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

go further faster. On today's podcast, we're going to explore a challenge that most leaders

face but few seek coming. Andy, one of the things most leaders have in common is all that

their future focus. They're constantly on to the next challenger or looking for the next

opportunity. And for the most part, this is a great ability, but it can create a challenge

for leaders too. It can create a huge challenge because again, we're so forward focused

in our wake, there's often relational chaos, sometimes financial chaos, oftentimes organizational

chaos, systems chaos, there's all kinds of chaos because we can't, you know, once we're

finished with what's in front of us, we're on to the next thing. And I think a lot of things

drives that beyond simply somebody who's designed to be a leader. I think, you know, we're

trying to please somebody, we're trying to satisfy some inner hunger, some inner desire,

trying to make our dads happy, just some inner demon, we're fear of poverty, fear of

insignificance. You know, there's all kinds of things that drive leaders. Again, so far

into the future that they don't pause to celebrate or to take care of things, you know,

on home base. What can leaders do to keep from being so future focused that it causes problems

in their current environment? It's a great question and it's a constant

tension. We've talked about tensions to manage. This is definitely a tension leaders have

to manage. And I think the short answer that we'll elaborate on is simply this, all of

us in leadership need to create a rhythm in which we're looking ahead while at the same

time looking around. We're looking ahead. That's what energizes us is looking ahead, but

at the same time pausing to look around us. Looking ahead, energizes us because it's

about the future. Looking around us is what enables us to create an environment, whether

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