Name: Jonah Erbe

Title: President

Organisation: Leadership Management International, Inc.

Jonah Erbe is a follower of Jesus, husband to Brooke, father to two wonderful sons, and a believer that you can change the world one leader at a time. Jonah's personal mission statement is to help others realize and reach their potential physically, mentally, spiritually, professionally, and relationally through a Christ-centered focus. Jonah's overall goal is to solve macro issues with many micro solutions.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

We’ve gone through the interviews and asked the best of the best to come back and answer 7 MORE Questions on Leadership.

I hope Jonah's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. As a leader, how do you build trust with employees, customers and other stakeholders?

To build trust with individuals, the first step is to not actively try to build trust. I believe that if we have to try to be trustworthy, we are probably not very trustworthy to begin with. To be an individual that is worthy of trust, it starts internally. We must renew our minds around topics like servant leadership, honesty, integrity, and caring for others well. If we fill our minds with influence of those who do not deserve to be trusted, then it should be no surprise that we are not worthy of trust either. John Mark Comer says that, "What you give your attention to is the person you become. Put another way: the mind is the portal to the soul, and what you fill your mind with will shape the trajectory of your character. In the end, your life is no more than the sum of what you gave your attention to." Once we focus on internal change, we will have no choice but to build trust with others because we will naturally desire to serve them without expecting anything in return, truly care for their needs on a personal level whether they work with you or not, and always look to put other's needs before our own.

2. What do 'VISION' and 'MISSION' mean to you? And what does it actually look like to use them in real-world business?

Vision is where we want to go, and mission is filter through which all of our actions must pass through. I see missions like a coffee filter. Put all of your potential activities at the top of the filter that could move forth your vision. Then, filter out any activities that do not align with your mission or purpose. Finally, consume/do only that which passes through the filter.

3. How can a leader empower the people they're leading?

For my whole life I thought that to empower someone I needed to speak some wise words or unveil some new idea. I was totally wrong. In reality, the first step to empowerment is to close my mouth and just listen. At LMI, we call this the COACH process: Connect Objective Action Plan Commitment Help I cannot help someone until I have connected with them on a personal level, helped them set an objective based on their own desires, encouraged their action plan development and daily activities, and finally inspired commitment to the goals and action steps.

4. Who are some of the coaches or mentors in your life who have had a positive influence on your leadership? Can you please tell a meaningful story about one of them?

Without a doubt, the most important coach/mentor in my life is my father. I learned from him what actual success looks like. The world says success is fame and fortune, but the world is also full of miserable existences in the pursuit of evermore fame and fortune. True joy can only be found in the secret of contentment regardless of circumstances. My father turned down promotions simply so he would not have to travel for work too much and could be home with his wife and children. Every day after work, he played with us, read Scripture with us, loved us well, asked us intentional questions, ate dinner with us, and prayed over us.

Years later, I found a prayer book my father would read over us each morning. The book had been used so frequently for my entire childhood, that his fingerprints were physically carved into the pages. My father was and is as faithful as they come in all areas of life. And that, to me, is success. Because of this, I have learned to not listen to influencers or those in the C-Suite that have zero life-balance. Instead, I look up to those who are faithful to their spouses, love their children exceptionally well, and treat others with love and respect.

5. Leadership is often more about what you DON'T do. How do you maintain focus in your role?

Write out everything you do. Every single activity. Then, move those activities over to your calendar. Eventually, my calendar is full, and I can only do what I have placed on my calendar. This allows me to always get the most important tasks done first.

6. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Everyone plans differently. How do you plan for the week, month and years ahead in your role?

I funnel everything first through an eternal perspective via Scripture and then through my personal mission statement. If anything I want to do does not align with either of the above, I simply do not do it. I then do what I answered in question five by listing all of my activities.

7. What advice would you give to a young leader who is struggling to delegate effectively?

Realize that failure to delegate is probably a pride issue. Almost every issue stems from pride. As someone who can easily struggle with pride myself, I have to realize that I am not anyone's savior, and I cannot do this on my own. I have unique God-given abilities, and so do others. I should maximize my time to use my unique giftings to their full potential, and delegate that which does not align with my gifts to others who possess those giftings.