The Talent Magnet Leadership Podcast

Episode #178: Leadership Is a Mission Field with James Lenhoff

Are leaders unwittingly putting a price on human interaction? James Lenhoff and Mike Sipple Jr share the answer on this episode of the Talent Magnet Leadership Podcast. James is the Director of Mission at Wealthquest and the host of The Rich Life Podcast. He is also the bestselling author of Living a Rich Life. In this exciting conversation, James and Mike dive deep into his role at Wealthquest, the value of teamwork and showing up for employees within your organizations, and why it’s important to nurture the personal relationships you have outside of work.

Before James was the Director of Mission at Wealthquest, he was the President of Wealthquest. He talks about how he acquired his new role and what it means to him. "The vision [of this role] is to be the conduit between all of our team members and the leadership team." [2:26]
Wealthquest's mission is to empower families to live meaningful lives. In order to do that, it requires a team that's engaged in and passionate about that mission, and who aren't afraid of shying away from hard conversations. Wealthquest keeps its employees engaged via standing meetings, team meetings, and in some ways, over communication. "We really don't want people to feel like they didn't hear about something, or they didn't understand what's going on," James adds. Keeping an environment where communication is frequent and normalized, allows for higher employee engagement. [5:08]
Listening to your employees makes the work environment healthier. Leaders should be actively listening to employees’ wants and needs, and establishing a way to deal with conflict when it arises. [9:40]
Companies often make the mistake of trying to squeeze every ounce of productivity out of their employees. Leaders need to establish boundaries instead of assuming that their employees are going to work until the work is done. Establishing boundaries like a strict cut off time for work makes for more rested and more productive employees. [11:11]
"If we are in the service business, we need to exercise serving," James tells Mike. Wealthquest incentivizes this mindset at any possible opportunity and encourages their employees to get engaged in charitable actions. Practicing serving others translates into how they care for clients’ families. [14:27]
James shares why he wrote his book, Living a Rich Life, and his vision for the future of people reading it. A main takeaway while interviewing elderly individuals for the book, is that 'Regret compounds more than money does if we're not careful.' [16:44]
The biggest regret that people in the working world have, is the willingness to sacrifice relationships for money and the willingness to chase the next promotion instead of focusing on the life and family they have. Another major regret James remarks, is when people realize later in life that they have over accumulated when they could've been giving away. James answers both dilemmas with the concept of an Abundance Fund. [18:42]
Relationships are more important and make everything better. They need to be the priority in your life so that you don't miss out on what's happening around you. Give quality over quantity. [22:50]