The Leadership Spotlight continues this week with Brent Spicer. Brent is a native of Nashville and a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University. Brent was a financial planner and bi-vocational minister before joining Dave’s team. He is passionate about changing people’s lives through Financial Peace University. In his spare time he enjoys fishing, mountain biking and swimming with his kids. Brent and his wife, Tonya, have two children, Madalyn age 8, and Daniel age 5. They are active members with Liberty Hill church of Christ in Fairview, TN.
CLo: What is your role in leadership?
BS: Business Development and Strategy with the Financial Peace University Church Team. My role is to find and test new ideas to improve our classes and grow our business. I am an innovator at heart.
CLo: What is the best advice you’ve ever received about leadership?
BS: You are the lid for your team and business. They will rise to your level of leadership, regardless of how high or low that level is. I’m amazed by how few leaders truly understand this. If you’re a servant leader, your team will be too. You attract people like you, so be intentional about who you are.
CLo: What is the biggest challenge facing leaders today?
BS: Communicating effectively with their teams. It is critical that teams understand the organization’s mission, vision and goals. They need to know what winning is for them. In other words, what metrics accomplish the vision? When you think you’ve beaten the horse to death, others are just starting to get it.
CLo: How do you continue to improve yourself as a leader?
BS: Leaders are readers, and lifelong learning has to be a top priority. Things are changing so fast today that learning and growing are more important than ever to maintain a competitive advantage. I also track my daily scorecard of things I did well and things I need to improve. Last, I have lunch with other leaders and thought leaders in different industries to accelerate my growth.
CLo: How do you invest in others?
BS: I maintain margin in my schedule so I have time for others, and I consciously slow down in the hall to talk to others. Last, I look for opportunities to give an “atta boy” for great work or to be generous to a team member in need.
CLo: What was the last book you read?
BS: Strategic Leadership: The General’s Art – “In line with the curriculum followed by senior officers, this book teaches leaders how to think and lead strategically in uncertain environments. With contributions from military leaders and experts in the fields of transformational leadership, systems, critical and historical thinking, and corporate culture, this work teaches mid-level managers how to become high-level executives.”
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