Are you truly living in alignment with your purpose—or just going through the motions?

In this powerful episode, we sit down with Reed Nyffeler to explore the delicate balance between career, calling, and faith.

We dive deep into:

✅ Navigating the tension between professional responsibilities and spiritual conviction

✅ Living authentically in a world full of competing priorities

✅ Why putting faith, family, and purpose first changes everything

✅ Practical ways to realign your habits with what truly matters

🔥 Reed shares transformative insights that will challenge your thinking, sharpen your leadership, and inspire you to live with greater intention.

If you’ve ever felt pulled in different directions or wondered how to fully integrate your faith with your daily life—this episode is for you.

Takeaways:

• In our pursuit of balance, it is crucial to align our professional endeavors with our divine purpose.
• Life transformation often stems from a mindset shift, particularly from a victim mentality to one of empowerment.
• Intentional living necessitates a deliberate approach to time management and prioritization of core values.
• The significance of authentic self-representation cannot be understated; it is vital to live out one's true identity without succumbing to societal pressures.
• Our habits are foundational to our identity; thus, cultivating positive habits is imperative for personal growth and fulfillment.
• Effective leadership involves empowering others, ensuring that the organization can thrive independently of any one individual.

Links referenced in this episode:

• nextinleadership.com

Into it.

Reid, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you, Keith.

I'm excited to be here and share some insights that can be life changing.

Well, those are always important because you know, what, you're.

You're in a space right now in an area where I think so many people find themselves, no matter what their career is.

How do I balance those things that I do for a living?

But who I am called to be by God is also part of that.

That equation as well.

So I'm looking forward to having this conversation with you.

Yeah.

I often say, you know, many times we want to feel better, but we don't want to be better.

Right.

Being better will feel better.

And that's really putting that balance between our calling and doing right.

Because how do you put those two things at play is real tough.

Exactly.

So I'm going to ask you my favorite question.

Reid, what's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

Yeah, that's a great question.

I think, you know, I think it was probably an amalgamation over time, not from one single source, but it's to be myself.

Right.

I think.

I think I was created on purpose, for a purpose, and ultimately, you know, fulfill that purpose.

And the trap is to live someone else's life.

Right.

Or the trap is to live what others are telling you to be instead of who you were created to be.

And so I think that's the key is.

Is be who you are, authentically are, and do it unabashedly.

Right.

Don't worry about what others think or.

Or feel.

And, you know, who God created you to be once you understand that and then live that clearly.

There was a period of time where I wasn't as clear about that in my life.

And once I understood that, that was my real next step, which is, you know, live that out.

Let's talk about that time.

I'm curious, when you were in that point in your life when you weren't clear about that, how did you gain that clarity?

Yeah, I think, you know, there's kind of.

It was a process, I guess, one I realized.

I think the first step was what I was doing wasn't working.

Right.

I mean, I think that's the first step for anyone, you know, and that was to appeal to the audience in front of me, you know, do what they were requesting me.

And then as the audience changes your.

Your.

Your objectives and who you change.

And then I wasn't authentic, Right.

I was whatever that audience wanted me to be.

That's what I was essentially trying to be.

And there was never fulfilling Enough for them, right?

I mean, it was always more, more, more, more.

And that was unfulfilling for me at the same time.

And then it became clear to say, wait a minute, can this be it?

You know, just doing what others want me to do.

And then, and then I sat back and contemplatively said, wait a minute.

They didn't have anybody directing what they're doing anyway.

That's just their thoughts, feelings and emotions.

So what's your fundamental baseline?

And I know, you know, clearly you're a person of faith.

And so then I said, what's been a eternal, transcendent and universal baseline for me?

And obviously it's God.

I mean, he was here at the beginning, right?

In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God that starts at the beginning.

So I thought that's been around quite some time, maybe longer than me.

And so maybe that's a good place to start.

And then I see the effects of that over time and I realized, all right, now it's a matter of what are my principal priorities.

And for me, the first one's faith, the second is family, the third is productivity, and the fourth is fun.

And that is a baseline to say, okay, in that what's eternal, transcendent and universal that I can live within?

And my first book, Transformed through Purpose, helps helped.

It was the process with which I determined what my purpose statement was that then subsequently helps me live by it.

And so in that purpose statement is through intuitive interaction, propel leaders over their self imposed barriers to live out their unique purpose in life.

And so this is an intuitive interaction, right?

We're having a conversation and so propelling leaders.

I mean, obviously, clearly you're leading many different things as a minister, a doctor, among other things, and a podcaster.

And so then propel.

I don't think you have a lot of self imposed barriers, that's just my assumption here.

But at some point you probably did like I did, but I know your audience may.

And so that's where we then help them live out their unique purpose, right?

So that they can be effective in who they're doing, you know, who they are and what they're doing and the impact they're having.

And so then it's a matter of balancing that time, right?

And so I, I know to maintain that purpose I can't do anything that disrupts my relationship with God.

And so I schedule my time there first.

And one thing I recognized was God's always available, my family isn't.

So I go to my family calendar Second, you know, and I feel I fill my activities around that.

And, and then of course, I preserve time 8 to 5, Monday through Friday for work.

And that's productivity that affords me those opportunities.

And then, then finally is fun.

And I think many times our priorities are really illuminated by our schedules.

And our schedules would say we have a different priority than our stated priorities.

And so I try to maintain the two.

Right.

Are my schedule and my stated priorities aligned?

And is my.

Is that alignment in accordance with my purpose, you know, through intuitive interaction, propelling leaders beyond their self imposed barriers to live out their unique purpose?

And so that's really pulling all those pieces together, knowing my purpose and scheduling my time in accordance with my priorities to fulfill it.

I want to ask you, because I'm dying to know how you do this.

I love this term, intentional living.

As someone who's built multiple businesses and written a lot about intentional living, what does that look like and how do you do that and kind of accomplish what we would say is successful entrepreneurship as well, in the middle of all that?

Yeah.

So first of all, you know, I think many times we live a default life by starting where we're at, right.

Instead of where we intend to end up.

Right.

And so if we wrote our, you know, let's say our obituary, right, and we're sitting there at the back, what do we want those hundred words to say?

You know, what do we want those to spell out?

And then do we live intentionally to have those fulfilled?

And nobody's going to say, hey, you know, here's Reid, and I don't even know if he existed because he didn't do anything notable in his life, didn't have anything of purpose, etc.

Etc.

Or does he say, hey, you know, you know, he devoted his life to communicating his faith and supporting his family, he was productive as an entrepreneur, and then ultimately had fun along the way.

Right.

And those are directly in alignment of those four priorities I shared.

And so in order for that to be part of that obituary, I have to live my life that way.

Because if we're already deceased, someone else is writing that for us, most typically, and they're going to not do live a life that we intended.

They're going to live a life that we actualized.

Right.

And they're going to state that what actually happened.

And so then if that's the case, I have to be intentional to make sure that it's obvious to all parties to do it.

And so it's really about time.

And, you know, I have, you know, as I continue on with the chapters in that book.

It's really how to do that.

It's the end in mind.

And then you kind of have a 10 year goal, 5 year, 1 year, down to quarterly, then monthly scheduling your time.

What do you want to accomplish this month, then weekly, then daily, then hourly, and then ultimately all the way down to meeting minute and then moment.

And in that moment, if we're all the way down to that, we want it to be transformational.

And if we really look back, only moments were transformational.

And so if we are looking at transformational moments, how do we do that?

And it really came down to if we look at transformational moments or things, what do I mean by that?

I think it's important to understand those are transformational moments that we will never forget that our lives were materially changed as a result of.

Right.

And so a transformational moment for me was accepting Christ in my life because it changed everything, my vantage point, among many other things.

And that was something I'll never forget.

Right.

And it wasn't necessarily always.

And that these things can impact it, the word choice or how we do that.

But it's really the holistic, are we intentionally there?

100%.

Do we know exactly what we're saying and how that'll impact our life?

And are we effectively prepared for it?

And so I know that sometimes once that's done, there's been other transformational moments.

Right.

The time I met my wife, when I had my first child.

Right.

And different things that transformed the way that we lived and being intentional about those decisions instead of defaulting to those things happening to me.

And then the only thing we recognize what's inside of our control and outside of our control.

And I think intentional living starts with our mindset.

And so there's things that happen to us or things that we respond, but we can be defined by what happens to us or we can be defined by how we respond to the things that happen to us.

So there's going to be trauma in lives as much as there's going to be success.

And with trauma, we can be victimized by it, or we can recognize that we can't control the trauma, but we can control what we do next.

And just as much as with success, we can, you know, can bolster our egos and we can change our lives and think we're, we're much greater than we really are, or we can say, hey, this was just they happened the next step.

And how does this propel me to having the life of impact that I desire.

So I think those are things that are all about being intentional.

And that's intentional with our attitude and our mindset in the moments.

I love it.

Let's talk about your book, your path to living an authentic and intentional life transformed through purpose.

I love that title, by the way.

I always think we talk about purpose.

The biggest purpose driven book, of course, is by Rick Warren.

Of course.

But you know, your book, you broke it down into three sections and let's talk about why you picked that format and let's talk about those three sections.

Yeah, so I think the format is, you know, I've read literally thousands of books and you know, I think as I look through the books that have been most impactful for me, they were things that had a theoretical reason why and then a practical way to apply.

And so with understanding that, I wanted to have people understand the theoretically.

Why, why should we have a purpose, you know, be transformed for purpose?

And what is, why should we, you know, be authentic?

And then how, Right, because once we understand why, the next obvious question is how, how do we do this?

And so it has to be practical and tangible enough that we can infuse that into our habits.

Otherwise information without application is worthless.

Right.

We won't if we can't, if we get this theory, but we don't have a way to apply it, then how do we really improve our lives overall?

And so I think that's what was the next step for me is then we need to structure that in a sequential way.

And, you know, no one learns to be a world class sprinter.

Day one, they all start, you know, laying on their back and then eventually they start swinging their legs and they can roll over and then they start crawling and.

And then eventually they push up off the table like many little kids do, and then they start taking their first coup.

Parents get excited and pretty soon those steps start speeding up and they start walking, right?

And then they start running and then they get specific training.

And so our purpose works the same way.

Any practice we do, we start in an infancy.

And I think we can defeat ourselves by not being that world class sprinter when we're on the day of our birth, right?

And you know, our purpose, if we just realize that's what we're going to do intentionally, that's a day of our birth because our mindset has changed and so now we begin to work towards that.

And just as with you, I am a byproduct of my daily habits.

And my habits have led me to understanding and deploying my purpose in A sequential way.

And I articulated those in the book as a way for others to adopt and then subsequently apply in their lives.

I love that.

I want to ask you about habits because a lot of people talk about having faith, having a value of faith, family and impact, but their calendars don't reflect that.

So how do you teach people or explain to people that if those are your priorities, you have to make your habits match your values?

Yeah.

And I think, you know, we are habitual.

Humans are habitual, right.

No matter what happens, we're habitual.

And if you don't believe that to be the case, just go back and look at your last two weeks of calendars.

And I virtually guarantee every person that's listening here has probably had three meals a day and has slept.

And I would imagine they've had repeat meals in those three weeks even, Right.

I mean, and Keith, by the way, you're laughing, that's probably you.

You know, I know I have a similar breakfast every day.

I have my coffee in my routine.

And quite frankly, our families can predict that for us, even what we're going to say, you know, so whether we choose to or not, we're going to have habits, right?

And so then the question is, why don't we choose our habits?

And if we're going to choose those habits, make sure they're leading to the destination we're looking for and because we're naturally habitual people.

Right.

And, and so I think those habits build on top of each other.

So now we're going to choose our habits, right?

And, and that's the point we're at.

And you know, those are things that are built over time.

And so I remember being a teenager and I was, I had free time and I remember thinking to myself, I can do two things with my free time.

I can use something that'll be wasted, meaning it just entertains me for a short period of time and I move on or developed.

And so I remember saying, okay, I am going to spend an hour every day reading.

And then if you begin to do that, you're saying, okay, well what am I going to read?

You know, and so then if we're going to read something, I say, well, it better be something that's long lasting.

If I'm reading a, you know, entertainment magazine that that's only relevant for that season or maybe a trivia question, right?

And so then I said, okay, I'm going to read something that I can use forever.

And for me, that was the Bible, right?

Because I still study it regularly every Day.

And I teach it regularly, routinely.

And there's principles in there that apply to my life.

And so then obviously, as I began to do that, I added other content that helped me in business, in leadership, and in other pieces.

And then if you read for 40 years of your life, you're going to learn a lot, right?

And just as much as you can see people that can sing the, the narrative of every, every song they know, every artist they know, every movie, that's because that's their habit, is what they study.

And so make sure as you're choosing your habit, because we're habitual people, they're things that you want to use, and I choose to use them.

And this is again, a practical application.

Things that are universal, I can use in every area of my life eternal.

I can use the entirety of my life.

And they're transcendent.

They're not about me.

We were never created on our purpose, was never about us.

And if we believe that and we live by that, we are completely and utterly lost.

Because the world would end if everyone had their purpose, fulfilling themselves.

And that just does not work long term.

And nor has it worked through history.

And so I make sure that my habits build around those three things.

Eternity, can I use it forever?

Transcendent, it's not about me.

And then universally, where can these habit and what I'm spending my time with be used in every area of my life?

Work, family, faith, you name it, right?

Wherever I'm at, it's obvious from talking to you that your life and your leadership are clearly grounded in your faith.

How has your faith shaped the way you make decisions, especially when the stakes are high?

Yeah, I think in every way.

Right.

In fact, much of my decision making and even approach are based upon biblical principles.

Right.

So one of the things I really integrate a lot of storytelling or narratives or examples, and that's exactly what Jesus did.

And then even in a sales approach, I meet them where they are, right?

Not where I want them to be.

And if you go look at how he approached people, he met them where they are.

And he would always answer a question with a question.

Not always, but most every time.

You know, are you the son of God?

Who do you believe that I am?

Right?

And he answered that back.

I mean, you just go look at those things and I realize that why?

And so let's take and unfold those things.

One, he meets them where there are.

Why?

Because he was the person that had universal understanding.

So as a leader, you know, I can operate at many different levels, right?

I was an associate.

I worked at a very frontline role in construction roles, you name it, waiter, everywhere but.

And so I can identify with those because I've lived that life, right?

But many people can't identify of a CEO of a multinational organization, right?

So I can come down to where they're at just as, as I learned.

Second, when we make a statement, people are listening to agree or disagree, but if we ask a question, they're thinking about their position on that question and then we really get to know them as a result.

And so that's why I ask questions, right?

And so again, just always love to get the practical in here.

But if you're someone that always makes statements, the first tip is, how can I phrase this as a question and just see how the conversation changes, see how the relationship changes.

If you, you know, I'll, I'll give a great example of when I was a child or when my daughter was.

I have four children and one's now 25.

And when she was one and a half, maybe one years old, my wife goes, hey, you know, go brush Emma's teeth and go have Emma brush her teeth.

She said it actually, go have Emma brush her teeth.

And so I go in there and I said, I go, here, let's put the toothpaste on there, start brushing her teeth.

And she's, you know, screaming and yelling and arguing with me and all these other things as one year olds might do with their two teeth, you know, I'm like, and my wife's like, you're doing it all wrong.

I'm like, pretty sure I know how to brush two teeth.

I mean, I'm in my mid-20s, I got this figured out, all right?

And she goes, no, you're doing it all wrong.

I'm like, okay, what's going on?

She goes, she goes, emma, who do you want to brush your teeth, Daddy or you?

And she goes, me?

Do it like, perfect.

Even better, you know, and it was that statement.

I'm like, we're going to brush your teeth.

And I was trying to get, you know, kind of command and control in that area.

But if I simply had a question, I mean, there's two teeth and they're baby teeth.

So worst case scenario, they fall out in a couple of years, you know, how wrong could this go?

You know, best case scenario, she got them cleaned anyways and they were a couple of teeth in there.

But really what it taught me was give people a choice and then they'll make a choice.

And if they make that choice for themselves, they're going to be passionate about it.

And so how do we do that?

We give them a question and give them an option of both of which we'd consider.

And so those are just examples of how we can use biblical principles and apply that in a practical way, even if it doesn't seem relevant.

And another really important example with regard to governing decision, we look at history and the word history is his story.

And so, you know, the Bible is a extended narrative and I studied the geography of it all.

Where was it happening?

Why?

Because that gives us context.

I study the characters and the lineage of Jesus and those who are supporting it.

I study the decisions of the kings and the leaders that were all the way infused in that.

Why?

Because throughout that was an established culture that people live in and I am building that as a leader in a business.

So I have to understand the long term implications of the short term decision I'm making because I can see that interwoven throughout because there's good leaders and bad leaders in the Bible and in life and those things will definitely help us understand that.

And so that's why I study that.

And it impacts every decision I make because I look at the long term effect of those decisions because I have the benefit of studying the Bible and seeing the long term effective decision they made.

I love it.

I love talking to business owners because I love to ask the question, especially those who are faith based, how does that impact the way you make decisions about your company, the way you make decisions about your clients, your product?

Just kind of walk me through as you're leading an organization as a Christian, how does that impact your day to day operations as a business person?

Yeah, first of all that I think any business, any person has credibility based upon trust.

And the fastest way to erode trust is not to, is to, is to be hypocritical, essentially that you say you believe one thing but you act in another way.

And you know, it is a quiet way to lose trust because if you're saying something and they don't see that in your life.

And so I try to, you know, and of course all of us make mistakes.

And I'm not saying I'm perfect by any means, but at the same time in is I am going to make a decision that will honor my faith first, even if it may not be profitable for my business, which is my third priority.

So again I am going to make sure that the decision is God honoring.

And there's definitely been decisions in this business world and I remember them distinctly.

And it's probably not necessarily contextually appropriately to share, but that were questioning my faith and ability and they would have been profitable decisions to be unethical.

However, I decided, you know what, I am going to sacrifice X number of dollars because I don't want to be associated with unethical.

And I can tell you that paid 10 million fold in the moment.

That could have cost.

That did cost me, you know, let's say $10,000 and obviously much, much more, many times.

But over the long term, my credibility, the trust that I engendered with a team, seeing that, and maybe this is a good example.

I remember a.

An employee of ours that was here and he was at work and his children were driving to a.

They were going to start school.

And so one of his sons was 15 and needed to get a physical before school.

They were driving, they were at a stoplight and a truck ran and ran over the car, killed two of them.

So two of his four children were deceased in the moment.

And he thought he was going to lose all of them.

And my decision was to let him go and work through that for six to nine months on full pay.

And they're like, no, no, that's.

You can't do that.

You got to offer that to everyone.

And, you know, I said, I am.

You know, we can't afford that.

Whatever the case might be.

I said, I don't care if that's what takes us down is me being a human and recognizing that someone had a very traumatic event that was totally outside of anything that was within their control.

And I think what happened, in fact, the HR individual at the time was saying, you can't do that.

We don't.

We have to offer that to everyone.

And I said, if they come to me and their two children were deceased, I'll offer the same thing to them too.

And I think, you know, of course you can go by the letter of the law and whatever the HR requirements are, but at the same time, as my faith would say, hey, this is what I would say is appropriate in the moment.

And that cost me thousands of dollars.

And at the same time, as in the result of that was it established tremendous trust.

You know, that was seven years ago now.

And obviously over that period of time, you know, the trust has exponentially paid itself back in time and it doesn't even need to be money.

Wow, that's a powerful story.

That's a prime example of how you not just talk about faith, but you live it out in real practical ways.

Yeah.

He in fact, created a philanthropy afterwards that we donated to, to honor his family, his children, and, you know, went through it all.

And he even and his wife, who were dear friends of ours, tell their story regularly.

And again, I think, you know, we weren't a part of that story.

We just gave them the opportunity to work through it.

Right.

I mean, the part that we played is there's a job here for you when you're ready, you know, and sometimes going back to work is the best thing you can do, but now is not that time, you know, and, and that was a period of time.

It was super traumatic.

But obviously those are things that conflict with the business sense, because I needed someone to do that role and someone to fill that in.

And then you wanted to be fair to all your employees.

But, you know, my faith superseded that decision.

So tell us about your other book, Lead Exponentially.

Yeah, so the first book is really about leading self well, right?

And it's how do you lead yourself?

Well, and then once you figure that out, then, you know, I think we're all called to lead others.

We all have influence, right?

And if we don't believe that, you know, you're missing a huge point here, right?

You can, you talk to people on a daily basis.

You're influencing their mindset, their thoughts, their actions, et cetera.

And so then how do you lead others, you know, besides doing it default, in a default manner.

And so that's what Lead Exponentially is, is now if you've decided that you've learn to lead yourself, now you want to learn to lead others.

This gives you a framework to be able to do that.

And again, just like in the first book, it's theory and practice.

How do we practically do that?

And, and again, I think in leading others, a lot of people do so by trial and error, right?

They try and they make a mistake, and then it cost them relationships.

And, and sometimes the Runway is, is gone by the time you learn how to get the plane off the ground, right?

And so that's where you lead others.

You, you have less of a rope than leading yourself.

Because now if you're, you know, start a family, you're leading others.

If you're start a business, you're leading others.

If you join a group, you're leading others.

And so if you can do so in a way that's drawing people in and driving them forward, that's what that book is all about.

Teaching you how to lead exponentially and then also doing so sustainably.

And that's leading organizations.

So once you lead others, then those.

Those organizations are larger.

And what's the primary difference if we're leading others, And I presume you lead a church, you want that church to supersede your involvement.

At some point, you're not going to be leading it.

Right.

And so now you're leading an organization, and so you're leading a group of people that hopefully carry that ministry forward after you're gone.

And that's leading an organization.

And so how do we do that?

That's a transferable instead of just the period of time we're leading others.

Right.

And now in a family sense, there'll be a period of time where my kids don't need me on a daily basis and they're going to lead their family, but I can lead.

But as I lead this organization, there'll be a period of time, hopefully, that I'm not leading this.

The organization transcends me and others, and that's what that third book is about.

And so the second book is leading others.

And then that transfers over to leading organization, which essentially builds a legacy of an organization that we were involved in.

I love that word, legacy, because we're going to ask that question at the end of this podcast.

But, you know, you're right about the leadership part.

One of the things as a leader, once you learn to lead yourself, you don't want to be the only person that the entire organization rests on.

You want to be able to raise up those around you so that the organization can carry on even if you're not there anymore.

But that's hard because our egos get in the way.

We love to be liked, we love to be loved, we love to be needed.

And it's hard to raise up those around you so that, that you.

If you get hit by a bus tomorrow, the thing still keeps going on.

Yeah.

And one of the analogies I use in the book is actually about Jesus and his disciples and the multifaceted nature of that.

Right.

Because, you know, he.

He was 30, right, when he started his ministry, and his disciples were teens.

And if you study the disciples, and I, I got some additional commentary that showed me that he actually didn't pick them until about 18 months into his ministry.

And they were about 75 to 100 people that were consistently following him up, some of which were part of John the Baptist crew.

And they came alongside and they were there.

And then he identified these 12 disciples.

They weren't people that he Randomly saw they were people that were part of his group, and he hand chose them, right?

And they were then subdivided into groups of three that he's helping them understand.

But then it's super interesting that we see that they weren't the ones that launched the church initially, at least.

And it was actually Paul.

And Paul had been trained in religious context and.

But he was a tax collector.

And then his eyes, he had gotten clarity around the vision.

And then he was the first one there.

And you know what I find super interesting?

And I had an opportunity to go to Corinth, and I saw the first church there, and there was a baptistery right there and a pulpit, and that's where he was.

And what I saw is that Paul, as he planted that first church there was in a port city.

And that port city not in Athens, right?

Not in Olympus, which were the two where the Greek gods were studied.

This is a new message.

Why is a port super important?

Because that's where ideas are shared.

We can think about that.

What are ports in our lives now?

We go to the airport port and we sit next to somebody in the airport that's a random stranger we share ideas with.

This is totally different than we're going to interact with a church as a port.

Our neighborhoods are ports, right?

We move into a neighborhood, looking at a house, and then our neighbors, right?

There are two different ports.

Our schools are ports, places where ideas are shared that are outside of the context of where we're at.

And so he jumped into that port and then what did he do?

He established structure and he went into the homes, and Priscilla and Aquila are the.

Were.

They were tent makers, and he's working alongside them, going to their homes.

And it's quite amazing to see that is how he was leading exponentially because he's investing in Priscilla Aquila.

After he launched Corinth, the church of Corinth, he went to another church afterwards.

But Priscilla and Aquila were back left there as that church body that he invested in.

And that's how he led exponentially, right?

And that's an example of multiplying that.

Because if he were just a, you know, a missionary that was there and then didn't leave any transferable organization behind, then he would have gone to the next one and would have been long since gone.

And we would never heard of the church of Corinth that he was writing a letter to before.

I also think it's super interesting.

And again, this is part of that lead exponentially is that Paul was thrown into prison.

Because if he wasn't thrown into prison, he wouldn't have had an opportunity to write letters to them that we would be studying on every Sunday.

And so many times you look at setbacks.

Thrown into prison is a setback for a lot of people.

Yes.

I'm sure they wouldn't say it's a highlight.

Right?

Many people don't say it's a highlight, but at the same time is.

It was a back to his mindset, which I love.

He said, I'm in chains, but they're chained to me.

And so he's ministering.

Back then, they kept him in prison by chaining them to each other.

Right.

Because they couldn't build the bars that we know now, et cetera.

And so there was a prison guard there with him for eight hours a day, and he would minister to him.

And that's how he's tested his messages.

He's like, let's see if I can get this guy.

He's here for eight hours.

I literally have a captive audience.

And that's what you pastors love, right?

A captive audience.

That's right.

This is a true captive audience.

And so he was conditioning his messages.

And while he was doing so, he's writing that letter, and that letter was forever captured, and he was going back to those people that he loved, and it showed leadership principles through that process.

So I find those things super fascinating.

And those are some of the underlying principles of lead exponentially, of how do you lead others?

Because we can see that first in Paul.

That led to the church that's been around for thousands of years now and has an impact in our culture for sure.

So I'm going to ask you a question about leadership because you're someone who is passionate about developing leaders.

How do you help others clarify their priorities and live with intention, especially young or emerging leaders?

Yeah, that's great.

And I think the first thing I always challenge people to say is, if you stopped thinking about yourself for one day, one week, one hour, who would you think about first?

Right.

Who would you think about first?

If it wasn't about you, if it wasn't you're hungry, if it wasn't you want whatever you want, who would you think about first?

And I think many times that's the group you're gonna be passionate about leading.

Right?

That's to be the.

And so then if you stop thinking about yourself and what you're doing and you started thinking about that group you wanna lead, then what could you do to benefit them?

Right.

And there's really four going back to the transformation, we're going to walk our way there.

The first one is, you know, many people, there's four strategies of communication.

The first one is you tell people what you want them to hear, right?

And that's usually our identity.

We're trying to tell them, oh, think this about me.

It may not be true, but think this about me, right?

And you see that in social media and many of these places, that's what you want people to hear.

The second is things you think they need to hear, right?

And that's the second thing.

And that might be a role of a pastor and maybe, hey, you need to hear this, right?

The third thing is what they want to hear, right?

And then the fourth and most importantly is things that are transformational.

And so that's where we walk our way down there.

So if you're leading others, say, wait a minute, don't.

I don't.

As an early leader, don't just tell them what you want them to hear, right?

And then get past what they need to hear and then listen to what they want to hear.

But most importantly, if they only want to hear it and they don't apply it, communicate with them what's transformational.

And if you can get to that fourth communication as a leader that you're communicating transformational things, and that's in a work context, in a faith context, everywhere else.

Transformational activities is actually what produces results long term.

Then you will be, you know, well, on your way to leading others.

Well, I love it.

So let's do some lightning round questions.

Okay.

What's a morning we talked.

You said you have it in your book.

What's a morning habit you won't skip?

Yeah, I think, you know, I, I'm like thousands of days into my Bible app, daily reading.

That's one habit that I won't skip, regardless of where I'm at in the world.

And sometimes I cross, I travel quite a bit around the world, I cross international date lines and.

And I lose 12 hours, 24 hours.

So I gotta confirm that I got that because, you know, you don't have Internet coverage too.

So.

Yeah, that's a daily habit.

I won't give up.

A book other than your own that has shaped your thinking.

Well, certainly the Bible for sure, you know, and since that's one we've talked about here, I would say, you know, Dale Carnegie's how to Win Friends and Influence People, because, you know, that's really what we do on this world, in this earth.

And I think it's well crafted.

The greatest leadership lesson, you learn the hard way.

And I think I already alluded to this somewhat, which is, you know, don't do it for the sake of others.

Right?

Do, do lead in accordance to your purpose.

The hard way.

I was trying to appeal to others, and that was a huge mistake.

Instead, I got to lead in accordance with my purpose.

So you have a dream day.

No work allowed.

What are you doing?

You know, I'm seeing the world in a better way, right?

I mean, I just, you know, that's just how can I help the world be better?

And what does a better world look like, right?

And what can I do to impact that?

For the person listening right now who's trying to find purpose in their life, who feels stretched and unsure about if they're living in their purpose, what's one step they can take today to realign.

Their priorities, you know, realize one not.

Here's what I would say.

A lot of times it's a mindset change.

Many people that are probably defeated are saying, why me?

And I'll ask them to add three letters in the middle, why not me?

That is a world changing three letters.

Because why me is victim, why not me is victorious.

And so when I started my first business, I said, why not me?

Why not me?

Do I have the drive to do it?

Do I have the willingness to do it?

Do I have the focus to do it?

Can I get that?

I can learn.

The Internet is a place, there's tons of resource information and then it's just a matter of effort.

And so am I willing to do it?

Why not me?

And so the first thing I would tell them, why not me?

Just take that why me?

And put a not right in the middle, why not me?

And what you'll find is every reason you come up with, you can overcome.

It's generally information, drive, energy, focus, you can overcome those.

You just have to have the derive and desire to do so.

That's great.

So now we get to my favorite, other favorite question.

What do you want your legacy to be?

Yeah, I think, you know, I will use a biblical analogy because I think that's the vein we're operating in.

I want to be like Barnabas.

And so few people know who Barnabas is.

And that's why I want to be like Barnabas.

Right?

And it goes back to the story of Paul.

You know, Paul was persecuting and one of the first ones to persecute Jesus actually and ask be killed.

And then his scales were removed from his eyes.

But then after Jesus had Ascended.

Paul was walking down and the disciples didn't want to accept him.

And Barnabas was the one that advocated for him.

And then Barnabas would hear about, you know, the need for the church.

And he brought Paul along and said, this is the guy.

And he sat with him for a year, taught him how to organize a church and be structured.

And Paul gets credited with all the launch of the churches, rightfully so.

But Barnabas was right there, and he was the first one to throw all his possessions in the middle for the advancement of the church, sold all the land and property that he had.

And so I would say that a legacy in alignment with that would be a great legacy that I threw all the stuff in the middle, regardless of what I acquired to advance the ministry without much notoriety.

Love it.

So we have a thing on the show now, a surprise question.

Pick a number between one and ten.

For your surprise question, we'll go with seven.

Seven.

Okay.

Oh, I love this one.

Who would you most like to sit next to on a 10 hour flight and why?

Living or dead?

You can choose.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

Well, clearly I'd love to sit next to Jesus on a 10 hour flight.

But I think, you know, one of the things I think would be super interesting and for a lot of reasons would be Benjamin Franklin.

I think he is somebody that really changed the world and probably doesn't get as much credit as you would think, but he's.

He was the first global ambassador.

I think that he was around for so many different things.

His knowledge and ability to communicate were really institutional in the formation of the United States.

He was an inventor, an entrepreneur, a thinker, you know, kind of many different things.

So I think that'd be interesting.

I'd say Benjamin Franklin beyond Jesus.

I would say Alexander Hamilton after watching the movie.

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Interesting.

There's a lot of interesting people at that time, or at least their stories that were told about them were interesting because we don't necessarily know if they're true or not.

Not sure.

Right.

So, Reid, where can people connect with you?

Find your books and learn more about your company and you.

Yeah, I would say go to next inleadership.com and, you know, it aligns with my purpose, which is, you know, really helping that next generation.

I think that this world is going to be led by that next generation.

And it's my job as a leader to invest in that next group.

And, and that's what the reason I'm on these podcasts for is nextin leadership.com.

They can go there.

They can take a quiz and kind of see where they're at in their leadership journey.

They can develop and learn how to lead themselves better, others and organizations better.

This podcast will be there as well as a place for them to find that and learn more content.

But that's where they can find me as well, and they can reach out directly if they'd like and and learn really about leadership.

But I really want to just encourage them in their leadership journey.

That's my goal and my responsibility and in whatever way that I can.

That's powerful.

Reid, thank you for sharing your wisdom, your story, and your heart with us today to our listeners.

If this episode challenged you to rethink your priorities or inspired you to live with a deeper purpose, do three Things.

Subscribe to Becoming Bridge Builders Leave us a review.

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You don't accidentally build bridges, you do them intentionally.

So until next time, keep building bridges that matter.

Keep living a life of purpose, and keep transforming your world and those around you.

Reid, thanks again so much for being on the show.

Thank you, Keith.