Welcome to the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast. A conversation designed to help leaders

go further faster. On today's podcast, we'll discuss the dangerous desire for autonomy.

You're calling your talk the Minus, the Myth, and the Mayhem of Autonomy. Yes, that's

some pretty serious literations. The Minus, the Myth, and the Mayhem of Autonomy. Yes,

so why did you choose this topic? Well, I think for most leaders, maybe all leaders,

and maybe I'm just looking at the world through my filter, I think one of the components

of our personal definition of success as leaders is autonomy. By autonomy, I simply mean

to be self-governing, to be in a position as a leader, to do what I want, when I want,

where I want, to have the resources to pursue whatever opportunities I want to, and to

be in a position where nobody can actually make me do anything, to just have total autonomy.

I think the quest for autonomy is that part of leadership we don't talk about, it's embarrassing,

I felt funny even saying that out loud, but I think it's in all of us, it's not necessarily

a bad thing, but as we're going to talk about it, it can certainly be a dangerous thing.

So Andy, would you say that this is something that most leaders drift toward? Well, I think

that's a nice way of saying it. I think we actually yearn for it. I think we aim for

it. I think when we think about our preferred future, autonomy is part of the picture.

Andy, without getting into the psychology of it, where does this pull come from? Well,

I think it can come from a lot of places, and again, neither of us are psychologists,

but having talked to so many leaders, I think part of it is fear. I think our past oftentimes

determines how strong a desire this is, if you grew up in a family, where let's say your

mom or dad lost their job, your family suffered. You know, you grew up with this desire, hey,

I don't ever want to find myself in a situation where I'm dependent on someone, where I'm

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