Creating a Culture of Care featuring Steve Sargent

Episode 133 • 21st October 2025 • Lead with Culture • Kate Volman

[00:00:00] Steve Sargent: We have a saying around C12, you've heard it. We say, do is greater than talk. Right? Priorities are what we do. Everything else is just talk. And so, you know, coaching, I mean, accountability is such a critical piece of that. And ironically, or maybe not, so ironically, CEOs and owners, leaders at the highest level lack accountability.

[00:00:17] Steve Sargent: There's not a lot of people holding them accountable.

[00:00:25] Kate Volman: Hey there. I am so excited about this episode because we are talking all about leadership with Steve Sargent, who is the chair for C12 South Florida. Steve, thank you so much for joining us today.

[00:00:37] Steve Sargent: Are you kidding? Thanks for having me.

[00:00:39] Kate Volman: I'm excited. I am so thrilled that you're here because I am part of, you're, you're my chair.

[00:00:47] Kate Volman: Where, uh, that's right. We get to, we get to work together, which is so, so much fun. And I wanted to bring you on to the show because you work with so many leaders with. C12. And so we're gonna have a really fruitful conversation about what you're seeing, what are leaders dealing with today, how you're helping them grow.

[00:01:08] Kate Volman: And let's start with, for those that don't know, what is C12?

[00:01:14] Steve Sargent: So C12 is the world's largest peer advisory network of Christian CEOs and business owners. So all over the world, mostly in the US but in a number of other countries as well. Christian CEOs and owners gather together monthly in forums of about 12 peers to build great businesses for a greater purpose.

[00:01:34] Steve Sargent: So that's a little bit about C12.

[00:01:36] Kate Volman: How does one even become a C12 chair? I.

[00:01:41] Steve Sargent: Wow. Great question. So first of all, I mean, it's a calling to be honest with you. It, it really is a calling. So there's about 230 of us and every one of us, I think, would say that we're, we we're called to it. The vast majority of us we're, are, and we're entrepreneurs, business owners, CEOs.

[00:02:02] Steve Sargent: Many of us have, uh, some kind of ministry background as well. But yeah, it, it is a calling. And actually most chairs were C12 members before they were chairs. And, and that was, that was true for me as well. I was a, a C12 member as I was running and scaling my last business.

[00:02:19] Kate Volman: Oh, that's so cool. And we did, we have had Mike Sharrow on the podcast who is the president of C12 and it's so exciting to, it was so much fun to chat with him and.

[00:02:30] Kate Volman: And just meet all of the incredible people in this community. Mm-hmm. Who truly have a heart to serve and to serve their people and to grow their business. Yeah. That is one thing that I find. So C12 has a conference every other year. And it was so much fun to be part of that and to see how many leaders truly care about their people.

[00:02:56] Kate Volman: That's why when I'm out there and talking to people that are saying, oh, company culture is horrible, and leaders don't care. I'm like, no, they do. They do care. I promise you there are still tons of leaders that really do care about not only building a business, but helping your people and helping them grow in all different areas of life.

[00:03:17] Kate Volman: So you say it's a calling. When did you know that it was your time to leave the business world and to get into this role?

[00:03:26] Steve Sargent: Yeah. Well it's a great question. So for me, I mean, that was about two years ago. It was fall of 2023. And, you know, I like to say that, I mean, God was really moving the ground underneath me.

[00:03:37] Steve Sargent: So I mean, a number of things occurred both personally and professionally, just experiencing loss, uh, experiencing betrayal, I mean some, some really tough stuff. And, you know, as a result of all of that, it really caused me to, to, to pause and reflect and take time to. Um, to ask God and hear from God like, what, what's, what's going on here?

[00:03:59] Steve Sargent: You know, what's, are you in this, you know, what's, what's kind of going on? As you know, as I address all of these, these things that seem to have come out of the blue and, you know, during that time over the course of months. Uh, knew that this was, this was for me, and it was, uh, it was something that he was clearly calling me to and to a territory that, quite frankly, south Florida's not my home.

[00:04:23] Steve Sargent: And so, you know, I'm like, really there? I mean, how, how could that possibly be? I, I don't know anybody. And so, you know, it, it's been amazing and so, so glad to be So, I remember sitting in my C12 forum. I don't know, three years ago up in Philadelphia and hearing all about the Dream Manager program right as a part of the C12 curriculum, and then o only come to, to, to meet you in Palm Beach and, and here you are, a part of C12 South Florida, one of the founding members.

[00:04:52] Steve Sargent: And so it's just so cool. It's just

[00:04:54] Kate Volman: so cool. Yeah. It's so funny how that all plays out and I, I met. Mike and started chatting with him and I said, yeah, I would love to be a part of C12, but we don't have a chapter here. And the closest one is in Orlando. And, and I thought about maybe just going up to Orlando once a month and checking out, and then he said, oh, well Steve is.

[00:05:17] Kate Volman: Is gonna be opening up this new chapter in South Florida. And I thought, oh, that's so cool. So it, it, it really is interesting how that all plays out. And obviously with C12 we are incredible partners with theirs and they so love the dream manager and many of their many C12. Chair. Well, chairs and members are implementing the program.

[00:05:43] Kate Volman: In fact, Reid Hutchinson, we just had him on the show and he is a member of C12. I got to see him at the conference and he has implemented the Dream Manager. They have a few dream managers on their team. So it's so much fun that our missions are so in alignment that we now get to collaborate and work together, which is, which is a beautiful thing's.

[00:06:04] Kate Volman: It sure is. So what were some of. Your biggest challenges with. Leading teams growing a business? Like how, how did you navigate that, that world when you were in it?

[00:06:19] Steve Sargent: Yeah. Um, so my sort of entrepreneurial journey goes back 30 years. And so, you know, as I look back on the last 30 years, I kind of split it in half and the first 15 years, a bit of a solopreneur and then, you know, launching a number of different businesses and, you know, after about 15 years, you know, listen, I just fell.

[00:06:39] Steve Sargent: Deeply in love with Jesus and people, and I was like, I don't know, maybe I'm supposed to be in ministry. And so after 15 years, some doors opened into full-time vocational ministry. I was on staff at a a large church for a number of years and. Was doing, uh, ministry development in Zimbabwe and El Salvador and, and some other places overseas and leading teams and helping, uh, pastors launch income producing projects, launch businesses so that they could kind of get off aid, you know, foreign aid and, and, and be, uh, self-sufficient and, and care for their communities, which was awesome.

[00:07:14] Steve Sargent: And, and then after a number of years, I just, I missed the business world and felt called back in the business. And so. I ended up entering into, uh, healthcare and that, which was a new industry for me, for me and the challenges. My gosh, you know, I, the challenge is many of them are the same everywhere, right?

[00:07:32] Steve Sargent: I'm sure many of the entrepreneurs and business owners and leaders you talk to, it's the same things over and over again. And for me that was certainly the case. It was, you know, navigating partnership and the challenges that come with that. It was walking into an existing organization. Is that I was, uh, now an owner and partner and gonna be scaling and wanted to do that well, but I was walking into a, a highly toxic culture at the time and saying, okay, like how, how am I gonna build on this foundation?

[00:08:02] Steve Sargent: Right? What, what does that look like? So that was the initial challenge. And then, you know, over time, as we scaled, as we grew. All kinds of different challenges that come with, with scaling, right? And, and sort of navigating just that growth and expansion and gr you know, growing pains. Not just the size of the staff, but multiple locations and, uh, spreading out geographically.

[00:08:25] Steve Sargent: So, you know, those were, those were some of the challenges. And then, you know, just personal work life balance, maximizing profits, I mean all, all the things that tend to keep us up at night that are stressors for most CEOs and owners.

[00:08:39] Kate Volman: It's interesting to hear about your journey because it's, it's like this collection of skills that you are able to gather so that when you are working with all of these different entrepreneurs, different industries, different size organizations, and, and now you have a lot of different tools to pull from, which is really helpful.

[00:09:03] Kate Volman: Yeah. When, when dealing with so many different types of leaders mm-hmm. With your groups. So you are the chair for C12 South Florida. You have three groups I think right now.

[00:09:16] Steve Sargent: Yeah. Four. Four forums now. Yep.

[00:09:19] Kate Volman: Blowing and up over there. So it's crazy. Four, four groups. Lots of different leaders. And you also are connected with all of the chairs at C12.

[00:09:28] Kate Volman: So I'm curious locally, what are the conversations that you're having? You're meeting with. Your groups not only as groups, but also one-on-one with each of the individuals. So. What do those conversations look like today? Yeah,

[00:09:43] Steve Sargent: so first of all, let me just say, I mean, I, it is an honor and a privilege to, to get to do what I do.

[00:09:48] Steve Sargent: I, I wake up every morning. I can't believe that I get to do this. And it is, it's, it's amazing that I get to pull on, you know, the, the, my life's experiences like, like many of us do, right? We look back and go, oh man, that makes so much sense now, right? Why I went through that, or, you know, I was given this and so.

[00:10:07] Steve Sargent: It, it really has all come together, but the conversations are incredible. I, I would say it's interesting, you know, people join C12 for typically one of three reasons. They either wanna get better at growing their business, right? They want the business help, or, you know, because of their faith, they're trying to figure out how to really integrate their faith and operate their business, steward their business.

[00:10:29] Steve Sargent: You know, a, as a a, a believer as a Christian, how do I do that? Well, right in this, in, in this. Culture in this world, or third, it's about the community. And you mentioned community a couple of times and it's that, hey, I, I've got friends that share my values, but I can't talk to them about business. They don't understand the stressors, the things that maybe keep me up at night.

[00:10:51] Steve Sargent: You know, they have a nine to five, they punch a clock. Nothing wrong with that. It's just different. They're different stresses and, and I've got people in the business world. That I can gather with, I can get insight from, maybe share best practices, but they don't necessarily see through the same lens or worldview that I do.

[00:11:09] Steve Sargent: They don't share my values. And so people join C12 because they find both, right? I have this community, they share my values, and I can get the, the peer knowledge, wisdom from the rest of this group. So I bring that up because when I meet with these folks and I meet with folks like you, right? Sometimes it's business, right?

[00:11:27] Steve Sargent: We dig, we dig right into the business, what's going on. We look at revenue generation, operations management, organizational development, financial management, whatever it is that's going on, culture, the people. But sometimes it's personal. And in fact, I would say most of the time it's personal. Most of the time it's, here's what's going on in my life, right?

[00:11:45] Steve Sargent: That, that's flowing out of my role in the, in the, in the business. And so, you know, it's interesting, we, you mentioned the broader community. C12 recently partnered with Barna Research to do some surveys of CEOs and business owners all, all over the country. And we just went through these data sets, so it's still pretty fresh.

[00:12:05] Steve Sargent: But a couple of interesting data points and, and I, I mentioned these already. Two. The two biggest stressors of all CEOs by far of CEOs and business owners is, number one, maximizing profitability. And number two, maintaining my own work life balance personally. Now, the interesting thing is that, and these weren't just Christian CEOs, it's just CEOs across across the board.

[00:12:31] Steve Sargent: The interesting thing about that data point, the second one, the work-life balance was that. The vast majority don't see themselves responsible for impacting the worklife balance of those that work for them. So while the top stressor was their own personal worklife balance, the vast majority don't see themselves responsible for the worklife balance of those who work in their companies.

[00:12:57] Steve Sargent: Isn't that interesting and kind of sad, right? And so I, I think that that's worth talking about. But even before we get into that, if you'd like to go there. Work-life balance is a bit of a, a false reality. It's a bit of a slippery slope, if you will, and, and Mike Charo talks about this, trying to balance my work and the rest of my life.

[00:13:22] Steve Sargent: It, it's a fragmented approach. Life. Well, I have my business over here. I have my family over here. I've got my, my friends over here, right? All these different aspects of my life, and I try to spend enough time and effort with each of them so that there's balance. That's a losing strategy. It's, it's, it just doesn't work.

[00:13:42] Steve Sargent: It leads to frustration. It leads to guilt, it leads to stress, all these things as opposed to leading with integration. Really striving for integration, meaning that I'm the same person wherever I am. So if, if I'm at work, I'm the same person I am at work, that I am at home, I'm, I'm living in my calling, my God-given, calling my giftedness wherever I am.

[00:14:07] Steve Sargent: And, and that's a life of integration. And so that, that's a big part of what I talk about with the leaders that I meet with is, you know, that this idea of balance is, you know, almost a, a losing scenario.

[00:14:21] Kate Volman: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Matthew wrote a book about it is called Off Balance, and it's all about work, work life balance is a myth and it's about work life satisfaction.

[00:14:34] Kate Volman: That's what it's about. Like if it would, would you rather have work-life ballots or satisfaction? And sometimes we are the most satisfied. There are times in our lives when maybe we're working extremely hard and we have a big project and it's taken a lot of time and energy and resources and, but at the end of that, oh, it's, we, we got so much satisfaction in that.

[00:14:59] Kate Volman: Now you're also going to go over and say, Hey, we did this. We completed, let's celebrate, and now I'm gonna go take my family on a vacation and I'm gonna have just as much satisfaction in my personal life so that I can come back and be rejuvenated and energized. And so we need to do both of those things.

[00:15:18] Kate Volman: In fact. I have books for everything, but Matthew Kelly has written books for everything. So Slowing Down to the Speed of Joy, it talks. So, I mean, that's what he's talking about. It's that, that idea of rest and relaxation. And it's not surprising that you said this is one of the biggest conversations, especially just in our group alone, when we fill out our Wheel of life.

[00:15:40] Kate Volman: Mm-hmm. So for those that are listening, if you've seen the Wheel of Life where it's. The, you have your financial, your personal, spiritual, like all the different areas of life and you give yourself a rating and I think almost every time we get together the lowest or, or one of the lowest is always that rest and relaxation piece.

[00:16:02] Kate Volman: Mm-hmm. For all of us. Mm-hmm. It's like this is such a challenge for people. I am curious though, how, how was that worded? You said that leaders don't feel like they, is it, they're not responsible for, or they don't feel like they contribute to?

[00:16:21] Steve Sargent: Both? Both. And it's not that they don't care, but they don't necessarily feel like that's their responsibility as leaders.

[00:16:27] Kate Volman: Ah, got it. Yeah.

[00:16:28] Steve Sargent: Yeah. And so again, but again. At the same time, their biggest stressor is their own personal work life balance. So yeah. You know, it's like, wow, wait a minute. If, if that's my biggest stressor, maybe just, maybe that's the biggest stressor for all of my people. And maybe I, maybe I should. Take a little more responsibility for that.

[00:16:48] Steve Sargent: Right.

[00:16:49] Kate Volman: Well, I find it interesting too because especially, well this, this survey was CEOs, you know, all over, but with, with the C12 community, what I find interesting is how committed they are to people. So I think this idea in this concept is they take it very seriously. And, and they really understand.

[00:17:10] Kate Volman: You know, it's like when we say at Floyd, your organization can only be the best version of itself to the extent that your people are becoming better versions of themselves. No one's gonna disagree with that, right? However, not all leaders are going to practice. The ways in which C will actually fulfill that or, or make, or, or when your team A understands that you actually believe that that is the case.

[00:17:38] Kate Volman: Yeah, that's right. So what are some ways. Because this is such a big challenge for leaders. How do you coach leaders into helping them with that integration and then helping them? Well, we'll start with them. How do you help them? Because they have to, they have to be able to master that first before they help others.

[00:17:57] Steve Sargent: Yeah, so it's, it's so interesting, you know, e everything that we just talked about and even the books that you mentioned, you referenced, right, that Matthew wrote, like, all, all of that stuff Slowing Down to the Speed of Joy, you know, and, and, and these others. So much of this is rooted in identity. Right.

[00:18:13] Steve Sargent: It's, it's rooted in our identity and our clarity of purpose. And so if, if we're constantly, and again, this was part of the dataset from, from Barna like that, that, that how, how important it is to CEOs, one of the most important things to them is, is that they are clear and, and living out their purpose in their business.

[00:18:36] Steve Sargent: What's interesting is that, you know, in, in C12, the data is incredibly significant. It's, it's, it's something like, uh, don't quote me on this. I think it's 90 some percent of C12 CEOs have greater clarity of their purpose as a result of their membership in C12. And so it, it, the reason I bring it up is it's foundational to everything else.

[00:19:00] Steve Sargent: It's foundational, that awareness of. You know, of my identity and my purpose and how that connects to the business that I'm running. In other words, it's not just a money machine. It's not just about profit and loss. P and l stands for people and legacy as much as it stands for profit and loss. And so, you know, both are critical.

[00:19:24] Steve Sargent: But you know, I, I always used to say in my business, like, you know, when I focus on the lens of finances. Typically, I'm not making the best decisions now as in healthcare. And so when we made decisions through the lens of finances, which is a, a very typical model in healthcare, right? Hospital systems, you name it.

[00:19:44] Steve Sargent: What do you think that means for the patient care? If I'm making decisions strictly through the lens of finances, means patient care is second, right? And so we can have all the, the mottos and phrases and words, you know, buzzwords on the walls that we want, but. You know, it's, it's our behavior. It's the lens to which we make decisions day in and day out that really dictate the, the impact and the future of the business.

[00:20:10] Steve Sargent: And a lot of those businesses I saw operated that way end up failing. Right, so, so even though they're focused on finances as the lens to which they make decisions, I'm not saying we shouldn't look at that. We need to results matter, but we, we need to be looking through other lenses first. And so I could give some examples of that.

[00:20:29] Steve Sargent: But again, I, I think for the leaders that I meet with, it's about awareness. First, so awareness of my own purpose and calling awareness of how that connects to my business. And then, you know, beyond that, well then what's the strategy? What might we do? What, what needs to change as we make decisions, you know, about revenue generation operations org development.

[00:20:51] Steve Sargent: What lens are we looking through when we make those decisions? And I get to challenge those, those assumptions and, you know, guide and, and direct and share some on some of my own personal stories to help create that awareness and, and to see what the potential impact really is when we maybe just tweak that a little bit.

[00:21:11] Kate Volman: This is why coaching is so important. Mm-hmm. Because you get to ask those questions and so often. CEOs or, or even an executive, like they don't have a lot of people to reach out to, to talk through this stuff, to have someone challenge them on their way of thinking or how they make decisions. And I often find it interesting how some of the best coaching sessions I've had or, or our, our coaches have had, they'll say.

[00:21:52] Kate Volman: I, I, I think I asked maybe two questions and they just ran, ran off, and, and, and they said it was one of the best sessions they've ever had. Yes, because we know, like deep down, we know what we, what we should do. But without that question, without that little push from someone else that is seeing from the outside in your challenge and your situation, we can get so stuck and caught up in our head.

[00:22:22] Steve Sargent: And or get too busy and not take action. Right? Yeah. And so we, you know, we, we have a saying around C12, you've heard it. We say, do is greater than talk, right? Priorities are what we do. Everything else is just talk. And so, you know, coaching, I mean, accountability is such a critical piece of that. And. You know, ironically, or maybe not so ironically, you know, CEOs and owners, leaders at the highest level lack accountability.

[00:22:44] Steve Sargent: There's not a lot of people holding them accountable. And in fact, of all of the aspects of C12 that members value, uh, being peer quantity, peer quality, camaraderie, and accountability, those are the core four. Accountability rates the highest. It's like, hold me accountable. I need that. I know I need it, I want it.

[00:23:02] Steve Sargent: I thrive on it and it makes me better. Right? It makes me a better leader. It makes me a better person. Maybe even makes me a better spouse. Probably does. And it's why we do, you know, spouse interviews and, and all kinds of neat things like that. So, but anyway, so yeah, that coaching, accountability, critical, critical.

[00:23:20] Kate Volman: And it's coaching is such a gift. I say it all the time, if anyone's on, they're like, okay, we get it. Coaching is a gift. 'cause I just, I say it all the time because I truly believe that I've, I've had some really incredible mentors and coaches in my life and they have helped shape me and my career and I'm so grateful for that.

[00:23:42] Kate Volman: And so when you are talking to leaders and kind of going back to that work-life balance and how. There is this sense of ownership of, of your people now. It is not your role as a leader to make sure your people are happy. It is your role as a leader to create an environment in which people can thrive.

[00:24:02] Kate Volman: And so that's right. That's what, that is what we get to do. And coaching just supports that and, and, and helps that. So one of the, the questions that I. I love, or, or, or, one of the topics that is interesting to me around when talking to leaders and, and their people is, do you know the superpower of your people?

[00:24:23] Kate Volman: Mm-hmm. Like, what are their superpowers? Because that's another gift that we get to give people. There's, there's people on your team, and like you said, we're not this, we don't have this business self and this personal self. We are one person, one whole person, and sometimes. It feels as though people are disengaged in their work because they are not, whether the role doesn't allow it, maybe they're on the wrong role or they haven't been empowered to truly utilize their superpower.

[00:24:53] Kate Volman: Yeah, the thing that they do so well.

[00:24:56] Steve Sargent: Yeah. You know, you know, here's the thing. The problem is this, that. There's a cost to operate this way. There's a cost to leading this way. And you know, a lot of leaders don't want to deal with that. They don't want to pay that cost, they don't want to count that cost.

[00:25:12] Steve Sargent: There's a risk. I, I remember, you know, I mean, in my business and dealing with other business owners and leaders and talking about things like culture, I would talk about this all the time and say like, number one, we, we need to care. Like, I can't coach you to care. Like if you, if you just don't care about people.

[00:25:30] Steve Sargent: I just don't think I can help you. It starts there and they'll know like whether or not you truly care. Right? And so, you know, it starts with that, but then it's like, are you willing to count the cost? And that's time. It's money. Right. And, and maybe other things like, so you know, again, there's a cost to that.

[00:25:49] Steve Sargent: But on the other side of that, and this isn't the reason we do it, but on the other side of that, when people are thriving and they're flourishing at work, which was our mission in, in, in our business, was like if that every single person and their families would flourish it, there would be this ripple effect from our culture into their lives that would impact their families and beyond.

[00:26:08] Steve Sargent: Right. Well. That took a lot of time. It took money. I had to hire, you know, we hired a chaplain, we hired other people. We, you know, I spent a lot of my time getting to know my people and their superpowers and dealing with their, you know, a lot of, all these busy, like, like hang your coat up at the door, right?

[00:26:26] Steve Sargent: Leave your outside life out there. Come in, put your head down, do the work. Right? It is pretty common in the corporate world. Well, you could do it that way. I mean, that's, that's one way to do it, but. I would bet their turnover's higher culture probably isn't all that healthy or at least not sustainable for very long.

[00:26:46] Steve Sargent: And, and so, you know, I would mind for conflict, I would, I, you know, I'd be coaching our, our team coaching, our leaders on our organization, how to navigate conflict real time with real drama. I loved it. I was like, bring the drama, bring it, bring it, bring it to work. 'cause it's not going away. It's just gonna come out sideways anyway, so let's just deal with it.

[00:27:07] Steve Sargent: Right. Let's talk about it. Let's deal with it. And you know what, the only requirement to work in our organization was that you'd be willing to do that. If you're willing to participate in the process, you got a job here, the results will come. Right? And so, you know, when I interviewed, when I was recruiting people on our team, like that was the conversation, Hey, this is our culture.

[00:27:27] Steve Sargent: It's not for everybody. Like, if you're not up for this, no problem. And as long as you're willing to participate in the process along the way, you got a job here. But the minute that you don't, the minute you opt outta your unwilling, you, you don't have a job here. Right. Because it's just, it's what we do.

[00:27:44] Steve Sargent: And so, you know, I got a lot of pushback. Oh man. All this inviting, all this drama, inviting, all this mess. Lives were changed. More people participated in the process than not. And the people that didn't, we didn't want on the team anyway 'cause they didn't really share our values. They really weren't part of our kind of core DNA and what we were looking to build, which was aspirational at one point.

[00:28:05] Steve Sargent: But, you know, years down the road became true to who we were.

[00:28:08] Kate Volman: Oh, that's so beautiful. And it's awesome. You and, and you said years down the line, this is, this is a process. Oh my God.

[00:28:18] Steve Sargent: But you know what, Kate? We, we scaled, I mean, significantly, I mean we scaled significantly in a matter of probably four years, but it was because I spent the first two to three.

[00:28:29] Steve Sargent: Building the foundation, turning that culture around. And, and again, it was aspirational. I had the gift, the blessing of being able to recruit the talent I wanted that already had some of that DNA and, and, you know, kind of kind of work. But anyway, it was, that was the foundation we built on, and I don't know that we would've scaled without that.

[00:28:47] Kate Volman: You said foundation. And that's what I was thinking, like that's the foundation of the organization. We have to get that foundation right in order for us to grow and build. And even as you were talking about creating that kind of environment, think about the level of loyalty and trust that you're building with your people because you are not telling them.

[00:29:10] Kate Volman: You're showing them. That's right. I care. That's right. Like I care about you. I, I'm fully aware that when you walk into this office and if you're dealing with a sick child or a parent or divorce or any of the things that we, that life throws at us. Yeah. You understand that that is impacting them and their work because it can't not.

[00:29:31] Kate Volman: That's right. Like we cannot shut off buttons and, and, and just keep going if something is bothering us. And so again. This doesn't mean that, that we don't hold our people accountable to the work that needs to get done or any of that. It just means that we are being human.

[00:29:48] Steve Sargent: That's right.

[00:29:48] Kate Volman: And we recognize that people are going through things

[00:29:51] Steve Sargent: and, and it's a gift.

[00:29:52] Steve Sargent: It's a gift. It's an, I mean, we, we have that opportunity as leaders to, to jump into the pit with people and, and walk with them. Say, you know what, like, let's figure out a way out of this pit. Like, you're not gonna be here alone. Let's figure it out. Right. And, and. I mean, gosh, talk about like building loyalty, right?

[00:30:11] Steve Sargent: Like these, these companies and leaders, you know, they want loyalty, they want loyal people. Like, you know, you want loyalty. Like that's the way to do it. That's the way to build loyalty, right? Just like customer loyalty. How do you build customer loyalty? Do right by your, by your customers, right? That us treat 'em well, build advocates.

[00:30:28] Steve Sargent: And it's the same with our employees. In fact, it starts with our employees.

[00:30:31] Kate Volman: Yes. Yes, yes, yes. I love that. Oh my gosh. So C12, such a, a, a, a really wonderful organization. If there is a leader out there that is just in a space of, maybe they have never been involved in that kind of organization, maybe they've never even had a coach, what would you encourage somebody that's thinking, Ooh, I wonder if this is the right opportunity for me.

[00:30:57] Steve Sargent: Yeah, so listen, there's lots of opportunities out there, right? There's tons, you know, C12 is for Christians and it is for CEOs and and owners, you know, our c sort of C-suite leaders, but lots of coaching options. And of course, Floyd, you know, is, is a place to go for, for, for coaching. But if people wanted to find out more about C12, I mean, they could go to join c twelve.com wherever you are in the country, and put in your zip code and find out more about it and see if.

[00:31:23] Steve Sargent: There's a, a chair and and groups of, of peers gathering near you.

[00:31:28] Kate Volman: Has there been something that has surprised you about being a chair?

[00:31:34] Steve Sargent: There's a couple of things. You know, one is how hard the work is. I mean, to be honest with you, it is, I've never worked so hard in my life and I, I mean this, and, and it's not a complaint.

[00:31:45] Steve Sargent: I've, my wife would tell you, I, I. And I've never been more purpose filled. I've never had more joy and peace in my work than I do right now. And, and you'll hear that from every chair. I mean, just across the board, like it's a very common thing. So, but it was a little bit of a surprise. I underestimated just how much, how much work it's, but I'm up for it.

[00:32:05] Steve Sargent: And then the other thing is, you know, just how quickly. Relationships are built, communities built trust is built within the forums around, you know, around the table. I thought it, it might take a lot longer and the level of authenticity and transparency and vulnerability, Hey, here's what's going on.

[00:32:24] Steve Sargent: Whether it's in my life, whether it's in my business, where, wherever it is, that has been so refreshing to me. 'cause that's my heartbeat. That's who I am. And, and so that's been another just pleasant surprise.

[00:32:35] Kate Volman: Aw, that's so beautiful. Since we talked about work-life balance, work-life satisfaction, integration, however you wanna call it, since it is a big challenge for a lot of, yeah, a lot of leaders.

[00:32:49] Kate Volman: There's someone listening right now and they're thinking, oh my gosh, you, you were speaking to me, Steve when you were talking about that. 'cause that is how I feel. I feel very like they're, they're, they're working. When they're working, they feel like they should be with their families. When they're with their families.

[00:33:03] Kate Volman: They feel like they should be working and they're just, they really do lack that balance that they crave so much. So what is, what is one thing that we can do starting today? Just something simple to kind of get that started.

[00:33:17] Steve Sargent: Can I give you a couple, a couple things come to mind? Sure. So, so, you know, one is like Simon Sinek says, start with why.

[00:33:24] Steve Sargent: Right? Start with why. Like get, dig into document. Define sort of your, your, your mission, you know, around your identity, your unique giftedness, and, and, and do that so that you can live that out in every. Role that you have in your life, right? That, that, that integration piece be the same person that you are without trying to be somebody else.

[00:33:47] Steve Sargent: You don't need to be anybody, anybody else, just be you. The second thing is, listen, you, you named it like rest and retreat. Right? Rest and retreat is critical. So what do your rhythms look like? What do your daily and weekly and monthly disciplines look like? Uh, are you getting time to simply be still to slow down to the speed of joy?

[00:34:06] Steve Sargent: Read that book and live it. Start with I, I, I tell our, you've heard me say this, Kate, I, I tell our leaders, start with five minutes. If that's all you can do is spending five minutes being still and quiet. Right. So, so important. And lastly, like, you know, listen, I'm a man of faith. I'm a person of faith. I believe wholeheartedly that that has enormous implications on how we operate, how we function, and that provides a lens that informs.

[00:34:38] Steve Sargent: How I go about my life. And so when I think about work life balance, the things that stress me out and the things that I feel guilty about, Mike Sharrow talks about cosmic insubordination and it's this, this t chart and there's a list of of, of stressors on one, one side, and they're the things that I, I typically work harder at.

[00:35:00] Steve Sargent: If I just work harder, I won't be as stressed and it's just, it's a dry well, but the, and the guilt list and, and that's typically the business. It's finances, it's all these other things. And on the guilt side, it's usually relational, right? If only my marriage were better, I had more time with my kids. And so what I do is I pray about the things that make me guilty when actually we should be switching it.

[00:35:21] Steve Sargent: We should be praying about the stressors and leaving that, that's God's will. The things that we have responsibility, that we have control over is those relationships. So, so we shouldn't, we shouldn't delegate that to God, right? Those are our responsibility. And so it's cosmic insubordination. We've gotta flip the script.

[00:35:40] Kate Volman: Oh, I love that. Aw. All right. Well, and I'm speaking to myself, Kate, as much as anybody else, you know. Isn't it great when you leave a coaching session, you're like, was that for, was that for him or was that for, yeah, yeah. Right. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Uh, which, which again, just, just goes back to community and the importance of community.

[00:36:05] Kate Volman: Mm-hmm. And being around other people that are able to be vulnerable enough to share what they're going through, especially. In this social media world where it seems as though everyone's got it all figured out and everything is perfect and there's no challenges, and so to come to the table with, Hey, these are just some of the realities of business.

[00:36:30] Kate Volman: That's right. And the realities of what I'm going through. And so I think it's that, that is something that I find to be extremely helpful because you talk about it in our sessions, you know, comparison. What, what's the quote? Comparison is the thief of joy. It's of

[00:36:44] Steve Sargent: joy. Yeah, absolutely. And it's

[00:36:45] Kate Volman: so easy to compare where we are to where we wanna be and to where someone else is.

[00:36:51] Kate Volman: And so to be able to have those conversations, to, to guide us to, to help us just. You know, get back to ourselves, get back to our businesses.

[00:37:01] Steve Sargent: That, that's, that's exactly right. And I, and I, I wanna say this, you know, there's a loneliness epidemic, right? That, that we don't really love to talk about. But you know, CEOs, owners, leaders are lonely.

[00:37:15] Steve Sargent: And in fact, not just them, everybody's lonely. I mean, especially coming outta COVID, there's just a loneliness epidemic. But especially at the top. They say it's lonely at the top. It doesn't have to be exactly what you're saying. You know, get with a community, find a community that you can trust, that you can walk with.

[00:37:30] Steve Sargent: But here's the other reason why we are far too hard on ourselves, and somebody might need to hear that. The vast majority of the leaders that I get to sit with, I'm constantly hearing them beat themselves up. And it's unnecessary, right? We are our own worst critics, especially as leaders, so, so I would just say this like while you're resting and retreating, and even in between love yourself, well care for yourself, like practice self-care, because you're not gonna be able to give what you don't have.

[00:38:05] Steve Sargent: So if you wanna care for the people that. Are in your care, right? Uh, your employees, your family, others, whoever else maybe that you know has been placed in your care. You've gotta care for yourself. Put your own mask on first, right? Before you can put it on somebody else.

[00:38:22] Kate Volman: Someone did need to hear that. I could feel it, I could feel that somebody, yes, is taking a deep breath because you just said that, so I, I so appreciate you, Steve.

[00:38:33] Kate Volman: You are awesome. Thank you so much for coming on the show. This was so fun to be able to thank you, to chat with you and thank you for all of your, all of your guidance and we'll have to have you come back on as you continue to build and grow the South Florida community and I continue to work with C12.

[00:38:49] Kate Volman: It's again, we, we love this partnership that we are building with, with C12 and, and the community and being able to share our resources is wonderful. So I'm, I'm looking forward to continuing this.

[00:39:01] Steve Sargent: Well thank you and thank you for doing everything that you guys do. You're doing great. Keep going. We need it.

[00:39:07] Steve Sargent: And uh, yeah, thanks for having me on. Really. It's an honor and a pleasure.

[00:39:11] Kate Volman: Oh, I love it. And thank you all so much for listening. You guys, you're who we're talking to, you know, you are the ones that are out there that are leading your teams, that are creating culture advocates, that are building dynamic culture.

[00:39:23] Kate Volman: So people love coming to work. Accomplishing great things together. So thank you for all that you do, and until next time, Lead With Culture.

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