Credible Leadership: Gain Trust and Inspire Others

In this episode, we’re digging into the second pillar of the Army’s leadership model: KNOW. Now, this isn’t just military theory—it’s a practical reminder that leadership isn’t about winging it. It’s about showing up prepared, grounded, and equipped. Whether you’re in uniform, running a business, or leading in your home, the principles are the same.

Leadership starts with who you are—your character, your values. That’s the BE. But once you’ve got that foundation, you need to sharpen what you KNOW—the skills and knowledge that make you credible and effective. This is where competence is built, and trust is earned.

To master the “KNOW” side of leadership, you’ve got to build in four key areas: Interpersonal, Conceptual, Technical, and Tactical skills. These aren’t just categories—they’re tools you carry every day. They help you lead with clarity, confidence, and relevance in a fast-changing world. Let’s break them down.

At the heart of leadership is the ability to connect with people. I’m talking about real connection—not just giving orders or checking boxes. This means listening, asking the right questions, and learning what drives the people around you.

If you want to build trust, get out of your office. Walk the floor. Ask your team what matters to them, how their job fits into the bigger picture, and what gets them fired up—or frustrated. People aren’t problems to be solved—they’re relationships to be built. And those relationships? They’re your force multipliers.

Leadership is a thinking game. It requires mental agility—being able to step back, look at the big picture, and make sense of complex, high-stress situations.

This includes critical thinking—spotting your own blind spots and questioning your assumptions. It’s creative thinking—asking, “What if we did this differently?” And it’s sound judgment—the ability to make the hard calls when the pressure’s on. No amount of skill can replace the power of good judgment forged through reflection and experience.

You don’t need to do everyone’s job—but you do need to understand it. You should know the systems, tools, and processes your team relies on. If you're leading a creative team, learn the basics of the software they use. If you oversee logistics, understand how the supply chain actually moves.

When you understand the tools, you earn credibility. And more importantly, you can make better decisions. This technical foundation strengthens your tactical edge.

This is where the rubber meets the road—decision-making in real time, under pressure. Tactical leadership isn’t theory—it’s action. It’s knowing how to move when the path isn’t clear and making calls when there’s no time to phone a friend.

The best way to build tactical skill is through experience—real or simulated. Get into environments where the stakes are high. Test yourself. Learn what it feels like to make decisions when everything’s on the line. Over time, you’ll start recognizing patterns, trusting your instincts, and leading with confidence—even in chaos.

Here’s the deal: competence grows with responsibility. The more people you lead, the more sharpened your skills need to be. You don’t “arrive” as a leader—you keep growing.

So how do you build that growth into your life? Try this:

• Seek Feedback – Don’t lead in isolation. Invite input. Ask people you trust, “Where can I grow?”

• Study and Reflect – Make reflection a daily practice. Think through decisions. Learn from outcomes.

• Master the Tools – Learn your trade. Stay sharp. Stay relevant.

• Train Under Pressure – Volunteer for the hard things. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.

Leadership is preparation. It's not just about knowing what to do—it's about being the kind of leader who’s ready when it counts. When you combine who you are with what you know, you build trust. And when people trust

Episode Transcript

Tim Staton (00:00):
Hey, and welcome back to another episode.
If you don't know by now and if you're new listening here, welcome to the show.
My name is Tim and today we're going to dive into the second part of the Army's leadership framework.
Be, no do with no right.
This isn't just a military thing, it's a leadership thing.
This model is built on three be, know and do.

(00:21):
In our last episode we talked about being which is who you are at your core.
Your characters and your values that form your foundation.
This is the basis of your leadership.
The stronger your self identity, the stronger you know who you are, the better you're going
to be when you move into the no phase.
Today we're moving into the no phase.

(00:43):
These are the skills and knowledge that make up leadership in the real time.
Whether you're in uniform, in the boardroom, or building your own leadership identity, the concepts
we're going to cover today are universal.
We'll break them down into four core domains.
Interpersonal, conceptual, technical and tactical.
And we're going to walk through them and apply them to wherever you need to lead.

(01:06):
This is Tim Staton with Tim stating the obvious.
What is this podcast about? It's simple.
You are entitled to great leadership.
Everywhere you go, whether it's to church, whether it's to work, whether it's at your house,
you are entitled to great leadership.
And so in this podcast we take leadership principles and theories and and turn them into everyday, relatable and usable advice.

Disclaimer (01:29):
And a quick disclaimer. This show process or service by trademark, trademark, manufacturer otherwise
does not necessarily constitute an apply the endorsement of anyone that I employed by or favors them in representation.
The views are expressed here in my show, are my own expressed and do not necessarily state or
reflect those of any employer.

Tim Staton (01:40):
So no just isn't about how many degrees you hold or how many books you've read. It's about your competency.
At its core, it's the knowledge and skills that help you show up ready, relevant and reliable
every single day with when you show up.
And this framework puts it into four domains.
Interpersonal, which is knowing how to connect with people.

(02:03):
Conceptual understanding ideas, solving problems and making sound decisions.
Technical mastering the tools and equipment in your field.
This is your specialized knowledge that we talked about in many other episodes before.
Then there's Tactical making decisions under pressure and knowing how to apply doctrine in real life.
This isn't just like a static checklist that you just check them off and you're done. Competence grows with responsibility.

(02:28):
I'm going to say that again, because it's super important. Competency grows with responsibility.
What you need to know at an entry level job is not the same thing that you need to know at the
executive level of a job. Those things grow exponentially.
And as you go up the ladder and as you go up in leadership roles and experience, then more is expected of you.

(02:51):
So you never stop learning and you never stop sharpening your edges.
So let's go into the four domains a little bit more detail.
So your interpersonal skills, right?
It all starts with people.
Leaders must understand how to influence others.
The best way to do that are by listening to people, communicating and building trust.
If you're not going out of your office and talking to people and asking them questions about

(03:13):
what they do, who they are, what they do on the weekend, what's important to them, what's, what
values do they have really get to listen to what they say and then connect with them on, on those things, right?
So last episode we talked about charisma and this goes into that, right?
So you got to talk to people, you got to build that interpersonal skill, you got to communicate.

(03:36):
Listening and communicating are two different things.
Listening is your ears in your mind, receiving and hearing and then asking feedback questions.
Communicating is a two way street dialogue where you're going back and forth, either written or verbal.
And then what better way to build trust other than to follow up on what you're hearing? People do?
Whether you're in a civilian sector or military sector, the principle is the same, right?

(04:02):
Relationships are relationships and they, they can hurt your career or they can help your career.
Relationships are like your force multiplier, right?
So what does that mean?
It means that I build relationships with other people, my peers and superiors and subordinates all alike, right?
And I get to know everybody.
What happens when I encounter a problem that I don't know how to solve?

(04:23):
Well, I want to reach out to a peer and I'm say, hey, I have this problem, can you help me out with that?
And because we've built that relationship, we're going to help each other out. 60% of what I
do on a daily basis is helping somebody else solve another problem, not just my own.
And it goes vice versa.
So the next concept we need to talk about is conceptual skills.
This is your mental agility.
This is your critical thinking, your creative thinking and your sound judgment under pressure.

(04:48):
Critical thinking is thinking about your thinking, right?
Do you understand all your biases?
Do you all understand all of your assumptions?
Are you turning your assumptions into facts?
Are you trying to Eliminate your biases by thinking about, you know, you have a bias.
So what can you do to overcome that bias?
Critical thinking is, are you looking at all the facts or are you just going off of emotions and what you think?

(05:10):
Critical thinking is thinking on a different level.
And it's really hard to do, and a lot of people lack this skill.
But it's very important to be able to sift through the emotions and get down to facts and critically
think about things from a different level, from a different perspective, from perspectives that aren't even your own.
Do we have creative thinking? Right.

(05:31):
So how creative are you in solving problems?
How creative are you in coming up with solutions?
And a lot of times that we think we know that we're being creative, but really you're just pulling
an old idea, polishing it up, putting a slight variation on it, and you're saying, well, this is a new thing. Not really.
You're just taking something new, old, and trying to say it's something new.

(05:51):
You're not really being creative about it.
Creativity comes from two different things working together.
Then you have this inspirational idea like, oh, what if I do this, this and this.
And I'm just gonna do a quick plug for my next episode that you're gonna hear for the interview with Stephen Pury.
When we talk about creative leadership, you're not gonna wanna miss that one.
But then we talk about judgment.

(06:11):
Judgment comes from critical thinking, creative thinking, who you are as a person, and being
able to make tough decisions when it comes, right?
And then those tough decisions that you make actually turn out in a positive outcome because you have sound judgment.
And it's hard to do those things, especially in high stress environments, especially, especially in high stakes environments.

(06:32):
But as leaders, that's what we get paid to do.
We get paid to do those things.
And you have to be able to develop your conceptual skills.
So you've got to be able to learn at the various levels of, wherever you're at, when to turn
in to do something and when to interject.
The third concept is your technical skills.
And this one's pretty simple, right?
Know your tools of the trade.
You don't have to do every job, but you need to understand the systems that you're responsible for.

(06:55):
So, for example, if, let's say, if you're in a media industry, right?
Do you not have to know how to edit a video?
No, you don't have to know how to edit a video if you're leading a team.
But you should know the principles of what it is.
You should know the software available should know what it looks like.
You should vaguely know how to get around it.
I use myself and communications. Right.
Do I know how to program a router?

(07:17):
No, I don't know how to program a router anymore.
At one time I kind of knew the basics, but not really that great, but I knew what a router is.
I know the coding, I know the systems, I know the ins and outs.
I know questions to ask about it where there could be potential, potential issues.
Do I know how to program a phone?
No, I don't know how to program a phone anymore.
But I do know that you have to program it and it goes into a router and it does certain things

(07:41):
and then they connect together.
Right, but do I need to know the specialized knowledge behind that?
No, but I do need to know how they all work together.
You need to understand the specialized knowledge of your field.
And the more that you get to know those things and how everybody works together and how those
things come in together, those help you build your tactical skills.

(08:03):
Now your tactical skills are your decision making under pressure.
And that's what I am going to call it.
It's not what you think it might be.
It is decision making under pressure.
How do you make tough calls in high stakes environment?
And the only way to really do that is you have to have this intuition, you have to have this

(08:23):
gut and where you see these patterns emerging and you go, oh, well, this situation looks like
this situation, this situation worked to solve this problem.
I think I'm going to go do this.
You got to have different frameworks to take a look at.
So that way you know how to have good judgment under pressure.
So that way you can make the best calls when the time calls for you to make those calls.

(08:47):
And you may be listening to this and go, okay, I hear you.
I do need to work on my interpersonal skills.
I do need to work on my conceptual skills.
Yeah, I need to know more technical stuff.
And I do need to work on my judgment under fire. Right.
I do need to work judgment under pressure.
How do I make the tough calls under pressure?
But how do I do that?
I don't know how to do that.
Well, here's a couple things that you can do.

(09:07):
You can do these things that'll help you out.
The first thing that you can do is you can seek feedback.
Nobody leads, nobody by themselves.
You're not in a vacuum.
So get input, ask people, hey, what is it that I'm missing?
So you got to seek coaching and mentoring from people that you value.
So that way you can have it written down, do your journaling, get your feedback, so that way

(09:30):
you know where you're missing, so that way you can fill in those gaps.
Second thing you need to do is study and reflect.
You earn your leadership position every single day by learning something new.
You need to earn your place by constantly learning and seeking and developing.
You need to take a look at your past decisions, review them and see how they went out, what worked, what didn't work.

(09:55):
Leaders who, who reflect, grow faster and lead smarter.
I'm a big fan of a, of a 90 day planner.
And every day and every week there's like a little after action review in there that says, hey,
what worked this past week?
What didn't work this past week, why didn't it work?
And what are you going to change?
That is something that I implement every week and every day. What worked today? What didn't work today?

(10:19):
What do I need to change?
What can I do better?
Hey, and when it comes to studying and learning something new, if you're not listening to an
audiobook, when you're driving in the car to and from where you're going, if you're not reading
something in the morning, you know, to enlighten your mind and your body and your soul and your
spirit, you're failing yourself and you're failing the people around you.
You need to take care of those things so that way you can grow faster and lead smarter.

(10:43):
The third things you can do is you can master the tools that you have. Technical growth matters.
You need to shadow someone who's better than you and see what they do.
So that way you can learn the tips and the tricks of the trade. Right? Take a certification course.
If you're not certified in something, take a certification course even if you're not responsible

(11:04):
for it, doing it specifically.
But you're like, you know what, I don't really know much about this.
I need to take a class on it. Get certified in it.
Whether it's software or logistics or whatever it is you need to do, do it. Why not?
The last thing I'm going to say is you need to create a way to artificially create pressure.

(11:24):
You need to find a way to artificially create pressure where pressure doesn't exist.
So that way you can simulate working under stress.
So that way when, when stress does happen and hard decisions happen, you've already been through
there, you've done that, you've already war gamed it out, you've gone through it.
And you can take these hard jobs because you know that you've already pre simulated hard jobs before. You know, volunteer.

(11:51):
Volunteer for things that are more difficult that you know are going to challenge you and push
you out of your comfort zone because those things make you better and apply more higher stakes
than you would have had if you didn't have high stakes.
And now you know how you react when you get into those positions.
So those are four things that you can do today to help build your competence and practical tools.

(12:15):
Seek feedback, study and reflect.
Master the tools that you have and then train under pressure.
Artificially create environments where you work under pressure.
And I'm going to end with this.
Leadership isn't about winging it, it's about preparation.
And the no and the be no do is what prepares you.
When you combine skill with character, you build credibility.

(12:37):
And we need more credible leaders.
And when people trust that you know what you're doing, they'll follow you wherever you need to go.
So your challenge for this week, choose one of the four domains, interpersonal, conceptual,
technical or tactical and go deeper.
Build a plan, practice, improve on it and then you can share your progress using with TimStayInTheObvious

(12:59):
on whatever social media platform that you're going to use.
And then we can build the community of leaders who are sharpening themselves and others around them together.
As always, thank you for stopping by and checking out this episode and listening to it.
I really hope that you enjoyed it.
Before we go, I'd like to ask a favor of you if I could.
If you could please share this episode with one or two people who you think might like this topic.

(13:19):
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All that before you go.
If you got some value out of this episode, please leave a review or a comment so we can help
spread the show to other people who might be interested in the topics that we've talked about
here today, but may not have found our show yet.

(13:41):
Again, thanks for stopping by.
I'm Tim Staton Dayton. The obvious
Sam.