The Klimb with Adrian Branch

Unlocking Potential Leaders: From Believing Lies to Finding Truth

• Adrian Branch • Season 1 • Episode 2

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What happens when you grow up believing lies about yourself, only to discover you have the potential for extraordinary leadership? Dr. Brian Williamson's compelling story reveals the transformative power of having someone believe in you when you don't believe in yourself.

From navigating through college struggles to becoming a United States Marine, Dr. Williamson's journey began when a marine recruiter saw potential in a bright, but directionless young man. "The minute you walked through that door, I knew you had what it takes to be a United States Marine," words that sparked a vision of what could be possible despite Brian's deep-seated belief that he was fundamentally stupid—a lie told often as he was growing up.

This episode explores how Brian changed his life and more importantly, how he underwent a profound mental transformation that would later lead him through careers as a Marine, pastor, leadership consultant, and executive. Throughout our conversation, Dr. Williamson shares powerful leadership principles that have shaped his approach to developing others, including the "Five Voices" communication framework and his S.Y.S.T.E.M. definition as anything that "Saves You Stress, Time, Energy and Money."

You'll discover why psychological safety forms the foundation of high-performing teams, why authenticity without integrity is hypocrisy, and why leadership requires a fundamental shift from self-focus to other-focus. Perhaps most powerfully, Dr. Williamson shares the advice he gave his kids: "Sometimes you have to do the things you don't want to do to get the results you do want to get."

Whether you're climbing your own mountain of challenges or leading others through theirs, this episode offers wisdom for the journey. 

Subscribe to The Klimb podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and visit AdrianBranchSpeaks.com to learn more about our mission to help you keep klimbing!

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Welcome to The Climb

Speaker 1

Hi , I'm Adrian Branch , former pro-athlete turned motivational speaker and certified life coach , and welcome to the Climb , a show where we celebrate the stories of resilient people sharing how they turned adversity into success , From the business sector to athletes and beyond . Be inspired and learn what it takes to climb .

Speaker 2

Hey , hey , everybody , welcome to the Climb , another show where we get a chance to encourage you . We're so excited that you're joining us . The Climb is a show that talks about people's story and what you can learn from their stories the highs , the lows , the processes . Man , you may have fallen down , but don't stay down . What it took to overcome . And so we're intentional , because everybody has shoes , issues . But it's wonderful when you can learn from others and come away from this show saying if they can do it , I can do it too . If they can overcome , I can overcome as well . Well , today you're going to be in for a treat , I can overcome as

Dr. Brian's Early Struggles

Speaker 2

well . Well , today you're going to be in for a treat .

Speaker 2

This gentleman is just wonderful . He started out , you would think , as the horse nobody bet on . He's Dr Brian Williamson . He's a father , he's been a pastor , he's a life coach , he's a leader and he's just a champion for people's hearts . And today you're going to identify with so many of the verticals of what it took for him to overcome . And oh , by the way , he was a Marine too . So he was a bad man and we thank you for your service . But I want to welcome my guest , dr B . So , dr Brian , welcome to the show , sir .

Speaker 3

Adrian , it is an absolute honor and pleasure to be with you and I'm really looking forward to our discussion together . When I get to be around people like you that help others to elevate and soar and get to their highest possible good , I know it's going to be a great investment , not only for the listeners but for myself . I'm going to get better as a result of being here , so I'm grateful for you and for the time .

Speaker 2

Well , thank you , I want to jump right into it . I want to get right into your story . So tell us about where you're from . You're an East Coast guy . I was an East Coast guy , Washington DC , so you're on that East Coast interstate 95 as well . Huh .

Speaker 3

I did grow up in New Jersey . Yes , grew up not so much 95 . I was more of a parkway guy , exit 168 . I grew up in North Jersey , there in a little town called Hillsdale , and had a great , great upbringing . I'm half Italian , so I grew up with mostly my Italian side of the family . My father grew up in a town called Patterson , new Jersey , and he had quite a start , quite a humble beginning start and a challenging start in New Jersey . But yeah , that's my home of origin . I currently live in Michigan . I became a Midwesterner so if everyone's listening and they're like you don't sound like a Jersey guy . I'm missing the coffee , I'm missing that Jersey accent , but it's because I'm a Michigander now . But yeah , that's a little bit of my geography from the beginnings .

Speaker 2

I'm fascinated because you say you're a little bit of a late bloomer . So you were starting out and you really weren't an athlete . You were more into music , got into college and that fraternity world was getting the best of you . So tell us about where you were starting to make that adjustment . And then the Marines came and started to change things .

Speaker 3

That's exactly right . Yeah , so for me , you know , I grew up wonderful home , mom and dad , you know . I'll just tell you my dad gave me a much different experience of growing up than he had . He had much to overcome . So he grew up on the streets of Patterson , new Jersey , eating mustard sandwiches , going to the local gospel rescue mission for a meal because his parents were both alcoholics and drinking their sustenance away . And so my dad in the early years was an alcoholic and had some challenges as a result of that .

Speaker 3

And one of the things my dad would say to me growing up , just off and on , even though I knew he loved me , we had a great relationship most of the times , but he would say to me don't be stupid all your life In his frustration and caveat , probably out of some stupid things I was doing , but nevertheless , as a young child , you hear this message come into and you don't have really a way to process that right . It just goes in , it lands in your heart . So one of this I call , like my father , wound right . I just grew up believing the lie that I was stupid , and when you believe a lie you behave in ways that are consistent with that lie right . In the same way . I'll give a little sneak peek right . When you believe truth , truth can set you free . Lies will keep you captive . And so I believed the lie that I was stupid . As a result , I had all kinds of behaviors attention-seeking behaviors , all kinds of things . I regret trying to get acceptance from people and just being very rude and offensive to teachers and authority figures .

Speaker 3

But one thing I did have as an outlet was music . So I was a pretty gifted trumpet player , practiced quite a bit . I became first in the region and the county and the state for classical and jazz . I got into something called the McDonald's Tri-State Jazz Band , which was the best of New Jersey , new York and Connecticut , and had scholarship offers to audition at places like Juilliard Manhattan School of Music , berkeley College of Music . But I ended up going to a school that had a great jazz department called William Patterson in New Jersey . Well , pretty much day one when I arrived I recognized that I wasn't ready to discipline my talent at all . In fact , I had another path I chose . So I joined a fraternity and I pretty much excelled at fraternity . I would say I was a fraternity major instead of anything else . So what I did was I had four majors and four semesters .

Speaker 3

It took that long for me to realize that I needed some pretty serious help . I was very unhealthy , very undisciplined , very unfocused , and so I pulled over to the Marine Corps recruiter's office and I'll never forget

Marine Corps Transformation

Speaker 3

this . It was in Ridgewood , new Jersey . I climbed a whole set of stairs to get to the top of this tiny little Marine Corps office and here's this 265 pound beer drinking out of control , never exercised a day in my life kind of person . And this Marine Corps recruiter looks at me and he says son , sit down . The minute you walk through that door , I knew you had what it takes to be a United States Marine .

Speaker 3

Now , for the first time , something is swelling up in my heart Like this challenging . You know this guy's calling me up , right , I have a principle we want to call people up , not call people out . This gentleman was calling me up into something that I didn't know was possible , right ? I mean , I knew I was desperate , I needed to become someone that I wasn't , and so , long story short , I just believed .

Speaker 3

He began to tell me about the honor , commitment , integrity , courage , all of these values in the Marine Corps , and he said hey , you're going to need to get to work because you ain't going to make it in boot camp looking like that . So I've lost a ton of weight 265 to 225 before boot camp came out , 195 , lean , mean , marine , right . But what's more important was the mental transformation . I became a person that believed I could accomplish things that I didn't before . I was believing this lie in myself , that I was stupid , I had nothing to offer , and so that's sort of my origin story , if you will . That mattered to me a lot really , to establish myself as a person of honor and integrity , and so that was yeah , that was the beginning of an incredibly different life , for sure .

Speaker 2

Let me go back for a second , because for the listener out there that could feel like the horses nobody bet on . And dad is saying that you don't do anything , stupid Boy . You just reminded me of my dad , who I love , big Charlie . I'm tall like him , I'm left-handed like him , I sound like him and my dad used to get me rest in peace , big Charlie , but he used to say you're going to have to come work for me for $1.99 . And though he was being facetious , that used to burn me up . My question to you , before we move on with this what made you keep going to find that recruiter's office ? Because in the Marines . Then eventually you got married and then you also started pastoring . What was that one thing , while you were really floundering , that got you to hold on one more day ?

Speaker 3

Let me think I want to give that a minute of reflection too , and I'll comment before I respond to say , like man , I love my parents . They're both still living and we have a great relationship with pops . He had some life change , stopped drinking and we had a great relationship even during that time too . So it's great to celebrate those heritage relationships . I will tell you that the thing is , I pause and reflect with you , adrian . The thing that kept me going was a vision that I knew deep down inside there was something buried , there was a version 2.0 of Brian Williamson that I just knew was there and even though that gap was there between my experience of it and that reality of it , I knew it was there and it was for me that call , that sort of pull into the future that someone different needed to come out . That was it . I think . If I really say at the core of it , it was a vision . It was a vision of a preferred future , of who I could become .

Speaker 2

I'm glad that you didn't quit on yourself so many times . People quit One more day . Just go one more day , one more day , Then you get married and then you start pastoring your church at 25 or so . So tell us about where the uptick

Faith, Ministry, and Leadership

Speaker 2

started coming in . You started to really get into your groove .

Speaker 3

Yes , thanks , right . Very , very typical career path Marine Corps , where they train you to be a cold-blooded Marine I did have you know , faith is very important to me . So to tell my story means that in April of 1995 , I had an incredible change of heart . I mean , god awakened me , became a follower of Jesus and really began to authentically live that out , even though I had some roots and heritage in the church . For me this was a big turning point . So , yes , met . My wife began pastoring in churches for about 18 years , you know , and so you know . That was a big shift , a change from Marine to pastor . Interestingly enough , in all of it there's a thread of really elevating and developing other people . So in the Marine Corps I'll never forget this day I got called up front and they awarded me the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal . I can see it right up on my shelf up there and they called me to the front of the room .

Speaker 3

It's for outstanding leadership , and I was shocked because I didn't own the identity that I was a leader , even though I was in the Marine Corps . That came a couple of years later , when I was on a plane to South Africa , when the when realizing I was a leader dropped into my heart . Uh , as someone said to me well , we're going to follow you , you're the leader , and I didn't know I was the leader . So , anyway , it was interesting , right . So I , so I , you know , got this leadership award . Very interesting .

Speaker 3

But even in ministry , right , being a pastor , so the M&M , marine Ministry , the , the , the developing people piece , right , I always had a passion to share with people how they could be transformed and how can they become someone different . And so I think , learning to not just do kind of traditional , you know , go and you sit in a pew on Sunday . I was very involved in communities . In fact , I had the privilege of starting a church in Wisconsin and I got a job at a bar . When I moved into the town , I got a job at a bar as a karaoke DJ , were you any good Were you ?

Speaker 2

any good I've got some skills , I'm not afraid of the microphone .

Speaker 3

I'm not a vocalist first but because of my music background , yeah , there's probably a few different stereotypes right of karaoke people . But I did it just to meet people right and just to get to know folks in the community and talk with them and help them become better and we served our community very involved in that . So for me just that leadership development piece and pouring into people has always been a big value .

Speaker 2

So a couple of things are happening now . So you're entering about your 30s and you get a mentor that says , hey , we want you to exercise this gift more in leadership , but also then you start your own consulting company or really start stretching out . And one thing I really like is , when you talk about systems , explain what systems mean .

Speaker 3

Yeah , yeah , no , that's exactly right . I did have the entrepreneurial bug and began to do some coaching and consulting , and that was just a great season of life . So systems I'm a systems guy at heart , right , and an acronym for system that I've utilized for many , many years is it's anything that can save yourself stress time , energy and money S-Y-S-T-E-M . Save yourself stress time , energy and money . And so I began along with a business partner . We built systems and those systems solved business problems , right . So I moved from ministry into marketplace . Right Now I'm the triple M into business , and so building systems for me is such a it's a joy , it's a something that you know . There , I believe that there are success secrets that are universal and principles that are universal , leadership secrets that are universal .

Speaker 2

Give us a nugget Like , for instance , give us a nugget that is universal secrets .

Speaker 3

Yeah , sure , I would say that you know , if you are a person who's a , let's just say this the law of sowing and reaping , right , that's a universal principle . Like you sow seed into the ground , the seed is slow , right , it's under there , you start to cultivate and all of a sudden you reap right Eventually . So if you're in a situation in your life right now and you're listening and you're stuck , but here's someone's listening who's started to sow that seed and it's not working yet , and I would just say to you the seed is slow , it's okay , it's just under the dirt and eventually it's going to start sprouting up , right . So sowing and reaping is absolutely a universal success principle and you can be experiencing the reaping that maybe some seed that you wish you didn't sow , so you could be in that sort of negative reaping while you're in the positive sowing , getting ready to go into the positive reaping . So that's an example , right . So I like codifying that stuff , pulling it together , and have done that multiple times with business problems and challenges .

Speaker 2

So yeah , let me ask you this one . Talk about this one , because everyone can use it , at a boy , at a girl . What would you say in your leadership that the number one need is acceptance , the number one fear is rejection ? What would you say to that ? Wow , Gosh .

Speaker 3

I mean , I absolutely think that every human being , we're craving a place to belong right , to find our purpose , to find that sort of place that's a safe place , you know , a place where others just understand who we are at our best and receive us for all of our warts , and you know all the things that we have that are not maybe as positive . So I definitely would say that being you know again , being a leader who , um , really number one , creates that space . You know , google did a study

Leadership Principles and Systems

Speaker 3

called project Aristotle years ago , and they were thinking that they were going to find that the most effective managers were these skilled managers who were driving the teams a certain way , and what they found was that the most important quality of these managers that were leading higher performing teams was psychological safety , or an environment where people felt safe to speak up and to be themselves right , a place to have acceptance and not rejection , as you stated . So I think it's incredibly important I think that you know , adrian , as you and I have gotten to know each other right the fact that we can have mutual conversations , different backgrounds , but we can build common ground .

Speaker 3

It's a fundamental quality for leaders , right , and I think it all starts with a heart of love , right ? A definition of love that we've used is fighting for the highest possible good in the lives of those you lead until it becomes a present reality , right , and I think that's that . That is what it's about . Leadership is a kind of love , and there's researchers and scholars now pointing that out . Actually , I mean , you can go listen to people not even from a faith perspective say , hey , if you think about leadership , in a way , it's a kind of love , it's a way it's a tangible , intangible thing . So , yeah , acceptance , I think it's huge , as you mentioned .

Speaker 2

It's interesting . I just heard this and I knew that you and I were going to be teaming up today and I wrote this down . This one is for you , dr B , and I know you've heard this before Meet them where they are at and take them to where they need to be . Break that one down . Meet them where they are and take them where they need to be in leadership .

Speaker 3

So good .

Speaker 2

So good .

Speaker 3

Such a powerful principle and insightful principle , you know , to meet someone where they are , is , you know , asking somebody for behavior change right , Like so a toxic leader on one extreme or an unhealthy leader is going to say to a person right away like you know , you need to do these things differently or you need to become , you know , right now . Be this way right Versus having curiosity and actually saying , hey , this is where that person's at , I'm going to enter their world and I'm going to really pull from them their genius , their gold that's buried inside of them and be able to help them kind of see what's really there , right , To uncover that potential that's there . So I think that's , you know , love is the environment for that to happen . And genuine leaders . So my PhD research on positive leaders , the number one quality is this genuine care and concern for the other .

Speaker 3

And that doesn't happen in some future version of themselves . It happens of where's this person at , how are they thinking , how are they feeling ? Can I adjust my you know behaviors ? Can I adjust my mindset , my words , my language to really do that in order to sort of help them take next steps and coach them in that direction ? So a lot of leaders don't know how to power down , Adrian right , Especially leaders that have a position of power , maybe a personality of power . Some leaders need to learn how to power down and not just overpower , Because I promise you , if you overpower , others will always underdevelop , and so that's what happens in those environments .

Speaker 2

I'm putting my seatbelt on because at the heart of it , I'm like you , a motivational speaker , and I'm ready to go . I'm like , oh my goodness , you're just getting me so excited here Talking about leadership and you just talked about even in the positive , where you got your doctorate , and people are four times more productive when they can hear that at a boy . Is this a truism ? People don't care how much you know till they know how much you care . And it's not about the X's and the O's , but the Jimmy's and the Joe's . Break that one down for us .

Speaker 3

Oh , absolutely , yeah , 100 percent Right . Knowledge , I mean , listen , I love competency . Obviously , I'm a lifelong learner . I think leaders are lifelong learners and leaders are readers , all the things . I think that's very important . A guy named Jeff DeGraff out of University of Michigan , a great thinker , and he was talking about like research that shows , you know , it's like facts don't change anyone . Facts are just facts , right ? It's story .

Speaker 3

And what you're doing here , adrian , which is so powerful , this keep climbing vision that you have and the vision for people to really , you know , press on when it's difficult , right ? So I think that the idea of that transformation happening and genuinely caring . So here's the thing Authenticity without integrity is hypocrisy . So you can't really fake . What I mean by that is this like you've got to be like who you are , right , you don't . Managing a second image of yourself isn't really fun . Anyway , it's a lot of energy and effort , and so people want to accept you for who you are . But I think when we try to fake it , emotional intelligence research will show you that people experience you on the basis of what you truly feel about them . You might think that you're faking it and , you know , trying to like , in a way , falsely care for somebody . Right , you're talking about . People don't know how much you care , how much you know , until they know how much you care , and it has to be genuine . People are not a means to an end , people are an end .

Speaker 2

That's good , that's good .

Speaker 3

We don't treat people in order to get something from them , and a lot of leaders don't understand this , right . A lot of immature

The Five Voices Framework

Speaker 3

leaders , right , there's five levels of maturity we won't go into today . But immature leaders , level one , level two , sometimes level three leaders well , they don't understand that , and so , for them , people are a means to an end . Or I have to just care about them enough and be nice to them so they perform't understand that , and so for them , people are a means to an end , or I have to just care about them enough and be nice to them so they perform a certain way , and in the end , that doesn't work . So it's gotta be genuine , and that comes from embracing . We're all human , adrian . Right , we all have struggles and challenges and needs for love and to be accepted and to grow and all of the things . So I think you're spot on . There's everything out of the way , boy . There's a few more .

Speaker 2

I've got so much written down here . But this is such a delicious conversation for me because my dad was a big motivational , had a lot of philosophy and he said you're not going to be a dumb jock , you're not going to be a dumb athlete , you're going to be able to think and process . So this spoke my language right here . My question is I want to stop you right here in the middle of our conversation and say man , this is such a paradigm shift from when your dad was saying you're a knucklehead , don't be stupid . Who is Brian today ? What are you becoming ? What are you unbecoming ?

Speaker 3

If you would have told me I don't even know how many years ago , 10 years ago , you know , 20 years ago that I would be where I'm at , I'd be shocked . I would say you've got to be kidding me . You know , I had no idea where this journey would take me . So you know , today I think that I've . So right now , you know , I'm serving a role inside an organization . That's a high level role , lots of responsibility . There's thousands of people that I get to work with on a regular basis , not just a few , right , and the impact of that and so really becoming a source of you know .

Speaker 3

John Maxwell says success is adding value to yourself . Significance is adding value to others , right . So I think this journey of dying to myself , my own selfish desires I'm an independent , entrepreneurial sort of type person and so I've . You know , having people as a means to an end isn't something that was unfamiliar to me . So I've unbecome that , by God's grace right , and have learned , like man , the value and I'm just around .

Speaker 3

Incredible people , the leaders of our company that I'm a part of now , incredible people like our culture , award-winning , positive culture . It's unbelievable to be around it . We had a really famous person speak at our conference we had Maxwell Fears go but just say this culture is remarkable and it all flows out of that character , right ? So I think that right now , just recognizing that my greatest value is modeling the behaviors that that we want to see replicated , being that person , truly being that person myself , relentless pursuit of personal growth as a company value for us , and so being that person who's you know , aligning to my highest possible self , living with integrity , humility , generosity , all of those things . So , yeah , I think I don't think there'll be a person listening that can't resonate with a journey from self-focus to other focus , and so that's a big part of it and that's been a big part of it for me .

Speaker 2

No , that's the thing of beauty . I want to ask you a few more questions . I love where you talk about the five voices . Tell us about the five voices and how you break that down .

Speaker 3

Yeah , absolutely . Five Voices is a tool that a company that I was with prior to my current company is I was called Giant started by Jeremy Kubitschek and Steve Cockrum Wonderful , wonderful , positive , incredible leaders and both have Giant actively years ago before my current role . Still am very involved and use some of the tools and language , actually use all of the tools and language that Giant offers . So Five Voices is a tool that Jeremy and Steve kind of baked in the oven and what the Five Voices are , if you think about you know . Adrian , an example I like to use is a telephone right . So there's me and my bride .

Speaker 3

So , if you ever listen to your voice memo that you leave . You know the voicemail . So , hey , this is Brian Williamson , not available to take your call . Go ahead and listen to it after this podcast if you haven't in a while , because your voice doesn't sound like your voice that you hear in your head , right , it just sounds different . My voice doesn't sound like what I hear in my own head and so I like to use that as a starting place to talk about five voices , because we ask the question like what's it like to be on the other side of you ? How do people experience you ? And the five voices help you to understand that .

Speaker 3

And the five voices are pioneer , which are more strategic , kind of vision-oriented people , tough decisions , prioritizing what's most important . There's the connector , which is all about relationships and sharing good news . There's the creative , which are very , very future forward thinkers that can really see the core issues and core challenges with things as they're building this amazing future . There is the guardian , which is holding up a shield , saying let's guard what we have that's already working . You know , holding up a shield saying let's guard what we have that's already working , almost like a champion of the due diligence and details All the folks taking care of budgets and things like that are oftentimes guardian voices . And then there's the nurturer voice , which is that champion of relational harmony and values and people .

Speaker 3

So we all speak , all five voices , but what we find out is that we have kind of a voice order right . So I'm a pioneer connector and every person has this kind of voice order . So it's definitely something we'd recommend to really recognize that . Adrian , as you know , what happens is that everyone speaks but not everyone's heard . And when leaders and teams can create environments and when your listeners here can understand better what is their voice , what is their unique contribution , everyone wins . And so there's ways you can go kind of dig into that material and learn a bit more , which I'd highly recommend a great book on the five voices , and so you can check that out for sure . Definite shameless plug , because it would add so much value to people if you have to do that that that's what communication's about .

Speaker 2

Shameless plugs . I'd definitely be a communicator . I love this one . Let me ask you about this one . You and I are privileged to talk and communicate . For me it's been 30 years and 3 million people in a live setting not even a stream . But where I'm going with this one is I'm going to give you a saying and then I want you to break this down . A wise old owl sat on an oak . The more he saw , the less he spoke . The less he spoke , the more he heard . Why can't we all be like that bird ? My point is listening as much as in leadership .

Speaker 3

How important is it to

Doing Hard Things to Get Results

Speaker 3

listen , to read the room , to be aware of yourself . Break that one down . That is . It's absolutely brilliant .

Speaker 3

I think , that leaders don't have all the answers , right , they ask questions , and to position yourself as a leader means you're actually oftentimes you're speaking less in settings and asking a lot of great questions . I think that's incredibly , incredibly important and , no doubt , right . If we so we , you know I often talk talk about leaders focus on tomorrow and create problems . Managers focus on today and solve problems , right , and so when we create a problem , we're not supposed to have all the answers . That's why we need a team , right , we need a team of people , or we need to ask for input and listen to other people .

Speaker 3

So , for any person learning to especially when you're younger and learning and trying to kind of find your voice , man asking a lot of questions , getting a journal writing down responses , writing down your questions it's kind of a lost art , isn't it ? A lot of folks are just putting opinions out there in our TGIF age Twitter , google , iphone , facebook , right Everybody's out there blurting out what they think on social media , and few are remaining curious and asking questions . So , yeah , spot on . I think the more we listen , the more we perceive and understand and couldn't agree with you more on that , as well , Let me give you one more .

Speaker 2

That I think is really important is a body language . They say words body language 55% , Tone is 38% and words are 7% . Where's that true ?

Speaker 3

Yeah , absolutely , you know . Again , that's why we actually have a tool in Giant that talks about the power of the medium and bringing challenge to people . Whether it's , you know , online , like text messages or emails or writing challenging things , it's not the place to do it because you can't interpret tone right . So , yeah , aligning all of that and showing up as somebody who's fully present , engaged , how we come across as people Again , all of it , you know , adrian , there's techniques you can learn , I guess , to communicate certain things right .

Speaker 3

You know all about that as a speaker . But , honestly , one of the most powerful things I learned years ago is you're always going to be relevant when your focus is on another person and I think , just truly learning to be present with people , to listen and stay curious . It's not like you have to fake a set of body language behaviors to show something . It's just like be real , be who you are and be fully attentive and present . It's going to make a big difference . But , yes , that certainly goes all of that research on that how you communicate , what you're communicating , makes a big difference .

Speaker 2

Wow , listen , the saying is true Time flies when you're having fun , and this time has flown . Where has it gone ? You've given us so many nuggets about starting off as the horse . No one bet on life-changing in the Marines and then becoming a pastor and then a leader and talked about servant leadership , and you're saying that if you can do it , the listeners can do it too . Give us one more nugget before we let you go . How can you encourage the listeners out there to keep climbing ?

Speaker 3

So let's see , last Saturday night , my so we have four children , two girls , two boys , Our youngest is adopted from South Korea . So three bios , one adopted , very family oriented and my wife and daughter were on a mission trip to Bosnia for their spring break and so I decided to take my sons out to dinner at a nice little steakhouse and get some time with them . They're about to launch into their careers and it's an incredible thing when you watch those of you that have children , that are listening , when you watch them bloom and move forward , and it's really fun to see these little deposits that I've made over the years . And even though I might feel inadequate or I could do more as a father , my sons , you know , reminded me we're sitting at dinner and they're like hey , dad , one of the coolest things you taught us was sometimes you have to do the things you don't want to do to get the results you do want to get .

Speaker 2

Wow , say that again , say that again .

Speaker 3

Sure , sometimes you have to do the things you don't want to do to get the results you do want to get . And they've both done that . My one son's a student athlete at Michigan State go green . My other son's a Michigan Wolverine go blue . So I know that makes no sense to all the college fans listening , but listen , they've all done hard things to become the person that they've desired to become .

Speaker 3

So I would say to your listeners do hard things , those develop you , stick with it . It is worth the toil and the struggle and feeling like is it making a difference ? I promise you it's making a difference . Keep sowing in the right direction , even though you may be experiencing something different and you know it will bring great results . And so that's something I could say anytime I've taken the hard road , the high road , whatever you want to call it , I would say that is something that is really important , and do it with gratitude .

Speaker 3

Right , the path to humility is crossed by the bridge of gratitude . And so to be humble uh , whether that's your whoever , you're learning that from uh , how to be humble is about gratitude and being thankful and hopeful . Um , it's uh , you can change so much . I mean , you know about this , Adrian , you could change so much in your mindset and mindset and how much actually influence you have over things . It starts and ends there . So I would say , keep going , do the hard things . It's worth it and take the risks calculated and knowing what you're doing , but definitely you know step out and do hard things .

Speaker 2

Applause , applause , applause . Wow , dr B . Fascinating , it's sincere . Sincerity keeps friends . Reliability creates respect . Tell us real quick where the listeners can find you if they want to know more about Dr Brian and your work and what you're doing .

Speaker 3

Man , oh , thanks for that . I

Keep Climbing and Final Thoughts

Speaker 3

mean , listen , I'm a big , I'm on LinkedIn . You can just , I guess , search for me . I don't even know my handle offhand , I think it's Dr Brian Williamson . I'm not really promoting a lot of stuff these days , my Facebook posts . I do a ton of leadership Facebook posts , so you can maybe find me there . I can give you the links . I don't know how you post that , but yeah , right now that's it . You know , I'm just I'm just doing my thing , enjoying my work , and yeah .

Speaker 2

Thank you , doctor . Well , I am looking forward to it . So you fed us and our listeners today . Thank you for your time and wisdom . I'm looking forward to connecting with you again and looking forward to seeing you soon , dr Brian , everybody , thank you . Thank you , sir . Wow , that was good . That was good . That was good . That was like a good meal . It's like , wow , I got a food buzz . I'm excited about this one . Well , folks listen . If you want to know more about us , head on over to AdrianBranchSpeakscom , follow us on social media at Adrian Branch Speaks and download the Climb wherever podcasts are available . You guys are amazing and I want you to remember , be encouraged and keep climbing . We'll see you next time , everybody , thank you .