Great Leaders are Great Coaches
I'm at my best as a coach and a leader for that matter. And I think we are at our best as a coaching company when we do not need your business. Because like telling people the truth in love, if you're not incentivized to do so is really, really hard. Like if you're actively being incentivized to make someone feel good, that is really, really difficult. Right?
Alex Judd:And so I've seen over and over again that like, I'm able to be really, really confident, really, really honest, really, really direct and clear whenever I remember that I do not need your business.
Matt Aiken:So as a business, we help leaders build healthy, growing, profitable businesses that are not dependent on the leader to make a positive impact. One of the things that we do in helping leaders is we help them see that great leader leaders are often great coaches. We have an entire podcast series where we talk about the skills of being a great coach. But but for this episode, I'd like for us to walk through some of the some of the principles or practices that we we walk through as coaches to get that impact of helping people step into who they were created to be. So I just wanna to to to open with, great leaders are great coaches.
Matt Aiken:Where where do you see this play out? Why is it so important that we talk about this today?
Alex Judd:When I think about the role of a coach, I think about someone that is unleashing the best in other people. Right? They see that, man, the best is possible and the best is in you, and and oftentimes the best just has to be unleashed. We just have to get get get clarity on what the best is and then also get rid of the conflict, the things that are getting in the way. That's what a great coach does.
Alex Judd:Now there's elements of leadership that are going to tell you where we're going. The thing that maybe stands out with regard to the coaching hat is I'm gonna walk with you as we go there. And I I just believe so much that coaching, if done properly, is invaluable in the life of a leader. And, obviously, I'm horrendously biased on this subject because I own a coaching company, and this is the primary way that we help leaders grow. But I think I'm maybe just as passionate or if not even more passionate about this subject, not just for, like, what is the work that our team does for business owners and leaders, but really what what is the work that those business owners and leaders do for the people on their And I'll tell you the most impact driven leaders that I know that really do, man, serve people exceptionally well.
Alex Judd:They always develop the skill of wearing the coaching hat, and they always improve in their ability to walk alongside people. So I think what we're gonna do today in this list that you've got for us that we're gonna walk through is really just what does that pragmatically and practically look like Because sometimes I think it's actually counterintuitive to what we learn about leadership.
Matt Aiken:Yeah. Excellent. So you wanna be a great leader. We're saying coaching is is a is a hat you're gonna need to wear, that you're gonna want to wear to to create great leaders. So what are some of the practices?
Matt Aiken:First one we wrote down is prepare to be successful. Kyle, talk to me about preparing to be successful. What does that look like?
Kyle Guemmer:Yeah. I mean, so often, if we are if we are coaching people, there is a level of context that is involved. There's a level of actions, and there's a level of of of history of things that we've already talked about. And if we just show up when we are and then one other thing I'll add is is coaching. We are we are coaching people.
Kyle Guemmer:We are getting people from here to there. We've all grown from coaches. We become better practitioners. And so if we are taking on that role as leaders to help people get people from here to there, that happens through consistency. That happens through action.
Kyle Guemmer:And when we are gonna engage in those conversations, it's like we better come prepared to those conversations. What is the context? What is the development that we've we've been talking about? What are the actions we've committed to? And based on those things and based on the the other things that are going on, like, where are we gonna take this time that we're going into today?
Kyle Guemmer:And so prepare to be successful.
Matt Aiken:Yeah. One of the things that, we do in training to become a coach is we listen to these five qualities, and and in it, there's one word. I've got your got your head or your your voice in the back of my head every time I'm getting ready for a coaching call. I'm so sorry. He goes, don't wing it.
Matt Aiken:Yeah. Don't wing it. Yeah. What gives you such conviction to to say that? Why is that so important?
Alex Judd:I I think the reason why I say it with such conviction is because I I know who we're talking to and I know they have the ability to wing it. And what I mean by that is, like, you are people like you and you've been doing this for a while, and you're pretty intelligent, and you can probably tell a couple of really good jokes, and you have the ability to not prepare and have someone meet with you and leave with a smile on their face. But is your goal just for people to leave with a smile on your face, or is your goal impact? Is your goal to make a deposit that results in the transformation of their life? Right?
Alex Judd:And and I just know that if your goal is impact, if it's transformation, if it's sustained growth over time, if it's them stepping into who God has created them to be, that's not something that you're gonna wing. And I think it's so dangerous because you can. Like, you know you can, and therefore it's really easy to settle for and think that you did a good job. I think that we have to prepare.
Matt Aiken:Yeah. One of the ways that plays out is through preparing for the time in coaching, at least in in the role we, in the world we play, that that looks like defining what winning looks like for the time together Yeah. And then putting together a proven process, in this case, an agenda.
Alex Judd:I think what you're hitting on here is so important, and it's actually one of the distinctions between the way we at our company view coaching compared to, I think, a lot of the industry. A lot of the industry thinks of coaching as you show up to this call that this is the only time you get to talk to me because this is what you're paying for. And I'm just gonna ask you, what do you wanna talk about? And and from our perspective, effective coaching always has a little bit of a weight on the scale of not just what do you want to talk about because then your results are really the product of your whims of what's going on in your head or your emotions that day. Like, we want our coaches to have a level of contextual understanding and wisdom and prayerfulness and thoughtfulness to obviously incorporate what's going on in your world, what your desires are, what your goals are, but also to put their hand on the scale and be like, I have a bias not just to what you want to talk about, but here's what we need to talk about, and we're gonna bring the mix of your desires and and my understanding of what great business leaders do, we're gonna show up with an agenda.
Alex Judd:And that's what that agenda represents. So I just think if you wanna be an effective coach, that doesn't mean that you have to be a passive spectator of what someone else wants to talk about.
Matt Aiken:Yeah. And so that that can look like, one, preparing yourself, potentially sending that over to your the person you're coaching. Like, hey, here's what I think we need to talk about or here's what I intend to talk about today. But then also asking from them, hey, what would do you view as being most helpful? You can ask that question, what do you wanna talk about today?
Matt Aiken:But do it in advance. Hey, what would be helpful for us to talk about? Can you send through a list of topics?
Alex Judd:Can I can I say one more thing? I'll prepare. I you know, if I ever have a bunch of extra time and I wanna write a really cheesy book, there's gonna be one or two titles that I choose from. One is gonna be pray pair, or it's gonna be pre prayer. And both are actually pretty good now that I think of it.
Alex Judd:But but what's your pre prayer? Yeah. It is what I would say. And, man, if you're a believer, you have access to this incredible thing called the holy spirit, which is God in you. Right?
Alex Judd:Who so that's the source of total truth and total wisdom. And what does it look like before you engage in a conversation with someone just to say, like, God, what do you want me to be aware of? God, or is there anything you wanna show me? God, are there any particular questions you wanna put on my heart? God, what would this conversation look like if it was good, right, beautiful, and true?
Alex Judd:And, you know, knock and the door will be open. Ask and and an answer will be given. Seek and you shall find. Like, what I often find is if I actually ten minutes before a conversation, take a deep breath, slow down and ask those questions, God responds. And I have access to questions that I would otherwise never have access to.
Alex Judd:And because I have access to those questions, the the quality of our results never exceeds the quality of our questions. Man, now we're not relying on my intellect to generate great questions. We're relying on the spirit of God to give us the right questions that inspire great results from an impactful conversation.
Matt Aiken:Yeah. One thing we're we're not gonna spend too much time on, but that did did I wanna make sure we we call out ten minutes before not running from meeting to meeting to meeting. Give yourself the space. This is an important conversation. So show up to whatever the coaching conversation looks like in the best version of yourself, not running late from a meeting to the next one.
Matt Aiken:Alright. Let we get we need we need to move on. Second second action, assume you have no idea. Kyle, I'm I'm gonna go to you. You were the one who said this when we were preparing for you.
Matt Aiken:It was like, you gotta assume you have no idea. And Alex and I went, oh. What tell us what you mean by this and and why it's important for leaders to know.
Kyle Guemmer:Yeah. So I had a sticky note on my computer, like, the first six months that I was doing coaching that said, assume you don't know, it's probably true. And I didn't
Alex Judd:know that. That was funny.
Kyle Guemmer:Yeah. And it's it's it's because we actually are in a lot of ways as leaders. We have a lot of experience. We have a lot of context. And in some ways, we have a lot of wisdom and understanding of what's going on.
Kyle Guemmer:And if we assume we are connecting dots that we actually don't know have connected. And if great leaders are great coaches, well, great coaches are curious coaches. And so I I try to operate out of assume you don't know. It's probably true, because then it forces me to what we were just talking about. The quality of your results will never exceed the quality of your questions.
Kyle Guemmer:Well, then ask good questions, and you're gonna get good results. And so if someone's saying something, it's like, you just said something, I could assume I actually know what that means, but what does that mean? Or I could assume the result of the thing that you said, but what do you think the result of that thing is gonna be said? And there's so much excavating that I feel like happens to get to the actual core of what are we talking about through just assume you have no idea.
Alex Judd:So we said that some of these things are gonna be counterintuitive, and and I think this represents one of those things because what is intuitive? The more that I practice a skill, the easier it's going to become. And this is a skill. Assuming you have no idea is a skill, the more that you practice it and the more that you do it, the more that you coach in particular, the harder it is to apply this skill. And man, it it you know, I I've been having certainly coaching conversations and particularly operating the coach now for a very long time.
Alex Judd:And this out of all the things that we're gonna talk about today, this is the one that I have to most intentionally bring my mind back to anytime I find myself is in a coaching conversation. And I I will tell you in the past year specifically, I have found myself getting into trouble in conversations with leaders because I assumed I understood what was going on because I've seen this before. You have not seen this before. I promise you this. Maybe you've seen things like this, but you have not seen this.
Alex Judd:And so, gosh, yeah, we gotta stay relentlessly vigilant on this one.
Matt Aiken:Yeah. So good. Everyone who's married on the podcast, immediately has a a as a battleground to test this out. Right? Like, assume you have no idea.
Alex Judd:Yeah. Just don't coach your wife as well. Or don't coach her as a young woman.
Kyle Guemmer:Just assume you have no idea.
Matt Aiken:But practicing the I might not actually understand the full context when I walk home and and walk through the door and and understand what's going on.
Alex Judd:Dude, that's yes.
Kyle Guemmer:And it's hard as a business owner because or or a leader in the business because you actually do have a lot of the experience and knowledge, and you have seen a lot of things. But when we are developing leaders through coaching leaders, it's like even if there's not a a consequence to your assumption, you're robbing that person the opportunity to be able to experience and and get out their thoughts on it. And I think I think this is what, Alex, you were I think you are very, very good at is is there are things that I assume in the conversations that we're having or that that I just feel kind of stuck in, and and you just you could tell me exactly what to say, or you could get to the other side of this thing and say, do x, y, and z. But just through a question, it unlocks something for me. And not only does that give me an opportunity to come to that conclusion myself, which is gonna get me bore more bought in, it actually grows my confidence of, like, I can unstuck myself or I can do this thing or I can get over there on my own.
Kyle Guemmer:And and instead of just being like, I gotta go to Alex every time I don't know what to do or I gotta go to Alex every time I feel stuck, it's like you ask a question, and I do that myself, and it just grows our confidence and ability as leaders to then go execute those things on our own.
Alex Judd:I got one more thing to say that I think applies to the conversation in totality. So our aim is growth, right, which I think the aim of any coach is growth. Right? I wanna see this person grow. This is not news to anyone listening to this podcast.
Alex Judd:One of the ingredients of growth, and it might be a primary ingredient, is action. You need the person you're talking to to take action if they're going to grow. We know that to be true. I think the thing that we often undercut is this could be an interesting episode. What are all the beliefs that someone needs to have in order to take action out of a conversation with another person?
Alex Judd:One of the core beliefs is they get me. And if they don't believe that you get them, then they will not take action, which means they will not grow. And how on earth are they going to believe that you get them if you're giving all of your direction and guidance and perspective based on your assumptions? You might even be right, but they need to hear themself give you the context that results in the guidance and direction. And so they get me is one of the ingredients for action, and action obviously is one of their ingredients for growth.
Matt Aiken:Yeah. That's the standard for coaching. Our our very first coaching call is we left the context section not being able to answer I get them, but they get me. That's really important. I'm gonna go a little bit out of order because we're we're kind of in this belief territory.
Matt Aiken:One of the actions we said is be willing to believe more for others. And so we're talking about belief. They need to have some beliefs beliefs about themselves. But but what is this speaking to? Be willing to believe more for others.
Alex Judd:I I'll never forget. I had been doing half Ironmans for a while, and I would always see this guy that went to our church. He's an older guy, really successful businessman at the gym, and and he would always ask me the same question at the gym, which is, when are you gonna do a full? When are you gonna do a full? He'd always see me after races.
Alex Judd:He's like, dude, when are you gonna do a full? I keep seeing you here. And I would always ham and haw and and really I would tell you at that time, I in my mind, would always think like, I that's a 140.6 miles. I do not think I can do that. I didn't actually say that, but that was the belief that was causing the hesitation for sure.
Alex Judd:I always thought it'd be cool. I just didn't think that was me. I didn't think I could do that. And he would always ask me. And then one day, I was at the gym again, and he asked me and he said, when are you gonna do a full?
Alex Judd:And I said, man, it's a lot of time and it's a lot of money. And he said, if you make the time, I'll make the money. And the next Sunday at church, he showed up with, like, $1,200 cash and handed it to me. Right? And he believed that I could do it, and and he reduced all the barriers to me just taking the next step, which was registering.
Alex Judd:And dad gum it nine months removed from that day, I did my first iron. Let's go. Right? And it's like, did not have the belief to take that first step. I didn't have it.
Alex Judd:And and he did, and he didn't just have belief in me. He backed it with action. And I just think that's what great coaches do. Right? Is they see, hey.
Alex Judd:This totally possible for you. I get that you don't see it yet because you haven't done it yet, but, and then they back that belief by action.
Matt Aiken:Yeah. You you, Kyle, you use the term sometimes they need to borrow belief. Our our customers, our leaders we work with, they need to borrow belief.
Alex Judd:Yeah. Kyle, sometimes you use that that phrase a lot.
Matt Aiken:Sometimes all the time. Yeah. Speak to that.
Kyle Guemmer:It's a phrase I stole from Alex. Man, I I love that you went here right off of assume you have no idea because where you shouldn't assume because that can empower and draw out things from from the people that you're leading, your context and experience do matter, and this is where they really matter. Yeah. I have seen people like you do things like this, and I know who you are, and you can do this. And so this is where we use our experience.
Kyle Guemmer:This is where we use our knowledge. For us, when we're in coaching, it's like, it's so powerful for me to have the experience to say to this business owner who wants to go from here to there, wants to go from unprofitable to profitable, or wants to go from practitioner to CEO or wants to go from unhealthy business to healthy business. And it's been like, I've seen so many people do this, and I know you can do this, and I can help you do this. And and because of that experience and because of that confidence and because of the the words and, like, the truth that you can speak over them in that moment, they can borrow that belief. And there are times, the more and more I do coaching, I love the moments in a sales call or in the second intensive when we're building the plan.
Kyle Guemmer:I get to this moment where I just have this smile on my face and I'm like, dude, I've been in this moment so many times, and, like, I can't wait to talk to you in six months. It's like we've now created the plan. You can physically see it. You can visually see it. Like, I like, I know where we're gonna be in six months.
Kyle Guemmer:I know where your life's gonna be. I know where your leadership's gonna be. I know where your business is gonna be. And and I'm not lying. Mhmm.
Kyle Guemmer:But in those moments, you can see, alright. It's not gonna be easy, but, like, I I believe I can get there because, man, Kyle's looking at me with this, like, this intense smile and stare, like, it's go time, and and your life's about to be changed. And, like, I've seen it time after time, and, like, you see it in those moments. They're like, I have no idea how I'm gonna get there. I have no idea how we're gonna do this.
Kyle Guemmer:I see this plan. Are we gonna actually execute this plan? But, man, Kyle sure seems confident, so I'm confident.
Alex Judd:That's right. And and and what I think we need to remember is you don't need the person sitting across from you to be confident that they are going to get the result just yet. They just need to be confident enough to take the next step. Yeah.
Matt Aiken:At our experience, we have in the past, and we will be doing it in 2026, again, is
Alex Judd:climbing I'm so excited to hear what you're gonna say.
Matt Aiken:What are we doing? Is climb Pikes Peak. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Alex Judd:We are doing that. Yeah. That's for sure.
Matt Aiken:One one of the things one of the things that is so cool about that hike is you can see where you're going, for most of the trail.
Alex Judd:Bizarre. Yeah. From the beginning of the 12 mile hike, and you know you're about to go 8,000 feet up, and you can see the finish line.
Matt Aiken:Yeah. And so you you get to start. It's it's dark, and it's slowly the sun starts rising and you go, oh, I can see it. That's where we're going.
Alex Judd:But most people don't say it at the trailhead with that level of optimism and enthusiasm. They're like, what is what they typically say.
Matt Aiken:Yeah. And so we do. We say, like, hey. This is something you have to train for. This is something you have to you you you're gonna have to, take action to achieve.
Matt Aiken:Yeah. But it's so cool because at the beginning, you say, we're really gonna go up there? That's right. That's a long way away.
Alex Judd:That's right. And we even take them on the Manitou Incline, which is just a mile at the base, like, a few days before, and that's hard for them. And they're like, you're telling me now I'm gonna go up there, which is 11 miles more?
Matt Aiken:Yeah. It's it's really cool. Alright. Well, you talked about smiling. We one of the the things that we the actions we take to be effective coaches is to pay attention to our nonverbals.
Matt Aiken:Pay attention to our nonverbals. What does that mean and and how does it apply to this?
Alex Judd:I want everyone to get on a Zoom call with Rusty Foehling, and that will explain what this means. Like so he's a leader in our community. He owns Foehling Management and Accounting. They're they're incredible partners of ours in business, and he's yeah. He's owned a business for over twenty five years.
Alex Judd:And what's crazy is his business was not originally a remote business, so it's not like he's been doing Zoom any longer than any of us. Right? But he I just see over and over and over again how his attentiveness to nonverbals makes an impact on me, and then I also see how it makes an impact on other people on the call. So I think he's so good
Matt Aiken:at this. He's an example of someone who's paying attention to his own nonverbals, and that's having an impact on the conversation. I would love to to hear maybe, Kyle, from you on what it looks like to pay attention to the nonverbals of the person, the leader that we're coaching.
Alex Judd:Oh, that's a great question too.
Kyle Guemmer:I have a story, so I'm gonna tell a story for my own nonverbals, and then I will answer that question. Because the story, I think, is prevalent because I'm actually not good at this. I when we started coaching together now a long, long time ago, you actually sent out something to all of my direct reports on, like, what are Kyle's strengths and what are his weaknesses? And I found this in, like, our our Google Drive.
Alex Judd:Like, I had asked him those questions. Is that what you're saying? Yeah.
Kyle Guemmer:And I had sent it out to all of them. And the consistent theme for positive was, like, man, Kyle is steady. Kyle does not get overly emotional. Kyle does not react to things, which is good. But then on the other side, weaknesses, it's like, sometimes I have no idea what Kyle is thinking.
Kyle Guemmer:And and when I became a coach, this was something I I really, really had to work on because, like, when you're just standing in on a screen and I I'm even looking at a camera right here, I'm like, I need to make sure I'm not just this is my natural like, if I'm thinking hard, it's just like and I can just sit there like that, and that was really good podcasting. That was really good audio.
Matt Aiken:You got me right there. Deadpan. Deadpan.
Kyle Guemmer:And, yeah, so it's something I really, really had to work on. And then now with the other people that we are coaching is there is so much that you could I I would say just as much or more that you can learn from the posture, from the face, from the energy, from the movements, from the from the calmness, or from the voice, all of those things as you can what they're actually saying.
Alex Judd:I totally agree.
Kyle Guemmer:And to be able to be attuned to those things, and it's like, I heard what you said, but I I saw the way that you said it, or you did this. Like, you can just pick up on those things, which then gets you to be able to maybe ask another question. Don't assume the thing that's being presented to you is the actual thing that is being presented, and it's like, man, you can learn so many things from those other nonverbals.
Alex Judd:Yeah. Yeah. I don't think I'm sharp enough to do what you see some people, like psychologists and things like able to do, which is like they can draw conclusions based on people's nonverbals. But I have read enough about and listened to enough and and done this enough to where I I do know that there's patterns, and I I have no problem. I've actually found incredible incredible progress come from just pointing things out.
Alex Judd:And, like, I I'm thinking of one particular conversation that I had with someone once that I said, hey. I've read before that when someone puts their hand over their neck, that that is a sign that they're feeling very vulnerable. Like, that is something human beings do when they're feeling vulnerable. And, yeah, you just did that for the entire answer you gave me to that question.
Matt Aiken:Mhmm.
Alex Judd:Anything in that resonate? So I'm not, like, imposing, like, you clearly feel vulnerable right now. It's just like, and that person started crying on the back end of me just saying that. And what else do we know to be true? When people cross their arms, they're starting to feel uncomfortable or defensive oftentimes.
Alex Judd:But then also sometimes they're cold.
Matt Aiken:Right? And like so
Alex Judd:so what you don't wanna do is or go back to assumptions. Don't assume you know, and then, like, you're you're, like, digging for something that is literally just someone turning the thermostat down. Right? But I don't think you need to be some wizard of connecting the dots. You could just call it out and be like, I noticed this.
Alex Judd:Is there anything going on there? Another one that I like to say is I also Aspen and I say this to each other. That was a good breath. Mhmm. And, we say that to each other a lot.
Alex Judd:Whoo. That was a good breath. And what's crazy is I say that to my customers all the time. That was a good breath. I cup I interrupt people and I say that was a good breath.
Alex Judd:And what's wild is they'll chuck on and they'll say something incredibly insightful right on the back end of that oftentimes.
Matt Aiken:Yeah. Olivia gave me this feedback in my early days of coaching. A great example where, I was really excited about what I thought we were we were making progress on something with one of my customers. And so I'm sitting there just grinning. I'm smirking.
Matt Aiken:I'm like, oh, yeah. We're getting into the good stuff. I'm so excited. This is great. We're making progress.
Matt Aiken:And the whole time, this customer is shoulders down, kinda looking down, mumbling into the mic. Like, they're having this really, really vulnerable deep moment, and I'm just cheesing.
Alex Judd:Stoked about it.
Matt Aiken:I'm just cheesing. So much growth. Right. Yeah. And so so We're we're talking about
Alex Judd:Which might actually be true. They might be growing, but it's like, calm down.
Matt Aiken:Calm down. And that was one of those that was one of those direct feedback moments from Olivia where she goes, Matt, I need you to go watch I need you to watch this section. Yeah. And she goes, what did you observe? And I was like, I was smiling and this person was deep in pain.
Matt Aiken:And I was like, oh, I need to work on that. So, you know, just pay attention. Like the Joker from Batman. Oh my gosh. Yeah.
Matt Aiken:Why he's so serious? Yeah. Anyway, so it it is both evaluating ourselves and evaluating the body language.
Alex Judd:Yeah. That's good.
Matt Aiken:Let's close out with one more.
Alex Judd:Yeah. I was gonna say the same thing.
Kyle Guemmer:That's So
Matt Aiken:a lot of what we talk about in coaching and this lot of what, like, Chris Voss talks about when you when you when you develop a skill of negotiation or skill of persuading is that it's something to be mindful of that you could use it you can use it to others detriment. And and so this last one, I think, really important that we close out with as great great coaches operate in their coachee's best interest. Coaches.
Alex Judd:Coaches. I haven't heard that one before. And the person they're coaching
Matt Aiken:The person the person they're coaching's best. Either in us, the customer or that
Alex Judd:The coach maybe. No.
Matt Aiken:Coach? This wasn't on my mango card
Alex Judd:for this podcast. I'm gonna say something I don't wanna say if I'm not careful. Yeah.
Matt Aiken:So operate in their best interest. Why why is it so important that we keep this top of mind?
Kyle Guemmer:There are a lot of motives that you could have in leadership, motives to make more money, motives to to have more time for yourself, motives to not bear all the responsibility. There there's so many there's so many different motives, and I'm not even saying I would say those motives, for the most part, are pretty morally neutral. And and you're navigating a lot of motives at the same time and growing and developing people and just being really conscious of what is my motive here. And the greatest results for that person and and for their growth, which I think does benefit you, is operating in their best interest. And why we have to put it here is because it's really hard to operate in people's best interest.
Alex Judd:Because
Kyle Guemmer:we have our own interests that we may be motivated to act in, or sometimes, many times, operating in people's best interest is communicating really hard things.
Alex Judd:As opposed to their current interest.
Kyle Guemmer:Yes. What what would feel good in the moment, but what is best.
Alex Judd:That's
Kyle Guemmer:right. And what feels urgent but isn't important and what is important but maybe not urgent. And and being able to navigate through those things in their best interest can be combative at times or can feel hard in moments or can redirect when they're trying to go down a path, and you just gotta be in it with them to navigate through that.
Alex Judd:Yeah. I'm at my best as a coach and a leader for that matter, and I think we are at our best as a coaching company when we do not need your business. And just because, like, telling people the truth in love if you're not incentivized to do so is really, really hard. Like, if you're actively being incentivized to make someone feel good, that is really, really difficult. Right?
Alex Judd:And so, you know, I I've seen over and over again that, like, man, I'm able to be, really, really confident, really, really honest, really, really direct and clear whenever I remember that I do not need your business. What's weird is in a counterintuitive way, that's actually the best possible way for me to keep the right people's business is telling them the truth in love with a high degree of confidence, directness, and clarity. But, you know, we can look at that like, I need your business financially. But from a faith perspective, what we're really talking about here is, like, I know God has already said, I will provide for you. Like, I I God has told me, I will provide for you.
Alex Judd:And he's also given us the boundaries and the wisdom of and the the guidelines for how how to live in a way that glorifies him. And one of the pretty irrefutable boundaries guidelines for living with wisdom in a way that glorifies God is tell the truth. Right? And and, you know, what Jordan Peterson says, tell the truth at the or at the very least, don't lie. And you will run into times in coaching conversations, especially if you're in long term relationship with someone where you are given the opportunity to lie to someone.
Alex Judd:And it's probably not an overt black and white lie where you are saying something that you know is not true. It's you just choosing to feign ignorance or negligence of something that you know you should say. And it's in that point that you need to be really confident in the fact that, man, God has said he will provide for me. I do not need this person's business, or in the case of a leader, I do not need this person to like me. I do not need this person to work for me.
Alex Judd:I I do not need any of those things, and I'm not willing to sacrifice telling them the truth just so I can accomplish that secondary objective.
Matt Aiken:Yeah. You you said it best at the beginning. The goal is to unleash the best in others. If that is the goal, if if the goal of leadership is service, then then we need to be honest and we need to be operating in their best interest. Good.
Matt Aiken:Alright. So here's what we said. We said prepare to be successful, assume you have no idea, be willing to believe more for others, pay attention to your non nonverbals, and operate in their best interest. Hope it's helpful.
Alex Judd: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 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.
