Kingdom Leadership in the Marketplace

is a leader’s leader! His passion for leadership development is seen through his work with emerging leaders across a multitude of industries. He has spent over two decades preparing people with diverse responsibilities to reach their optimal leadership potential. He firmly believes that leaders are not developed by accident, they must be engineered. Anthony currently transforms leaders as the Senior Leadership Consultant for 180 Management Group.

What do the biblical characters Joseph, Daniel, Esther, Nehemiah, and Joseph of Arimathea all have in common? None were priests or clergy, yet all played a significant role in the Kingdom of God through their professions. Kingdom leadership in the marketplace requires a nuanced professionalism to maintain “being in the world but not of the world.” I will provide a paradigm and perspective for navigating the marketplace in a way that’s a win-win for both the God you serve and the organization you serve.

More Information at https://www.180managementgroup.com

Interview Transcript

Hugh Ballou

Greetings. This is Hugh Ballou, founder and president of SynerVision Leadership Foundation where synergy that the leaders create with their vision makes the difference. Nothing happens without leadership. And today, we have lots of topics that leaders need to know about. But we’re just going down to the roots, what is leadership, and our our guests today. Ethany. and I both are People of the Christian faith. And we were informed by Well, the Jewish part of our Bible that we share with the Old Testament and the others. But there are really good examples. And whether you’re a person of faith or not, there are still some really good examples that we can learn from that. So I want to first ask Anthony, just to tell us a little bit about who he is, and what’s your passion for leadership is Anthony, tell people who you are about your background, and why you do this. Well, thank

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr.

you, you first and foremost, Hello to all of you who are alive. And thank you so very much for having me on this, this wonderful, wonderful platform, sharing with so many wonderful leaders about leadership. My name is Anthony Adx, Jr. and I serve as the senior leadership consultant for 180 Management Group. And I helped leaders overcome their unique leadership challenges so that they can really focus on what they love. I believe that leadership is everything, as you’ve already articulated, you know, John Maxwell says everything rises and falls on leadership has a significant amount of impact on organizations and on culture in our day-to-day lives. And I have found as I’ve been on this journey of being a student of leadership that often, leaders in organizations are more intentional about growing their organizations, then they are growing themselves. I believe that leaders don’t grow by accident, and that they must be engineered. And so my approach to leadership is to help engineer leaders so that they can actually become the person they want to be, in order to build a future that they want to see.

Hugh Ballou

Love it. Love it. Maxwell also talks about the law of the lid, yes, our organization in that develop any further than our ability. And if you remember Jim Rohn, he used to say work on yourself harder than you work on your business now. Leadership is generic. It didn’t matter if you were leading a faith organization, a community, a nonprofit, or a business. It’s really leadership is leadership is leadership is

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr.

leadership is leadership is leadership every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Hugh Ballou

Yes, you got it like this quote for fried chicken every day. I’m a Southerner. Come on. So what Hugh Ballou says is the most important things about leadership are the things we don’t know. We don’t know. What do you think of that one?

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr.

That is profound, actually, if I’m not mistaken, if my memory is correct, that’s actually meta knowledge, knowing what you don’t know. And a part of leadership. Of course, one of the virtues of leadership is humility. And it’s hard to be humble when you think you know everything. But when you know that you don’t know everything, you can accommodate some of your leadership blind spots, by getting help in those areas. And maintaining perennially, the posture of a student knowing that I don’t know there’s so much that I don’t know, I was sharing with someone the other day, that when it comes to leadership, it is, especially in my career with equipping leaders, the more you learn about people, the more you learn that you don’t know about them. And it’s a continuous learning process that requires a posture that says, I don’t know everything. So I not only need to know what I know, I need to be aware of what I don’t know.

Hugh Ballou

And we have watching this podcast, people from Sweden and from Scotland, and I see somebody from Africa from Uganda, on the podcast and you know, commonly will have people from multiple nations and time zones on our community events for the SynerVision Community. And we’re united by our passion for making things better for others. So people are here to learn and grow their skills. So what do you see, in any sector? What do you see as the common deficit that leaders have? What do they all do the worst, the most often?

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr.

What did they all do the worst? Most often? I think that leaders have a tendency to be so passionate, and so focused, that they get tunnel vision. So good. So as you know A part of the organization that you founded and serve has vision in the name. So you know about the power of vision, and there is a requirement for leaders to be focused. But that focus is really about not being distracted, that is not about not being able to see multiple things at once. And so the judgment of the leader, being able to see things in their periphery is important. And often leaders because we’re so vision-driven, we can get so focused on what we want to see that we either don’t see or discount other things that have implications on how we want the world to become because of our vision.

Hugh Ballou

Yes, oh, that’s brilliant. You know, sometimes we tend to roll over now because I teach this stuff doesn’t make me exempt from these problems. You and I both. That’s why I have a leadership coach and she’s in her late 80s. So it’s important that people reach outside of their comfort zone and have somebody they paid audible to. So that’s why people need infine. A Dick’s to talk to them. So you mentioned their ways in the market, that marketplace professionals can develop skills that are 10 times better now, people have faith, people have community organizations, people in business. So what is this 10 times better? And how do people get there?

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr.

Well, there is, of course, as people of faith, we reach our goals, outcomes, and dreams, by pursuing a biblical worldview for people of our particular faith tradition. And so in the scriptures there, the story of Daniel, and Daniel is where we get the phrase 10 times better, that is a biblical, a biblical phrase, that refers to Daniel when they were in Babylon. So Babylon, of course, is, is a foreign place, to Daniel and he’s a part, of the staff for Nebuchadnezzar, who is the king. So he’s not in a place that necessarily agrees with his faith tradition, but he is required to perform there. And there are many professionals who work in a context that may or may not agree with their particular worldview. And so what Daniel did was he decided to take a particular diet, he said that he did not want to eat any of the king’s meat. And so how he governed his appetite, opened him up to other virtues and attributes that made him 10 times better than his peers. So this is this is, I think, one of the great secrets of really becoming a person of, of renown, in the professional space is not so much what you do. That makes you 10 times better. But as in the case of Daniel is what you choose not to do. That can make you 10 times better. And as the story unfolds, it says that David got wisdom and understanding about the natural things of the world, the sciences, and wisdom, because of the choices that he made not to do certain things that others were comfortable doing.

Hugh Ballou

I want to point out to people watching and listening that Anthony just didn’t run all this stuff. Do you notice how he paused? And let us grasp that effect. So as leaders, we are people of influence, and if we’re influencing other people, so you just demonstrated one really powerful leadership trait and that is presentation skill – You pause? Hmm, I was important, you know, in I’m a conductor by trade is this resting music for impact? Not just this, there’s rest. So we as leaders are presenting and influencing others all the time, that you know, there are so many stories of throughout, we talked about the Old Testament, some of the struggles of the peoples that the history of humankind that’s recorded there. There were people who weren’t perfect. Oh, yeah, they were called, they were called to a specific purpose. And so I think one of the flaws I see is people want to be perfect, and therefore we have this perfection paralysis. We don’t get anything done.

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr.

And that’s really challenging because many of our professional systems, though, we may tout, that you should take risks, and you shouldn’t be afraid to fail. We don’t have within those systems of reward mechanism for failure. Nobody rewards you for failing, right? But failing is often the precursor to some other type of creation, innovation, and success. Those things are what we really reward, we reward that outcome of failure, but not the process of failure. And because we were what the outcome of failure, not the process, people try to skirt around it, to say, You know what, maybe I can get these outcomes. Without the experimentation, the trial and error, the feeling that’s necessary to get it done. And that creates a tendency for us to really want to be perfectionists, which we fail, strangely enough. But that I think, is a part of the conundrum in the balance of trying to be an effective leader, like how do I maintain successful outcomes, minimize my failures, but, all the while reward those that follow me for taking those risks and failing as well.

Hugh Ballou

And I’m remembering you mentioned John Maxwell, he has a book called Failing Forward. Yes, he does. I think if we can reclassify failures as learning opportunities, we can be a leader, how do we nurture learning? Maybe people can learn from loss. How do you suggest that leaders nurture those in their network to use those as learning opportunities?

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr.

I think they do. I think leaders should do what they just did. You recast the term. Right? You recast the term failure as a learning opportunity. One of the greatest purveyors of culture is language. If you want to know anything about a culture, look at how they talk about things. Look at how they speak about things. You can create an environment that rewards learning opportunities by calling them learning opportunities, as opposed to failure, and then giving people grace for making those attempts and taking those risks. In order to find new avenues for getting things done in order to create new initiatives or new efficiencies, leaders have extreme power. I say this, and I can’t do what you did. You spoke about yourself in the third person. I have never tried that before you say it. Hugh Ballou says I’ve never tried to say Anthony Dixon. So maybe I’ll try that. Now, Anthony says that the leader’s most powerful asset is not their vision is their voice. Our words, create worlds, you can’t cast a vision without using your voice. And so if you use your voice to create language, that language can create an environment that gives people the freedom to try things to fail forward. Or to create learning opportunities, you can do a lot with language.

Hugh Ballou

Yeah, there’s a lot of good sound bites in this. But you know, one thing that I’m sure people have noticed is a very being a musician, I highlight this, of course, one very underutilized leadership skill, which you just demonstrated, listening and listening with intent, active listening. And so we do influence people, and we can’t change anybody else. But we can do is change ourselves. And so I’m just pointing out some of the, you know, you show up as an effective, influential leader. And I’m sure people will work with you notice that and learn from that. So it’s not just what you say, that matters. It’s who you are. There’s another author, I quote, like James Allen as a man thinketh. And yeah, yeah, he says, You don’t attract what you need, you attract what you are.

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr.

That’s what he says. That’s what he says. And that’s extremely important because leadership is more about being than it is doing, I really believe that leadership is, is doing born out of being that you, you can’t consistently act, outside of who you believe yourself to be. So what’s important for a leader to focus on to maintain, an awareness of is Who am I becoming in the process? As I try to ascend to greater levels of influence? Who will I be when I get there? Right? What type of person will I be when I get there, in really gaining the character to consistently exhibit certain behaviors and activities? That’s really one of the essences of strong leadership. You’re just a good person.

Hugh Ballou

Wow, wow, we got a lot of sound bites today, people so you don’t have to take notes. We’ll have them on the on the platform on the web at http://nonprofitexchange.org. You can see this episode and others, but go back and listen. There’s just a lot of takeaways. I like to encourage people to use what I teach, and there’s a lot of usable stuff here. So we’re talking about Kingdom professionals. So we just did point out that we are people of Christian faith, but there’s people in leading in sin Dogs, other faiths are people who are people of faith that aren’t in a religious organization that are actually fulfilling a calling. So So what are some of the characteristics and behaviors that kingdom professionals exhibit?

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr.

Kingdom professionals, one of the behaviors that they exhibit is a profound leaning toward serving others, serving others. I believe it was Dr. Mondal, the king that said anybody can serve. And we may not be able to do all the things that others do, but any human being can serve. I believe that leadership is the responsibility to serve others in such a way that you protect and promote everybody else’s flourishing. To me, leadership is not leadership is self-serving. So one of the things that leaders exhibit is serving others to put one’s needs before their own, to see how I can only win, if you are winning, to see how it is we can create Win-Win situations, as we leave others, it is not just my vision, it is a vision that is going to be beneficial to all of us. So number one is service. If I could name another one, I would, I would name a few of them. One is another one is empathy, empathy, and compassion, which probably are closely or closely related. But when it comes to empathy, I may not have experienced what you’ve experienced. But I can take a step back to try to put myself in your shoes. Even if I can’t do it succinctly and effectively fit your shoes and your particular situation, I think is noble to at least try. Leaders can sometimes be so caught up in trying to get other people to see what they see that they never take the time to see what they see. I’ll say that, again, leaders can often get so caught up in trying to get others to see what they see that they never take the time to see what others see. When you begin as a leader see what your followers see. I think that’s where the real synergy is.

Hugh Ballou

I was on it. We have this nonprofit community and I was some of our nonprofit leaders also have businesses or have had businesses. And one of the leaders said, you know, I had had many businesses and I sold them every year, the first year. And then I bought it back. And then I said it wasn’t worth buying back. And then I asked my employees, what’s wrong with it? What do we fix this year? And I think we forget we write SMART goals. But if we write smarter goals, it means we evaluate and revise. So I think you just demonstrated a place where leaders are not listening, to what others have to say. So what this leader did was tell me in a very critical, we tend to be living in a critical environment rather than an analytical environment. People are afraid to get afraid to get blamed between restored restorative justice, and retributive justice. Yep. Yeah. So you quoted Martin Luther King, I had the advantage of being in the streets and hearing him in person in 6364. And he was talking about the principles of it. He had very strong principles. And he really didn’t assassinate people’s character. He was analytical. He said, What’s wrong with this picture? What’s wrong with your language? But his principal was always remained non-violent. And to speak the truth directly? You know, I didn’t realize till years later, what a strong impact that had on my leadership and anybody been like that ever. He was a stand and look what powerful influence he had just for having those principles. That had a strong impact on my life. What Martin Luther King John Maxwell, and what other leaders have influenced your leadership learning?

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr.

Wow. Well, of course, as a person of Christian faith, much of my leadership is influenced by by Jesus of Nazareth, my father. He is another person who has influenced my leadership tremendously. Several other ecclesial leaders like my my pastor has, my wife, has also influenced my my leadership. Many of my before I was, in my own business, many of the people who led me professionally were female, and they taught me a lot of About about leadership, mainly patience, and different ways in which conflict can be resolved without being overtly antagonistic, nurturing ways in which to bring about feedback, constructive feedback. I mean, there is so much when it comes to leadership, and having those types of leaders in my life created an aspect of really or maybe it’s even a paradigm to see leadership through a virtuous lens. I’ve had the opportunity to have some training and some theological education. And there are virtues that we talk about in philosophy and a little bit in theology, the seven of them, the cardinal virtues and three theological virtues. And what people of faith have the opportunity to show the world is how to embody temperance, how to embody courage, how to embody justice, how to embody wisdom, faith, hope, and love. And I think people who are leading in the marketplace, from a biblical worldview or Kingdom perspective, embody those values and virtues and bring them to life in their leadership. And I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to see several people do that for me.

Hugh Ballou

You know, those are attributes. So many of our Christian churches need that stuff he was really driven by one of the thought leaders or readers, Richard Rohr, who’s a Franciscan, or he quotes Martin Luther King and Gandhi, but he also quotes Buddha, Muhammad, and Jesus. So there are some universal truths that are so important that we must have a no this portion of our learning that’s outside of our discipline that we need to learn for some others. And there are some universal truths. So thank you for the gift of some of these thoughts, why are these professionals where you’re calling Kingdom professionals? Why did they assets to their organizations, and especially the nonprofit space,

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr.

they are assets to their organization, number one, because of the atmospheres they create. They create atmospheres of collaboration, as opposed to competition, conflict, and contention. They’re just easier to work with. They’re easier to work for. Secondly, they bring to the table a certain kind of creativity, that is advantageous not only for the chemistry, amongst the teams that they work on but for the strategic and operational outcomes that their particular organization wants to achieve. They bring an attitude of what’s possible, and how can we make this possible, bringing to the table an attitude that looks at impossibilities as opportunities to innovate, create, stretch themselves move beyond their limits. There are just a myriad of different ways in which they provide value to their organizations. And they are really an asset because of the atmospheres, they create. Great collaborators are creative, they are optimistic, and they walk the walk, they don’t just talk about it, they walk the walk of the assets because of who they are, not just because of what they do.

Hugh Ballou

I’ve heard the saying the sermon you preach with your life is much louder than when you preach with your voice. That’s, that’s a testament to that. So we’re coming up to the end of this, really, and we could talk all day. You know, I want people to seek you out. So I want them to find you so they can go to one ad. That’s that’s number 180. Yes, Ad Management. I’m trying to see my screen one ad management group.com 180 management group.com. So Anthony, when people go there, where will they find?

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr.

They’re going to find some information about what it is that we do. As an organization that is a management consulting firm that specializes in operations consulting, out of a three-prong framework people, processes, and planning. My responsibility is to help organizations do the best for their people and get the most out of them. We offer contracting, consulting, and coaching. You’ll see a little bit of information about me at the bottom you’ll see a little bit of information about our CEO, that’s our beautiful CEO right there who is also my wonderful wife. And if you schedule a call, if you click that link, then there are ways in which you can schedule some time to talk to either my wife or myself if you’d like to, I’d love the opportunity to connect with anyone to see what your story is. And if there’s a way in which we can serve you, I’d love to hear about that as well. You’re just pretty good for that picture. I did that.

Hugh Ballou

Anthony Dix Anthony, a Dix Jr. Just the profound presence you have. And, you know, a lot of the stuff you have is, is really stuff we need to think about today. So I’m gonna, I’m gonna invite people to our community, then I’ll come back to you for a closing thought or challenge or word from you. So I mentioned before that SynerVision as a community of nonprofit leaders, we’re building communities where we live, and it’s, it’s nonprofit, community.org orgy. So it’s a nonprofit community. It’s a peer-to-peer community where we share ideas and we share. We share passions, and we get help from others, not even in our neighborhood. So there’s a free level. So if you go to nonprofit community.org, you can join that free community. There are chats, there are forums, there are places where you can post your pictures and your stories you can do articles. So join us there then if you elect you can ask us to join the influencer level it’s a few dollars a month, but it unlocks a whole lot of content for you to learn and continue to grow your skills. And this episode of the nonprofit change is posted in the community for you to continue your learning like other things http://NonprofitCommunity.org and Anthony Dix, You’ve been such a refreshing blessing today to give us some things that we might have known a little bit about. But it’s a new perspective and a new challenge to think differently. So what do you want to leave people with?

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr.

If I can leave people with anything, I’d leave them with this. So much of what we do on a day-to-day basis focuses on being first or being fast. I want to challenge you in the midst of a culture of professionalism, a business culture, a marketplace culture, that’s trying to get you to move fast so that you can be first, I want to challenge you as a leader to focus on flourishing. Don’t move so fast and be so hard up to be first, that you inhibit your flourishing or the flourishing of somebody else. Focus on flourishing.

Hugh Ballou

Anthony Dix, leader of leaders, thank you for being our guest today on the nonprofit exchange.

Anthony A. Dicks, Jr.

Thank you for having me. It’s been quite a pleasure. Thank you. You

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