of
people, but what you do have todo is take charge of your own
life and don't be afraid, youknow, because ultimately it's
going to be on you anyway.
(20:31):
So if you, if you're trying tomake decisions based on what you
think others expect.
All right, you know you'renever going to be happy.
And, yeah, you can look aroundand see that there are.
There are people who arebillionaires, who treat people
terribly.
I just saw there there's a guywho's a software company, just
bought this software company andhe basically is telling all of
(20:51):
his employees that if you're notprepared to work a minimum 80
hour week work week minimum,he's going to buy you out.
He wants them to understandtheir life is not their family,
their life is work and gettingthis software company up and
running.
Right, he can do that and I'msure there's business people say
, oh, I applaud this guy.
You know good for him that atleast he's telling people up
front.
I'll give him that he's atleast telling people up front.
(21:14):
But what we always lose sight ofis we don't know how happy this
guy is.
You know people talk aboutSteve Jobs.
He was a great guy, but hewasn't a great guy to work with
and work for.
So do I think he was a happyguy.
I don't know.
All I know is what I want andwhat makes me happy.
(21:35):
And what makes me happy is, yes, striving to achieve goals I
have, but being there for mykids when they had sporting
events.
Yes, you know being there.
So my kids never they hadsporting events.
You know being there, so mykids never could say I wasn't
home.
You know making sure that mydad, I was going to take my dad
to an NBA finals game.
You know, last year he passedaway.
This past January, february.
(21:56):
You know he was 88, but I gotto do those things.
So am I sad he's gone?
Yes, but do I feel great that Iwas able to do those things
with him?
Absolutely.
So the biggest thing I want mymentees to understand is it has
to start with what are youtrying to accomplish?
And if you ask them, what's thenumber one question?
I always ask them every timeI'm meeting with them what are
(22:17):
you trying to accomplish?
How does this fit into what youwant and what you want for your
family?
Intro (22:23):
Is this making?
Donzel Leggett (22:23):
you happy and you want and what you want for
your family, is this making youhappy?
And if it's not, then youshould move and do something
different.
You should figure that out,even if that meant someone on my
team leaving the company.
If they're not happy and it'snot what they want I'd rather
them go somewhere where they'rehappy.
I'd rather them pursuesomething that makes them feel
better, because I know thateventually they're going to talk
to someone else and they'regoing to say you know what?
(22:45):
Donzel listened to me, donzelcared about me.
He wasn't just saying that tomeet his own goals.
He was saying that because hereally did care.
And if that's, they bringsomeone to me, want to come work
with me at some point in time,because they know that my
objective yeah, we're trying tohit our goals while you're here,
but I'm caring about you and Iwant you to live the life that
(23:05):
you want for yourself.
So that's the biggest piece ofadvice I'd give to mentees
Figure out what you want, builda plan to get there.
That's what the book's allabout I got my proof here, man.
Dr. William Attaway (23:17):
So good.
Well, and I think you'vecircled around so many times
around this idea I think it's sogood that you have agency.
Every person listening hasagency.
You get to choose right.
And it really is a veryseparate place from what we see
so often in our culture, whichis this idea of a victim mindset
(23:39):
, that I'm just the victim of mycircumstances, victim of
everything in my life, of otherpeople.
I'm just the victim of mycircumstances, victim of
everything in my life, of otherpeople.
You are presenting a verydifferent idea, that you get to
choose, and I love that, Iresonate with that and I affirm
that and I hope our listenersare grabbing onto this and
understanding this is truth,this is your reality.
You get to choose.
Donzel Leggett (24:01):
You get to choose.
We all have agency.
And hey, don't get me wrong,there are some people who are in
a very difficult circumstancesmuch more difficult
circumstances than we are andtheir agency is limited.
But what am I trying to do?
I'm saying, hey, if I can besuccessful and if I can make it,
what can I do to set up aframework to help those folks?
(24:23):
How can I inspire someone elseout there who might be able to
help someone who can't helpthemselves?
So it's on us Use your agencyto achieve what you want and to
make yourself and put yourselfin a position where you can help
someone else.
Absolutely.
That's what we're trying to do.
And again, what does that do?
It makes me happy, it makes mefulfilled.
When I know that I've helpedsomeone, I feel so much better
(24:44):
about life.
Man, Again, if I have a problemand I'm gone tomorrow, I know
that I was on track and I helpedpeople Like that father that
came to me that day in thatplane and brought that magnet
and told me Donzo, I'm givingyou this magnet because I want
you to always remember theimpact you had on at least one
guy one guy and one little girl,at least us and I can multiply
(25:07):
that, but I know, I'm confidentthat one person, that feeling,
that's like winning the SuperBowl.
Man, yeah, that's exactly right.
So that's what I want listenersto hear.
Go ahead.
Dr. William Attaway (25:16):
Yeah, it's the difference in trying to be a
reservoir of everything thatcomes into your life, of all the
experiences and wisdom that yougain, or choosing to be a
conduit and allowing that toflow not just to you but through
you for the benefit of thosearound you.
Donzel Leggett (25:33):
Absolutely.
Dr. William Attaway (25:33):
And I think both of us have devoted our
lives to being that conduit, andin your book, you are all about
pouring this out for thebenefit of the readers,
absolutely.
And today, for those who arelistening, I want to dive into
you for just a second.
You know we've talked a lotabout your story and your
journey and what you're doing,but you have to lead at a
(25:56):
different level today than youdid five, ten years ago, and
that same thing is going to betrue five, ten years from now.
You're going to have tocontinue to level up your team,
your clients, your family.
They're going to need you tolead at a higher level in the
years to come.
How do you stay on top of yourgame?
How do you level up with thenew leadership skills that your
(26:21):
team and your clients andeverybody around you is going to
need you to have in the days tocome?
Donzel Leggett (26:26):
Yeah, man, it's always challenging myself to get
better and you know, I do thinkI mentioned technology a couple
of times and so I don't wantpeople to think I'd say ignore
technology.
That's not what I'm saying.
I'm just saying don't use allyour time there.
I mean in the book I mentioned.
I think on average, most peoplespend like two and a half hours
on social media a day and about16 minutes or so on just like
(26:52):
reading or learning.
You know what I mean.
On their own time.
Dr. William Attaway (26:54):
Oh my goodness yeah.
Donzel Leggett (26:56):
So I'm just saying, maybe reverse that, if
you can a little bit right.
Intro (27:00):
So that's what.
Donzel Leggett (27:01):
I try to do, but , but right now I will say that,
look, I understand where theworld is going and you know,
generative AI is thedevelopments that are happening
are.
You know it's multiplicative ona daily basis and so I have to
(27:21):
get better at that.
I have to understand that.
I have to understand how ourfinancial markets are being
impacted by that, by Bitcoin.
I have to understand how, youknow, we're going back and forth
in terms of global strategiesversus nationalist strategies.
All these things are importantto understand because they will
(27:45):
impact people.
You know, general of AI isgoing to it's already impacting
millions of people, and so everyday, I try to spend at least 30
minutes to an hour justlearning about AI,
cryptocurrency, the impact ofthese things on marketing, on
leadership, on financial markets, because for me to be able to
(28:07):
provide context, it has to becontext in this world that's
changing dramatically.
So I'd say that's the numberone thing that I'm doing right
now, because that's the biggestchange.
You know, over the course of mycareer I would say I haven't
seen a change this significant,and I've seen AI has been around
for a long time.
It's just that it's taken, youknow, decades.
(28:29):
You know I remember putting inautomated systems, you know,
back in the early 90s, that usea very rudimentary form of AI to
control the process.
It's just taken 40 years forthem to get to a point now where
you know they can do thingslike it's doing today, and I
wouldn't say think, but it'scertainly the ability to compute
(28:52):
and leverage all theinformation on the internet to
quickly come up with answers,come up with processes.
It's pretty, it's impressive,and's it's impressive, and, and
so I think, as leaders, we allhave to have that context,
especially for the youngerpeople coming up, because
they've grown up with this andit's, it's.
(29:16):
It can be a positive, but it canbe a negative.
I mean, one quick stat I'llgive you is you know they talked
to all the top universities,did a study, asked their, their
faculty administrators how muchdo they?
Talked to all the topuniversities, did a study, asked
their faculty administratorshow much do they think students
are cheating with AI?
Then they asked the students, Ithink the faculty came back,
said 50%.
The students said 90%, cool,yeah, whoa.
So think about how many ofthese students really coming out
(29:40):
really know what they're doingyou know and just little pieces
of context that we we just haveto understand and know and be
able to leverage.
I mean the definition ofknowledge.
They asked one really smart kidat an Ivy league school what's
the definition of knowledge forus?
It would have been that we knowthe information.
Right, his answer was no, Iknow where to find the
(30:02):
information.
Yeah, I know how to get it.
I know how to you know type init.
So it's a big difference.
So, to lead in this type ofenvironment, we all have to
continue to evolve.
Right now, my evolution is Igot to get better at the
technology developments.
Dr. William Attaway (30:16):
That's so good and I think that's a
challenge for all of us.
You know there was a day intime where I feel like I was on
the cutting edge.
Technologically, that is anever-moving target.
And as the miles, on my odometercontinue to climb.
I find that a little morechallenging than I used to.
Absolutely, I think that's agood challenge for us all.
Donzel, I'm so thrilled andhonored that you would share
(30:39):
your time with us today and somany of the insights from your
book.
I know folks are going to wantto stay connected to you,
continue to learn from you andgrab a copy of this book.
What is the best way for themto do that?
Donzel Leggett (30:51):
Yeah, so we have a website.
It's the name of the company isDestiny Development Delta LLC.
Our website isdestinydevdeltacom.
But the book Make your DestinyHappen.
But the book Make your DestinyHappen will be available
starting Tuesday next week, soAugust 25th.
You can certainly buy the book.
I'd love for you to buy it andhear from you Put a review up as
(31:14):
well.
That would certainly help me.
But if you just type inmakeyourdestinyhappencom,
that'll take you directly to ourwebsite.
You know we're on social media.
I'm on LinkedIn.
You know, reach out to me onLinkedIn.
There's not a lot of Don'sLeggits out there, so my son and
me, that's pretty much it.
So you'll find me if you searchfor me there, if you search for
Make your Destiny Happen.
You know we're also on Facebookand Instagram as well.
(31:37):
I have a YouTube channel.
I have a podcast that is a veryshort.
I call it the petite podcast,the Make your Destiny Happen
petite podcast.
It's only five or six minutesper episode and I take a lesson
from the book and then I bringit to life with a story and in
this first season I'm using Imentioned my dad passed away
earlier this year.
I'm using stories from my dadto illustrate these lessons, and
(32:01):
I think the fourth episode justcame out yesterday.
So anyway, there's a lot ofdifferent ways to reach out, but
just remember make your destinyhappen.
You put that in, or you justput in my name, donzel Leggett.
There's not a lot of us outthere, you'll find me.
Dr. William Attaway (32:15):
I love it.
We'll have all those links inthe show notes, Donzel.
Thank you so much for your timetoday.
Donzel Leggett (32:25):
Thank you, william.
I tell you you are a greatinterviewer.
The context that you brought tothis discussion just made me
even more passionate about thetopic, so this is probably the
most enjoyable podcast that I'vebeen on, and I really
appreciate what you are doingfor the audience.
Thank you, well, I'm honored bythat.
Thank you, man.
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