What is at the true heart of leadership and why do we need to take back the term? In this week's episode, Chance Stewart, adjunct professor and speaker, dives into the world of Servant Leadership, what a true leader looks like, and what defines a good leader versus someone with positional power.

Chance explains how leadership has played a role in his life and describes how he found leadership in his life, and what defines it from a moral and personal perspective. A subject that can be as divisive as much as it unifies, there is a sense that what it means to be a leader has been lost somehow and now is the time for individuals to re-connect with the term and lead with love and service in mind.

Listen in to discover the hard questions you should be asking yourself to see how you could be a better leader and how to benefit the world around you.

“Authority and power are the antithesis of leadership because if that is what you are relying on that means you’ve lost the battle.”

Top Takeaways:

• Chance explains that leadership is not about making others do what you want. Instead, it is about making the choice to figure out what you can do, what steps you can make to create change and benefit others around you. What do you choose to do?
• Leadership is not necessary following a series of boxes or checking off a list. It is about showing the world your best self and being the best version of yourself. How is the world going to be better because you were around? What is the world going to say about you the last time they say your name?
• Leadership is something that happens when you’re not around!
• A position of power does not determine someone’s leadership because if you rely on your authority to have leadership than you are missing the point. Leadership is how you live your life and treat others instead of the title you have.
• Chance came to the realization that leadership to him was treating people with love and respect. He always felt his leadership role, but it was not necessarily apparent in his life. Sometimes finding where you need to go means opening your mind up to who you have been the whole time even if it is not obvious at first.
• A definition of leadership is not always clear, but when a leader walks in a room we feel their presence. Servant leadership is not about being soft, but the question should be how are we taking care of people first? Servant leadership should be the decision to serve first.
• Leaders eat last. When you make sure people are taken care of first, you are putting your best version of yourself forward. When you put others first, they will then look after you as well. This type of love feeds off of one another and it’s not about one single person. Instead, it is about the team and how they take care of one another.
• Leadership is controlling what you can control, be the best version of what you can do, and it creates one more person who is doing right by others. What kind of person do you want to be? Am I going to be a person of love? What kind of hard decisions are you going to make? The hard thing to do is doing the right thing when everyone is looking, but no one else is prepared to.
• Leadership is not about being perfect, but it is about being the best you can be to serve others. Leadership is not always about knowing the way or being perfect or having all the knowledge. Instead, it is about being vulnerable, admitting mistakes, and finding the way together.

Key Moments:

• [2:32] Why leadership is a choice.
• [6:10] Leadership as a way of life.
• [9:34] Leadership is not a position of power.
• [12:35] Chance’s experience with leadership.
• [18:16] Servant leadership
• [23:08] Leaders eat last.