Inspiration Station - Leadership Rules 101

What does authentic leadership truly look like? It starts with a hard look in the mirror, not with comparisons to others around you.

The difference between genuine leadership and merely holding a leadership position lies in three critical practices. First, authentic leaders invest time in truly knowing their people—not just names and titles, but histories, challenges, and potential. Many supposed leaders focus more on impressing their superiors than developing their teams, creating environments of hollow, performative care rather than genuine connection.

Second, real leadership demands relationship development. "The stronger the relationship, the greater the potential for leadership." When leaders fail to duplicate themselves in others, it reveals a white-knuckle grip on position rather than a commitment to organizational growth. Contrast this with General Norman Schwarzkopf's practice of "walking slowly through crowds"—deliberately slowing his pace to create space for meaningful interactions with those under his command.

Perhaps most revealing is the podcast host's personal story of leadership failure. After delivering an exceptional presentation, his longtime mentor responded to his resignation with, "I didn't know you had that in you"—exposing years of missed opportunity for genuine mentorship. This powerful example demonstrates how leadership without prayer, investment, and genuine care ultimately fails everyone involved.

If you're too busy to appreciate the small details of people's lives, you might be enslaved to systems rather than practicing authentic leadership. Share your own leadership successes and failures in the comments—we're listening and would love to continue this conversation with you. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more insights on leadership and personal growth.

• Real leaders take time to assess who they're leading – understanding their history, talents, and challenges
• Authentic leadership requires developing genuine relationships with those you lead
• True leaders duplicate themselves in others rather than clinging to their positions
• Effective leaders initiate connection rather than waiting for others to approach them
• General Schwarzkopf's practice of "walking slowly through crowds" demonstrates valuing connection with people
• Personal story reveals how leadership fails when leaders don't truly know or invest in those they mentor
• Leaders who are too busy for the details of people's lives are likely not authentic leaders

Please show some love on our YouTube channel and hit the subscribe button. Share your leadership stories in the comments - whether successes or failures - we'd love to hear from you.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
On this episode of the Inspiration Station, I'm
going to give you three waysthat leadership, if it's real
and authentic, how it shouldlook Don't look at your boss,
don't look at your mama, don'tlook at your pastor.
Look directly in the mirror atyou.
Once you lead yourself, thenyou can lead everybody else.
Let's get into it.
Welcome back to the All PurposePod for an all-purpose life.

(00:59):
Wherever you are and howeveryou're listening today, call me
Mr U in the Inspiration Station.
Thanks again for making us partof your week.
We definitely appreciate it,man.
We get in love with you guys onsocial media platforms.
Our YouTube channel is amazing.
Thank you, guys, for whatyou're doing and for supporting
us and supporting all that we'reputting our hands forth to
accomplish and all the changesthat are going on with our brand
.
Man, we just thank you forsticking with us.

(01:19):
Thank you for believing us.
We definitely, definitely,definitely receive it and accept
it and appreciate it.
I want to talk to you aboutleadership real quick.
I know we talk about leadershipa lot, but if you look at the
world around us and even theworld in your neck of the woods,
you see what a lack ofleadership looks like.
You see what fair leadershipcan do to a community, to a city

(01:44):
, to a world.
So, talking about leadership, Ifeel like it's my
responsibility to do that.
These areas have been areaswhere I did not particularly
excel at.
I had to learn how to deal withthose things.
So hopefully my story will helpyou out with what you're trying
to accomplish on yourleadership journey.
So I want to share a few thingsand then share a quick story

(02:07):
that may be good for you.
Maybe it might make you sad.
It might kind of cut to theheart a little bit.
I'm not sure how it's going togo down, but I'm going to share
it anyhow, all right.
So, as far as leadership goes,real leaders are always going to
take the time to assess whothey're leading.
That sounds really simple Incorporate workspaces.

(02:27):
We're taught that.
We're told even in the manual.
We're supposed to take the timeto assess who we're leading,
take the time to look at theirtalents and abilities and skills
and assess fit within theorganization and help them to
become the best not justassociate, but the best person

(02:48):
that can be within the confinesof the organization, just doing
skills and and following tasks.
That's a part of the job, buthonestly, there's so much more
to us as people.
We bring so much more toorganizations.
And I'll tell you what.
The right person makes anorganization skyrocket.
The right person can cause anorganization to soar.

(03:10):
The wrong person can cause anorganization to go down.
So the right person and theright fit, the best use of their
skills and abilities.
It plays a big part in successof wherever they are that
they're serving, whether it bein an organization, in their
church, in their community, onbehalf of their family.
Wherever they're serving andleading, they play a big part in

(03:37):
the success.
So a real leader, an authenticleader, should always take the
time to assess who they'reactually leading.
You'd be surprised.
Many people don't even know whoyou are.
They don't know your history,they don't know what you do,
they don't know what you'redealing with.
They don't know anything aboutyou except they might know your
name and that's it.
And it's not because youhaven't shared, it's because
it's not an emphasis for them,it's not a focus for them.

(04:00):
A lot of people who areinauthentic, fake leaders, are
more concerned with impressingtheir bosses and maintaining
their positions in theorganization and they don't care
about what's happening with thepeople and they don't care.
And when they do care,sometimes it's a fake, a mock
caring.
I'm so sorry to hear thatthey're not really sorry to hear
that, because the emphasis hasbeen on themselves and

(04:23):
impressing people and lookinggood in front of people for
years.
So it kind of speaks to whattheir heart is.
But a real, authentic leadershould never be doing that.
So we take the time to assesswho they're leading.
Also, point number two a realauthentic leader should always
requires the development ofrelationships.
Real leadership always requiresthe development of

(04:44):
relationships.
Real leadership always requiresthe development of
relationships.
The stronger the relationship,the greater the potential for
leadership.
I mean, if anybody that youknow is a leader and they have
not duplicated themselves thananybody else, it tells you all
you need to know.
If they have not I don't meantrain, I'm talking about
duplicate.
That means that everything thatthey know how to do, they're

(05:06):
trying to show somebody how todo it so that they can become a
better leader and begin to growand take the organization to the
next level.
Progress is necessary for anyorganization, I don't care what
it is.
So if a leader is notduplicating him or herself and
other people, you know what thatmeans.
That means they're concernedabout their spot.
They ain't trying to lose theirposition.
They're going to maintain itwith a white knuckle grip and

(05:28):
they don't care who they got tostep on to maintain and keep
what they have.
That's not real leadership.
I mean we have that examplethroughout the Bible constantly.
What real leadership looks like?
The sacrifices that are made byreal, authentic leaders.
Leadership looks like thesacrifices that are made by real
, authentic leaders.
Read it sometime, you might getblessed.
Third point real leaders alwaysinitiate.

(05:50):
What does that mean?
That means that they don't walkaround saying they don't have
time, but they make time.
They initiate the opportunityto connect with those people
that they lead.
I mean this sounds likeelementary stuff, one-on-one

(06:11):
stuff, right, but you'd besurprised how many leaders, in
every facet, in any genre, don'tseem to get that part.
They feel better aboutthemselves as a leader when
somebody comes to them to askfor their help.
They never initiate helping.
They never initiate beingsupportive.
They never initiateencouragement.
They never initiate connectingwith the people who they lead.
It's astounding to me.
How can you lead like that whenyou don't do anything except if

(06:36):
it's reactive?
You don't initiate or spearheadany chances for you not for
everybody else, but for you as aleader, to get to know your
people.
Politicians do it but you cantell it's half-hearted because
they only do it when it's timefor election or re-election and
they start reaching out topeople who are in the community
wanting to hear from them andhear what they think, and they

(06:58):
were doing that all the time,even when they were not being
elected or reelected.
Then that speaks differently.
But a lot of times it's donebecause they want something in
return.
That's not real, authenticleadership.
There's a gentleman by the nameof General Schwarzkopf.
You might remember his name,norman Schwarzkopf.
He was the leader of theCentral Command of Desert Storm

(07:20):
in the Gulf War.
He's known for a lot of things,but one thing he does that I
respect so much he really valuedconnecting with his people and
I think about 1990, I think itwas he started this process or
initiated this process of how heconnected with his people, what

(07:43):
he called walking slowlythrough a crowd.
Whenever he was around hispeople he would walk slower than
normal.
He has a normal fast pace.
He walks slower.
He would spend more time almostmeandering through the crowd of
his people that were servingunder him, just to get to know
them, to talk to them, to learntheir names, hear their stories,

(08:03):
take time and say you know what?
I'm present, I'm here.
I know plenty of leaders whobreeze past folks because they
don't want to be bothered withwhat they have to say, the messy
stuff of their life.
They want to stay as clean andpure as possible and they don't
want to be involved with all ofthe messy complexities of
people's lives.

(08:24):
So they speed through crowds.
They don't want to be bothered.
You don't walk slowly throughthe crowd like this general, who
has all the reasons in theworld to act like that, but he
doesn't.
He wanted to connect.
Connect was important to himand it says a lot about that
because he set an example.
He established a system ofvalue for his people and let

(08:49):
them know that he was there,that he was present, that he had
time for them.
And let them know that he wasthere, that he was present, that
he had time for them.
Sounds simple and sounds like aleadership 101, but it's being
failed on so many levels all thetime.
This is an example and I almosthate telling this story
sometimes because it's rough,but I got to share it.

(09:09):
I shared it on multiplepodcasts, so if you go back in
our first three seasons, you'llhear it once or twice at least.
I was part of this ministry Hugeministry I'm talking about
international.
It was huge, right and I waspart of a ministry I won't say
which one but I was asked toserve in a more public capacity

(09:36):
within this ministry.
That was my first time beingasked to do this, even though I
was there for years, almost fouryears.
It was my first time beingasked to step up into this role
and to do this particular publicministry, if you will.
Well, I did it in such a wayand I believe this was all God,

(10:01):
not me, but I did this in such away that it was considered
outstanding.
It was considered amazing orawesome, whatever phrase you
want to use and at that time Ibelieve that the Lord was saying
it was time for me to move outof the state and move to a
different city.
So I already had the letterwritten and everything.
This was before I walked intothe assignment.

(10:22):
So after the assignment wasdone, there were rave reviews.
The congregation was reallyexcited about it.
The pastors thought it was oneof the best things they've heard
, excuse me so I went to myleader after the service was
done and gave him my lettersaying I got to resign.
I believe God is saying for meto move.

(10:43):
I got to go.
I don't want to, but I got todo this.
I got to be obedient, and heread the letter.
I sat there with him so he canread it, because I want to just
respect him that much.
Don't just drop it off and justleave.
I wanted to give him a chance tosay whatever he wanted to say
to me.
If he wanted to validate me orencourage me or shoot me out, I
wanted to make sure he had theopportunity to do either one.

(11:04):
So I stood with him while heread the letter.
It wasn't long, but it says howmuch I respected him and
appreciated him mentoring me andteaching me, him and
appreciated him.
You know, uh, mentoring me andteaching me.
Uh, I didn't lie, but it wasroom for growth there, but I
just wanted to be kind andrespectful to him.
Uh, his words to me were wordsI'll never forget all the days

(11:25):
of my life.
I still talk about it with mywife every once in a while.
This is the mentor whose role itwas to bring out the best in me
, to duplicate himself in me, toteach me, to train me, help me
become the minister that he was,and even beyond that, and maybe
even go further than he's gone.
That's what real, authenticleadership does, or that's what

(11:46):
they should do.
His response at the readingletter he put his head down and
he said after what you did today, I said I didn't know you had
that in you.
I can't help you if you don'tunderstand what that meant and
where that sat.

(12:06):
He said I didn't know you hadthat in you.
What he just saw, what he justwitnessed In all the years I was
there with him at his side,learning, growing, carrying his
bag, doing everything he wantedme to do.
Excuse me, he said I didn'tknow you had that in you.
What I just saw In my mind.
I'm like do you pray for me?
Have you been praying for me atall?

(12:27):
Did God reveal anything to you?
And it changed my, it locked myworld and it showed me what can
happen when leadership is noton their game, when leadership
is not in prayer for its people,when leadership just want to
have followers that don't carewho they are and what they're
going through and what part theyplay in your success as a real,

(12:49):
authentic leader.
If you're too busy to appreciatethe small details of people's
lives and people who follow you,you're probably slave to a
system and you're probablyfalling short of real, authentic
leadership.
You should have more time toget deeper, but it is what it is
.
Drop your comments in thecomments and share a story with

(13:12):
me.
If you have a story aboutleadership, whether it's a
success or failure, love to hearthe stories.
Love to respond back to you assoon as I can and hear your
thoughts.
But thanks again for listeningto the Inspiration Station and
the Call Me Mr U.
Please show some love on ourYouTube channel and hit the
subscribe button.
Thanks again, guys.
We'll be right back.