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When you’re facing a challenge or dilemma, it can be incredibly helpful to ask yourself, “What would a wise leader do?” In this episode, Alex breaks down 4 common habits and actions of wise leaders, including practical examples of what they may look like in different phases of the business. He also explains why wisdom is such an important pursuit and encourages leaders to think beyond the black and white.
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Episode Recap:
- What would a wise leader do?
- What is wisdom?
- Wisdom requires the ability to think in the gray
- Content can’t consider context
- Wisdom is essential when working with problems, people, or potential
- There are certain commonalities you’ll see in the behavior of wise leaders
- 1. Wise leaders retain simplicity amidst complexity
- 2. Wise leaders own limitations
- 3. Wise leaders make decisions and withhold judgment
- 4. Wise leaders invest in front-stage, back-stage, and off-stage relationships
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Okay. So we're diving into the topic today of wise leadership. And, really, kind of the way I came at this topic today is I I was challenged recently by some content I heard from Andy Stanley. He's just a brilliant leader and pastor out of Atlanta, Georgia. And he just said when things get really difficult, challenging, or tumultuous in his leadership, one of the questions that he asks himself as a practice of self reflection is, in this situation, what would a wise leader do?
Alex Judd:It's wild how if you kind of reframe or change the question from, man, what would I do in this situation? And you take yourself out of the picture. You decenter yourself from the scenario, and you just ask, well, what would a wise leader do in this scenario? It's crazy. I've now used this question for myself and it's garnered me so much perspective.
Alex Judd:It's helped me detach emotionally from the situations and decisions that I'm involved in. And then I've taken it from my own personal practice as a business owner and leader, and I've used it with customers of ours that we coach around the country. And, when they're facing something difficult or challenging, one of the things that I like to do is not just give advice. Because advice oftentimes isn't what people need. What they actually need is confidence.
Alex Judd:How do you instill confidence? Well, you ask great questions. And so a lot of times, I'll just ask them, what would a wise leader do in your It almost sounds like an insult because they're like, are you saying I'm not a wise leader? But but you understand the premise there is that, man, we all obviously and hopefully aspire to exercise wisdom in our leadership. And when we just take the stutter step to ask, man, if a wise leader was in the position, situation, or decision making spot that I'm in right now, what would they do?
Alex Judd:So that's the premise behind today's podcast. And, really, that's what we're gonna spend our time looking at is what are actions and habits that wise leaders do? What are some things that, man, if we, survey the landscape of leaders that we would probably all say, man, they are wise. What are the things that they have in common? Because those are things that we obviously want to reproduce.
Alex Judd:But before we jump into the five actions that I've got for you, let's just first talk about wisdom. What is wisdom? Well, I I love Tim Keller's definition of wisdom. He says that wisdom is competence with regard to the realities of life. So in many ways, wisdom, we would say, is, being tuned in to the way the world works and operating in alignment with that.
Alex Judd:Right? I heard someone say once that, man, when you're operating outside the vein of wisdom, it's like rubbing your hand against the grain of a piece of wood. Right? You're going to get splinters. And so one of the things that we're arguing whenever we say that wisdom is not only a thing when we say it's a good thing, it's a virtuous thing, is we're saying there is an objective way that the world works.
Alex Judd:There is a value structure of what is good and right and beautiful and true. This is the claim that we're making when we say, your kingdom come, your will be done. We're saying we want the kingdom of heaven to invade this earth, and we, in some ways, want to be ambassadors in that. And so what we're saying here is that there's an objective value structure, and we operate in wisdom when we get in the flow or get in the stream of the way the world works. Tim Keller says, wisdom is competence with regard to the realities of life.
Alex Judd:And then we can think about Proverbs one seven. Right? It says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Now I think it's really helpful to remember that fear in this context is not terror. Fear is deep seated awe, reverence, and respect.
Alex Judd:And so how is deep seated awe, reverence, and respect tied into this idea of wisdom? Well, man, when we operate in fear of God, we're saying, man, look how big God is. We are trusting in the omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence of God. We say, man, God is all seeing. God is all knowing.
Alex Judd:God is everywhere all the time. He is sovereign. He is the creator. The universe that we get to live in, it's not that it was created by nothing. It is that it was created from nothing.
Alex Judd:That means that there was a creator that said, man, nothing is not what I want it to be. I want there to be something. Bam. Life shows up. And the creation that we operate in every single day came from, the power and sovereignty of that creator.
Alex Judd:And, man, when we magnify in our minds and in our hearts how big and good and great and sovereign and powerful god is, well, then what do we immediately collide with? The reality of just how small we are. And what's wild is when we're operating in awareness of how big God is, how small we are, what do we gain? We gain humility, and humility, I believe, is just a sister virtue of wisdom. So within that, why is wisdom important for leaders?
Alex Judd:There's three principles that I want us to really understand before we get into this content here today. The first is a concept that I learned from a a brilliant book. It was written, I believe, in the eighties or nineties called the contrarian's guide to leadership. Don't you just love that title? Right?
Alex Judd:I I heard that title. I was like, sign me up. I'm in. It's a great book that I would recommend leaders read, but there's a particular topic in that book that for me was incredibly impactful, and it's a topic that I find myself sharing with the business owners and leaders that we work with in our coaching community regularly, and it's the idea of gray thinking. And here's how this applies to wisdom.
Alex Judd:It is so tempting, especially if you are a type a personality, to put all situations, all decisions, and everything that you face into the lens of black and white thinking. And oftentimes, we apply moral terms to these things. So we think, man, there's a dichotomy in front of us. And then with these decisions that we have to make, which if you are a leader, you are a decision maker, there's right and there's wrong. There's good and there's bad.
Alex Judd:And the claim that that the book Contrarian's Guide to Leadership makes that's just so brilliant is it says that, man, most effective leaders actually spend most of their time in the area, the decisions, the problems, the scenarios that look much more gray than black and white. And a lot of times, if you've graduated in your leadership journey, if you've been doing this for a while, what you oftentimes find is you're not operating in the realm of good and bad, right and wrong. A lot of times, you're operating in the realm of good and best. A lot of times, you're thinking through, man, should we hire among many good candidates? Right?
Alex Judd:Should we fire this person? And it's not necessarily that there's clear absolutely because they compromised integrity, it's like, man, there's been chronic underperformance, but maybe we could do more. That's a gray scenario. Right? That is a reality of leadership.
Alex Judd:And so knowing how to operate in that, all the way to how you should be spending your time, how you should be investing your resources, what causes you should be giving to, these are all areas that oftentimes it's not right or wrong. It's good versus best. It requires great thinking. Great thinking is an exercise in wisdom. The second principle that I wanna hit home is that content can't consider context.
Alex Judd:So we live in an age where there's a what I would refer to as a superabundance of content. And, obviously, I'm for great content. Right? We have a company that part of our mission and part of what we do as a company is we work to produce and provide exceptional content for impact driven leaders that want to practice healthy growth. So I believe in content, but here's what content can't do.
Alex Judd:There are limitations to content. Here's what content can't do. It can't know the context of the relationships that are involved in the decisions that you're making. It can't know what has occurred over an extended period of time. It can't know where you're at personally in the situation.
Alex Judd:It can't know the emotions and multivariable nature of the situations that you're involved in and the decisions that you're focused on. It can't know the full extent of your dreams, hopes, fears. It can't know your emotional state. It can't it can't capture all of those things. Right?
Alex Judd:I write content, and I like to think I I write really thoughtful content. There's no way I could ever write content that captures every single variable that you're facing in your life and in your leadership right now. And so what you have to have the ability to do is to take in great content and in the context of great content, say, how does this apply to my current situation, to this current decision, to our current scenario? And it requires wisdom to be able to answer that question. A great example of this is John Maxwell's book, the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership.
Alex Judd:Now you can know those laws backwards and forwards, and I would recommend you do. It's a powerful book, and it's an incredible leadership study that's just so practical. However, if you don't know how to apply those rules to the situation that you're focusing on, you are gonna be a cookie cutter in a game that never asked for a cookie cutter. People are gonna feel like you don't respect them, or people are gonna lack trust for you because you operate in a black and white dichotomy instead of asking the question and answering with wisdom. How do these overarching generalities and principles apply to our current situation?
Alex Judd:It requires wisdom. And then finally, number three, wisdom. I want you to hear this. Wisdom is essential for anyone that works with problems, people, or potential. Now think about that for a second.
Alex Judd:Problems, when things go awry, people, relationships, and potential, what could be. Well, man, if that's not a great three word description of what leaders so often have to focus on. Why do leaders on an org chart get paid more? The reason why they get paid more is because they've got bigger problems to deal with. Right?
Alex Judd:Like, that's literally why we understand. Like, man, as you rise up an org chart, you should be getting paid more because you bear the responsibility for the biggest problems. Those are gonna be the things that land on your desk. Right? So we compensate for that, and and we need to understand that that's part of the role of leadership.
Alex Judd:People. We always say leadership is taking people from here to there. Right? Lead you can't have leadership without relationship. People are the point, and so we have to remember that.
Alex Judd:We have to keep that front and center. And then finally, potential. What is leadership in an exercise and what could be in casting potential for people and saying, man, here's how we move from here to there. So so leadership demands all of those things. And what do all of those things demand?
Alex Judd:They demand wisdom because, man, you wanna talk about multivariable games, problems, people, and potential. There are so many nuances. There we could never, in a million years, conjure up or imagine the problems that you're gonna face tomorrow, much less over the course of next year, and we could never write a book that accommodates for all of those things. In some ways, you're gonna have to do what you already know you have to do. You're gonna have to figure it out as you go.
Alex Judd:It's why it's so valuable for you to have guiding principles. It's why it's so valuable for you to have values that are in immovable, and it's why it's so valuable for you to have and be growing in wisdom. The final thing that I'll close with before we get into the actions, the rhythms, the habits associated with wise leaders, is this idea that I heard a while back. It was actually, our coach that, Matt Aiken, that said this, and I just latched on to it. I said that's such a good quote.
Alex Judd:He he said that knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing that you shouldn't put it in a fruit salad. And isn't that spot on? Right? No.
Alex Judd:If you know me, you know I I actually abhor all fruit. Right? And so I'm not eating fruit salad regardless. But but that's the difference. Right?
Alex Judd:You can have all the knowledge in the world, and we all know people that have all the knowledge in the world. And they might have read all the books, and and they might know every single principle thing, axiom associated with leadership. But when they actually practice leadership, they're awful at it. Why? Because they have an abundance of knowledge but a lack of wisdom.
Alex Judd:And we are in an age where it's so crucial that we are constantly growing in wisdom. And so what we're gonna focus on today is just an exercise in doing just that. What I can't tell you is how each of these actions apply directly to each scenario that you're gonna face this day, this week, or certainly this year. What I can do is I can tell you, man, the five actions we're gonna walk through are commonalities. They're things that I see wise leaders doing, and so, therefore, it would be good for us to be aware of them.
Alex Judd:Okay. I've got my outline over here. So so let's jump into number one. What do wise leaders do? Number one, they retain simplicity amidst complexity.
Alex Judd:We already said this, that as you move up a org chart, you gain more responsibility. And oftentimes, what you'll experience is as you gain responsibility, as you gain leadership opportunity, you're also gonna be faced with increasing levels of complexity. And that's not something to shirk. It's actually not even something necessarily that you're probably ever gonna solve for. It's just something to be aware of and to respond to.
Alex Judd:And how do great leaders respond to complexity? They establish and retain a sense of simplicity. So I wanna talk about how this applies in different seasons. And so I wanna really highlight here how this applies in turbulent times, how it applies in abundant times, how it applies in busy times, and how it applies in anxious times. So what does it look like for a wise leader to retain simplicity amidst complexity when things get turbulent?
Alex Judd:So turbulent times, I mean, I don't really probably have to describe to you what turbulent times are, but a key team member leaves. You you lose out on a massive contract. There's dissension within the team. You're facing backlash from customers, and you feel like you're doing the right thing. All examples of turbulent times.
Alex Judd:How do you retain simplicity whenever you got a bunch of different voices and things are going crazy all around you? Well, what do wise leaders do? In turbulent times, they double and triple down on controlling the controllables. Remember this. The fruit of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control.
Alex Judd:I think so often, it's really easy in leadership when things go crazy. And maybe it's crazy in the economy. Maybe it's crazy like the pandemic shutdown that we experienced, gosh, five years ago now. Maybe it's craziness politically. It's so easy to just throw up your hands and say, well, you can't control what you can't control and almost use that as an excuse to abdicate responsibility altogether.
Alex Judd:It is true. You can't control what you can't control. But here's what's also true. You can control what you can control, and self control is actually a fruit of the spirit. And what does that actually mean?
Alex Judd:Well, it means that we are exercising stewardship over the things in and related to ourselves. And so, no, you can't control the economy. You can't control people's opinions. You can't control people's attitudes. You can't control what people say.
Alex Judd:You can't control what's going on on social media. You can't control the political climate. You cannot control those things. That doesn't mean you can't control anything, though. What can you control?
Alex Judd:You can control your attitude. You can control your work ethic. You can control, the way that you're spending your morning and getting ready for the day as a contributor and not a consumer. You can control the way that you speak, think, and act. You can control the way you listen.
Alex Judd:There's so many things that you've actually been given to control. And so what do leaders do in turbulent times as a means of retaining the simplicity? They double and triple down on controlling the controllables. They start by modeling that themselves, and then they mandate that for the team that they lead. They say, hey.
Alex Judd:There's craziness going on in the world all around us. We are not going to dwell and worry about the things we can't control. We are going to focus on the things we can control, and we're gonna pray for the things that we can't. Okay. Now let's go to abundant times.
Alex Judd:Here's what wise leaders do in abundant time. So what is abundant time? Man, things are going so well. Oh my gosh. We're meeting and exceeding our goals.
Alex Judd:Our team is really humming. You know, we've passed our our yearly revenue markers. Right? Profitability is out the wazoo. I'm taking more in owner distributions than I've ever taken.
Alex Judd:It's abundant times. Here's what wise leaders don't do. They don't shy away from abundant times, or they don't live in fear of of abundant times that ends up self sabotaging. So often, if we're not careful and if we're being unwise, we actually sabotage, abundant times because we can't handle a good thing. What do wise leaders do, though?
Alex Judd:They don't get distracted or complacent by luxury or convenience. I was recently listening to an interview with Lane Kiffin. Lane Kiffin is now, the head coach at Ole Miss, college football program. And, this particular interview, he was talking about when he worked with Nick Saban, the greatest college football coach of all time, obviously, recently retired. And he was just kind of reflecting upon some of the things they learned from Nick Saban, some of the things that stood out as quirky about Nick Saban, and and really some of the things that he said are what makes Nick Saban the greatest of all time.
Alex Judd:And he said he'll never forget they won the national championship. And, literally, the day after they won the national championship I believe this is one of the years that they Georgia. They won the national championship, and the day after, Nick Saban had the regular daily 07:30AM coaches meeting. And and Lane said at that time, he, like, showed up. He's like, what are what are we doing?
Alex Judd:Like, we literally just won everything. Why are we meeting? And Nick Saban's approach to it was like, we are behind. We spent so much time preparing for the national championship. Everyone now has a target on our backs, and they're all trying to out recruit us right now.
Alex Judd:And we are behind on the recruiting trail and getting ready for next year. That's a perfect example, literally perfect example of what it looks like to not become complacent or addicted to convenience or luxury amidst abundant times. Here's what we so often do. We experience abundance. And in the process of experiencing abundance, we abandon the habits, the rhythms, the discipline, the self control that created that very abundance.
Alex Judd:So we cut ourselves at the knees from sustaining the abundance that we're now so grateful to experience. Wise leaders don't do that. Okay. Let's keep going. In busy times.
Alex Judd:What do wise leaders do in busy times? They keep priorities front and center. So so wise leaders always, in all times, have a sense of priority. And in busy times, they don't allow urgency to crowd out the things that are important. I used to know a leader that would always say, I have to remember that the things people demand as urgency is not my emergency.
Alex Judd:And when things get really busy, what always happens for leaders, the the number of requests that's made on your time, attention, and energy goes up. And what we have to remember is just because it's something that represents urgency for someone else doesn't mean that it has to become an emergency for you. And so you have to have a really strong idea of what you're for with your time. And that's why I focus on priorities. There's a lot of content out there lately that focuses on the fact that no is a full sentence.
Alex Judd:And and, yeah, I agree with that. Leaders need to be good at saying no. But here's what I find about the leaders that are best at saying no. They're the ones that have confidently defined their yeses. They know what their priorities are.
Alex Judd:They know what they're for. And so therefore, it's not just like they really even struggle all that much to say no to things. It's they're so dedicated and involved and committed to their yeses that oftentimes the no actually comes very natural because they just don't have time for anything else. A lot of times when struggle to be to say no, it's because we're ambiguous with our yeses, and so we don't really know where our time is gonna go today, so it might as well go to these things that feel the loudest or most urgent right now. Okay.
Alex Judd:That's busy times. Now let's go to inanxious times. What do wise leaders do in anxious times? In anxious times, when people are fearful, when people are freaking out, when when worry is in the air, what do wise leaders do? They adopt a posture of gratitude and confidence.
Alex Judd:You know, we know for a fact that, gratitude and anxiety cannot exist in the brain at the same time. And so when things get anxious, effective leaders model gratitude. It's an antidote to anxiety. But then the other thing that I want you to consider about leading in anxious times, there's a great book called nonanxious presence by Mark Sayers that has been just so powerful for me and the way that I think about leadership. And there's a a brilliant illustration in that book that has just stuck with me.
Alex Judd:He says, imagine that you're in a massive auditorium, 2,000 people, and there's, you know, a couple of men and women really dressed up clearly on the stage leading these people through a seminar, and they've got the microphones. They're dressed up. They're elevated above everyone. And then someone in the auditorium yells fire. And when someone yells fire in a 2,000 person auditorium, what happens?
Alex Judd:People freak out. Right? Why? Because oftentimes there's not wisdom in crowds. And so people are going crazy, and you know who else is going crazy?
Alex Judd:The four people on the stage. They are freaking out too. They're saying, what are we gonna do? There's a fire. Oh my gosh.
Alex Judd:And it's in the midst of all that that a person who has a background in fire safety and group and crowd control walks onto the stage and with a deep sense of composure just grabs the microphone and says, everyone, I need you to calm down and listen to me. I have a background in fire safety and crowd control. We're gonna get through this, and we're gonna be okay. But it's really important that you stay calm. I need everyone to go over to the left side of the auditorium, line up, and everyone take a deep breath, and we're just gonna all walk out of here together.
Alex Judd:In that moment, who is the leader? Is it the people that were wearing the suits that had the microphones that were technically in charge? No. Because they adopted the anxiety of the crowd. Who is the leader?
Alex Judd:In anxious times, the leader is the person that adopts a nonanxious presence. As a leader, if you wanna operate in wisdom, so often the best strategy is to adopt alternative energy. If the crowd is anxious, you do your best to lead by being nonanxious. If the crowd is overwhelmed, you do your best by just being really calm and centered. If if people are really, really excited and just having a great time, sometimes it's your job as a leader to call attention to the things that, man, we should be looking out for.
Alex Judd:Not everything is all good all the time. We should be looking out for the things that could come up and bite us in the future that we should be attending to. So you gotta adopt alternative energy, and that especially shows up in anxious times by you operating in confidence and with a sense of calm. So what are all of these things focused on turbulence, abundance, busyness, and anxious? It's all focused on what wise leaders do, and that's amidst complexity.
Alex Judd:When things get wild, what do wise leaders do? They retain simplicity. Okay. Let's move on to our next action. So our next action is that wise leaders own limitations.
Alex Judd:So I wanna break this down for you. What do bad leaders do? What do average leaders do? And what do great leaders do? Bad leaders deny limitations.
Alex Judd:They just don't even acknowledge their weaknesses. If someone calls out their weakness, they get really defensive really, really fast. Right? That's a bad leader. What do average leaders do?
Alex Judd:Well, average leaders excuse their limitations. So so they're not necessarily bad. They they don't just say that doesn't exist, but they also don't do anything to solve for, shore up, or move forward from their limitations. They just say, oh, that's a weakness. That's something I'm not good at, and therefore, we just aren't gonna be good at that thing.
Alex Judd:Right? And oftentimes, if we're not careful, we can call that humble, vulnerable leadership as we can say, well, that's just something I'm not very good at, and then that's where we leave it. Right? But but there's a difference between average and great. And what do great leaders do?
Alex Judd:I would even maybe, submit this is what elite leaders do. Elite leaders own their limitations. So they they do what the average leader does, which is they say, oh, well, that's something that I'm not good at. But then they go beyond what the average leader does, and they say, so I'm gonna take responsibility for making sure that's solved for in our organization. I'm going to make sure that that's delegated or hired for, that we have a system for that, or that my team knows about that and they know how to respond to that weakness of mine.
Alex Judd:Instead of just throwing up their hands and saying, well, that's a weakness. That's a limitation. I'm no good at that. And just saying that's gonna be our lid moving forward, they solve for it. And and that's what ownership actually is.
Alex Judd:Right? It's not just saying, oh, man. That's something I'm not good at. It's saying, man, how do we use the multitude of resources that we have available to us to accommodate for that, to to shore up that gap, to shore up that weakness? It's not necessarily that you're gonna become a decent at a thing that you're bad at.
Alex Judd:You're probably not. But what you are gonna do is you're gonna make sure that that individual weakness doesn't become an organizational weakness over time. So what I would share with you here is just kind of an experience that I had where I think I actually transitioned from probably bad to average to great leadership in some ways. Bad leadership, denying of limitations, denying of weaknesses. Whenever we first started training and developing other coaches, I felt like, man, I'm the owner of this business.
Alex Judd:We have a coaching business, and I was the original coach. I need to be the person that trains and manages the coaches that we hire because, like, I was the first coach. And so I need to be the person that does that does that. And for a long time, it was something that I was clearly not good at because the sustained management and accountability associated with standards is not a strength of mine. It's actually a weakness of mine.
Alex Judd:But it was something that was I was clearly not good at. I just wasn't willing to admit it. So in some ways, I wasn't actively saying, no, that doesn't exist, but I was just too afraid to say I'm not good at this. And so I was denying it. Over time, I started to move to average, and I would just say, man, that's just something I'm not good at.
Alex Judd:And and in some ways, I may be accepted for a little while, and because I'm not good at that, there's gonna be a cap to our impact. I made the transition to being a better leader whenever I realized, hey. I'm not good at that, but there's someone that I know, being Olivia Graham, who is still our coaching manager to this day, who's, like, not just good at that. She's excellent at that. And what would it look like for me to say, hey, Olivia, I am recognizing that I am not good at this part, the managing, sustaining, and accountability of the standards that we've set for coaches and really the training associated with getting them to meet those standards?
Alex Judd:And I think you're really good at this. So what if we brought you on full time to do just that? And what if I took my hands off and said, I relinquished that responsibility? And it was wild how fast that got better. And what's even more wild is that was something that, man, for a period of time was a legitimate weakness of mine that became a weakness of the company.
Alex Judd:Individual weakness becomes collective weakness. And now I would actually say training, management, and stability in our coaching department is one of, if not our greatest strategic strength as a company. Oh my gosh. What happens whenever you own your limitations? So what are the things that you're weak at?
Alex Judd:Are those things that you're denying right now? Are they things that you're excusing? Are they things that you're owning? And in the process of owning them, you're proactively delegating, hiring for, or systemizing or solving for so that it doesn't become an organizational weakness as well. Own limitations.
Alex Judd:Okay. Let's go to the third one. What do wise leaders do? They make decisions, and they withhold judgment. Again, they make decisions, and they withhold judgment.
Alex Judd:So I'm really thinking about a portion of the sermon on the mount when I'm thinking about, this action of wise leaders. What does Jesus say in the sermon on the mount? He says, judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you use, you yourself will be judged. And so Jesus really obviously makes an argument against judgment in this scenario.
Alex Judd:Now what's interesting, and I've seen other leaders struggle with this too. For a period of time, I read that verse, and I really struggled with that verse because I thought, man, it it kinda feels like I'm supposed to be making decisions. And in making decisions, I'm supposed to be exercising judgment. And I started to ask the question, is that wrong? And the tension or the anxiety around, man, I don't wanna judge people or I don't wanna judge situations made me into actually an incredibly indecisive leader for a period of time.
Alex Judd:And here's what I had to learn that was just so helpful to understand about the context of this verse and I think can actually help leaders with being more decisive themselves. This is from, some study that was done by the Bible Project that that resource just in general is so helpful. The word judge that shows up in Matthew Matthew seven one, is a Greek word, that's pronounced krino. It's k r I n o, krino. And that word actually has a double meaning.
Alex Judd:So krino can mean two things. It can mean to exercise discernment, or it can mean to condemn. And so the question that we've got to ask is which version of the word krino was Jesus likely using, and which version of the word krino actually aligns with the totality of scripture? Well, if we think about it, there are so many proverbs and psalms, and even New Testament verses that highlight the value of sound wisdom, sound judgment, a discriminatory eye, the ability to use discernment, the ability to be shrewd as a serpent. So it it is almost impossible that Jesus here is saying, don't exercise judgment at all.
Alex Judd:Don't discern, and don't make decisions as it relates to the situations that you're involved in. What's actually true is that the version of the word that he was using means condemnation. And so what we are called to do as leaders is we're called to make decisions, but we're not called to ever cast judgment, meaning cast condemnation on someone. So here's the deal. You will hire people over other people, and you will choose certain people because you're like, They are better for our company and what our company needs.
Alex Judd:You will have really tough conversations where you have to be deliberately assertive with people about their performance or about their fit in a culture. You will have to fire people as a leader. You will have to course correct people. You will have to move people into different seats on the bus. You will have to move people towards change organizationally that they don't want to do.
Alex Judd:All of those things are going to require you to make decisions that are confident and decisive. But what you don't have to do in the process of making those decisions is condemn people or cast judgment upon people. And here's what the most wise leaders I know understand. They don't confuse people's performance or current status with their value or worth. So here's what I know to be true is is people do dumb things.
Alex Judd:People do crazy things. People do bad and wrong things. What wise leaders understand is that just because people do things that are dumb, bad, wrong, incorrect, just because people don't meet their commitments or don't don't do what they said they would do or act hypocritically or even make decisions and and take actions that lack integrity, you do not, as a leader, have to devalue them as a person, certainly verbally, but even in your heart. You can just say, man, that was a really bad decision, or that was a really dumb move, or they should have never said that. And for that reason, maybe we're gonna really strongly course correct them.
Alex Judd:Maybe we're gonna fire them. Maybe we're not gonna hire them. And you don't have to feel bad about making a decision. But what I want you to be kind of liberated in is you can make decisions without making condemnation oriented judgments of people. And that's where Jesus' command to us really, really take shape.
Alex Judd:Judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you use, you yourself will be judged. We've gotta hold this belief in ourselves, deep seated confidence that people's value and worth and dignity as a person is not tied to their performance. Their performance are things that they do. It's not who they are.
Alex Judd:But within that, we can exercise sound judgment and even make good decisions around the things people do, and we don't have to hold opinions or final judgments on who they are as a result. So what do wise leaders do? They make decisions, and they withhold judgments. Okay. Let's move on to the the final action of wise leaders.
Alex Judd:What do wise leaders do? They invest in front stage, backstage, and offstage relationships. This framework was so helpful for me. I I learned it in a leadership development group that I was part of with my church. And here's how I heard it described is, think of a play.
Alex Judd:Right? You've got front stage relationships in the play. These are the people that you literally have lines with. They have dialogue. They have a role to play in the play.
Alex Judd:In our work environments, these are the people that we do work with every single day. These are the people that are on your team. These are the relationships that you are kind of operating with, whether contractors or employees or partners to accomplish shared objectives. So those are your front stage relationships. K.
Alex Judd:Then let's go back to the play. We have backstage relationships. So the this is your stage manager. This is the people that do makeup back stage. Hopefully, if you're a man that's a leader, you're not having anyone do your makeup, but you get what I'm saying.
Alex Judd:Right? These are all the people whose task is to help you get put together and ready and confident and able to go out and execute execute the the play, play, to know your lines, to do what you're doing. They make sure you're encouraged. They make sure you're properly challenged. They make sure that that you got your act together and that you're showing up to what you're supposed to do front of stage prepared, ready, on time, all of that.
Alex Judd:Right? That's backstage people. And in, in the context of business and leadership, backstage relationships are mentors, coaches, pastors, therapists. Okay. Then offstage relationships.
Alex Judd:If front stage is the people that are doing the play with you, backstage is the people that get you ready to do the play, your offstage relationships are the people that are like, there was a play? I didn't even know there was a play. And so these are the people that weren't there. They they don't know you as it relates to your role as an actor or actress. In the context of business and leadership, these are those relationships.
Alex Judd:Maybe they're deep seated friendships. Maybe it's your marriage relationship. Hopefully, it's your relationship with your kids. That, man, their love for you is not at all going to be determined by your performance in and at the office. Now here's what wise leaders do.
Alex Judd:They invest in all three types of relationships. Here's what average leaders do, and I would say it's really common for leaders to do this, to overinvest in front stage relationships and to underinvest in backstage and offstage relationships. So often, we spend so much time really doubling down on our front of stage relationships, the people that we are doing the thing with. And, obviously, I'm all for that. Right?
Alex Judd:That's how you create an engaged team and engaged culture. That's how you make sure you don't become isolated as a leader. You've gotta have front stage relationships. You gotta have really, really solid connections with the people that you are doing the work with. But you also have to have backstage relationships.
Alex Judd:And why do you need backstage relationships? Well, if you lack backstage relationships, what you so often lack is perspective. When I coincide with a leader that's lacking backstage relationships or whenever I lack it myself, man, I I oftentimes don't celebrate or even recognize the highs, and I I overcatastrophize the lows. So I get on this roller coaster because I become so emotionally invested in the work, and I'm not having work oriented conversations with anyone that's not in the work. And so that's what I think is so helpful about coaching.
Alex Judd:Obviously, I'm biased, but just because I'm biased doesn't mean I'm wrong. Right? It is what do coaches do? Well, coaches view your business as one of many businesses, and you could actually think of that as careless. I think the exact opposite is true.
Alex Judd:I think that's actually really careful and helpful because you view your business as the thing. To you, it's like the highs are so high, the lows are so low. You're in it. Right? What coaches have the ability to do is be like, dude, don't worry.
Alex Judd:This low is not nearly as low as you're making it. I've seen 15 other companies go through something similar before. We are going to work through this together. And then also the highs, they make sure you don't miss them. They make sure you actually celebrate them.
Alex Judd:They make sure they call attention to the fact that it's like, dude, this was the thing that you said you wanted to happen a year ago, and now you've worked for twelve months, and you almost just skipped past it. How are you celebrating? Right? So so backstage relationships are so crucial because they offer perspective that we often can't have when we are in the work. And then finally, offstage relationships.
Alex Judd:For me, my my primary offstage relationship is Aspen, especially since we had our daughter, Lily. Oftentimes, I don't have a ton of time to, let Aspen in on every detail associated with what's going on at Path for Growth because, quite frankly, it's actually good, but that's not the only thing we talk about. And what's so nice is to know, man, I've got someone that I live with. I even go to bed with this person at night, that they do not look at me through the lens of how Path for Growth is performing. That is such a gift.
Alex Judd:And I I have that with Aspen. I have that with, friends in our small group that we meet with on Tuesday nights as well, that it's like, man, Path four Growth could be having the worst season it's ever had in the history of the business, and they will not treat me any differently. If anything, they might actually treat me better, which is so, so, so valuable and so, so, so helpful. So what do wise leaders do? They invest, and that's an act of intentionality.
Alex Judd:Even before they need these relationships, they take time to make deposits in front of stage, backstage, and offstage relationships. Well, I hope this content was helpful for you. Here's what I would just challenge you with as we leave this episode. Think about these actions, and and think particularly about, man, which of these do I wanna focus on just bringing to the forefront of my mind? And maybe do I wanna share with a friend, a colleague, or a teammate, or something like that so that when the time arises where I'm gonna have to exercise wisdom and might need to lean into this, it's at the front of my mind, and I'm able not just to have this be knowledge, but I'm able to make it wisdom, competence with regard to the realities of life.
Alex Judd:Let's go. Well, there you have it. Thanks so much for joining us for this episode. If you want any of the information or resources that we mentioned, that's all in the show notes. Hey, before you go, could I ask you for one quick favor?
Alex Judd:Could you subscribe, rate, and review this podcast episode? Your feedback is what helps our team engage in a sequence of never ending improvement. We wanna amplify amplify what's valuable to you and obviously reduce or even remove the things that aren't. Also, you leaving a positive review is what helps us connect with, build trust with, and serve other leaders around the country. So thanks in advance for helping us out on that front.
Alex Judd:Are you a leader that wants to grow your business in a healthy way, serve people exceptionally well, and glorify God in the process? Go to pathforgrowth.com to get more information about our community of impact driven leaders and schedule a call with our team. Hey, thank you so much to the Path for Growth team, Kyle Cummings and the crew at PodCircle, and the remarkable leaders that are actively engaged in the Path for Growth community. Y'all are the people that make this podcast possible. Y'all know this.
Alex Judd:We're rooting for you. We're praying for you. We wanna see you win. Remember, my strength is not for me. Your strength is not for you.
Alex Judd:Our strength is for service. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.