The Leadership Pillar You’re Missing: A Guide to Developing Future Leaders

Welcome to Equipped for Purpose. I'm your host, Vincent Ream, and this is the podcast

where discipleship meets impactful leadership. Whether you're new to faith or a seasoned

follower of Christ, this podcast is designed to help you deepen your relationship with

Jesus, grow as a leader, and make a difference in every area of your life. Together we'll

explore practical tools, biblical insights, and real-life strategies to equip you for

the purpose God has called you to. Let's dive in.

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Equipped for Purpose podcast. Thank you so

much for spending a few minutes with me today. Today I'm asking some fairly big questions.

The first is, have you ever considered the future of your business? Moreover, have you

ever considered your legacy? These aren't just questions for entrepreneurs. They're vital for

every leader. Think about it. Where do you see yourself and your organization five, 10,

even 20 years down the line? For us as followers of Jesus, this question of legacy,

it goes even deeper. It's not just about building a successful company. It's about

building something of eternal value. It's about stewarding the influence and the people God has

entrusted to us. This is exactly what I'm going to discuss over the next several weeks, specifically

regarding the episodes that are focused on leadership. Today we're kicking off an exciting

new pillar of my leadership program, one that is vital for your long-term success and impact.

I call it Mining Merit. This pillar is designed to help you as a leader truly equip, develop,

and empower your team members at a base level. While my overall aim is to integrate deep

discipleship with impactful leadership in every area of life, this pillar is where the rubber

really meets the road. We're going to explore the biblical mandate to invest in others and

translate it into practical aspects of building powerful, future-ready leaders and teams.

The big question is, why is it so important to create future leaders?

Well, if you fail to invest in your people, you will never progress yourself. Your business,

your leadership of any team, quite simply, may eventually plateau. You have to ask yourself,

do I want to stay where I am forever? I'm sure you want to grow and have a flourishing business

and be a fruitful leader. Spiritually speaking, this is a matter of stewardship.

Think of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. The master entrusted his servants with

resources and expected them to multiply what they were given. As leaders, the potential within

our people is one of the greatest treasures we're called to steward. Stagnation isn't the goal.

Faithful multiplication is. Like I said, over the coming weeks, we're going to be focusing on this.

We're going to dive deep into the four vital sub-pillars of Mining Merit, which are creating

powerful people, the future leader, serving your team, and the practice of feedback.

Today, we're just setting the stage by giving you an overview of each of these.

Now, at its heart, Mining Merit is about the intentional process of developing the next

generation of leaders. It directly challenges the idea that a one-size-fits-all system exists for

leadership development. While a group can learn new skills, the real application of that knowledge

requires focused, specialized development for each individual. People interact with

and see the world differently, so we must develop the individual.

What you'll gain from these coming episodes is you'll learn strategies to pull the very best

out of those you lead and get them to think and execute at a higher level. You will be

equipped with the tools to develop individuals who are powerful, confident, and autonomous.

You'll discover how to cultivate a thriving team culture that genuinely encourages risk-taking,

learning from failure, and continuous growth. How will this help you be a better leader?

First, it secures your legacy and the future of your business.

Investing in others ensures you don't stay where you are forever, creating a path for your own

growth. Second, it fuels progress. When you invest in people, you actively prevent your

business and leadership from plateauing. It also helps overcome the misguided mindset that

younger generations might be unworthy of investment. Whether you like it or not,

those young people are the future, and as stewards, we must consider them worthy of investing in.

Ultimately, it leads to robust succession planning, building a pipeline of capable individuals

who can take over responsibilities, allowing you to grow or transition into your next venture.

Let's quickly look at creating powerful people. The core concept here is it's about actively

transforming your team members into powerful individuals who own not just their work,

but also the team's work and its culture. Now, a critical point, you need to be a powerful person

yourself first. As Christian leaders, our power doesn't come from our own title or our own

strength, but from our unshakable identity in Christ. When you show up as a powerful person,

secure, purposeful, and humble, it becomes much easier for your team members to follow your lead.

And this starts with confidence. Your team members will take on your demeanor,

and when you are comfortable with who you are in Christ and what you are capable of through him,

they will follow you. Your confidence in yourself directly translates to your people believing

the confidence that you have in them. So in this section, you will learn to

foster a mindset where even in failure, there is a celebration of discovery and learning.

This concept of failing forward that we've talked about before is absolutely essential.

If you don't celebrate failed ideas as valuable discoveries,

your growth efforts will stall before they truly begin. Thomas Edison famously said,

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

Where some might see wasted time, you, a leader, see progress and relentless determination.

This mirrors the biblical principle of perseverance, where trials produce endurance

and character. Romans 5 verses 3-4 states, Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings,

knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character,

and character produces hope. James 1 verses 2-4 says,

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the

testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect,

that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

And keeping these two verses in mind, this helps you be a better leader because you become

someone who removes barriers to growth and innovation. You are no longer a lid that caps

creativity. Instead, you build a fearless team culture where members are motivated to own

every aspect of their work, which leads to higher performance.

Future Leader

Next up after that, we'll talk about the future leader. This sub-pillar focuses on intentionally

building future leaders within your organization, recognizing that this is a critical component of

your legacy and growth. Remember, if there's no one to replace you, you can't progress.

This is the heart of 2 Timothy 2-2, where Paul tells Timothy,

What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men

who will be able to teach others also. This is generational leadership. What will you

gain out of this? First, you'll learn the importance of intentional evaluation,

focusing on a team member's potential for success at the next higher level,

not just their current performance. Because the skills required for success

will change as responsibility increases. Second, we'll clarify a crucial distinction,

responsibility versus accountability. Most leaders don't distinguish between the two.

When you delegate a task, the ultimate responsibility for that task remains with you,

the leader. You are giving the individual the authority to carry out the task while

you hold them accountable for its completion to the standard.

If the task isn't completed to the standard, the person you delegated to is not on the line.

That still falls to you because you hold the responsibility. I hope that makes sense,

but if not, I will go into more depth when we focus on this topic.

This helps you be a better leader because you develop a clear process for identifying

and nurturing leadership potential. You eliminate confusion around delegation,

leading to clearer expectations. You build a culture where mistakes are genuinely seen

as learning events, fostering resilience and growth. You're going to see that come up as a

theme over and over again, that failing forward. It has to be part of developing leaders in every

aspect. Okay, now let's talk about serving your team. This is sub-pillar number three.

There is no leadership model more central to our faith than servant leadership,

but there's a big misconception about it. Many believe it means excusing poor performance or

burning yourself out by doing everything for your team, but this isn't true.

Jesus defined it perfectly in Mark 10, verses 42 to 45. He says,

You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,

and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you.

But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must

be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.

And to give his life as a ransom for many. So you see, servant leadership does not

do away with accountability. Instead, it's about actively influencing your team in a way that sets

them, the team, and you up for success. It's the ability to influence people by providing

by providing clear direction, purpose, and motivation to accomplish the mission

and make the organization or team better. You will learn practical strategies to serve your team.

You serve them by providing clear direction and purpose, helping them understand the

why behind their actions. You serve by providing motivation to keep them moving forward.

Sometimes you serve by protecting your team from undue pressure when they need to focus.

And you serve them by ensuring they are recognized and celebrated for their outstanding work.

What's the benefit for you as a leader? This increased autonomy from your team frees you up

to work on your growth and focus on other areas that require your attention.

It also builds a strong foundation of trust and appreciation,

leading to a more engaged and productive environment.

Finally, we come to sub-pillar number four, the practice of feedback. Without feedback, it is

incredibly difficult to grow as a leader, and it's equally difficult to develop team members.

The Bible puts it this way in Proverbs 27-17,

iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Feedback is the tool God uses to sharpen us. If your team culture is fearful of feedback,

growth will take much longer. It has to be a two-way street, an open dialogue.

What will you gain? You'll learn how to intentionally invite feedback from your team,

your peers, and your own leaders. And you'll understand that how you receive that feedback

is critical. If your body language doesn't match your words when you thank someone, you will lose

them for any future useful input. You will also learn about effective feedback delivery.

If we must end the annual ambush where you wait for an annual evaluation to bring things up,

you should be providing regular, actionable feedback both on what needs to improve and

what they're doing well and should be sustained. This helps you be a better leader by fostering a

culture of continuous improvement and psychological safety. You'll see faster individual growth and

development within your team, leading to an increased team bond and overall performance.

Okay, so to recap, the mining merit pillar with its sub-pillars of creating powerful people,

the future leader, serving your team, and the practice of feedback is foundational for any

leader seeking to grow themselves, their team, and their business. It's about empowering your people,

preparing future leaders, serving them effectively, and fostering a continuous

cycle of honest, constructive feedback. What you'll walk away with from this pillar is truly

transformative, empowered people, a clear path to building future leaders, a team that feels

served and supported, and a dynamic culture of continuous, honest feedback.

This will undoubtedly lead to a flourishing business and a lasting legacy that you can be

proud of, a legacy of faithful stewardship that honors God. So in the coming weeks,

we will put intentional focus on each of these sub-pillars, starting with creating powerful

people. Thank you again for listening and I hope you have an awesome and productive week

in the things that are significant to you and your team.

Thank you for tuning in to Equipped for Purpose. I hope today's episode gave you tools and

inspiration to deepen your discipleship and strengthen your leadership. Don't forget to

subscribe so you never miss an episode, and if you found value in today's content,

share it with someone who could benefit. Let's connect on social media and through my website

and remember, you are being equipped for a purpose. Go make an impact.