S31:E6🎙️ LIVE AWLL From Proverbs — Chapter 6 (Multi Tracks Audio)

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Hello everyone, welcome to a very special edition of the Leadership and Success Podcast. So this is all about ancient wisdom and leadership from the Book of Proverbs. So Ancient Wisdom Mentoring from the Book of Proverbs. And today, January 6th, we're going to be studying Proverbs chapter 6. Again, this is not a religious broadcast, but it is really about leadership and wisdom and what wisdom can we learn from ancient scripture that is still applicable today in 2025, in the 21st century. All right, so let's have a quick recap of what we've done so far. So On January 1st, we went through Proverbs chapter 1, and the theme was wise leadership, right? Wise leadership begins with humility and accountability. Ignoring wisdom will lead to predictable consequences. So that was Proverbs 1. Then Proverbs chapter 2, we talked about leaders who deliberately pursue wisdom develop discernment that protects their character, guides their decisions, and keeps them on the right path under pressure. And then we went to Proverbs chapter 3. Which teaches that enduring leadership is built on trust, humility, and wisdom. So choosing alignment with timeless principles over reliance on self. Man, now we read Proverbs chapter 4 on January 4th, which was leadership is a lifelong pursuit of wisdom. It requires intentional learning, disciplined choices, and vigilant self-governance. And yesterday we went through Proverbs chapter 5. Let me make sure I have— okay. So, and for Proverbs chapter 5, uh, it was all about teaching us that enduring leadership is sustained by private discipline, where self-control, integrity, uh, behind the scenes will preserve credibility, authority, and legacy in public. So the way you live your life in private will affect the way you are seen in public, your reputation. All right, and we had 7 lessons for that chapter. And lesson number 1 was leadership. Lesson 1: Attention is a leadership choice. That was in verses 1 and 2. My son, pay attention to my wisdom that you may maintain discretion. So that was leadership lesson 1. Leadership lesson number 2 was not everything attractive is aligned. That was verses 3, 4, 5, and 6. For the lips of the immoral woman Drip honey, but in the end she's bitter as wormwood. And then lesson number 3, verses 7 through 10: Keep your eye far from her, lest strangers take their fill of your strength. And the lesson being: Boundaries will preserve authority. And lesson number 4 yesterday was: Regret is a leadership tax. Verses 11 through 14: At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and body are consumed. And lesson number 5, Verses 15-18, faithfulness will fuel sustainability. So, "Drink water from your own cistern, rejoice in the wife of your youth." And lesson number 6, verses 19-20, discipline is not deprivation. "Why should be intoxicated my son by another?" That was the key verse there. And then finally, lesson number 7, which we did yesterday, verses 21 through 23. That's about accountability being inescapable. So, for a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord. All right, so you can go back and listen to the podcast. They are published here on LinkedIn, on YouTube, and all of the major podcast platforms. You can listen to, again, Decision Proverbs chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. So from the first to the fifth. And today we're going to start our new session with chapter 6. Let me make sure I cue that here. Proverbs chapter 6. So this is going to be fun. And like I've said, I have been studying the book of Proverbs since I was like 12, 13 years old, every single year, and I always get something new out of it. So these are just my insights, and I would like to know what your insight is as well. Also, let us know where you are coming from. From, right? Which city, which state, and if outside of the US, what country? And also, uh, if you have a question for me, type it in the comment. And if you have any insight on any of the verses I don't highlight, please let me know. And whatever I give you, if you have any comment, feedback, I'd like to know that as well. Well, I am just reminded we didn't do our, uh, morning, uh, our moment of gratitude. So every time we meet, we always want to be grateful for something. So let's just take a quick second. I'd like you to close your eyes, put yourself in your happy place, take a deep breath, calm your nervous system. For nature, how beautiful it is. Great weather. Yesterday I said I was so grateful for the rain. We've been missing rain in Silicon Valley. And for a long time, most of the grass here had turned brown. But it's green again. It's just beautiful. I just took this picture today. I mean, this is just gorgeous. I mean, it is just amazing. I could be looking at that all day long. I am so grateful for nature, how gorgeous and beautiful and inspiring it is. And yeah, so let me know what you are grateful for today. All right, we are going to start with chapter 6. First, let's hear from Ron Carpenter AI, who I interviewed for season 4, episode 15. Let's see what Ron Carpenter AI say about Proverbs 6. So according to Ron Carpenter AI, Proverbs 6 is like a father's urgent memo to his son. It says, wise up, avoid traps, work smart, and steer clear of what gods hate. The big idea, Ron Carpenter AI says, is live with wisdom and diligence to escape poverty, debt, immorality, and division, because folly destroys, but fear of the Lord keeps you safe. It's packed with warnings: don't go sign loans recklessly, flee laziness, go to the end, no captain needed, just grind a little every day till breakthrough hits, shun the adulteress, and dodge those 7 things the Lord detests, especially sowing discord among brothers. So his preach on this art of diligence ain't flashy. It's doing that small thing long enough for the bucket to tip. God hates division because it blocks blessing. Mark those folks and protect your peace. What's this chapter speaking to you right now? He asked. Okay. So I like the image of the bucket. Now, when you go to a water park, there is this attraction, almost every water park has one. It's a big bucket. It gets filled with water little by little, little by little. And then when it gets full, usually there is like a sound or ring or something, and then kids run under it and then the bucket kind of flips and the water falls off. So what he's saying, I think it's the same. Concept again, I love this book by my mentor, Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. When you do the right thing, you don't usually see a result right away. It takes time, right? It takes a process. It's an investment which will provide an harvest, but it doesn't happen overnight. It takes time. You have to keep doing the right thing over and over and over again consistently, and eventually you will see the harvest. Eventually you're going to see the result you are seeking, right? It took you many, many years, for example, to gain an extra 20, 25 pounds, whatever the amount is that you are overweight by. So you're not gonna lose all of that extra weight overnight. It's gonna take time. Start eating right today, start exercising and start eating better food. And in time you will eventually lose the weight. So that's the idea of the compound effect. So with proverb, you do the right thing for a very, very long time before you see the result, but eventually you will because that bucket's gonna get full and then it will flip over and you are going to receive all of the water all at once. And people are going to say you are an overnight success, but the truth, no, you are not an overnight success. You've been doing this for a very, very long time. It's just time for the world to see what you are made of. Just like Michael Jordan, I believe is the greatest of all time, the GOAT, right? And he was even fired, right, from his high school basketball team, if you can believe that. But I believe is what he did consistently. He would wake up like at 5, 5:30 in the morning and just play basketball over and over and over and over again. So by the time he became MJ, Michael Jordan, the greatest of all basketball players, he had already sown a lot of seeds for a very, very, very long time. And then it eventually manifested. Anyway, okay, so that's the idea. Now, my take, I think the big idea for Proverbs chapter 6, it really functions as leadership risk management chapter. What I mean is it warns leaders against preventable failures, financial entanglement, complacency, ethical blind spot, abuse of influence, and moral compromise. While calling them back to disciplined habit, clear accountability, and moral clarity. So this chapter teaches that many leadership collapses are self-inflicted and predictable, not sudden or accidental. Again, you won't see the effect right away, but in time, if you keep doing the wrong thing, eventually you will reap the wrong harvest. All right, so the theme statement: Proverbs 6 teaches that wise leadership is sustained through disciplined choices, proactive diligence, and moral clarity. Because most failures are not sudden betrayal but predictable consequences of ignored warnings and neglected responsibility. When you see a red flag, you need to take action. Like, one of the best advice I ever received before I assumed command in the US Navy, one of my mentors told me, if you see something that doesn't meet the standard, you have to do something about it as a commanding officer. Because if you don't, that means whatever that thing is has become the new standard for your unit, for your command. So you have to keep the standard high, no matter who it is, including yourself. These are the standards. That's what we're gonna live by no matter what. Uh, and, uh, that's, that's the way you're supposed to kind of live your, your own life too. Okay, lesson number 1 for chapter 6. Lesson 1 will be: guard your authority and your commitment. That's going to be in Proverbs chapter 6, verses 1 through 5. Let's see if can read that. 6, 1 through 5. Let me share my screen. All right, let's share the screen and read 1 through 5. Here we go. All right. So, uh, hold on a second.

My son, if you become surety for your friend, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, you are snared by the words of your mouth. You are taken by the words of your mouth. So do this, my son, and deliver yourself, for you have come into the hand of your friend. Go and humble yourself, plead with your friend, give no sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

I like that. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter. So I have gazelle intensity. I think I'm going to get back to it in just a moment. So again, lesson 1, guard your authority and commitment. So insight, leaders, they compromise authority when they take on obligation driven by emotion, by pressure or misplaced loyalty. So co-signing, for example, financially or reputationally create unseen chains that limit decision-making and freedom of action. So application. So you have to establish clear governance rules for endorsement, partnership, and guarantees, and separate compassion from obligation, but also teach teams how to say no with wisdom and respect. And if something is wrong, you shouldn't just say like, well, no, I am not going to do this. I don't like this. I don't think I am going to get involved. You have to run like a gazelle runs away from its predator, right? Like the prey runs away from predator, like it's a matter of life or death. I will absolutely not be around this environment or do this type of thing. So you have to make up your mind. This is an absolute no, and I'm gonna run away from it. Another story in the Bible that comes to mind was Joseph in Genesis, right? He was sold as a slave, and they put him the the head of Potiphar's house. I believe Potiphar was a captain in the Egyptian army. And then the wife of Potiphar really liked Joseph and she tried to be intimate with him and she grabbed him and young Joseph ran away and left his coat behind. I mean, that's what I call gazelle intensity. It's not like, "Oh, I might be tempted, I'm going to get to this." Like, "No, absolutely not. I am not going to do this. I'm not going to sin against my master." And he ran away with a lot of intensity just to get out out of that environment to get out of trouble. And I think sometimes as leaders, that's really what we need— gazelle intensity. There are certain things we are just not going to tolerate, and we're gonna have absolutely zero tolerance for. And if we are in an environment where that is even, you know, a possibility, we would run away from, from that. Remember from the previous chapter of Proverbs, one of the wisdom I received from many of my mentors was live your life in such a way that you do not need to use your willpower, right? Because if you have to use your willpower, sometimes you're gonna win, sometimes you're gonna lose. But if you create an environment, you create an environment so that you never have to use your willpower and you are forced to do the right thing just because what's available to you is going to make you do the right thing, then that's really what you want. So again, I think that this idea is kind of connected to that. Flee far, far, far away from trouble and then embrace what's going to make it easy for you to do the right thing. All right, so where have I said yes without full authority to manage the risk? Think about that. And who benefits most from this commitment? Me, the mission, or someone else? And also, what boundaries must I reinforce this quarter, this week, today, this year. So the anchor reflection is freedom in leadership comes from discernment before agreement, not escape after regret. And remember again from this book of Proverbs, that's where I got the idea of the way I want to live my life. When I'm very, very old, I hope, and it's time for me to go, I want to be so glad I did everything I did. I don't want to have any regret. Not, I wish I had done this, I wish I had done that. No, I want to say, I am glad I did what I did. Uh, that's the type of life I want to live. So life with discernment, life with wisdom. Okay, uh, lesson number 2: discipline beats talent. That's gonna be verses 6, 7, and 8. So let's go there. Discipline beats talent.

Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise. Which having no captain, overseer, or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, O sluggard?

Wow. The flies provide a support, a supply in the summer and gathers of food in the harvest. So before it is even needed, working again every day, the idea of the compound effect, doing the right thing when it's not urgent, but it is important, focusing on what's important and then seeing the harvest. All right. So the ant models proactive leadership. That's what I'm talking about. No micromanagement, no applause, no delay. Yesterday, the leadership conversation I had with Billy Johns, one of the greatest Silicon Valley CIO here, he won the top 100 CIO award from the CIO Magazine a couple of years ago. Really, really full of wisdom. He was pretty much telling us that leadership is responsibility. And when you are responsible, no, there may not be any applause. Nobody may give you a pat on the back for doing the right thing, but keep doing the right thing no matter what, because eventually you will get your reward. Okay, so high-performing leaders, they don't wait for urgency. They prepare during calm season. So application: build systems that function without constant supervision and reward initiative, not just results. And then normalize preparation when pressure is low. This way, when the pressure is high, you would be ready for it. All right. So where am I relying on urgency instead of discipline? What system would still function if I stepped away for 30 days? That's actually a very good question. One of my major mentors used to tell me, you are really not a great leader until the organization can function without you. If you went on vacation, would everything just fall apart? If it does, you are a very, very bad leader. But if it doesn't, and people know exactly what to do and they carry on, uh, forward with the mission of the organization, then you are a good leader. Because your job as a leader is not to have a bunch of followers, but it's for you to build other leaders. So your organization should be able to work without you. So in many ways in the Navy, we are taught to really, you know, work ourselves out of a job so that the next generation of leaders will eventually take over. That's really what true leadership is all about, in my opinion. So how do I model preparation for my team? So the anchor reflection is great leadership is quietly consistent, not loudly reactive. Alright, let's go to lesson number 3. Complacency is a leadership choice. That's going to be verses 9, 10, and 11. Complacency is a leadership choice. Let me do it this way.

How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.

How long shall you slumber? It's definitely okay to rest sometimes, but your life shouldn't be full of rest and no work, right? And the ant is a really great example of that. So the leadership insight again, complacency is a leadership choice and drift is optional. And there is the book by my mentor, Chris Robinson. I had it right here. I cannot find it. Actually, I think— is that it? From— let me, let me, let me see if I can find it because I talked about it yesterday, uh, from drift to drive. Just one moment. Oh yeah, here it is. All right, perfect. I knew I had that book here somewhere. So the, the book is From Drift to Drive, highly recommended by my mentor Chris Robinson, the Executive Vice President for Maxwell Leadership, and the subtitle: AI Achiever's Guide to Breaking the Chains of Complacency. This is a great, great, great book. Because the thing is, when you achieve a certain level of success, whatever got you there is not going to keep you there. Right? And sometimes as leaders, we tend to just drift a little bit. And this book is really great because it really shows you how to get back into drive mode and not be complacent. So again, this lesson here, complacency is a leadership choice, you choose to be complacent, and drift is optional. Again, I recommend highly that you get a copy of this. I interviewed Chris Robinson, I believe it was on season 4, episode 1 or 2 last year in 2025. So you can go to your favorite podcast platform and listen to it. Okay, so the insight: leadership erosion happens slowly. It doesn't happen overnight. It's very, very slow through delay, comfort, and excuses. It's kind of like the frog, right? You put the frog in room temperature water, the frog is fine. And then you start turning up the heat little by little, degree by degree, and the frog is not going to notice that the water is getting hot. Because if you put a frog in hot boiling water, it's going to jump right out because it's too hot. But if it's room temperature and then it's just 1 degree higher, 1 degree higher, 1 degree higher, and by the time it's going to be boiling, the frog will die. So that's kind of the image for this. Erosion doesn't happen overnight. It's just little by little by little. It takes time, and people don't realize it. And before they know it, then it is too late. So the greatest threat is not failure, but drift. Okay, so application: conduct regular self-assessment and team retrospectives, replace comfort metrics with growth indicators, and address small lapses before they harden into habit. Because I think what you do continually becomes your habit. And your habit, I believe, will direct your destiny. So where have I delayed hard decisions? What discomfort am I avoiding? And what would urgency look like if the mission truly mattered? So the anchor reflection: neglect is never neutral, it is always choosing decline. Not making a decision is, uh, Making a decision is a decision by itself. So again, you need to go from drift to drive. Okay, don't be complacent. And again, this book too, The Compound Effect, whatever you do right now, even though you may not see a result immediately, keep doing the right thing over and over and over again, because eventually that bucket will get full, and then it will flip, and you will receive the harvest, what you've been hoping for and praying for. It is on the way, but you do have to be consistent. Do not be despaired and keep doing the right thing, and eventually you will be rewarded. Alright, lesson number 4: Character failure is a leadership failure. That's verses 12 through 15. Character failure is a leadership failure.

A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth; he winks with his eyes, he shuffles trifles his feet, he points with his fingers. Perversity is in his heart, he devises evil continually, he sows discord. Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly, suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.

Now you notice that the calamity comes suddenly, but the action of the perverse man was not sudden. It was consistent over a long period of time, and when the bucket got full then calamity came. What I'm also saying is if you do the right thing, the bucket is going to come full and the blessing will come and the rewards will come, right? So good or bad, good or evil, it is really up to you. Your action will dictate what is going to happen to you. There are a lot of things we absolutely cannot control, right? We have no control on the weather, maybe no control on the economy or politics or a lot of things we— that's just above our control. But there are some things we can control, the way we think and what we do, how we respond to what happens to us. So those things we definitely can control those. And we need to control what we can in order to maximize the opportunity and the probability of us realizing our goals and living out our vision and our purpose. That's completely up to us. So integrity is non-negotiable. So manipulation, deception, and hidden agendas destroy trust faster than incompetence, but leaders who operate with divided hearts fracture teams. So the application: establish clear ethical standards and enforce them consistently. Consistency, I think, is really the key here for wisdom, for success. You have to be consistent, not just once in a blue moon, but day after day, week after week, month of consistency. So address toxic behavior immediately regardless of rank. When it happens, you need to address it right away. And then model transparency, especially when it costs you. All right. Easier said than done, but that's wisdom. That's leadership. So where might my action contradict my stated value? Again, you have to be in alignment. We need cohesion, right? Coherence. What you say and what you do and what you believe, your values have to be aligned. Who feels themself speaking truth around me? Your people should have psychological safety. They should be okay telling you what they think, even if you don't like it, and not fear reprisal. There needs to be an environment. You have to cultivate an environment where people can speak freely. And how do I respond when I am exposed? So we really have to check our ego. The anchor reflection: trust erodes quietly and collapses suddenly. But what leads to that trust eroding and that sudden collapse is consistent action by the leader. Usually that doesn't just happen overnight, and before you know it, it is too late and the people have lost their trust in you as the leader. And when that happens, it's almost possible for them to get that trust back. Now trust is one of those things it takes a very long time to earn, but once you lose it, you almost never get it back. So you really have to guard that. All right, the anchor reflection again: trust rewards quietly and collapses suddenly. Now let's go to lesson number 5: know what destroys trust. That's going to be verses 16, 17, 18, and 19. Let's go.

These 6 things the Lord hates. Yes, 7 are an abomination to him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans. Feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.

So this is the one that Ron Carpenter AI highlighted in his introduction: a false witness who speaks lies and the witness who sows discord among brethren. You really have to stay away from toxic people because they could destroy your entire team. So leadership insight: pride, deception, injustice, and discord are not personality quirks, right? They are leadership disqualifiers. Teams fracture when leaders tolerate this behavior. And I've been in a few companies, especially in Silicon Valley, where I've seen some people who do not align with the core values of the company, but they do bring in a lot of money. And because of that, they get promoted and they get celebrated even though they are full of pride and they are deceptive, full of anger, and they cause discord within the teams and they are really toxic to the culture of the organization. But just because they bring in a lot of money, leadership ignores that. And I think that is a mistake. That's really a leadership disqualifier. People like that should not be in position of leadership because what's going to happen is the good people within your enterprise, they will see that and they are going to find another job. They're gonna get another boss because most people, they leave their jobs because of their immediate supervisor. But anyway, something to think about. So application audit leadership behavior against value. So what are your values and what are your behavior and are they aligned? I think that is a very important thing to do as a little. Do it for yourself and do it for your team. So confront pride early, especially in high performers and in yourself too. You always have to keep your ego in check and really be humble and have an open mind where you can learn from everybody, including the most recent member of your team, the most junior person, because they may have a perception, they may have an idea, they may have a way of looking at things that is going to add a lot of value to what you are doing as a team. So measure success by unity, not just output. All right, which of these behaviors is most dangerous in your environment? And where have you tolerated harm for performance? What must be confronted right now? So think about it. So the anchor reflection: culture reflects what leadership allows. All right. And as a leader, again, you are shaping the culture of your organization. And if something is not in sync or aligned with your core values, you have to address it immediately, no matter who's doing it. And that's really going to help you have an organization that is high-performing with a great culture. Again, I love the interview I had. I believe it was episode number 3, season 5, episode 3 with Terri Maxwell. She taught us that your core values have to be aligned with your action. In her own company, she wouldn't hire anybody who doesn't display, demonstrate the core values of her company. And I think that is powerful. Okay, lesson number 6: Accountability is a gift. So we're gonna read Proverbs chapter 6:20, 21, 22, and 23. Accountability is a gift.

My son, keep your father's command and do not forsake the law of your mother. Bind them continually upon your heart, tie them around your neck. When you roam, they will lead you. When you sleep, they will keep you. And when you awake, they will speak with you. "For the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life." Reproof of instruction are the way of life. Wow!

So healthy leaders, they welcome instruction, correction, and boundaries. Always open for feedback. Accountability doesn't limit leadership, it really protects it. It's like the guardrail to keep you protected and doing what you are meant to do. So application. So build personal and professional accountability structure. Encourage dissent and constructive feedback, even from people who don't like you, because in all of the dirt that comes out of their mouth, there might be a nugget of gold which could make the difference. And many times A few people throughout my life, for whatever reason, they didn't like me and they would just criticize me. They thought they were hurting me, but actually by their criticism, they helped me get better because I'm like, yeah, this one thing that they said is valid. Everything else is a bunch of nonsense, but this one here is true. I need to change. I need to get better. So they helped me get better. It reminds me of a story Ace Moss told me when I was a teenager. I think it was a goat or something fell into a ditch and then the the owner was very, very sad and crying, and he thought, okay, my goat is dead. So he started putting dirt in the well in order to bury the goat, but every time the dirt would fall on the goat, he would just shake it up and then step on top of the dirt. And they did it over and over and over again until there was so much dirt underneath the feet of the goat that the goat was able to jump out of the of the world. But again, another illustration, I don't know if that's a true story or not, but I like it. And what it means is even when people put a lot of dirt on you, just shake it off, keep the gold, get rid of the dirt, and you step on top of it, right? So you use it as a point for you to move up to the next level. That's wisdom. Alright, so normalize coaching at every level, even from the people who report to you or the most junior people on the team, do not ignore those just because they are junior. Again, they may have a way of looking at things and experience or knowledge that is going to be very beneficial to the team. So the anchor reflection is leaders grow faster when they remain coachable. That's really an attitude, right? There's never gonna be a point, especially today, where you feel like I know everything there is to know. That's just not possible, right? We have to learn from one another. We need one another and leadership. What it really does is it allows us to have synergy. Where our output together is so much greater than the output of each individual member of a team separately. That's leadership. Alright, lesson number 7: Private compromise has public consequences. That's going to be from 24 through 35. So I think that's until the end of the chapter. Let's listen to that. Proverbs 6:24-35.

To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress, do not lust after her. Her beauty in your heart, nor let her allure you with her eyelids. For by means of a harlot, a man is reduced to a crust of bread, and an adulteress will prey upon his precious life. Can a man take fire to his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be seared? So is he he who goes into his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her shall not be innocent. People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving. Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold. He may have to give up all the substance of his house. Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks He who does so destroys his own soul. Wounds and dishonor he will get, and his reproach will not be wiped away. For jealousy is a husband's fury, therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will accept no recompense, nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts.

Well, this again reminds me of the gazelle intensity. Don't even put yourself in a position where you might be tempted and have to use your own will, your willpower to get out of it. Just run as fast as you can like a gazelle, like Joseph did with Potiphar's wife. Just run, run, run, run with intensity. Stay away from trouble. So private compromise will have public consequences. Integrity is always on display. All right. Moral failure destroys credibility, trust, and legacy, sometimes families, and no amount of success can compensate for compromised character. Application: set non-negotiable ethical boundaries. And again, if you go back to the leadership conversation I had with my former professor, Dr. Casey Luscious, that was one of the last episodes from season 4. In 2025. We talked right before Christmas, so you can find it again on all of the major podcasts out there. We talked about ethics. She taught ethics in her class, but you really have to think about those things before they happen. You have to prepare for it and decide what you are going to do. So avoid environments that erode judgment, flee from those environments. Like a gazelle frees from the prey. It's not like, oh, maybe I will, maybe I will not, let's see, I have willpower, I am stronger than that. No, even though every man I know has fallen to this temptation before me, but I am different, I am very, very strong. No, don't put yourself in a situation like that. Like my mother would say, do not tempt the devil. That was one of her sayings. But really, create an environment where you are pretty much forced to do the right thing because the wrong thing is not within reach. Because many times people, I think they do things they're not supposed to do just because it's so easily available. And I think many distractions are available today more than has ever been in the entire human race. Now, everything we've got from social media, the internet, TV, and all of that, you can get really, really, really busy all the time, but really never accomplishing any of your personal goals. So you really have to manage your environment and decide what's a priority for you, what's going to be a focus. All right. So, lead with moral clarity, not rationalization. So where am I flirting with compromise today? And more importantly, what safeguards protect my integrity? What legacy am I building? Privately and publicly. So the anchor reflection for lesson number 7, leadership credibility is built in private and tested in public. All right, my closing thought on this, let me see, I don't see any comments in the chat, YouTube or LinkedIn. But Proverbs 6, I believe teaches that most leadership failures are avoidable, right? It's not inevitable, you can avoid that. Need discipline, humility, accountability, and integrity. And they are not optional traits, but they are protective systems. That's again another reason why I love to read biographies. That's why I love to read the Bible because it shows me good and bad and what people have done and I can learn from the experience of somebody else. That's why I love mentorship so much. It's really a master key to success. I can learn what to do or what not to do based on the life of somebody else, of my mentor, what they've gone through, the wisdom they got through their lived experience. Because you really only learn two ways, right? It's a mistake that you make, trial and error, or mentorship by getting wisdom from somebody else who's been where you are about to be. So powerful. So wise leaders don't just inspire, but they prevent harm, guard trust, and build legacy that endures. So that's it for chapter 6. We're gonna be back here tomorrow for chapter 7 of the Book of Proverbs. Again, this is about ancient wisdom mentoring from the Book of Proverbs, ancient wisdom and leadership lesson. So today we did Proverbs chapter 6 on January 6th, and tomorrow we're gonna do chapter 7. And today, in about, what, 20 minutes or so, I'm gonna have a great privilege of speaking with the one and only Admiral Melissa Burt, U.S. Coast Guard Judge Advocate General, recently retired. We're gonna be talking about leadership at the intersection of law, trust, and national security. You do not want to miss it. And then on Thursday, I will have the pleasure of speaking with Charlie Wetzel. He's a master craftsman, the writing partner of John C. Maxwell and many others, Kevin Myers, and he's written a lot of books himself, like The Marvel Studio, and also the short film, The Candy Shop. So he's going to be here on Thursday. And I will also talk with Tembra Wade-Stevenson, food justice visionary, cultural engineer, and scholar-practitioner, bestselling author of the Wanda series for kids. We're going to be talking about leadership with nourishment. That's going to be Thursday. And then on Sunday, I will be speaking with Dia Ramesh. She's a cybersecurity leader. We're going to be talking about cybersecurity being existential. And then I will have a great pleasure on Actually, first day this week, I just remember we're going to be talking with Colonel Ise Gibson. That's going to be on first day. He's an Harvard Business School professor as well. This is going to be from Army veteran. And then we're also going to talk to Anna Wheeler. She's a Navy and Army veteran. So that's going to be here on first day. And then next week, I will have a great pleasure of speaking with Lisa Fenn. She's really a mentoring architect, bestselling author of The Mentor's Guide and also Bridging Differences for Better Mentoring. And I also realized I'm gonna be speaking on the same day with Commander Erika Dobbs, US Navy retired. So this is really going to be a whole lot of fun and I truly look forward to it. And really hope to see you in just a few minutes with, again, Admiral Melissa Byrd. All right, see you soon. Bye for now.

Thank you for tuning in to the Leadership Success Podcast with your host, Coach BZ. If today's episode added value to your leadership journey, be sure to subscribe, share, and join us again for more wisdom nuggets on how to lead better and achieve greater success. Remember, leadership is the most critical skill of our time. The world will always need leaders to inspire others, drive innovation, and execute meaningful strategy. So why not count yourself among the bold leaders shaping the 21st century? Until next time. Stay inspired, stay committed, and keep leading with excellence.