Leading the Soul: How to Retain Young Talent When Compensation Has Stopped Working

They're not coming back. Yeah. It's like, I don't I would I would rather get in in a in an RV and live life with my wife and kids than to come back into this into this environment where the only thing that we care about is the corporation's name, its brand, and it doesn't care about me. They've pushed down so far their own individual soul's fulfillment and significance Wow. That the search for it in other people offends them.

So in succession planning, we have to know, okay, what's the vision ahead? And understand that there are some people who have the mind and the resources and the exposures to be able to accomplish that. Now, because we are human and we're giants and we're not gods, sometimes we can allow the progression to even after we've spent so many years building something, so much time has been invested in something, it would not be where it is without us. However, we can get that complex that says, now that I see that it's going to an even higher level, maybe I wasn't as good. And that's just not true.

No. No. We have to

have something that we're going on to so that it can can continue to give us life Sure. And

So you said something and I man, I appreciate the level of depth. But here's the beauty and the richness of that. You said in our pre show interview that there are some great things that the military does that that religious organizations could benefit from. And then you said there are some things that the religious organizations do that the military can benefit from. And then there are some great things that corporate America does that those entities, religious and military and just that whole circular thing.

Right? Because you've been highly influenced. You've been influenced by them and have influenced those areas, right? I think you have a very unique perspective that a lot of people can't really operate from really as it and the depth of the of the spiritual aspect that you bring into that corporate military as well as the spiritual aspect. So can you kinda hit on that just a little bit?

How did you morph all of that into what you have

and I and I have to go back to what we were just talking about just about my upbringing. I think as a result of being in that space, I shared this with a group, not too long ago about and this is all goes back to the significance of the soul and fulfillment. Watching my grandfather on TV didn't make me feel important. It just made him look important. Seeing my dad on TV didn't make me feel important.

It just didn't. I remember being so young and sitting, you know, we had broadcasts, right, at night, and I was sitting there watching my grandfather up on this this big old it was massive to me then, like, as a child. This pulpit just watching him do his thing and then I'd have to go into school and watch people tell me that they saw him on TV and stuff. I remember as a child looking up at him saying, no, that's my grandfather but I don't know that man.

Not the guy that you were seeing there. It was a

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I noticed him. Don't know him.

Fast forward to now, I'm having to start to figure out who I am. I say this to say that all of these worlds collided for me because I was I was at a young age at a in a desperate search for who I was.

Right.

Right. And I recognized that I was not able to live that out without an abundance of honesty. So with that being said, I made the commitment to discover and develop my own sense of self in all spaces. Which means that when I walk in, all of me walks in. The leader walks in, the theologian walks in, the the the military officer walks in, all

of Oh, that's good.

That's So I made the commitment to be honest in every space that I walk in. Now Mhmm. With that being said, I've been exposed to so many different spaces that many people haven't been exposed to. Because one of the other spaces that I've been exposed to is the professional sports space too, where, like, I'm seeing there's a whole another way of operating over here. Right?

And what I what I watched happen in many of these spaces, like, military does this and sports spaces do this, they want you to almost forget who you are in order to fit into what's happening right now. And some of it is necessary for those spaces because I don't need you second guessing things when it's time for us to to make this movement or to hit this mission. I need you on. Right? So part of it is purposeful.

However, there were these things that I was seeing that like religious spaces did very well, which is it caters, or at least it tries to cater to to individuals until you get really deep involved. And then it becomes more about the organization itself. But that's what was happening. So it was me saying, I need to be honest in all spaces that I'm in. And I believe that there are things that I gained from the military in terms of disciplines and regiments.

There's nothing that motivates a person more than their sense of connectivity to God. Right? It's like, if you wanna motivate somebody, find a way to make them believe that there's God attached to what you want them to do. That's the way that's the way to motivate them. I mean, there's nothing that's gonna motivate somebody more than that.

So if you if you attach some of those disciplines and some of those regiments to this faith space, man, how impactful could you be in your city? Right. Right. Conversely, how impactful could a corporation be if they because a lot of corporations, they have their systems and SOPs and all sorts of things, but they they kinda lack on the care part often. Mhmm.

How much more impactful could they be? How much more productive could they be? Right? How much how much better could your p and l statement be if you actually care for the people who are working for you? Right?

How much better would your customer service experience be if you treated your employees like the first customer? Right? Like, how how much better could you be in this care part? Now sometimes we we I think diluted care, where now care has become more about compensation and incentivization, external incentivization, rather than internal incentivization, which is what I'm calling leading the soul. So all of these these spaces collided for me and I always wanted to be honest in all these spaces.

So I'm always seeing the gaps. I'm always saying, man, they do this really well, but they could be so much better if they incorporated this. And then you see, okay, contextually, I don't think they could do this, but they could do a variation of it in order to help care for these people. Right?

Sure.

So all of these worlds collided. I wanted to be honest in all these spaces. And then here's a big thing for me. Because I I do care about leadership and I care about seeing leaders be successful, I mean, you know, like, from my background, I grew up watching it and having a deep affection for watching leaders in these spaces. And I always tell people, you can never criticize a seat you don't sit in.

Because when you do that, you're doing it with limited information.

Right. Right.

If you don't sit in their seat, you don't see what they see.

So true.

And sometimes we criticize decisions that leaders make because we think that all they see is what we do. Yeah. It's not true.

It's not. So just to make sure I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead.

I'm sorry. I'll say I'll people that to be careful about that, but I'm just saying that I have a deep affection for leaders and leadership. So what I wanted to do is go into these spaces and help them do it all well. This is why, like, our tagline for our development is we wanna help leaders live their best lives and lead their best teams. And we believe that you cannot do one without other.

You have to live your best life. And when you do that, you'll want to help them live their best lives.

Sure. Sure.

And in so doing, you'll help lead your best team.

That's awesome. So you're pulling from the domain of, the logical background, the domain of high performance athletics, the domain of the military, and then your and also the domain of just corporate America. And you basically said, look, I have to fuse all of that into it's got to fit in the room when I walk in the room.

Has to. Because it won't it wouldn't be on it would be dishonest of me to show up and to put e either one of those down. Now, I've sat in spaces where like they would say, we have to be ecumenical in these spaces. Like, okay, cool. We could do that, but the principles still stand.

Correct.

So at the post that you were talking about, I think I think I was talking about standards. And I was like, hey, standards are non negotiable. So when you have a standard about a thing, it's like, hey, how I operate if this is a standard for me, I don't I don't bend on it. Some things are preferences. Mhmm.

And I know the difference between the two. Mhmm. Right. My principles are the things that help me to make decisions in real time quickly enough in a way that I can impact you or impact myself. So I need to know the difference between those if I'm gonna be successful in these spaces.

But all of me is still showing up. Mhmm. Mhmm. Sure.

Mhmm. That is great. That is great. Ralph, I know you got something, man.

I was just gonna say, so being in that corporate space, we know that the majority of those who are I'll just call it in power or who are leading corporations are generally in the baby boomer stage. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

You have all of this workforce is coming in as Gen X, Gen Z. Right? And and like you said, you beautifully articulated the, the the disparity and the gap there. But what I hear in your solution is competitive advantage Because the reality is this, you have to get people to work for you. Period.

You can't get away from that. And not if you wanna be successful. And if and to your point

It's the competitive advantage. Yes.

It is the competitive advantage. And Yes. I do

Do you wanna win? Do you wanna be successful? Yes. Do you wanna increase your productivity?

Yes. Do

you like this is the you don't have to I care about people's purpose. Right? So like, I have this this deep sense of conviction about people are not to be used for your benefit, but they are to be developed for the benefit of the world. I truly believe that. But I don't believe that in order for you to employ those tactics that you have to believe that.

But I do believe that you'll see the productivity on the back end. Like, you care about that, then you'll care about this.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I think I think the hardest thing for a person who's in that leadership role from that generation specifically, from the baby boomers generation is because their example of leadership coming up is completely different from what they need to be today.

Yeah. This and and the the awareness to be able to say, oh my god, the way that I've learned to be successful, maybe the thing that even got me successful is not the thing that's gonna make me successful moving forward. And I have to change the way, you know, because that generation, a lot of them, and I can't speak for everybody, a lot of them got a problem with the younger generation because it's so different from what they are accustomed to and what they've used to be successful and how they learn. But to your point, it is the competitive advantage because the young folks, they will not stay with you.

No.

If they don't feel They will. That money

money does not matter, bro. That salary, they

like Now watch now watch this.

I'll Uber on you. From

100%. Now now watch this. From that generation that you were talking about talking about Ralph, it's the same thing for them. And some of some of their reticence is because they genuinely believe that in America, this capitalistic consumeristic society, that this is the way of success and growth, because it was the way that they had to come through. But I would argue that it's deeper than that.

I would argue that they've pushed down so far their own individual soul's fulfillment and significance. Wow. That the search for it in other people offends them. So it's like, if I had to let go of myself for this, then you do too. Now this this is why this is why I had a gentleman who's part of that generation who had worked so many years to develop his own company, had a oil company in Texas, sold it for a couple $100,000,000, got a copy of my book, Bleed A Wild, and read the chapter on Peace.

Aimed to me in tears. I'm a 20 year old guy at the time, part of the boomer generation. Right? He was in his sixties. He comes to me in tears saying, I have more money than I've ever had in my life.

My family is good. Everybody relies on me and we're good. We we're we're taken care of. I've got money. And then he points to that chapter on peace and says, but I don't have that.

And this is why I believe that the competitive advantage that they seek can be accomplished, but they must be willing to first look at themselves and say, I need to do some internal work to discover what's going to not bring me money but bring me meaning. Yes. So that I can help others pursue that because that's all they care about anyway. Yeah. Yeah.

In so doing, we can actually increase our productivity. It's the it's the Chick fil A model. Right? People think they're foolish for closing on Sunday, and yet they are still able to pull in profits Yeah. That are losing some of the people that are that are open on seven days.

So it's like, you you have to and why? Because there's meaning. There's a difference between the chick fil a worker who says my pleasure and the chick fil a worker who says it and means it. Is it really hip it's like, you go to somebody and they say my pleasure. It's like,

you didn't Right. Mean Right. That's right. That's right.

You don't mean it. Now attach that to the work that we that many of people in that generation have done in order to attain profits and money and wealth. Right. It's like, yeah, you have it, but it don't mean anything. Mhmm.

Right.

And and some of their reticence, I believe, is because they've they've had to neglect that side of themselves to to be successful in this country. And I believe that COVID changed the game. Remember, you had silent quitting happening before, but COVID changed the game. Now, you mean to tell me? Like, people got intimately even people in part of that generation, they got intimately acquainted with what they've been missing.

They got intimately acquainted at what they've given up. They got intimately acquainted at some of the opportunity costs of life. Yes. Right? Yes.

Yes. Listen. Yep. I've been so deeply interested in this, I didn't even know that there was this other world out here that I'd been missing. Right.

And as a result of that, we see now that they're not coming back. Yeah. Yes. They'll. It's like, I don't, I would I would rather get in in a in an RV and live life with my wife and kids than to come back into this into this environment where the only thing that we care about is the corporation's name, its brand, and it doesn't care about me.

So so so we we I think we're at about time. Look, I wanna leave us with this last thing, Lawrence. So my mom visited me over this last Christmas and she shared a story with me that she hadn't shared and it goes back to your great grandfather.

Oh,

wow. So your great grandfather was a bridge for my dad to aspire to his God given goal. So my dad basically had a third grade education, man. Your great grandfather basically was a bridge for him in that, you know, all the protocols you gotta go through to be ordained and all of that, your great grandfather was a bridge for my dad to get his ordination through a non standard process. And again, there's so many things that are not in place today because the church that my dad founded, now some almost fifty years later, is still standing.

It's producing and helping people. So yes, man, the legacy of leadership that you are connected to continues to go on and I see it adapting through you and your brothers, man. And I just counted a extreme extreme pleasure that this thing has come full circle, something that started with your great grandfather and my dad, a friendship that was, you know, super kindled. I know my mom is, you know, super close with your grandmother and just all of that. She a matter of fact, she calls you, you know, have you talked to Lee?

You need to call Lee. I'm like, mom, I'm a call him. So I just love your family, man. The Baylors, we love the Scotts.

Yeah, man.

And just have appreciated every every engagement, every step along that I see this as another evolution of that. And I am just so excited for the person you are and I just can't wait to see where this goes and blossom to. Leaders, leaders. Yeah. Lawrence's information is gonna be on the podcast.

Yes. If you wanna transform your organization.

That's right.

Right? You wanna transform it, here's a transformative agent right here.

That's right. That's right. Reach out to them. Don't don't hesitate to reach out to them. This is the whole reason why we're doing what we're doing so that we can help each other.

Yes. Absolutely. Alright. Alright.

Man, amazing show.

Amazing show, man.

This is great. I love the conversation. Thank y'all. Thank y'all for having me.

Alright. God bless. Thanks everybody for joining. Take care. Alright.

Bye. That's a wrap on this episode of the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast. If today's conversation added value, I want you to do three things right now. Number one, subscribe so you never miss an episode. Number two, leave a rating and a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

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