leading
with faith

And Joy

Coaching to equip and empower you to grow your business and your leadership.

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About

Be the strategic, courageous, authentic leader you were designed to be

After years of corporate leadership, I took the leap to  cofound, grow, and ultimately sell a professional services firm,  including a visit for a few years on the Inc 500 “Fastest Growing Company” list.

Now I’m here to coach YOU to grow your business and your leadership.

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LEADERSHIP COACHING

I want you to be the strategic, courageous, authentic leader you were designed to be. Let’s connect!

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Coaching

After successfully scaling and selling my professional services company, now I coach others on to grow their business and their leadership.

Consulting

From setting the foundation to creating systems and strategies, I’ll partner with you to propel your business forward.

Podcasting

Conversations with Faith Driven Leaders to inspire, embolden, and equip us to lead with bold faith and abiding trust

UNLOCKING YOUR POTENTIAL

Ever wonder why you keep getting stuck in the same places? The Primal Question framework explains why you do what you do. It reveals both the origin of your triggers and your supernatural gifts. Skillfully crafted from decades of research and over 6000 hours of interviews, The Seven Primal Questions is a revolutionary model that simplifies human psychology, and can unlock your potential as a leader.

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Podcast

Join the conversation on The Faith Driven Leader Podcast. You’ll be inspired, equipped, and emboldened to lead with unwavering faith and abiding trust.

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guests

episodes

  • Peggy Bodde | Just because I’m done, doesn’t mean God’s done
    Hi friends! Our guest today is Peggy Bodde. Peggy is an entrepreneur and the founder of Sacred Work, an organization that provides free career and leadership support for Christian women in the workplace.  Peggy spent 25 years as a corporate executive and then pivoted to start a freelance writing business. Her clients include marketing firms and major textbook publishers.  Peggy's passions are writing about the intersection between faith and work and empowering women to show up boldly in both spaces. She recently partnered with Moody Publishers to write her first book, SacredWork: A Christian Woman's Guide to Leadership in the Marketplace. Peggy is humble, honest, wise, and approachable.  Peggy’s website: https://www.peggybodde.com/ Peggy’s book: Sacred Work: A Christian Woman’s Guide to Leadership in the Marketplace Peggy’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peggybodde/ Peggy’s email: [email protected] Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@faithdrivenleader.co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6eUVswxKx4fYex2htNBPTQ/community?pvf=CAE%253D⁠ Join our Email List: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://confirmsubscription.com/h/y/36F2DD732304055B
  • Katie Armentrout | A Foundation of Trust
    Hi friends! Our guest today is Katie Armentrout. Katie is the founder of Peoplefluence, where she equips and supports small business owners with the tools to build trust with their employees and customers. Through workshops and training, Katie works with teams to build productive relationships, nurtures teams to work well together through a foundation of trust; and equips teams with excellence in customer service and sales strategies and training.  With 20+ years of experience, Katie will change how you think about Leadership, Team Building, and Customer Service. An accomplished leader, Katie is known for her ability to connect with people and build lasting relationships. Katie has trained thousands of people, including CEOs, sales professionals, restaurant servers, and retail and nonprofit teams on how to elevate self-awareness, company culture, and customer service. She is refreshing, authentic, approachable, and oh-so honest about her journey as a faith-led entrepreneur and leader. I know you will get some inspiration and practical insight from this conversation. More from Katie: Katie’s website (Peopelfluence): https://www.peoplefluence.com/about-page Working Genius: https://www.workinggenius.com/ Katie’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiearmentrout/ Katie’s email: [email protected] Katie’s book recommendations: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Patrick Lencioni) The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (John Maxwell) https://www.peoplefluence.com/resource  Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@faithdrivenleader.co⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6eUVswxKx4fYex2htNBPTQ/community?pvf=CAE%253D Join our Email List: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://confirmsubscription.com/h/y/36F2DD732304055B
  • Mark Whitacre | Honoring God in a Publicly Held Corporation
    Hi friends! Our guest today is Mark Whitacre. Mark is Vice President of Culture & Care and Executive Director of the t-factor initiative at Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. Mark has worked with Coca-Cola Consolidated since 2019. Coca-Cola Consolidated is a faith-friendly publicly traded (NASDAQ) company with an official purpose statement “To honor God in all we do, by serving others, pursuing excellence, and growing profitably”. Mark had served as National Director and then COO of Christian Business Men’s Connection (CBMC) from 2013 to 2019. Mark was the COO and Chief Science Officer from 2006 to 2013 at Cypress Systems, Inc., a California faith-based biotechnology company where Mark still serves on their advisory council. Mark’s enthusiasm, generosity, and love for his work shine through in every conversation I’ve had with him, and in every presentation I’ve seen him lead. You will be inspired, equipped, and emboldened by today’s conversation! As you listen, I encourage you to note at least ONE simple idea that you could reapply within your team, or your business from the incredible set of things that Mark and his team do to bring faith into the workplace. More from Mike: t-Factor Summit: https://t-factor.com/ Coca-Cola Consolidated: https://www.cokeconsolidated.com/ Mark Whitacre Speaker’s Bio: https://www.allamericanspeakers.com/celebritytalentbios/Mark+Whitacre/386390 Radical Mentoring: https://leadmin.org/mentoring Corporate Chaplains of America: https://chaplain.org/ Mark’s email: [email protected]
  • Tim Metzner | Building Companies and Cultures
    Our guest today is my good friend, Tim Metzner. Tim is a serial entrepreneur – one of a small handful of incredibly prolific and wise faith-filled entrepreneurs I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside in our community.  Tim’s fingerprints are all over the midwest entrepreneurial ecosystem. He helped launch Astronomer, Cincinnati's first unicorn (out of Cincinnati's first Venture Studio, Differential), co-founded a faith-based, and the longest-running startup accelerator in our region, OCEAN, and one of the region's best-funded and fastest-growing startups, Coterie Insurance. He is currently raising capital for Fireroad Ventures Fund I and actively hunting for great small businesses to acquire in the home services space. He has been in and around startups his entire career as a founder, investor, mentor, teacher, and coach. He’d say he’s been blessed to get to do work that he loves with amazing humans who make him better. Tim wholeheartedly believes that entrepreneurs can change the world by creating great jobs and culture. This belief has been a driving force behind his own entrepreneurial endeavors as well as the non-profit that I helped to start, OCEAN Programs. Other resources: Fireroad Ventures: https://www.fireroad.io/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timmetzner/ OCEAN: https://oceanprograms.com/ Coterie Insurance: https://coterieinsurance.com/ Astronomer: https://www.astronomer.io/ Differential: https://www.differential.com/ Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@faithdrivenleader.co⁠⁠⁠ Join our Email List: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://confirmsubscription.com/h/y/36F2DD732304055B⁠⁠⁠ Visit our website at https://faithdrivenleader.co/
  • Jo Saxton | Dreaming Faithfully, Leading Intentionally
    Hi friends! Welcome back to the Faith Driven Leader Podcast, where we get encouraged and equipped by learning from amazing Faith Driven Leaders.  Our guest today is Jo Saxton. Jo is a speaker, podcaster, and author. She is the founder of the Ezer Collective, an initiative dedicated to investing in women leaders around the world, equipping them to own their voice, and boldly step into their calling. She currently serves as the Executive Director of The 25 (a leadership development initiative) at Bethel University. Born to Nigerian parents and raised in London, England, Jo now lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two daughters. She loves everyday stuff like good music, good food, and good friends. Challenge: Start dreaming again. Faithfully. With hope: Think through the exercises Jo referenced: determine the goal, the pathway, and where/how you have the agency to make it happen – these three will enable hope. If you are a female listener, consider signing up to attend Ezer Collective in Minneapolis this November! I hope to see you there!n Link in the show notes! Links from this conversation: Jo's General Website: https://www.josaxton.com/ Ezer Collective: https://www.josaxton.com/ezer-collective Lead Stories Podcast: https://www.leadstoriespodcast.com/ Jo's Books: https://www.josaxton.com/books Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1josaxton Instagram: @josaxton Threads: @josaxton LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josaxton/ Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@faithdrivenleader.co⁠⁠⁠ Join our Email List: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://confirmsubscription.com/h/y/36F2DD732304055B

Thinking

Years of observation and practice, success and failure; collected now into wisdom worth sharing.

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  • On Joy
  • On Faith
  • On Rest

On Joy

Do you know what brings you joy? I’m not talking about happiness, nor circumstantial satisfaction. Not affirmation or validation. I’m talking about Joy. As in: deep contentment, gratitude, delight, peace – regardless of circumstances, setbacks, or seasons. Most folks I know can’t really answer that question, and neither could I.

After selling the company I’d co-conceived, birthed, and scaled,I was ready for the Lord to show me what was next. Instead, He asked me “What Brings You Joy?” and I was stumped.

Eighteen months of unplanned sabbatical led me down forgotten paths, through difficult memories, and past a Kodak roll of images from childhood antics and pastimes.

I learned to recognize and change thought patterns that were keeping me from Joy. Turns out, once noble ideas like “responsibility” and “empathy for others” had become strongholds that had overtaken my ability to even know what I wanted or needed or felt or thought. Fears, insecurities, and codependence had crept in and were keeping me from being able to feel joy.

Let’s learn to recognize the negative thought patterns that keep most of us from understanding and experiencing the true, abundant Joy that our Good, Good Father has for us. We’ll identify them, understand why they aren’t serving us anymore, repent, and then begin to learn Jesus’ truth, that can lead us to a new level of trust and Joy under His covering.

On Faith

We all have Faith. We have faith that the sun will come up tomorrow, That when we drop something, it will fall to the ground. That bad things will occasionally happen. That the magnolia tree we walk by on the sidewalk will smell delicious.

The book of Hebrews in the Bible defines Faith as confidence in what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see. Assurance. Some translations even say “evidence” of what we don’t see.

By that definition, it’s easy to see how we develop faith in gravity, the sun coming up, or relationships that disappoint us. We count on these things being absolutes, predictable, unchanging. But, how many of us operate with full Faith that we have a good, good Father? That God is who He says He is? That it’s His nature to be good? That He has a plan to prosper and provide for us? That we are who He says we are? That He gives us good gifts. That He is present with us in our trials.

Let’s explore together the ways that God has been good, faithful, trustworthy, kind, merciful, just, and loving in our own lives. We’ll look together for the evidence that produces Faith, and leads us to the lives He designed us to lead.

On Rest

“How are you?” Said any random acquaintance you run into in the grocery store or the airport or at the soccer field.

“I’m good. Pretty good. Busy, but good.” We answer, nearly every time.

It’s like we know that “busy” subtracts from the good we are experiencing. And yet, even so, we wear “busy” like the ID badge needed for meaningful life.

We boast about how little sleep we got. How much we’ve been traveling. How late we worked. How many balls we are juggling. It seems, no matter the amount of time we have in a day, it’s never enough. Our to-do list expands to fill the time.

This is not how we were designed to live. We were designed to live in peace, love, joy, goodness, kindness, patience, meekness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22). We were designed to lie down by a green pasture and let the Good Shepherd care for us (Psalm 23). Those characteristics certainly aren’t correlated with busy-ness. So many of us can quote these truths from scripture, but most of us don’t live as if we believe they are meant for us, at least not in whatever “season of life” we are in.

So, what gives?

Let’s explore the things that are keeping us from rest. The fears, the responsibility we feel for everyone and everything, the strain and striving, and the affirmation and validation of others that hits us like dopamine. We’ll identify the thoughts that are keeping us from rest, and begin to discover that the time we needed to rest was there all along.

Lead with Faith and

Deep Trust

Let’s work together to grow your business and your leadership

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