Ep. 9 - Choose: As a disciple, choose joy. As a leader, delight others.

In this episode, we discuss the role joy plays in a leader’s life, dealing with adversity, and the power of encouragement w/Todd Edstrom, an Atlanta GA area, young professional commercial real estate associate. 

Questions and lessons explored in this episode: 

• When is the last time you encouraged someone? How can the principles of encouragement in this chapter help someone who has lost confidence, faced challenging circumstances, or failed at something? 
• Have you ever worked with a delightful leader? What were the qualities about the person you admired most? What was his or her impact on you? What can you learn and apply from the delightful leader’s approach? 
• Identify three people in your life who have a positive attitude and three with negative attitudes. What do you notice about them, and what impact does it have on those around them? 
• How do you deal with adversity? What’s working and not working? Why? 
• How will these discipleship and leadership principles help you transform your workplace through your pursuit of Christ?

Discipled Leader is a show that provides struggling, stuck, or merely surviving Christian Business leaders with a framework to grow their influence through becoming a redemptive (i.e., change for the better), Christlike presence in the workplace, and living a more fulfilling personal and professional life. www.prestonpoore.com 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:05

Hi, President Ford. Welcome to the Despite the Leader Podcast. Along with my young, professional co-host and adult children, Caroline Bennett, and a special guest, we'll explore a life-changing framework designed to help struggling, stop, or merely surviving Christian business leaders grow their influence by becoming a redemptive, Christ-like presence in the workplace, and living a more fulfilling life. Buckle up and get ready to be transformed. Hi everybody, it's President Poor. Welcome to this type of leader. Thanks for being here today. So excited about our topic and what we're going to talk about. I'm going to set things up. I'll hand it over to Caroline for our interview and then we'll get over to Benton and hand it to him for our fun little uh seat section where we get to know the guests in a fun and humorous way. So uh hang in there for the end of the podcast for that, if you will. But let me set up today's chapter. It's chapter eight, it's choos. It's all about joy and that inner joy translating into delighting others. And so uh I created a dual principle for each chapter. And the dual principle for chapter eight twos is this it says, as a disciple, choose joy. As a leader, delight others. And for each chapter, I just want to give you a brief setup and something that I wrote about a quick chapter summary to kind of understand what we're going to be talking about, where we're headed today, and then follow up with the anchored scripture. So here's the summary. Here's what I wrote. I said, in a world rife with sorrow and reason to grief, the disciple leader can choose to be joyful even amid difficult circumstances. Now, this does not mean pretending to be happy, but rather being willing to choose joy set before you, just as Christ endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. And this inner joy translates into an outer joy that seeks to delight others. And the anchored scripture for the chapter is this out of John 15, 11, these are Jesus words in the amplified Bible, he said this I have told you these things, that my joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be full of measure and complete and overflowing. Okay, now let's hand it over to Caroline. And who's our special guest today?

SPEAKER_07 2:12

Yeah, so thanks for that. Thanks for really excited for the conversation we're going to have today. Um, it's really my honor to interview a dear friendly minutes and we're gonna after finishing calls after the integrated constitutional today, and I think people and then encouragement on their journeys and confident of it in the workplace as well. Um Todd, we'll kind of dive into it. I know you had the chance to read the book, read the chapter. Um, and I'll just start by asking you to tell us the last time that you encouraged someone.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

Uh yeah, it's a great question, Caroline. Uh, you know, I would I would like to say that the last time I encouraged someone was uh this morning or today, and obviously this morning uh with my wife. Uh it's obviously a goal of mine to be a uh in you know an encouragement and an ambassador of her uh on a day-to-day basis. And then most recently, obviously, I I hope I've encouraged people throughout the workday. And I think that in today's world, um, you know, anything we do is oftentimes marked by uh you know something um seen. It's a it's an easily seen and objective, hey, you did this, check the box, everyone saw it. And I think that encouragement should be simpler than that. I think it needs to be recognized as uh, well, really, only one person saw it, and it was the person who received it. And so uh, you know, even in those small interactions of, you know, at the at the coffee station or the elevator or uh simply smiling, which nowadays we don't see often with masks on. But I think that encouragement, it sounds super heady, uh, but it is actually a pretty basic thing to do in a human interaction, um, you know, both small and big.

SPEAKER_07 4:48

Yeah, I love that you make it feel simple. Um, so in every uh conversation, like you mentioned at coffee shops. I love the line in the book that says joy is a distinctively Christian character trait. Um, and I think that those simple acts are absolutely something that sets Christians apart in everyday life, right? Those tactical ways that you're talking about. Um, I love that you also explained that encouragement is something that's done behind closed doors. So in your mind, how does encouragement maybe even coincide with integrity in how you live your life?

SPEAKER_03 5:27

Yeah, that's a great question. I think that encouragement comes down to first off, I can I think anyone can fake it until they make it with joy, with happiness, with encouragement, with optimism. But if there isn't a fundamental energy source, then it's eventually going to run dry. And so it's easy to run on E, for lack of a better term, in public and in front of people, because we're all really good at smiling. We're really good at patting people on the back. But candidly, we're our weakest selves when we're alone and when we're behind those closed doors. And so I think that they are completely tied to one another in that true joy leads to, and and really just optimism leads to encouragement beyond the public sphere. And that's not even, you know, I consider two the public sphere, you know, I could be sitting down with a coworker in public, but it's the two of us in a huddle room together. Okay, well, that's that's that's still behind closed doors, yeah, literally, and in in my mind. Um yet if I'm on E, it's it's fake. And so being being a source of and and and kind of living that that um you know a light-hearted, encouraged body, yeah, even behind that quote closed door with a colleague or with my wife or with a friend, yeah, um, it's hard to fake. And so I think that you can't you can't escape by that thing. And to I guess be long-winded here, um, I think the spirit, you know, we talk about the spirit of a room, but I think the spirit of a room, we're really just omitting the holy part of that. The spirit of a reuben, it it's often palpable, right? Even with a coworker who may not believe or may not even know you believe, it's still undeniable whether or not the spirit is there. And I think that that encouragement itself is always a product, byproduct of whether or not the spirit is with you.

SPEAKER_07 7:39

That's awesome. Yeah. So the Holy Spirit in action, being present with you, even in the working moments behind closed doors and conference rooms. Um, that's incredibly tactical.

SPEAKER_04 7:52

Yeah, hey, quick Todd. I just had a quick question for you. When's the last time you were encouraged by somebody?

SPEAKER_03 7:58

Oh, that's a good question. Uh obviously my wife every single day, right? Uh no, I would say, no, truly though, she um encouraged and inspired. I sometimes I want to, you know, I think that they're uh synonymous in a way. Um, but really it's you know, it's my wife loving me. Uh, but then for sake of work, I think the last time I was encouraged by somebody is is oftentimes I think there are two polar opposites. There's one, I'm sitting down with a coworker who's 23, fresh out of school, and really excited and eager. And I'm encouraged by their enthusiasm. And then on the spiritual scale, it is a uh 30, 40-year vet within the industry who, when I told them that I just celebrated my first anniversary, responded to me by saying, Hallelujah, man. That's awesome. And in that moment, I become encouraged because he and I just made a connection far deeper than we ever could. And that in itself subtly encouraged me that man, we both did it. We both know this is a wonderful thing. Uh so yeah, I'd say though, you know, there are two I think sides of that story. Um, but most recently it has to be for certain, my wife has most recently encouraged me. And the the way in which she did that uh and does that frequently, is uh I tell her about a random meeting, and she says, I love you, you're gonna do great. You know what you're going to talk about, just have confidence in that. And uh, though that's not, you know, I guess, hey, I'm praying for you for lack of a better term, I know it is motivated by and and found founded in the Lord because we're both believers.

SPEAKER_07 9:49

That's a good word. Um, so Todd, going back to what we were talking about previously, um, this is a two-fold question for you. So when spirits are on empty, as you said, how do you kind of lift your eyes, lift your spirit, um, refill? And then it's a second fold, why do you think that makes an impact?

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Yeah. Um adversity is a day-to-day life theme, right?

SPEAKER_03 10:22

We all live in a broken world. And while it's sad, it is a reality. And so when I face it, I try to remove myself, though this may sound odd, almost from myself and the circumstance to say, What does this mean, big picture to me, to my family, to my mental health, to my you know, emotional and physical health. So the first step is just I'm gonna separate myself from it, try to have some perspective. I'm ultimately gonna hopefully open my hands and say, Lord, how do you feel about this thing? Like anyone else, I'm not perfect in that. Half the time I'm just gonna try to fix it and I'm j gonna react as fast as possible. But you know, when I'm good and when I'm on, I'm looking to the Lord on, hey, how do you feel about this thing? And ultimately at the end of the day, the underlying thought is it's it's rooted in it it is done. I am chosen. I am destined for greatness. Now it may not be the world, the worldly sense of greatness. Like, Preston, I love the thought of your interaction with your coworker of like, I'm gonna get fired. I'm toast. There's no way. Like, well, no, actually you're destined for greatness. There is there's going to be something that that comes from this that is okay. And when I say greatness, it's it's an upside down kingdom of yeah, it's probably not gonna look the way I want it to look. But at the end of the day, I've got the hope because once again, it is done. I am chosen that this thing is already written and knowing that gives me the the I guess encouragement to lean in. And then it also gives me an encouragement to take take a step back because oftentimes you know, you see a problem, you run to it. We think as Christians sometimes we're called to to to pause. And when I say pause, I mean pray, right? I mean, we may not be the first responder, but I think if we can go in with the the wisdom and discernment and um the authority of the Holy Spirit, it's far more impactful. And then apologies. Second question.

SPEAKER_07 12:47

Second question was why you think uh it's important to refill and then how that outflows and impacts your leadership.

SPEAKER_03 12:55

Yeah. The importance of refilling is um very simply put, I am only so full as uh the Lord fills me up. Um, the outflow of me is simply a byproduct of of you know his grace, kind, patience, love, sympathy. And so I think that that quote refill is is you know, I'm an extreme extrovert. I love being with people, but at a certain point I have to kind of plug back in. And I plug back in, honestly, in two ways. It's gonna be through uh just silence. I work in sales, I work with a lot of people all the time, I talk way too much, and so just simply solitude and quietness allows me to tap into uh the Lord and listen, honestly. A way to refill is just to listen. And um I think with that listening comes wisdom and discernment.

SPEAKER_07 13:59

I think you've made these big ideas very tactical, which I very much appreciate when it comes to encouragement, talking to folks and just lifting people up on your day-to-day, and then even telling us about the silence and you know, kind of your plugging back into what the Lord has to say to you in order to move forward and fill back up. So I hope that really encourages listeners. Um one thing I am curious about, Todd, is a delightful leader that you look up to. Um, what are the qualities in them uh that you admire the most? And how has that impacted you?

SPEAKER_03 14:36

It impacts my leadership in I think that posturing yourself towards your coworkers, both um, you know, superior and below you. I think that physical and uh you know, even almost verbalized posture. To I'm coming in here with an open spirit, an open mind, uh a gentle heart, which candidly those words do not normally resonate, especially as a male in the professional world, to have a gentle heart and have an open posture. It really doesn't make sense to a lot of people. But once again, if I'm filled with this thing of the Holy Spirit, I think you walk in the room and once again, from a leadership perspective, it's felt and it's therefore reciprocated. Um, you know, obviously, because the Holy Spirit is there, it's not in my control. I'm not dictating that, it's a product of you know my heart.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:33

So with that, your question was a delightful leader. I have in the moment I read proactively and and now think on this question, there is one individual that comes to mind, and he is a business leader and a wonderful father, and he has inspired me belong beyond belief. Um, and and really the the I'd say the the reason he comes to mind is is he approached me uh one day and he's the father of a couple little babies, and uh he said to me that you know the spirit I have and really choose to have when I get home from work impacts my family. It impacts my wife and my children. And in order to be a good husband, a good father, I must, you know, sometimes against every bone in my body, choose to come in with a different spirit than I actually feel, because it will effectuate down, it'll disseminate into my family. And he said, one day he said, I realized uh that the moment I walk in the door, I immediately go to my kids and give them a hug and say hello, and then I go to my wife. And he said, as the leader of this household, you know, as as the the husband to my bride, she is the love of my life. And we can correlate this to any business practice of have your priorities set, you know. But he said, I need to give my you know, first and foremost attention to my wife and literally just snap your fingers the next day. He went home. Of course, his little three, four, five-year-olds run to him, Daddy, daddy, and he, you know, for better, you know, it was hard, but he walked by them, walked with his wife, gave her a hug and a kiss, and then you know, bent down to his kids. And I think leadership, you know, delighting in in in in that, um it isn't always fun and and really easy, but at the end of the day, it truly, you know, impacted his family for the better, and then now his his children observe a a um you know a good, loving, proper relationship. That that I'll I'll never forget that moment. It was it was pretty significant.

SPEAKER_07 17:57

Yeah, that's wonderful. Um, and awesome that you've taken that into your own life. Um you bring up great points around an attitude. Uh and that's highlighted in this chapter as well. Um really choosing your attitude, choosing joy. Um these are really just the overarching themes that I'm hearing out of our conversation. Uh, how would you say these discipleship and leadership principles uh are going to help you to transform your workplace through your pursuit of Christ?

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Cool.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

Yeah, I think the the uh the exemplification and really living out this thing, and I love the title of disciple leader because we're all discipled by something or someone, but we're choosing to be disciples of Jesus, which is quite significant. But at the end of the day, everyone's learning and through osmosis or or intentionally, and so within the work day, you know, Preston, I I love the idea you had mentioned the oxygen of the soul, and and I circled two of the the subsections of of show you care, speak kind words, excuse me, three and celebrate success. And those are actually really uncommon, like so uncommon in the professional space of showing someone you care, actually asking someone how how are you doing, not just this elevator talk or this super transient, hey, hope you're well, don't even know your name. No Carolyn, how are you doing? And one of one of my mentors has always asked me, erase erase the line, how are you doing, or what's up? You should always ask them, Are you encouraged? Because it's going to prompt a response of yes, I am, and here's why. Or it's gonna respond, it's gonna prompt them to say, like, holy smokes, no, I am so just like discouraged and and kind of beaten down right now. And once again, prompts a dialogue. And so simply just showing you care, I think goes a really long way.

SPEAKER_07 20:19

Yeah. So say that again, Todd. Say that uh your one-liner on what you're gonna change from what's up and how's it going to Yeah, it's it's no longer what's up or how it's going, how's it going?

SPEAKER_03 20:31

It is are you encouraged?

SPEAKER_07 20:33

I love that. Are you encouraged? I'm gonna take that point for line.

SPEAKER_03 20:37

And you can ask anyone you want, CEO of a company, um, the you know, facilities manager, a stranger. And yes, it's an odd question, but good. It makes them think once again, like just engage with people because so many of the conversations we have are are are just not, they're just immaterial and and grossly high level. Uh, and I think right now, honestly, given the context of the world, people are dying for it. Yeah, and they actually probably have a lot to talk about.

SPEAKER_05 21:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:08

So uh back to that speak kind words. Uh affirmation is a love language of mine. My wife knows that well, she does a wonderful job of it. Um I think that just speaking kind words is once again, it's it's actually quite simple. It's more than, hey, great job, but I think it's it must always be personalized. One of the things I love in both the book, Preston, as well as the book, Jesus, is Jesus' ability to speak very directly into people. And his words weren't uh yes, they were, you know, um, they they were um uh parables and somewhat ambiguous in reason, but like at the well. He was he literally just spoke into this person very intentionally. And I know it's speak kind words, but adding the twist of um uh how are you doing, or um, hey, I understand that that deal fell through. Like what's going on?

SPEAKER_04 22:16

Yeah. Hey, real quick, Todd, that's that's awesome. Let me build help you build on that. Just to real quick jump in here for a second. Um, one of the things I found is I'm encouraging people is I think where you're going with this and the speaking directly to people is that if you are specific with them on something that they've done well or something, instead of saying nice job, like at work, you can pat people on the back. And everybody needs that pat on the back of the nice job. But if you'll take an extra second and say, not only is it a nice job, but here's exactly what I think you did extremely well and give them examples, right? Because then that that really I think that edifies and encourages and inspires somebody and lifts their spirit to hear that. Because at work, we're always just hearing the we've got scorecards and the criticism and the feedback and all that kind of stuff. But if you'll take just a second to go beyond that well done type thing with a comment, I think it's just a fantastic thing that we can do.

SPEAKER_07 23:10

Yeah, and helps people identify their skill sets. It's a good level up to sharpen people as well.

SPEAKER_03 23:16

It it also, I love that, it also adds to show you care because if you care, then you know that next step, right? You know that it's not just tier one, but now we're getting deeper into tier two of hey, I know you're not great at presenting on screen, but I thought you did a great job. You were so confident up there. That means so much more than hey, great job, Joe. Right? Uh so yes, be kind words and then and then to finish it out um is a celebrate success and and or success is is really of um we have so much to be grateful for, we also have so much to be proud of. And I think that so much of honestly the business community, because men and women honestly probably know they're successful, even when they win, they feel as though they're doing their job. And celebrating the people, especially when you're in a uh a position of leadership, celebrating people for quote, just doing their job is actually far more important than I think is recognized at this point.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Why so why do you why do you say that? Tell me more about that time. Why do you say that?

SPEAKER_03 24:32

Yeah, so uh, you know, spiritually, I'd say it's because we're called to work, and regardless of that work, we're all called to do it. Awesome, congratulations. You've done it well. That said, it is what you're here to do, and we should love you for it. We should recognize the fact that you are doing it well because it is really important, regardless of you know how how glamorous this thing may be, or how or how you know subtle this thing may be, I think there's and once again, this is coming from affirmation, is a love language of mine. But I think it's important as a leader to recognize the small things because we just mentioned, you know, behind closed doors, those small things add up. And so if we can instill that that validation and confidence and and reinforce those things um, you know, as often as possible, I think it will set up both our personal lives and our professional lives for larger success.

SPEAKER_07 25:41

That's awesome. Todd, what a good word. What a what good words I must say. Um you just brought it home on encouragement, on plugging back in, getting with God to kind of repurpose your purpose at work, um, getting personal with folks, really showing you care, going the extra mile, um, which just all ties back to the joy and the choice of attitude in our leadership and what we choose to do at work, um, really brings glory to God. Um, so I appreciate all of your knowledge and your insights that you shared today. Um, and I also just really appreciate your friendship.

SPEAKER_03 26:23

Likewise, absolute pleasure. And I'll I'll end with one comment. Uh, I love the chapter title of uh and and when I you know was reading it, I realized that uh, you know, I choose to be encouraged by the grace of God.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Simply put.

unknown 26:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

Yes, I choose it, but hallelujah. It's by the grace of God. Wow. That's it.

SPEAKER_04 26:51

This has been great.

SPEAKER_07 26:52

Yeah. Incredible.

SPEAKER_04 26:56

Do you feel like one person in your personal life and another in professional life? Are you driven by your faith and yet you feel like that you can't bring it to your workplace? Does this disconnect make you feel like that you're not honoring God and everything that He's called you to do? Do you feel like that you're merely surviving day-to-day at work without purpose or meaning? Do you want to grow your influence and possibly shape your work environment, but you're not sure how? Hi, I'm Preston Poor, author of Disciple Leader, inspiration from a Fortune 500 executive for transforming your workplace by pursuing Christ. You know, honestly, it took me a long time to figure out that it's not about changing your leadership style. Well, learning to be a better leader certainly is necessary, and many excellent books have been written to that end. Changing your style will not change who you are. Listen to this. Who you are needs to change before what you do changes. But coming here meant to be as a Christian leader does not begin with focusing on leadership. Your calling toward better leadership is a calling toward deeper discipleship. My new book, Disciple Leader, provides struggling, stagnant, or merely surviving Christian business leaders with a framework to grow their influence through becoming a redemptive, Christ-like presence in the workplace, and living a more fulfilling, personal professional life. Through the book's 10 dual discipleship and leadership principles, stories and applications, you'll experience personal professional transformation. For example, you'll change from struggling to live out your faith in the workplace to being empowered to positively shape your environment. You'll move from a stagnant, stale, dormant faith to one that's growing, active, and fulfilling. You'll shift from merely surviving day-to-day to thriving and living a life of purpose and meaning. If you're struggling to live out your faith in the workplace, worry that you're missing the opportunity to make a positive difference, or fear that you're living an unfulfilled life, it all stops here. Visit my website, PrestonPore.com, and order your copy of Disciple Leader Today and begin to experience personal and professional transformation.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

All right. So, Todd, uh, as we're getting here towards the end, uh, we now have a little segment that I like to call hot seat. I have a few fun and quick questions uh for us and the listeners to get to know you a little bit better. So uh that being said, are you ready?

SPEAKER_01 29:10

I am ready.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

All right, let's go. On a scale of one to ten, how good are you at keeping secrets?

SPEAKER_01 29:19

Nine.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

Nine? That's pretty good. Okay. Uh Disney characters, Ariel or Jasmine?

SPEAKER_02 29:26

Jasmine. Okay, first celebrity crush. Jasmine Beal. Oh, all right. Seven heavens. Fair enough. Uh Dawn or Dusk. Dawn. Good call.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

If you could travel back in time, what period in time would you go to?

SPEAKER_03 29:53

1787, the Constitutional Convention.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

You didn't study constitutional law, right?

SPEAKER_03 29:59

Yep. I was sitting in that room.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Oh, do you snore?

SPEAKER_03 30:06

My wife says yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

You haven't heard yourself? Nope. Okay. Um, what is one place that you most want to travel?

SPEAKER_02 30:19

Hawaii. Hawaii. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

And I have red hair, which says a lot.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

I think you put right in.

SPEAKER_03 30:26

It could be dangerous.

SPEAKER_00 30:29

Um favorite junk food.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Not pretzels. Easy. What was your favorite childhood TV show? Whole house. What is the favorite season of the year? Fall.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

Fall. What was your last Halloween costume?

SPEAKER_03 30:51

The gingerbread man. Because I'm a ginger and I literally just wear a loaf of bread around me. So I'm like a gingerbread man.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

I get it.

SPEAKER_03 31:02

What one before that was syndrome because you know the the listeners can't see me, but we're we're following a theme here.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

Yeah. I think I'm passing on. All right. Cake cake or pie. Pie. When you think of encouragement, do you more so think of it as a state of mind or as an action?

SPEAKER_02 31:23

Ooh. That's good.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

I am encouraged, which is the state of mind. I think it's a heart condition. Kristen, in your book, you wrote about you know, obviously the the genetic disease or or um in that you know you're you feel beaten down. And so I think that there's a a mind to be in uh there's a competitor of the mind to be encouraged. And I also think there's an action, which once again is biblical to be a disciple, go be, go do something and live it out. But I also am a firm believer that you have to get your house in order to go do that well. And so I think it's it's one then two. It's I think you have to be, and it's really you can choose to be, but at the end of the day, it's up to the Holy Spirit to actually reside in you. And I also think that there's false encouragement. Sorry to continue on that. There is such a thing as false encouragement of that's complete BS, that is not rooted in something good and true. We all know it once again. Back to walking into a room, we all know the spirit of the room, it is so tangible, so palpable that you can't you really can't fake it, and people know when it is good and true, and so therefore, if if you know it's a mindset of I am at peace, I am encouraged, and therefore that you know, out of the heart comes through the mouth of something good and something encouraged, right? So then it becomes that verb and the action.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

Absolutely, yeah. I love that. Last one, do you ever post inspirational quotes on social media?

SPEAKER_03 33:22

I do not.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Why not?

SPEAKER_03 33:26

Caroline might call me out on that one. I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 33:30

Maybe in like maybe in like college, inspirational person on social media, different from post, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quotes, yeah. Quotes quotes and posts are different. Yeah, I would say.

SPEAKER_03 33:42

Yeah, no quotes. No quotes, no person. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'll go, I'll go look at Instagram. That was yeah, exactly. That was fun. I that was fun.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Awesome. Great job, Todd.

SPEAKER_04 33:57

Great job, Todd. Thank you for playing along on that. Uh hey, and thank you so much for your one, your your vulnerability, your transparency today, uh, your leadership in the workplace. It also sounds like your marriage to Rebecca is uh it's on a very solid foundation. And you're that's it's our marriages are so important, aren't they? And uh it really sets a lot of the tone about what we can and do actually do at work, and it makes a big difference for us. So thank you for being vulnerable and uh transparent with the audience to talk a little bit about that. Hey, if you had one takeaway today, after reading the chapter, going through all the interview questions and and really just chatting with us today. If you had one takeaway for the audience, what would that be?

SPEAKER_03 34:40

Uh it's a wonderful question. One takeaway would be that I am extremely thankful that I am chosen, as I've already mentioned, and therefore I can choose to be encouraged. And at the end of the day, it's really hard to always be encouraged, and no one's really asking you to always be the most peppy person in the room. But that's what true joy and encouragement physically looks like. So that said, it is my takeaway both from today and your book is that keep hope. We have reason to be encouraged, we have reason to be hopeful, and it is not worldly, it is much more than, and therefore, you know, rejoice in the fact that you know we're we're we know we get it, and that's a wonderful thing.

SPEAKER_04 35:44

That is so good. It's so that that's so good because if you to your point, if we know that we're chosen, we can choose to be joyful, hopeful, and then that will spill out of our life into others, uh, whether it's personally or professionally, it makes a big difference out there. And the way that shows up is delighting them and encouraging other folks. So thanks for your time today. I appreciate that. Great job.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

Yeah, this is fantastic. Thank you all.

SPEAKER_04 36:07

Well, that's all for today's episode, and thanks for listening. Join us again next time when we explore another life-changing principle from Disciple Leader. And be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes or other streaming platforms so you'll never miss an episode. Plus, if you don't have a copy of Disciple Leader, stop by my website at PrestonPore.com and order yours today. I'll end with this. I encourage you to allow God to work in you and through you to change your world.