Welcome to the Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast.

My name is Pete Gazzaro. Great to be with you today.

Our theme is part two of talking about highly differentiated leaders, growing in differentiation.

The great need of our day is for highly differentiated leaders who will bring their gift and self to others to lead them forward into really God's

future for themselves. So let me just review what differentiation is from part one. It's a working

definition is it's remaining connected to people yet not allowing my reactions or behaviors

to be determined by them. It's charting your course.

It's your primary task like Jesus is to calmly differentiate your true self from the demands and voices around you.

Everyone's got a plan for your life.

The issue though is what's God's plan for your life and how do you calmly differentiate

from the voices around you that want

to shape you into somebody that you're not. So again, differentiation can be defined and has been

defined by some as personal, emotional maturity. But just think with me of two biblical examples,

which flesh it out. The first is David. And we see in his life someone who has been able

to break with the pressure of those around him. Even in 1 Samuel 17, when he emerges as a young man

in the whole battle of Goliath. And if you remember, he's not a soldier, but he arrives there at the

battle scene. Goliath is challenging the troops,

and he's able to cut through all the obstacles and pressures to be his true self in God.

And his family, his brothers say you can't do this. You're conceited. You're arrogant.

Saul, who's the king, who's led great armies. He's the great general. He says to him, you can't do this, you're only a boy, and actually tries to put armor on him.

And then you've got Goliath who says, I'll kill you if you even try to attack me.

But he takes off Saul's armor, and he charges with slingshots and stones.

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