Christian Business Concepts
Christian Business Concepts
The Leadership Lies That Exhaust Even the Most Driven Business Leaders
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What if the toughest problems in your business aren’t market forces or headcount, but quiet beliefs that sound wise and slowly cap your growth? We tackle five leadership lies that drain energy, stall teams, and keep owners stuck—and we replace them with biblical truth and practical steps that create durable change.
We start by learning to spot false beliefs in everyday language, emotional exhaustion, and operational bottlenecks. From the sneaky notion that “if I don’t do it, it won’t be done right” to the myth that “strong leaders don’t show weakness,” we unpack how identity gets tied to output, why perfectionism masquerades as excellence, and how vulnerability actually builds authority through psychological safety. With Scripture, real-world examples, and research, we show how empowered people—not exhausted leaders—grow organizations.
Then we turn to clarity, culture, and consistency. You’ll hear why “if they care, they’ll figure it out” backfires without explicit what, why, and when; how treating people as stewards, not resources, multiplies engagement and profitability; and why waiting for calm to lead better is a trap. We lay out simple practices: delegate outcomes instead of tasks, repeat clarity more than feels necessary, measure relational health with performance, and set non-negotiable leadership rhythms that hold under pressure. Along the way, we offer a weekly challenge to identify one lie, delegate one meaningful responsibility, and pray one bold prayer.
If you’re ready to break bottlenecks, raise trust, and build a people-first culture rooted in faith, this one is for you. Share it with a leader who needs courage today, subscribe so new episodes land in your feed, and leave a review telling us the belief you’re replacing this week. Let’s lead well, steward wisely, and trust God fully.
Welcome to the Christian business concepts with your host Harold Milby. Christian Business Concepts is dedicated to God and companies and business words and becoming effective, efficient and successful godsword and godly principles.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks, Kelly, and welcome everyone to this week's Christian Business Concepts Podcast. I'm your host, Harold Milby, and each week I present business ideas and apply bib biblical business principles and really in order to help you find true godly success. Because there's a difference between the world's success and God's success. And if you'll actually apply these principles, I can promise your promise you that your business will become more effective, more efficient, more strategic, and better at making really good decisions. And and you'll really find that that true success that I'm talking about. You know, as godly businesses, you and I have an opportunity to influence people with the gospel and to feel much more fulfilled in our lives. Now, please remember to help us, if you will, uh to help us to grow the CBC community by by posting a link uh to this podcast on your Facebook and on your LinkedIn pages. And uh you can also recommend this podcast to four or five other people uh that you know that you think it would help. So anything that you can do to help us to continue to grow, uh you know, we are heard now in over 80 countries, which is so exciting. It's it's unbelievable what God's done in the last few years. But we're in over 80 countries, uh heard around the world, and we're so thankful for all of you. Uh, but I do want to give a big shout out this week to a brand new city, Harriman, Tennessee, here in the United States. Uh, this is the first time they've had a bunch of downloads this week, and we're so excited to have Harriman, Tennessee on board with us. Thank you all, and we appreciate you and appreciate all of you around the world uh who listen to this podcast uh every week, and uh we just appreciate you. Appreciate you very much. Now, let me start today with a simple question. What if the biggest obstacle in your business right now isn't the economy, it's not your competition, uh, it's it's not your team or lack of time. What if it's excuse me, what if it's a belief that you've been carrying for years and you don't even realize it's false? And I want to say this up front. These these lies that we're talking about are costing you and holding you back, and they're not real loud. They don't shout, they don't they, you know, they they're they're not loud at all. They just kind of whisper. You know, they sound reasonable, they sound responsible and sometimes even spiritual. But over time, they quietly drain your energy, they limit your growth, they put a ceiling on what God wants to do through you. And uh, we're talking about false beliefs, you know, we're we're talking about leadership lies, I think, that that hurt you. And so I want to talk about those. I want to talk about those. So, how do you identify false beliefs? Well, first of all, false beliefs are sneaky. And here's how you can help spot them, okay? So look at what exhausts you the most, and then ask yourself what drains me emotionally? Where do I feel resentful? What do I complain about repeatedly? You know, burnout is often belief-based. It's not workload-based, it's belief-based. So that's the first thing. The next thing is listen to your language. Because false beliefs, uh, if I could say it this way, they they leak out. They leak out. They leak out in what you say, in the phrases that you say. In other words, things like, well, I don't have time, or no one will do it right, or I'll fix it later, uh, or I can't let that go. You know, Jesus said in Matthew 12, 34, he said, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. You can't hide it. Now, you may not recognize it until you really start to listen to yourself. But what's deep down in your heart will come out of your mouth. So it's very important that you listen to your language. Your words are going to reveal your assumptions. Let me say one more time. Your words will reveal your assumptions, the things that you believe in. So think uh, you know, think about that. You know, Napoleon Hill, great motivational speaker, writer. Napoleon Hill said one time, think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another. But I want to take that a little bit further because I truly believe, and it's been my experience, that your words will even plant seeds of success or failure in your mind. I believe that, and I have experienced it with so many people that I have coached, so many people that I have trained. That is so true. Uh, a third thing is examine your bottlenecks. If everything flows through you, you're the problem. Okay, it's not the system, you're the problem. As I shared with you not too long ago, I knew of a company that uh was almost a billion-dollar company, and yet almost every every expense that was over$1,500 had to go through the CEO. And you can imagine a company that big, he spent most of his days just looking at expenditures. Not a good use of his time. He was the bottleneck. That's not condemnation, it's just clarity. So let's begin to look at these five leadership lies that some leaders will tell themselves, some owners will tell themselves. The first one is if I don't do it, it won't get done right. That's the first lie. If I don't do it, it won't get done right. So it it it it it it sounds like they come out, it'll come out in your language like this. Well, I'll just handle it. Or, well, they're not ready to handle it yet. Or it's faster if I do it myself. So in other words, what that belief is that's hidden down in the depths of your soul is that my value is tied to my involvement. My value is tied to my involvement. And and the cost of that, the cost of this lie is burnout, it's bottlenecks, teams stop thinking because they know the boss is going to do it. You know, in Exodus chapter 18, you know, uh Moses was faithful, he was called, he was sincere, and yet he was still wrong in his leadership model because everything was done by Moses. And you can read through that and find out his his father-in-law gave him some really good advice. We've talked about that on the show before, but um I I just wanted you to be aware of that because it's such a great example. You know, the the early stage founders of a company, they, you know, sometimes some of them never transition from operator to leader. And what happens when that when that takes place is you're going to stall out your growth. And you'll wind up having about seven to fifteen employees. Why? Because a person can't manage much more than seven to eighteen employees. So if you're doing it all, that's about all you can manage. Uh, you know, in Exodus chapter uh 15, his father-in-law, Moses' father-in-law, said, You will surely wear yourself out because everything came to him. You know, David Lomas, he said, when you find your identity and what you do, you identify, your identity will be shaken the moment you change what you do. So what you do is not who you are. That's not who you are. That's not your identity. That's not who you are. So, what are some steps that you can take to overcome this lie? Well, first of all, you need to separate your identity from output. In other words, begin to ask yourself, who am I if I'm not the one executing everything? Who am I? You see, leadership matures when your worth is no longer tied to your personal productivity. The second thing is you can start delegating, start delegating outcomes, not tasks. There's a big difference. You want to delegate the outcomes. Instead of telling people how to do something, define what success looks like to them and then let them know that's what they're to do. That's the result that you're looking for. Uh, you know, it it's not dependency upon you on telling them how to do it, but just to give them an idea of what that success looks like. You're looking for outcomes. Number three, allow imperfection as part of that development. So you have to decide in advance what level of quote unquote done is acceptable while other people are learning. You know, growth requires just a margin for mistakes. It just happens that way. That's what you have to do, that's what you have to allow. If you are very proficient at doing something and you give this task to somebody else, they're not going to do it exactly like you do. And they may make some mistakes, but that's part of helping them get to the next level of their leadership. Another thing that you can do is just schedule yourself out of the process. So, in other words, if you're still needed in every step, you haven't actually dedicated, uh, delegated. You have to make sure you're not in that process. So you put a timeline on when your involvement ends. And number five, measure success by multiplication, not completion. In other words, ask the question: is more getting done because of me or only through me? You want to you want to have multiplication. That's what you want. So, what are some hindrances to overcoming this lie? Well, fear of becoming unnecessary. Hey, we can all face that. I don't care what level of leadership you're in. We can always have that fear of becoming unnecessary or obsolete. Uh sometimes we have this short-term efficiency addiction. We think we, you know, it it's a it's a short-term thing, but we we feel very efficient. You know, there's perfectionism. And perfectionism a lot of times disguises itself as excellence. It's not. They're two different things. So then there's this lack of trust in others. Um, you know, uh sometimes it's just plain ego, you know. Uh our ego sometimes can be in uh be reinforced even by us being needed. So you've got to replace that lie. And here's the truth that you replace that lie with. God grows organizations through empowered people, not exhausted leaders. Let me say it again. God grows organizations through empowered leaders and empowered people, not exhausted leaders. All right, leadership lie number two. Strong leaders don't show weakness. Strong leaders don't show weakness. And I'll tell you how this comes across. You'll hear this in meetings, you'll hear it in relation in just little cough uh uh what I call water fountain uh conversations. Uh well, I can't let I can't let them see me struggle. Or I need to project confidence at all times. Uh leaders don't ask for help. So that hidden belief is is really its vulnerability undermines authority, and that's not true. But but people, leaders will say that. You know, if I show myself vulnerable, then I I weaken my authority, my level of authority, and it's just not true. And what does it cost? Well, there's emotional isolation, uh, you have a very shallow level of trust. Uh, teams will begin to hide problems from you, which is what you don't want. You know, it's kind of like driving a car with a check engine light on, and and you tap and and you tape over it. You just put a piece of tape over it so that you don't see it instead of opening the hood or taking it to a mechanic to find out what the problem is. So you're just hiding uh the the the light, or you're hiding the issue from yourself, and it's not being fixed or repaired. You know, King Saul is greatly uh a great example of this. He was more concerned with his image than he was obeying God, which led to a lot of insecurity, a lot of jealousy, and really his collapse as a leader uh for Israel. You know, research from Google's Project Aristotle that they had, it showed psychological safety, not authority, was the number one factor in high performing teams. So the so the leader provided psychological safety. That was the number one factor in high performing teams. You know, the Bible says, when I'm weak, then I'm I then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12, 10. So how do we overcome this lie? Well, first of all, you have to redefine strength biblically, not culturally, biblically. Strength in the scriptures is submission to God, not self-sufficiency. Another thing that you have to do is you've got to practice selective transparency. Selective transparency. You have to do that. Vulnerability does not mean oversharing, it means an appropriate amount of honesty. You can share struggles with responsibility. You know, you don't just dump on people emotionally, but you can share struggles. Uh, another thing is you should do is model, uh you should model this whole uh this whole idea of looking for help sometimes when you need it. You know, when leaders ask for input, permission is given from uh for other people to speak up. And if you don't do that, a lot of people are afraid to speak up and you need them to speak up. Another is name uncertainty without abandoning vision. You know, you can say, I don't have all the answers while still saying, here's where we're going. You can say those two. I know that they sound like they are diametrically opposed, but they're not. You know, you can say I don't have all the answers because most people don't, but here's where we're going. Uh, and lastly, you can invite feedback. You can invite feedback uh before problems get out of hand. Now, there's some hindrances to overcoming this lie. You know, the first is fear of losing respect or losing authority, uh maybe confusing confidence with certainty or leadership cultures that reward image over integrity. That's a bad culture. Uh, or pride, it's masked as professionalism. So you want to replace this lie with this godly strength includes humility, honesty, and teachability. Let me say it again. Godly strength includes humility, honesty, and teachability. All right, let's look at leadership line number three. If people care enough, they'll figure it out. Now, I'll be honest with you, when I was a young leader, I said this many times. Well, if they really care about what they're doing, they'll figure it out. And it sounds like this this is what you'll hear. They know what to do, or you'll hear, I shouldn't have to explain this. Or why do I have to keep repeating myself? So this hidden belief that a person has is clarity equals micromanagement. In other words, to have clarity, they feel like they have to micromanage. But the cost of that is that you have people that get frustrated. There's a lot of times that you have missed expectations, or you have to do rework, or you get a lot of resentment uh within your organization. Uh, you know, and and I got to tell you something. When when you expect results without clarity, it's like giving somebody a map, but you don't tell them what the destination is. You know, Nehemiah, he clearly defined the mission, the roles, the timeline, the standards, and the wall was rebuilt in record time. You know, Andy Grove of Intel, he famously said one time, he said, bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them, great companies are improved by them. And so understand that clarity turns crisis into execution. That clarity gives you the things that you know that you need to do. You know, 1 Corinthians 14 8 says that if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? So you gotta have that clarity. So how do you overcome this lie? Well, first of all, you've got to assume confusion before incompetence. In other words, most performance issues are clarity issues. They're not character flaws, they're clarity issues. Uh, another is define the what. Define the what, the why, and the when. In other words, people execute better when they know what matters, why it matters, and how success is measured. They're always going to do better with those three things. Another is repeat clarity more than you think is necessary because leaders overestimate how clearly they've communicated. Trust me, I've done it, everybody does it. It's easy to do. Then check for understanding. Don't check for agreement. Look for understanding. Ask people to reflect back to you what the what they feel like the expectations are to make sure there's there's complete clarity. And then document what matters most. You know, verbal clarity can kind of fade over time, but if you have written uh written clarity, it'll just compound over time. So sometimes you need that. So document what matters most. Uh now, what are some hindrances? Well, you know, impatience because you got to repeat uh yourself, maybe fear of being seen as controlling or assuming that shared context uh that really doesn't exist, or or or maybe you have a over-reliance on informal communication. So those are some things. So what do you what are you gonna replace that lie with? Well, replace it with this clear expectations are not control. They're kindness. Let me say it again. Clear expectations are not control, they are kindness. All right, let's look at leadership number four. Results matter more than relationships. People will say that. It's a lie. What does this sound like? Well, this is business, not personal. Or we can't allow feelings to slow us down. Or we'll fix culture later. We'll fix our culture later. But the hidden belief behind that is that people are tools to achieve outcomes. You know, when you are a leader, whether you're an owner of a company or you're in leadership as uh in a Christian company. Your organization, uh, what happens is you put people in one of two columns. You they're either an asset or they are a liability. I have worked for people that look at people both ways. They either see people as a liability or they see them as an asset. And so if you really are going to be have a great team and be very successful, you have to look at people as assets. You have to look at them as assets. Because if you believe this lie, you're going to deal with high turnover, you're not going to have very much engagement, you'll find people who are compliant, but they but they're not committed. In other words, it's like harvesting the field out there without ever planning or watering it. You're not going to get harvest. You know, so you have to look at that. You know, according to Gallup, organizations with high engagement outperform others by 21% in their profitability. So you want them to engage, right? Uh Proverbs 7 27 and 23 says, know well the condition of your flocks. So you you've gotta you've gotta understand that you you've got to understand that results are not more important uh than relationships. Uh so how do you overcome this lie? Well, you acknowledge that culture always produces results, good or bad. You've gotta you've got to measure relational health along with the performance. You have to measure both. You know, ask how are people experiencing leadership here? How do they feel about it? You know, and then slow down long enough to see people. You know, presence communicates value faster than your policies ever will. So walk slowly among the crowd. You know, walk slowly. Let people see you, you know, see people, see them. Uh correct privately, and you celebrate publicly. You've heard me say that many times. And then view people as stewards. Don't really don't look at them like resources, look at them as stewards. Resources are consumed, but stewards are developed. So you got to make sure that you do that. Now, um what are you know what are some hindrances to overcoming this lie? Well, pressure for short-term metrics. Um, you can have emotional detachment that takes place, and you think that's professionalism when it's not. Um sometimes high performers are being excused from any kind of of relationships because they're high performers. Uh, fear that maybe empathy will reduce accountability, which is not true. Uh so those things are important. Now, what what let's talk about what do we replace that with? What do we replace the lie with? Well, replace it with this people are the strategy, not a distraction from it. People are a part of the strategy, not a distraction from the strategy. All right, leadership number five. Once things calm down, I'll lead better. So that's gonna, you're gonna hear that it's gonna sound like, well, this is just a busy season, or after this quarter, I'll slow down. Or next year will be different. So that hidden belief really is leadership quality depends on circumstances. Not true. You know, and the cost of that belief is you're gonna have a lot of exhaustion, you're gonna have neglected priorities, you're gonna have reactive leadership or what I call whack-a-mole leadership. You know, it's like waiting for calm to lead well. And and when you do that, it's like waiting for traffic to clear before you ever learn how to drive. So, you know, if you look at David, King David, David, he led in the caves, he led on battlefields, he led in the palaces, but just not when conditions were ideal. He he did it when it was tough. You know, Jeff Bezos built Amazon with this principle: day one mentality. What does that mean? Urgency and discipline, regardless of scale, regardless of how big it is, regardless of where they're at. It's all about that day one mentality. So the Bible says in Luke 16, 10, it says to be faithful in the little things. So you've got to replace that lie with, you know, uh with how you lead under pressure reveals who you really are. You know, Robert Schuller said this. He said, negative thinking is subtle and deceptive. It wears many faces and hides behind the mask of excuses. It is portin to strip away the mask and discover the real root emotion. So true. So how do you overcome this lie? Well, you've got to accept that leadership is seasonal, but it's never, it's never in a pause state. Chaos doesn't suspend responsibility, it really kind of reveals it. So then you need to establish some non-negotiable leadership rhythms. Decide what you will do even when you're busy. Uh lead your energy before leading others. You know, exhausted leaders, you know, they just they just kind of begin to react. They don't really give direction. And then choose principles over circumstances. Decide who you are before pressure decides for you, because that'll that's what will happen. And then practice faithfulness in small disciplines now. Better leadership later is built by obedience today. Let me say it again. Better leadership later is built by obedience today. So, what are some of the hindrances? Well, people get addictive to busyness, uh, they overcommit. There's an avoidance of deeper leadership work or lack of boundaries or belief that peace precedes obedience. So I just want you to understand how important it is to look at these lies, these beliefs that we have that hinder us and keep us from being successful. And if you go to our website, go to Christian Business Concepts.org. If you go there, click on the tab resources, you'll find there in that list of resources a free Leadership Lies Worksheet worksheet and an assessment. So look at those two. They come, it's just in it's one document, leadership lies worksheet and assessment. You can get it right off our website. I encourage you to go take a look at it and take the assessment. And so let me leave you with this question. What are you holding on to that God is asking you to release? You know, He He's He's not asking you to abandon it. He's not asking you to neglect it, he's just asking you to release it. So this week I challenge you, identify one false belief, delegate one meaningful responsibility, and pray one dangerous prayer, like Lord, help me trust you enough to let go. So we can continue, we can continue listening to our inner voice that has become comfortable believing that these false beliefs or lies we tell ourselves and allow them to limit our success, or we can challenge them and break through the barriers that they've created. So, Lord, in the name of Jesus, I humbly come before you and I ask that you help us to be honest, Lord, with ourselves. Lord, help us to recognize the lies that we've told ourselves from wrong beliefs. Lord, help us to understand that everyone has false beliefs. And help us to not allow pride to confront. Lord, to help us just not allow that pride. Help us to confront it. Lord, help us to apply these principles that we've heard today and to replace these lies, every one of them, Lord, that we discover. Lord, in order to find the success that you have for us, Lord, and thank you, Lord, we ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen. Well, thanks again for allowing us to be a part of your growth plan for this week. And if this episode's challenged you, share it with somebody that you feel like it would benefit. Share it with them. And please be sure to subscribe to Christian Business Concepts. And that way we'll drop that new, that the brand new episode every week will come right to you. And be sure to leave a review. Tell me, what belief are you breaking this week? So until next time, I want you to lead well. I want you to steward wisely, and I want you to trust God fully. And remember, Jesus is Lord, and he wants you blessed.
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