The Soul of Leadership Part. 1

Most people who are in, they're not shy about letting you know when you get there that everybody there is like you from where they're from.

Right.

So you, I mean, I graduated with a 4.2 GPA. There were other people who had probably higher GPAs, right, on a AP scale. So, you know, I Mhmm. I'm not I'm not the smartest person in the room anymore by any means.

Welcome to the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast. I'm your host, Ralph Owens, along with Terry Baylor. In today's episode, we're extremely excited to introduce you to mister Lawrence Scott. Lawrence talks about his humble beginnings and what it was like attending the prestigious West Point Academy. Enjoy the show.

And we are live. Hello, world.

Man, I'm happy to be here today.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. We got a we got a good one for you today, folks. I hope you got your pens and your paper.

You ready

to take some notes?

Look. Every I remember where I was when Mark McGuire hit 70, right?

This

is one of those moments. You're gonna remember where you were when you chimed in here because, I'm a be honest, I believe this is a life changing moment. I just really there are some things that are gonna be covered today and that are so rich. Let's just get into it, man. I just want to introduce our guest, man, Lawrence Scott, and we have a really deep history, and we'll dig into some of that as this conversation unravels.

But Lawrence, I'm not gonna take any more time, man. Introduce yourself to the folks and just kinda share a little bit about your story, and then we'll just get rocking.

Awesome, man. Well, first of all, it's it's great to be with y'all. I'm I'm excited about this conversation myself. Terry, I'm I'm I'm in agreement with you. This will this will be a life changing moment in history and conversation for sure.

So I'm excited about that. My name is Lawrence Scott. I played football at West Point. And while I was there, one of my coaches combined both my first and last name and called me Losco. And it has stuck ever since.

So, so I'm Lawrence Scott or Losco. Either one works for me. I am a fifth generation pastor's kid and grew up in the Midwest in St. Louis, Missouri. And as I mentioned, I went to West Point after leaving St.

Louis and went to the army as an officer served there for a couple of years before leaving the military and going back to West Point as the director of player development for the football team there where I served the athletes and the coaches by doing leadership development and personal development for for the athletes. So, it was great time there to be back at my alma mater and to continue serving in a different capacity. So, it was great time there and after having developed a program there, a leadership development program, it was a four year development program that we created there after having developed it and kind of cultivating it for a little bit. It was time for me to take my next step which was going to graduate school and I went to Princeton Theological Seminary and got my masters in theological studies. It was a great time.

Well, it was a great time for me. I went during COVID, so it wasn't

Yeah. A great time for the

but I was there and, learned a lot and connected with some amazing folks. And after that, I've had an opportunity to serve different organizations, whether they were church organizations or athletic organizations, doing what I essentially have been doing my whole life, which is observing and learning from leaders, but then also helping to develop coach and consult leaders on strategy, culture, and really how to not just lead their best team, but also how to live their best life. So all of my worlds kind of collided with what I was doing. Even while I was at West Point, that's when I started my own coaching and consulting company. And now I'm still doing that.

I'm out in California, the Los Angeles area and still going, man. Still going. Still serving churches.

Awesome.

Still serving organizations and leaders and high performers in So all these different

what I what I love about that, guys, I just wanna share a little bit. Right? So I've known Lawrence since he was a little guy. Like, man. This relationship is so rich in that Lawrence's dad is actually a mentor of mine.

I'm not sitting in this seat right now. I don't meet Ralph if it's not for Lawrence's dad. Because he I was gosh, how old was I? Don't remember him. Maybe 30 maybe I guess.

I just got married trying to make a decision about my career and I'll never forget it. I'm like, You know what? This is the last resume I'm putting out here. Not, I'm just gonna stay where I'm at. And I remember getting a call and I remember getting an interview and I'm like, You're gonna meet this guy Lee Scott.

I'm like, I know Lee Scott. Is this the I didn't super, super know him but our families are so connected and we'll dig Anyway, into I walk into the door and I see this gentleman walking down. I'm like, Oh, this is a done deal. Little did I know that experience with your dad for the next three or four years transformed my life, right, and put me on a trajectory because I wasn't expecting to I didn't expect to still be in IT today, to be honest. But because of what your dad did and what he exposed me to and some of the responsibilities Cause your dad was a big deal at the university and he led a pretty big organization.

And he put reliance on me to cover certain things because there was a trust there and it just allowed me to grow. And so, man, I So this is a great moment for me because, of course, at that time, you're like nine.

I know. Yeah.

Like, Hey, man. Hey, man. Go sit down.

Yeah. Yeah. Beauty is remember those days. Remember those Yeah.

But the beauty in this is seeing, man, the man that you developed and grown and charted your own path, right? Wow. Also maintaining the core. You said something the other day, I was looking at something that you you put out there and you said, look, principles are non negotiable.

I'm like,

oh, this dude is good.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

So I say that to say this, right? So in that journey, though, there are challenges and obstacles that we have to overcome, ideologies and frameworks. And so what led us here today on the show is you actually told a story. And you can treetop it. You can go as deep into it as you want or as how much depth you want to share about it.

But it had to do with understanding who you were in a moment of challenge and reflection and being able to handle this new information. So kind of share that because as you're on your path, right, there are gonna be these intersections in life that we have to navigate. And, you know, those persons who are supposed to be there to guide us sometimes can all honestly, they can derail us.

Yeah, absolutely. And that's, you know, thankfully that's not what happened ultimately for me, but it could have. So as I mentioned in my introduction, I went to the United States Military Academy at West Point and I did not know much about it to be honest with you gentlemen. When I was in high school, I was I was into my studies but when you think Ivy League schools, I wasn't thinking an academy. Was thinking Harvard, Princeton, like those sorts of schools, Yale.

But I didn't think about the academies at all until a football coach came to recruit me to play football II was I was an athlete so I was either going to do one of two things. I was either going to go to an Ivy League school and continue my education or I was going to go to like a power five school to play football. So, once I learned about West Point, actually, after the coach came, he came, visited with my family. There was a rumor around the school that I was going to West Point and I still, gentlemen, I did not still did not know what West Point was, but I recognized something happened. People started treating me differently when they heard that I was going to West Point.

So then I said, well, let me actually look into this a little bit. So I did a little research then I discovered Dwight Eisenhower, General Patton, history makers have all gone to West Point. These presidents have gone to West Point. And I'm like, well, if that's a course that I'm gonna go down anyway, then maybe maybe it's a better thing for me not to go to Harvard or Yale or Princeton, but maybe it's actually a better thing for me to go to West Point. And I get to play football at D1 level.

Come on now. That's amazing. So by the time I got there, I knew that this was a big deal and that I'd gone through the process of getting there. I had known everybody doesn't make it in. Well now with this backdrop of knowing this is a special place, most people who are in, they're not shy about letting you know when you get there, that everybody there is like you from where they're from.

Right. So you, I mean, I graduated with a 4.2 GPA. There were other people who had probably higher GPAs, right. On an AP scale. So, you know, I'm not, I'm not the smartest person in the room anymore by any means.

And, you know, this, you're consciously aware of this. But it didn't deter me until I sat down in an English class, my freshman year with a professor who for lack a better word was dismissive of my presence in his classroom.

Thank you for listening to the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast. We hope that you not only enjoy the content, but gain something to help you on your leadership journey. Feel free to reach out to us on X, Instagram, and LinkedIn under the handles Leadership Sovereignty. And until next time, stay safe, peace, and blessings.