381 | Crazy Blessed | Dr. Sam Adeyemi | Dear Leader

All right, so you've heard this saying where when the student is ready, the teacher appears, right? Well, here's how I know this is true. I was talking with my coach the other day. It's like, you know, my biggest fear is that I don't know what I don't know. And he was like, wow, you need. You need that mentorship. You need that wisdom that you may lack. And I was like, you know, just being a leader, leader in my company, leader in this ministry. And I have the beautiful pleasure of bringing you the teacher. And I've got Dr. Sam Adey with me, and he has got a book called Dear Leader. He could have like, titled this book Dear Hannah. So I'm super excited that he is with us today. Sam, thank you so much for being here on the Crazy Blessed podcast.

Thank you, Hannah. I am excited to be here on your show. Crazy Bless.

Oh, Crazy Blessed. Blessed like crazy. Guys, if you don't know Dr. Sam Adeyemy, let me just tell you. He is, first of all, executive director of the DSR Leadership Academy. More than 45,000 alumni graduated from that leadership academy. I got over 3 million followers. Like, he is a godly source of leadership mentorship. So I am so excited you're here because, like, how did you even know that this was a calling in your life, that you were called to leadership? Have you always been a great leader or was it like school of hard knocks or how did you get here?

Thank you so much, Hannah. You know what? My story makes me to believe that everyone can lead because I've not always been this kind of a leader. When I was a teenager, if I was in a group and you asked someone to volunteer to lead the group, I would be the last person to volunteer myself. Why? Because I am introverted and I used to be extremely shy. So, I mean, I couldn't walk up to a stranger and just begin to talk like that. Talk more of standing before a crowd to speak. But a reverend gentleman in my church gave me a book one day. He said, there's something about you. Read this book, Christian Leadership by Donald S. Altman. I took the book. If I don't remember anything. I remember the fact that the author said those ideas, those old theories that say that only few people are born to lead, everybody else is born to follow. He said, those theories are dead. Read the Bible and you saw fair that God created man in his own image and gave us dominion. Then you will know every human being has the capacity to influence others. So he said, whoever you are reading this Book look at the qualities of a leader. You have some of them already. The ones you don't have, you can cultivate. That was it for me because I saw right there that I had some of the qualities already. And then it became part of my development plan to cultivate the ones that I did not have. Of course.

Yeah.

I found it difficult to communicate, right. To start conversations and to keep them running and so on. So I began to work on that. I bought how to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

My. My seven kids. Required reading. That is. Wow. How to Win Friends and Influence people, right? Ye, absolutely. Actually, my parents, they were. My parents grew up really, really poor and they didn't have a lot of books. And my. My mom remembers they had two books in their house. They had the Bible and How Wind Friends and Influence People.

Wow. That is amazing. Right?

Yeah.

So anyway, so I began to cultivate leadership skills at about the same time. I was going through a very difficult time. I studied to be an engineer because my dad is a building contractor. His own dad was a builder. I wanted to continue in the family tradition. By the time I was done schooling, my dad's business had gone down. So I had to search for a job. And that was so difficult, getting a job almost two years before I could get one. During that time I went through dark moods and all that because things were so difficult for my family. It was difficult to feed. My dad was finding it difficult to pay rent and all that. I despaired. Right. And then I began to read books like Tough Times never Last, but Tough.

People, tough people do, right?

And I saw something there that, that was mind shifting for me. He said, attitudes are more important than facts. And I said, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What are you trying to tell me? Facts are facts. The reality is the reality. And he says, oh no, your attitude is more important. I began to discover that I should not put my energy in the things I cannot control. I should focus on the things I can control. And the things I can control are inside me, my thoughts, my emotions, and so on. So that was where things began to change for me. And then I read this book on leadership. So somewhere along the line, I became youth pastor in my church. I eventually got a job as an engineer, but I only did eight months on the site. I just knew I was in the wrong place because in church I was doing way better. And then the position opened up in church. I put in for it and I left the site, crossed over to church. And the day I was leaving the site, my Director, who was a Muslim, said, I don't understand what's going on. Why should you leave such a good career and go into religion? And I said, don't worry about me. I have found an area of life where I function like a computer. I said, I think it's better I go there. A few years down the line, you will hear about me. Right? Right.

Wow. That is bold. That is a big talk.

And eventually, the same man would write me a letter many years down the line and say, I'm so proud of you. I'm hearing about the things you're doing for the Kingdom of God. Right.

Wow.

Anyway, so. So I crossed over to church, and. And then those leadership skills began to play out. Right. And then I went on radio. The Holy Spirit told me to go on radio and to teach people basic principles for success from the Bible. Although he said it must not be a religious program, so I could not quote biblical references. I did not pray in the name of Jesus.

Right.

I found it difficult to understand it, but he explained it to me. About half of Nigeria is Christian. About half is Muslim. So he said, if you come with the Bible, they are taught to raise their defenses. They won't hear anything you're saying. I said, true.

Yeah, that's true. That's true. You got to break down those walls first.

Right. So that's how I started teaching success. It was boom from. From the start, I. I could not imagine so many people. You know, I mean, this is Africa, right. So there's a lot of poverty and deprivation. So. So it made sense to a lot of people that broadcast. We called it success power. And then in my own study, I realized, at the highest level of success, you help other people to succeed at the high. And that's leadership. Yes.

Yeah.

Hiring other people to succeed. So that's my journey in leadership. And then I started leadership school eventually.

Now, how did. Did you just know you were supposed to do this? Did God, like, call you? Okay, you need to start a school for leadership.

Oh, yes. So what happened was also that when we started our church, you know, my wife and I started our church about 28 years ago or 29 years ago. And, I mean, the church is about 40,000 members now because the principles work, right?

The principles work like the Bible works.

Bible works, absolutely right. So. But the first three years, this. The growth was very slow, and I was frustrated. Right. It was like all the principles I knew were just not working.

Wow.

Eventually.

Yeah.

For the revelation in the dream. So that things changed. And then I said, holy Spirit, how do we. How do we make this happen? He said I should lead the prayer, the church in prayer and fasting. While we're doing that, a friend gave me the Purpose Driven Church, a book by Pastor Rick Warren from Saddleback Church in California. And the Holy Spirit gave me understanding into the book on how to build systems. We executed it and our church just went boom, right? Just literally just exploded. And I was asking. I mean, it's like we multiply 10 times in two years.

That's unheard of. That's amazing. That is only God.

Absolutely right.

Yeah. That's. That's that supernatural anointing where, where we can do in the flesh, like limited, of course we are, but with the power, like, just like Ephesians says, that power in us to work through us. Right. That that power comes out, that's where we get those exceedingly, abundantly beyond results. Exactly is when we release him to do the work. And we're just obedient.

Absolutely. It was actually just obedience because my wife and I went on vacation and I was praying to the Lord. We were about. Our church was about to be five, and I was asking, lord, what should we do during the sixth year? So I was checking through my bible everywhere, the sixth year record. And I was reading in Leviticus 25. And he said, the seventh year will be the Sabbath, the year of rest for you. And it was like the Holy Spirit was speaking to me and I said, oh, thank you, Jesus. Okay, okay. I said, well, Lord, I was asking about the sixth year.

Yeah, not the seventh.

It says there, in the seventh year, you will not plant, you will not reap, you will not do anything. So, okay, but wait, if we're not planting or reaping them, what are we going to eat? And the answer is right there in the same chapter. It said. He said, in the sixth year, I will give you the harvest of three years. I said, holy, Holy Spirit, what does that mean? He said, I'm going to generate so much momentum for you during your sixth year that it would last you for three years. The growth will last.

But like, think about if you didn't have the wisdom to know what to do with that harvest. So just like Joseph, he had the wisdom to say, okay, if we're going to rest during this drought, right. Then we've got to have the wisdom to take this seven years of harvest and store it up systems. We have to have the systems in place so that we can rest. Like, that's, that's what we miss out on, is we don't have the infrastructure. We don't have the foundation. So we're always hustling, we're always grinding. We're always working in the natural realm to try to fill our needs instead of like, wait, what am I missing here, God?

Exactly. And that was what I got while on vacation, Right. And the Holy Spirit said, the moment you get back, you know, the first meeting you have with your pastors, fix the date for breaking into two services. Now, I was waiting for when the church would overflow with people standing before we start two services. That was not the case. We started two services based on the instruction of the Holy Spirit. And once we broke the two services, I mean, people just rushed in. I was wondering where they came from. In six weeks, both services were filled up.

Yeah. Yeah. They came from that fourth dimension, right? They came from that. From that supernatural realm, that fourth dimension. That. That. That where God is just bringing it in. So they were ready. Isn't it amazing to think that all of these people were ready? And God's like, I'll bring them to you when your systems are ready to handle the overflow. You have to think overflow before you can ex. Before you can really walk into it.

Absolutely.

Whoa, that's so good.

I agree with you, actually. Also talking about systems, I. We had just created a training system, and I took the church through it. It took us seven and a half months, one hour before the service every Sunday. I was teaching 10 great weeks. And once we were done, I said, lord, this is amazing. I was asking you to send people before. And I wasn't thinking of what to do with them. I just wanted a big church. Now I know what to do. I'm going to train them, and then you can use them. Yes, lord. Send. Send 10,000 people. I know what to do with them now.

Wait, did you say 10,000?

Yeah, I said, sent 10,000 people. And I know what to do with them. I'll turn them into a big army and you can use them.

No, Holy Spirit, she's speaking through you now. So he told me 10,000. So. Okay. I just. I just had to make sure I heard that correctly. Right.

Wow.

So. Wow.

So. So. And it was after that, then, that we had. I got that instruction, start the second service. And that was it. The two services got filled. We started the third one. They got filled. We started the fourth one. So we moved from running one service to running four in ten months.

Ten months.

In ten months.

That is amazing. What God can do in ten months is more than you can do in ten years.

Right?

Ah, so good.

So it was after things that come down a bit that I was saying, lord, we got something right here. We got something right. What is it? Because I want to be able to repeat it. And then he said to me, I just helped you to solve a problem. The problem is not personal to you. It is cultural. Africa has been very weak in management and in leadership. Those were the problems I solved for you. So he said, I want you to write down in the curriculum the things you have learned through this process and teach them to your brethren. So 2002, January. I got. We resumed office in January. And I said to our staff, this is what I heard from the Holy Spirit was starting a leadership school. So I'm going to take you, you guys, two hours, the first two hours every day through this January, I'm going to be taking you through the classes because I won't be able to take all the classes when we bring the crowds in. You guys also need to take the classes with me. So I'm going to take you through the classes through this month. So I was developing the curriculum as.

We were going on, as you were going through it.

February, we put adverts in the newspapers that our leadership school was starting. And then first week of March 2002, we started because after the illustrious told me he was helping us to solve cultural problems, that was when I looked, I realized, okay, we had only one business school in the whole country. There was no leadership school.

Wow. Okay.

Started our daystar Leadership Academy. Revolutionary, right?

Wow. Wow. And you've had how many 45, 000 people go through this leadership academy?

Absolutely. And it's amazing because we teach the. The things you will teach in the business school, like entrepreneurship, leadership, organizational growth, systems development and so on. Project management and all that. Although with a biblical foundation.

Yeah, yeah, that's just it. Like with that biblical foundation, that's. That's where all the success strategies come from originally.

Absolutely.

Like, any of those things you can see working, you can look and find it somewhere in the Bible, because that's wisdom. That, that's the. And it's all in there. But I'm thinking, so many moms, this is, this is one area I see that moms don't understand that they are leaders. They kind of feel like they're just more project managers. Do you know what I mean? Like, we're just trying to manage life instead of lead people. But here's what I believe, that moms are critical to future generations. Like, if we're going to change the world, it has to start in the home.

I agree with you, Hannah.

I agree.

Absolutely. I believe that the home is the most important leadership institution in the world.

Yes. It so is. And that's what. That's the mandate God gave me is to go and serve this nation of moms. Because this was, you know, when I had a reality series on public television. The whole reality series was I would, my, my big thing was like, I'll spend 48 hours with you and change your life. Right. You know what I actually did, Sam? I would show up at their house, look at their routines, look at how they're managing their time and their energy. And I would help them to get systems in place. That was it. But guess what? We would come back in six months and their lives were different because now not just they managed better, but they saw themselves as leaders. Like, it changed their self concept. When you can see I'm not just a mom or I'm not just a dad or I'm not just an employee. I am positioned by God to be a leader. It changes how you walk, how you talk, how you make decisions, how you do everything. So do you think it really gets back to you got to change how you see yourself before you can do anything else out there?

Absolutely. That's where I start from. So I tell people leadership is first about being before it is about doing.

That sounds like I literally say that at least every week.

Wow.

You were. You are not a human doing. You're a human being. And you can't change what you do until. Until you change how you think.

Absolutely.

I feel like we are, we are like two P's right there in a pod. Like we are just like we read the same books we went through. Yeah. I love it.

Amazing. You know, I think it's that old definition of leadership which is tied to positions. Yeah. Is what disempowers most people in their imagination.

Yeah.

So when you say leaders, everybody just shifts the focus to the people in government especially.

That's true. That's true.

Once you say our leaders. Our leaders, everybody just. Whereas when you shift the definition of leadership to influence, ability to influence one or more people to achieve goals, then you just realize leadership happens at all levels.

All levels.

And then you never discount the influence of parents anymore because they ship the values of people. They say by the age of seven, the average child's values or values are pretty much shipped. So. Right.

So it's critical. That period is so critical because that's when children are learning their core belief system that now navigates the rest of their life. Like, if we can't develop as leaders, then we're not going to be able to develop leaders. We've got to develop ourselves.

Thank you. Because we don't produce who we want. We produce who we are.

We are. That's right. That's right. You never find an apple tree with plums hanging off of it. Like you're gonna, you're gonna just duplicate yourself.

Absolutely.

So if you're. If your own decisions are not congruent to what you are expecting from your children, then we have the work to do. We've got to work on ourselves. But I think sometimes, like this is where I think the enemy comes into play. Because he wants to teach moms that they're not enough. They're just a mom. They're powerless. They don't have position. They're just changing diapers and scrubbing toilets and paying bills. It's like, wait a minute. That's. That's the ultimate. He's trying to get you to change your. Your perception of yourself.

Yeah.

That being so, you can now change your doing. So if we can go back and realize, wait, who am I really? Who am I? Am I the head and not the tail? Am I the top and not the bottom? Am I a daughter of the most high God? A son of the most high God? Am I a. A king? A queen? Am I created to rule and reign here in this earth? It changes who you are. So no, now you can start to become a leader right where you are. Whether that's as a president of a corporation or whether you're a stay at home mom. Right there.

Wow. I know. You're speaking my language, right?

It's amazing we haven't met before.

Exactly. You know, this reminds me of what happened in the Garden of Eden with Eve, the first woman. That was what happened when Satan came and said, did God say you should not eat any of the fruits of the trees? She said, oh, no, we can eat the fruit from the trees. But this one, he said, we cannot, we should not even touch it. And the devil said something I would paraphrase, like, oh, wow. Wow. God knows the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you'll be. You'll be wise. You become like God.

Yeah.

And she, she bought into it. Yes, she ate it and Adam ate it because they wanted to become like God. So. And I asked the question, who are they like in the first place? Because God said, let's make money in our own image. So Satan convinced them that they were less than they Actually were. They actually were struggling to become whom they were already. And then everything fell apart.

We can just have a mic drop moment, right? Like, I kind of. It's hard for me to stay in this chair, actually. I kind of want to get up and run around because that is so true. The lie of the enemy convincing us something against who we already are.

That's it. Absolutely.

And you know, it's not hard. This is what people think, that leadership is hard, that we have to know these skills. No, the hard, I think the hardest part, humbling yourself. Be obedient and lean in to God's wisdom instead of your own. I think that's the. I mean, he says to labor to enter into that rest, like the rest, comes as a result of laboring against our human struggle and understanding who we already are as spiritual beings. We're already made in the image. We carry that power.

Right? So that's it. And that's why the Bible describes it as entering his rest, right? It's actually rest. What did Christ say? Come to me, all of you. That labor and a heavy laden. You're carrying a heavy load. I will give you rest. My own yoke is easy. Why do we like hard, Right?

You know, I think we like hard because we want evidence that we have value.

Ah, you nailed it.

You know, because it's like. It's like I see mom saying, look how busy I am. Look at everything I have to do. Are you really that busy? Are you trying to get all the evidence to give yourself worth and value instead of finding your value in God?

God, that's so powerful. Because when the last Adam came, and that is Christ, Satan ran the same test, the same temptation on him. Because God said, at the River Jordan, this is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. Now guess what the first temptation was. If. If you are the son of God, then turn this stone into bread. Evidence, right? That you have value. Prove it. We need to see something.

Yeah, sit down. I can't sit down. Prove it.

Prove it.

That's what the enemy tells us. Prove it. Give yourself evidence. I'm not seeing anything. You're not seeing anything. Show me.

Show me. And then Christ. Christ says, I'm not going down that road with you. Right. Since God said it, I believe it. That settles it for me. I don't need to do nothing, right? I am who God says I am. He already said it. That's enough for me. That's what defines my identity. Not turning any stone into bread. It's amazing.

It's so easy. But it's so hard for us because we've been so indoctrinated to believe that we're human. You know, we've just been living as humans so long, we become enmeshed in that identity. Instead of understanding, let's go back to who we actually are. Is a child of the most high God. Loved, safe, worthy.

Absolutely.

We already are.

Just accept.

I feel like we could do. We could go two more hours.

Absolutely.

I think. I think we're gonna have to have a 12 hour preach session. I'm down. I. I'm down. We don't even need caffeine. We got Holy Spirit.

Amazing.

Oh, my goodness. All right. I. This is definitely not gonna be the last time we talked.

Absolutely. Absolutely.

So, guys, this the. Your flagship guide to successful leadership? You already know he is dropping gems. This is fire. Do not. And here's a whole book of fire. So you know what I was amazed at today, Sam? I was thinking. I was thinking about all the books that I have gotten wisdom from, and I think books are one of the most undervalued because they're inexpensive. Like, could you. Could you make 100,000 from this book? Yes. But I think because books are so inexpensive, we undervalue them. Just like you said, some of the key concepts you got were from books that the Holy Spirit said. Hey, read this. So, guys, grab a copy of this. I am so excited that I have my copy. And thank you so much, Sam, for hanging out with us today.

Oh, it's been my absolute pleasure and I really enjoyed this. Thank you.

Oh, me too. Me too. It was so much fun. All right, so guys, listen up. You are a leader where you are. Make sure you get these skills, get these strategies, get this self concept, and you are going to be blessed like crazy.