By Allen Haynes • July 7, 2025 Listen to the podcast. Andy Stanley (00:02): Hey everybody. Welcome to the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast, a conversation designed to help leaders like you go further faster. I’m Andy Stanley, and today we’re doing something a little different. We ask you to send in the leadership questions that are keeping you up at night. And today I’m going to, well, I’m going to ask my co-host Suzy Gray to answer all of them for you. Suzy, are you ready for this? Because these are good questions. These questions came from all kinds of leaders, executives, team leads, nonprofit directors, and some people who were just stepping into leadership roles for the first time. Some of these questions are super practical, some of them are personal, they’re all very relevant. Again, joining me as always is my co-host, Suzy Gray. So Suzy, how did we collect these questions? And can listeners call in while we’re on the air? Oh, we’re not doing that. Suzy Gray (00:56): No, we’re not doing a call. Andy Stanley (00:56): Okay. So how did we get these questions? Suzy Gray (00:59): So we invited on our podcast last month for listeners to email us in with any questions that are keeping them up at night that they would love to ask. And then we also sent an email to those that have connected with us that way, the same question, and we got so many emails and what we tried to do is really distill it down to the questions that represented the biggest themes that were asked. So hopefully we did a good job with that. Hopefully for those that submitted questions we got to yours, or at least the ones that we did get to are super helpful and practical. Andy Stanley (01:31): And most of the folks who sent us questions said we could use their names. Suzy Gray (01:35): They did. Andy Stanley (01:35): That was surprising. Suzy Gray (01:36): I was surprised. Andy Stanley (01:37): I wouldn’t do that. Suzy Gray (01:38): I don’t think I would Andy Stanley (01:38): Either. Of course. They’re their first names, so Suzy Gray (01:40): Right. Andy Stanley (01:41): I tell you, you read the questions and I will take my best shot. And full disclosure, we’ve had these questions for a while, so we’ve spent some time thinking about these answers. This is not off the top of our head. You may feel like they are because the answers are so bad, but these are great. So Suzy, I’ll let you read the questions. And this first question is from Tyler. Suzy Gray (01:59): That’s right. And Tyler says, Hey Andy, I have a middle manager with an executive level leadership potential, but he doesn’t want to climb the corporate ladder. I’m a little put off by that after the investment we’ve put into his development, but he is one of our highest performers. How do you help someone grow as a leader if they don’t yet see themselves as one? Andy Stanley (02:20): So again, there’s so many questions we would have for Tyler to get more details, but here’s what I thought the first thing I thought when I read this question, I actually thought, this is kind of easy. And I would say, Tyler, you have a motivation problem on your hands, but not with who you think Tyler, you have a motivation problem. You don’t know what motivates this particular employee. And what’s really frustrating you is that this employee isn’t motivated by what motivates you because you’re motivated by climbing the corporate ladder, whatever that means. I mean, that’s an old phrase, so we’ll just fill in the blank. (02:52): And this person isn’t as motivated as you are, isn’t motivated by the same things you are. So you think they lack motivation. And that’s frustrating. And this is a super easy mistake to make. We know better. I think we all know better, but we forget that not everybody is motivated by the same things. And since they’re a high performer, it should be pretty easy to discover what drives this person or what really motivates this person. And then you just make sure you keep those things in place. And that’s actually, this is why it’s a good question. That’s actually how you accomplish your goal for this person. Because if you want this person to stay in the company long-term, which it sounds like you do, and if you want them to again, be able to take on more and more responsibility, you have to change the paradigm and you have to find out what motivates them and you keep that in front of them. (03:36): And consequently, you’ll actually accomplish your goal for this person because your goal, again is for this person to stick around and climb the corporate ladder. And who could blame you for wanting that for them? Because like you said, they’re one of your highest performers, but to accomplish your goal for this other person and side note, it’s always dangerous to set goals for other people. In fact, you shouldn’t set goals for other people, but in this case, he sees the potential in this incredible person. And to accomplish that, you just have to find out what motivates this person that’s different than what motivates you. And then just pour fuel on that. And for some people it’s recognition for other people, it’s more opportunity or more responsibility. For some people, they’re motivated by influence, so they want to sit at a different table, have more input into their own future in the organization. So bottom line, do a little bit of digging around. Use the tools. There’s so many tools to help us unearth the primary motives that motivate people. (04:35): And then pour fuel on that fire. And chances are that person’s going to stick around, continue to be a high performer, and without ever knowing it, they will climb your corporate ladder and you’ll both win. Suzy Gray (04:47): Yeah, I think that’s such an important point, is I think the conclusion from Tyler was how do you see someone grow as leader when they don’t see themselves as a leader yet? But it’s exactly what you said. They could see themselves as a leader, they could just feel like, Hey, I’m not motivated by climbing the corporate ladder. Maybe he doesn’t see himself or want to be a gunner in terms of somebody who’s willing to do certain things to climb certain corporate expectation ladders. And so I think it’s really important to say what does motivate ’em? And by servicing that, it’s going to, Andy Stanley (05:20): They stay motivated Suzy Gray (05:21): And connected. Andy Stanley (05:22): And they’ll stay in the organization and they will thrive to whatever degree they’re able to. So the last thing you want to do again is set an organizational goal for a person that a person wouldn’t set for Suzy Gray (05:32): Themselves themselves. Andy Stanley (05:33): See work is no longer fun, then it’s an expectation because now you’re expecting me to do something and you’re judging my success based on something I don’t, (05:43): I’m not motivated to do, I’m not motivated to do, which means I’m probably not good at it and I’m never going to feel that successful. And there are people who are fine with where they are and doing what they’re doing and that’s fine. Suzy Gray (05:54): Yeah, Andy Stanley (05:54): I think we did good on that one. Alright, this next question is from Bonnie. Suzy Gray (05:59): Yes, Bonnie says, we just had a leadership transition and now I’m the interim director. I feel I have just as many questions as my employees do, but I want to lead well. What’s your go-to move for keeping a team aligned during seasons of change and uncertainty, especially if you are also feeling uncertain? Andy Stanley (06:17): Yeah. So Bonnie wakes up one day and she’s in charge of her peers. It was basically, okay, here’s, it’s a tough place. Be group of peers. The leader’s gone. Somebody’s got to lead. Bonnie, you’re it. And she’s like, I didn’t want to be it. I wasn’t hired to be it. Bonnie, here’s what I would say to you if we were having a conversation. First of all, uncertainty. The uncertainty you feel is why the world needs you. Uncertainty. We’ve talked about this. Uncertainty is job security for leaders. It’s why we have leaders. So here’s the plan. I really love this question. So I came up with three things, and Suzy, you can comment as long as you’re affirming what I’m saying, Suzy Gray (06:55): What you’re saying. Okay, Andy Stanley (06:56): Here’s the three steps for you, Bonnie. Number one, transparency, number two, clarity. And number three, an easy first win. So number one, transparency. Number two, clarity. And then number three, an easy first win. So by transparency, you just let ’em know that you don’t know. You look at them and say, Hey, I’m a peer Two days ago I worked with you. Now you feel like you’re reporting to me. And here’s the thing, Bonnie, don’t pretend. Don’t pretend you know more than you do. They already know what you don’t know. Lay your cards on the table, including your questions, your concerns. You don’t know what the future holds. That’s just transparent and that’s honest. And then you’re going to bring clarity. And clarity is in the meantime until this organization figures out what they’re going to do until this organization brings somebody in while the board scrambles around to decides in the meantime, here’s what we are going to do and here’s why we’re going to do it. (07:48): And here’s where each of you fit in. So it’s like, I’m transparent, I’m not smarter than the rest of you. They picked me. I don’t think I’m special. But in the meantime, let me give you some clarity. Here’s what we’re going to do, here’s why we’re going to do it. And here’s where each of you fit in. And then you establish an easy first win. You come up with one attainable short-term goal that if possible everybody can participate in. And then you get that one thing done and you celebrate. And just that transparency, that clarity and an easy win will establish you as a leader, not because of your temporary, and it may not be a temporary position, not because of your temporary position, but because of your influence and your ability to get something done. So you’re transparent, you’re clear. One easy, attainable, win for that team, they will view you as the leader. And who knows the board or whoever’s making the decision about who’s going to step back into that arena of leadership may say, wow, we have somebody right here who can do this job. Now if you don’t want the job, do exactly what I said, but let the person you report to know, Hey, I’ll do this for now, but I don’t really want this job. That’s okay too. Suzy Gray (09:00): You can be transparent about that as well. Andy Stanley (09:01): Tag you’re it. So while you’re, it maximize that amazing opportunity. Suzy Gray (09:07): Well, and I love the idea of the third step being the easy, easy, small first win because it creates momentum for the team. And in a season of uncertainty, it’s like Andy Stanley (09:17): We can this. Suzy Gray (09:18): We can do it. Exactly. Andy Stanley (09:20): Yeah. We don’t have to come to work every day, sit on our hands, wait for something to happen that’s languishing. And two to Bonnie, this is an incredible opportunity. It really is. It’s a great opportunity. And Bonnie would say this too, that little voice in your head that says, I’m not up to this. I’m not a leader. Just ignore that. That is, yeah, as John Ako would say, that’s not helpful and it’s not kind and it’s not true. So just ignore that Suzy Gray (09:47): Voice and the fact that honestly, she was the one who got tapped as the interim director. She says something. Andy Stanley (09:53): Yeah, somebody saw something then Bonnie. Yeah, Suzy Gray (09:55): Yeah. I love it. Andy Stanley (09:55): Go Bonnie. Go. Suzy Gray (09:56): Alright, Andy Stanley (09:57): Number three. Suzy Gray (09:58): Number three, we have a question from Tanner. He wants to know when did you first realize leadership was more about who you’re becoming than what you’re achieving? It’s a great question. Andy Stanley (10:08): Yeah. This is kind of personal. I think I’ve talked about this two or three times, but for me it’s when I worked through that Stephen Covey funeral exercise in the seven habits of highly effective people, that’s the exercise where you write out what you would want said about you at your funeral by a friend, a parent, a child, an employer, an employee. You’d look at a coach, the people who are important to you. And I actually did that. I wrote out these paragraphs, what I would’ve once said about me. And in that exercise you discover what’s actually most important to you. And the way Stephen Covey says that, he says, you have just discovered your personal definition for success. (10:47): And this was such a defining moment for me when I realized, wait a minute, if that’s what I want said about me. I didn’t have anything in there about he was such a good speaker and he built such a big organization. It was none of that. I realized my success as a leader really is in character the way I treat people. So their question was, Hey, when did I first discover that? So that’s when I discovered it. And I would just add this, that disciplined self-leadership because when you recognize that success has to do with character, which has to do with how you treat people and how you view yourself when you recognize that, then you also recognize that discipline, self-leadership is the key to leadership and it’s the key to gaining and maintaining influence. Because influence really is leadership. That’s what leadership is, it is influence. And you don’t have, and we’ve said this a lot, you don’t have to lead yourself well to be a leader, but you do have to lead yourself well in order to be a leader worth following. So that internal through line of who, what do I want said about me? That’s my personal definition of success and that’s going to couch and contextualize anything I do as a leader. So that was a wake up call for me. And I don’t know, that was 30 something almost probably 40 years ago. I don’t know Suzy Gray (12:04): What you said about self-leadership I think is so important because you can do that exercise and it can sit on a shelf and you don’t change the way you lead and then you don’t fulfill your personal definition of success. You have to not only define it, but then have the self-discipline to lead in that direction. So Andy Stanley (12:21): That was good. And the thing about working through that exercise, it takes so much time that I think it would be atypical for somebody to spend that much time on that exercise and then just put it on a shelf for me, I reduced it to a list of nine words and then seven words that just are like a perimeter around my behavior and that ding my conscience. And so when I veer outside, it’s not just, oh, Andy, you did something bad. It’s Andy, you failed. You failed because you’ve already predecided that success is so great question. Suzy Gray (12:55): No, that’s super helpful. Okay, this next one is even more personal, but I know a lot of leaders will relate to it. Wayne wants to know how do you protect your calendar and energy while still being available for opportunities that require your personal time? I’m struggling with knowing what should be cut versus prioritized. Any calendar hacks you can share. Andy Stanley (13:18): Yeah. So I had to read this question several times because at first it sounded like three different questions, but actually it’s three related topics. So I can see how these got strung together in the question. So embedded in this question are these three things, calendar, which is schedule energy. He mentions your energy, and then also he talked about priority. (13:46): And these three things are all related. So let’s start here. The first question to ask Wayne is when you think about your job and your current responsibility, and this will change through the years to ask the question, what is the critical event? In other words, as you think about everything you’re responsible for, what is the one thing or maybe two, what is the one thing that if you’re knocking that out of the park, the other stuff is relatively easy and relatively secondary? In other words, your boss wouldn’t come in and let you go because what’s three, four, and five on your list weren’t doing so well? But there’s that one thing. If you’re not knocking it out of the park there, then you’re in trouble. So identifying what is that critical event, because everything you’re responsible for is not equal, and everything you’re responsible for doing is not equally valuable to the organization or to the person that employed you. (14:37): So what does the critical event end? If you’re not sure what it is, the next conversation you have with your employer is that question, Hey, of all these things you’ve given me to do, what is the one thing that in your mind is the most important thing? What’s most mission critical? So number one is you’ve got to identify what is that critical event? Because the other stuff isn’t as time sensitive. It may not, again, as I said, it may not be as critical to the success of the organization. And then once you’ve identified your primary value add, because that’s what that critical event is, it’s your primary value add of the organization then. And here’s what connects with those other two facets of your question, then you have to make sure that you schedule or to use your word calendar, you’ve got to calendar your very best. And here’s the third word that you ask about. You’ve got a calendar to your best energy to that one thing (15:30): Because you have more or less energy in different parts of the day. So now that you’ve identified what’s most critical, you’ve got to marry your energy to what’s most critical, which means you’ve got to calendar your energy to what’s most critical. You got to bring your best energy to that one thing. And then you have to decide, and this is part of your question, you have to decide to protect it at all costs. And that’s not being selfish. That’s what you are hired to do. So you got to play to your strengths, delegate your weaknesses. You hear us talking about that all the time, (16:01): And you have to get comfortable with disappointing people. And once you get comfortable with disappointing people, here’s a prediction, you will actually disappoint fewer people. This is a really big principle we should come back to and talk about at a different time because it’s a big deal. So that critical event, so for me, critical event for me is 35 times a year I get up in front of the same group of people and I’m supposed to keep their attention and make ’em want to come back to church the next Sunday. I mean, that’s kind of to boil it down, to boil it down. And so the time that I protect the most is where I have the most energy to create content, and I guard it with my life. My assistant, Diane Gran’s work for me for almost 30 years. She knows these blocks of time, nobody gets it. If Andy gives it away, that’s up to him. But nothing gets scheduled there. (16:51): Because I got to give my best energy to the most critical event in light of what I’ve been hired to do and my personal responsibility. So figure out that critical event. Figure out your best energy schedule to it, protect it. You’re not being selfish. That’s actually being responsible. And again, you will disappoint people when you do that. But if you get comfortable with disappointing people, eventually you will disappoint fewer or people because you will excel in what you do. And consequently, you’ll be given more responsibility. You will have less things to do, which again, is going to set you up for success in the organization for success. So really, really good question. Suzy Gray (17:30): Yeah, definitely. I think it’s interesting the idea of using your best energy, not just using calendar time, using your best. Andy Stanley (17:37): Yeah. So when is your best energy? Suzy Gray (17:39): Oh, in the morning Andy Stanley (17:40): By far. I knew that I was going to answer for you. Suzy Gray (17:42): You know that. Andy Stanley (17:43): Tell our audience what time you get up, Suzy Gray (17:46): Depending on the day, usually between four 30 and five 30 Andy Stanley (17:48): In the morning. Suzy Gray (17:50): And I would so prefer to work. Andy Stanley (17:52): Look at everybody in the studio is laughing. Are you kidding? Suzy Gray (17:55): No, man. I would give me 6:00 AM to work. Do not give me 6:00 PM to work. But I think it’s important to know that I remember as a team, we read Carrie at your best. It’s a book that helps you identify when you’re at your best. And I think that that’s so important, even as a team to go, okay, let’s map out when I’m in the green and the leadership team’s in the green and looking at where are those overlap times. We should have leadership team meetings when we’re all in the green. Andy Stanley (18:22): Yeah, right after lunch, never. Suzy Gray (18:24): No, at 10:00 AM in the morning is actually when it is. Andy Stanley (18:28): 10:00 AM Suzy Gray (18:28): 10:00 AM Wow. That’s our leadership team meeting. Alright, next. Mark wants to know, what’s one thing you used to believe about leadership that you’ve since changed your mind on? Andy Stanley (18:38): Well, early on I just assumed that great leaders were great at everything related to leadership. (18:44): I thought that’s why they’re great leaders. They’re great at everything. And so I set out to try to be great at the things that I wasn’t naturally great at. And when you think that way, which is the wrong way to think, you tend to wing it with your strengths and shore up your weaknesses. I got to get good at this. But the truth is, and I learned this years ago, I’m so grateful is that great leaders actually focus on their strengths, not their weaknesses. Because the lie is great leaders focus on their weaknesses in order to make them strengths. That’s just not true. And so one of the things I’ve talked about, I’ve stated this many, many times on the podcast, is that my fully exploited strengths, my fully exploited strengths, and this goes back to the previous question, my fully exploited strengths are a far greater value to our organization than my marginally improved weaknesses. (19:31): Because at best I can only marginally improve a weakness. The weakness, I mean I can get better, but there are people around me who are just naturally gifted in the areas that I’m weak in. So it’s a mistake to spend too much time trying to show up a weakness when you have a limited amount of time, which we all do. We should work on strengthening our strength. So that was something I learned early and the question was whether I change my mind, what was a leadership principle I changed my mind about? And that’s it. And Mark, I would just say this to you, it’s true of you, your fully exploited strengths, whatever they are. And you may be in the process of finding those or discovering those, or you may already know your fully exploited strengths are a far greater value to your organization than your marginally improved weaknesses. And anything you can do to get more of your time and energy on the thing you do best is what’s best for your organization. And at times I think it’s appropriate to go to our bosses and managers and say, you know what? I think I could add more value if you would let me spend more time on X. (20:31): They may say, well, that’s not possible right now. But at least they know. And that’s an important question to have. And as long as you’re focused on strengthening a weakness and you’ll have a tendency to wing it in your strength, then that’s going to be a setback for you and the organization. And the Suzy Gray (20:45): Organization. Yeah, for sure. Andy Stanley (20:46): You’ll be your best. Here’s the big takeaway. As long as you’re focusing on strengthening a weakness, you’ll never actually be your best at what you’re best at. Because the only way to get best at what you’re best at is to give more time and energy to what you’re naturally wired for, Suzy Gray (21:01): Continue to strengthen it. Andy Stanley (21:02): And again, early on in our careers, we have to do whatever we’re asked to do for people starting organizations. When you start, you have to do everything. In some cases you do everything because you’re setting a standard. In other cases, there’s nobody else to do it. But the sooner we can kind of get to that place where we’re leaning into our strengths generally things and go better. Suzy Gray (21:22): Yeah, for sure. That’s great. Well, Emily wants to know how do you hold high standards without creating a culture of fear? Andy Stanley (21:30): Wow. Suzy Gray (21:31): Yeah. Andy Stanley (21:33): Lightweight question before I answer this, tell me what do you think is behind this question? Because I’m assuming something because that’s all, she doesn’t give us any background. How do you hold high standards without creating a culture of fear? What is she getting at you think? Suzy Gray (21:44): If you just read it at the face value, you wonder, is there such high standards that people are so afraid to fail that they are inactive or are not giving their best and they’re paralyzed? And so that was my first thought of, gosh, fear of failure because the standards are so high. That feels like what she’s probably talking Andy Stanley (22:06): About. Yep. That’s what I thought too. So here’s what I wrote down. So again, how do you hold high standard to hold people to high standard or create high standards without creating culture? Fear number one, you have to hire, well, Suzy Gray (22:17): Yeah, Andy Stanley (22:18): Insecure, or I should put it this way. Insecurity and fear are closely related. Insecure people fear failure. They fear being found out. And fear of failure, as you just indicated, Suzy is really a lid. Suzy Gray (22:32): Definitely. Andy Stanley (22:33): And fear of failure causes people to hide and deny failure rather than admit and learn from it. Super secure, people can fail out loud and go, oh shoot, I messed that up. Hey, give me another chance. Because they’re secure enough and here’s the key, they’re secure enough to separate who they are from what they’ve done. Insecurity, it’s all blended together. So I don’t dare look bad in front of people because if I look bad in light of what I do, then that means I’m bad and I’m going to internalize what I think about myself and project that on everybody else. I feel terrible if I fail, I’m a failure. I’m a failure. Everybody’s at home thinking about me. No, they’re not. No, they’re not. But we think they’re so really to get to what I think Emily’s trying to get at, first of all, and I know this wasn’t what she is asking specifically, you got to hire secure people (23:25): Who again can separate those two things. Failing for insecure person, like you just said, it gets translated into I’m a failure, but secure people don’t fear failure. They fear not maximizing their potential, right? I mean, they’re willing to fail because failure is a way forward. We’ve talked about that. So back to your question, I would say there’s three things, Emily. Number one, you got to hire, well, you got to hire secure people, hire doers. And number two, which is something we talk about all the time as well. Number two, in your organization or your department or division, you have to orchestrate and evaluate everything. Orchestrate is, this is how we do it here. Evaluate is, let’s evaluate how you did it here. If everything and everyone is evaluated within the context of the rhythm of the organization, people are less likely to experience and internalize evaluation as criticism. In other words, if everything’s getting evaluated, Suzy Gray (24:19): You’re not getting picked on. Andy Stanley (24:19): You’re not being picked on. Exactly. That’s exactly right. (24:24): So when I get a negative evaluation, it’s like, well, this is what we do here. This is what we do. And eventually everybody grows accustomed to that and realizes, no, we’re trying to make things better. (24:34): And it’s okay to fail because the reason we’re evaluating is we’re assuming that things didn’t go as well as they could have. And so this isn’t a statement about a person. This is a statement about a performance. (24:46): So orchestrate and evaluate everything that gets everybody accustomed to what can be difficult conversations. And to quote John Maxwell, I think the quote was the organization, he talked about a return on failure that our organization is committed to a return on failure where there’s failure, we’re going to learn and grow and we’re going to get something back. So number one, hire great. Number two, orchestrate and evaluate everything. And then number three, and this goes back to the leader, is we have to be transparent about our own failures. In other words, we need to be the first to say, oh, I really screwed that up. Remember when I outvoted everybody, I was wrong. I should have listened to everybody. The more transparent we are about past failures or current failures, it just creates an environment where people aren’t, to the point of the question, aren’t afraid to be caught failing or aren’t afraid to be evaluated as, Hey, that didn’t go as well as it should have. You didn’t do that the way you were asked to do it. And then, I don’t know, this isn’t really a step, is create a culture where people are celebrated when they failed and rebounded. (25:52): Everybody knows this happened, but she came back or he came back. So it’s really about creating a culture where people don’t have to the point of the question, be afraid to fail. And part of that’s just the rhythm of the organization, but there are certain personality types, there are certain types of people who, because of things that were beyond their control, they’re going to have a really difficult time with any kind of criticism. They’ll do anything to avoid criticism and evaluation to them will always feel personal and like an attack. An attack. And you’re criticizing, and that’s beyond the responsibility of an employer, I think. So Suzy Gray (26:26): Yeah. We’ll make sure that we link in the show notes, the episode that you and John Maxwell talked about, failure in particular. Oh, that’s Andy Stanley (26:33): A good idea. Suzy Gray (26:33): It might be just another resource for Emily as she wrestles down this Andy Stanley (26:39): Question. Yep, yep. Suzy Gray (26:40): Alright, so before we wrap up, Andy Stanley (26:43): Are we out of time? Suzy Gray (26:43): We are out of time. We’re definitely out of time. Andy Stanley (26:46): So many more good questions that I don’t have good answers Suzy Gray (26:49): For. Well, but before we wrap up, we’re going to do a rapid fire. So these are questions that are quick hit questions that came in that multiple people asked. Actually several of these multiple people asked. I’m just going to ask you a series of questions and you just react to it. Okay. Andy Stanley (27:04): Alright. Suzy Gray (27:04): Alright. Number one, what’s one leadership book every leader should read? Andy Stanley (27:09): That’s a really tough question, Suzy. That’s not the name of a book. That’s just a really tough question. The first book that came to mind is the Leadership Challenge. It’s been out for many, many years. It’s been updated. It’s one of the first leadership books I ever read. I go back to it. I just think it’s fabulous. So the leadership challenge. Suzy Gray (27:26): Okay, leadership challenge. Do you believe in personality assessments for teams or are they overrated? Andy Stanley (27:32): Definitely believe we use those tools all the time. They’re so helpful. People say you shouldn’t stereotype, but I hate to break it to you. There’s about five different kinds of people or seven or eight. But there’s just a limited range. And the more we learn about ourselves, the better we know how to relate to other people. So I think those tools are great. Some are better than others and some are kind of fads. They’re in for a while, then it becomes something else. I think all that’s great. What do you think? Suzy Gray (28:00): I think they’re great. I love ’em. I think it’s helpful in not only understanding the nuances of people on your team, but also how you should relate to ’em. So Andy Stanley (28:08): Yeah, Diane, grant my assistant, again, one of the great things she does for me is when I’m meeting with staff, she’ll remind me a little bit of their profile based on these assessments. And I’m like, oh, now I generally can associate those assessments or that profile with somebody else I know and I’m like, oh, they’re going to be a little bit or a little bit like, that is so helpful Suzy Gray (28:29): Me. It helps you to keep the right posture. Andy Stanley (28:29): I think she does the same thing for them. For me, she says, remember Andy’s in Enneagram one. Okay, don’t leave a mess. Suzy Gray (28:40): Nice and tidy. Andy Stanley (28:41): Nice and tidy. And he’s blue, he’s a C on the disc, on the disc test. So Suzy Gray (28:48): All the things Andy Stanley (28:48): Give him some bullet points and get to the bottom line. Anyway, Suzy Gray (28:51): Get in, get out. Bottom line, don’t make a mess. Gotcha. Alright, slack, email, phone call or face-to-face. What is your go-to for clarity with somebody? Andy Stanley (29:02): This is a really important question. I think I wrote down. It depends. Positive. You can use any of those negatives Suzy Gray (29:10): Face-to-face, definitely. Andy Stanley (29:12): If it’s positive, hey, great job. Or Diane will give me an email or somebody from our church is bragging on a staff member. And I’ll write, she’ll print it out, I’ll write on their great job. Circle what they send it. Negatives. It needs to be face-to-face. Suzy Gray (29:26): Alright, here’s another one. Big whiteboard brainstorm or quiet solo. Think time. What sparks your best ideas? Andy Stanley (29:34): If the question is what sparks the best ideas? I think either one. Suzy Gray (29:39): Either one. Yeah. Andy Stanley (29:40): What about you Suzy Gray (29:40): Both? I’m an external processor, so I like Andy Stanley (29:44): You need some people around. Suzy Gray (29:45): I like people. Andy Stanley (29:46): Yep. Suzy Gray (29:46): Yeah, I like people. And then the final one is, what is your favorite leadership quote? Andy Stanley (29:52): That’s an easy one. I think Billy Kerrington summed up leadership perfectly when he said, God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy. Country music. It’s all there for people who are willing to listen. Suzy Gray (30:09): Wow. Okay. On that note, Andy, thank you for taking some time to answer these questions. And thanks to our audience for sending them in. 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