Becoming who you’re meant to be as a Christian leader doesn’t begin with focusing on leadership. Your calling toward better leadership is a calling toward deeper discipleship.
That’s how you become a discipled leader.
Yet, when you spend forty to eighty hours a week at your job, it’s easy to lose perspective. You slide into the false belief that what you do defines you rather than allowing who you are define what you do. And, if you’re a Christian, who you are is a disciple of Christ.
So why does it seem like there’s a dearth of disciples in today’s secular marketplace? Why does it sometimes feel as if you’re the only Christian at your job? How are you supposed to bring the world-opposing tenets of the Christian faith to bear on your everyday professional decisions?
Surprisingly—and it took me a long time to figure this out—it’s not about changing your leadership style. While learning how to be a better leader is necessary, and many excellent books have been written to that end, changing your style won’t change who you are.
Who you are needs to change before what you do changes.
If you’re a struggling Christian leader in the secular marketplace, I pray you’ll be challenged to engage in the hard work of daily discipleship. If you’re an experienced leader, I pray you’ll be reminded of the fundamentals of the faith and the desperate need to disciple other Christian leaders.
My background --
After working in upper-level management for companies like Coca-Cola and Hershey’s and small business ownership, I long to convey my hard-won leadership knowledge to the Christian community.
My thirty-plus years of experience have positioned me to write and speak on the paramount importance of leadership, discipleship, and communication and how those necessary abilities translate from the secular marketplace to the church.
Authentic, inspiring, and results-oriented in my work leading teams of dozens to hundreds, I bring the same abilities to bear on my writing and speaking. Additionally, I have extensive training experience in personal and professional development after working with Dale Carnegie Training and becoming a John Maxwell certified executive coach, speaker, and trainer.
My corporate work has been recognized through many awards: the Dale Carnegie Sales Talk Champion; two-time winner of Hershey’s President’s Cup, a coveted national sales award (1997 and 2000); Coca-Cola’s 2003 Crystal Contour Award; two-time Coca-Cola Global Commercial award finalist (2013 and 2014); 2015 Design of the Times Platinum Award – Best Display; 2015 POPAI / Global Shop Outstanding Merchandising Award – Semi-Permanent Display of the Year; 2016 Coca-Cola Woodruff Cup recipient; the 2017 Coca-Cola Kudos awards for leadership and inspiring others, and the 2019 Growth Behavior Award for Iteration
I hold an MBA from Samford University and a BS in Management from Colorado State University.
My wife, Carla, and I live in the Atlanta metro area, and we have two children, Caroline and Benton. During my spare time, I like to work out, bike, boat, write, read, and travel.
About the John Maxwell Team
As a John Maxwell Certified Coach, Teacher, Trainer and Speaker, I can offer you workshops, seminars, keynote speaking, and coaching, aiding your personal and professional growth through study and practical application of John’s proven leadership methods. Working together, I will move you and/or your team or organization in the desired direction to reach your goals.
