4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2025
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
On this episode of The Jon Gordon Podcast, I sit down with Jeff Little, pastor, coach, and dedicated people-builder, for an uplifting conversation about leading with heart and purpose.
Jeff shares his journey from stepping into leadership at age 21 to guiding a thriving community, highlighting the power of authentic care and connection. Together, we explore the "shepherd" approach to leadership, the importance of building real relationships, and how leaders can create cultures where people truly thrive. Jeff also discusses practical lessons from his books, Win with People and The Way to Win, emphasizing the difference between leaders who serve others and those who simply manage for their own gain.
Whether you're leading a team, a family, or looking to grow personally, this episode will encourage you to embrace your role as a shepherd, reminding you that great leadership is about investing in others, building meaningful connections, and leaving a legacy through the people you empower.
About Jeff,
Jeff Little is the founding and lead pastor of Milestone Church, with campuses across the Dallas/Fort Worth region. He has been in ministry for over 30 years. He is the founder of Lead to Win which exists to help pastors and leaders build healthy cultures and winning environments through gatherings, coaching, and resources. Jeff earned a Bachelor's in Religion from Baylor University, a Master's in Missiology from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a doctorate from Southeastern University. He and his wife, Brandy, live in Keller, TX, have four children, and enjoy being "Papa" and "Honey" to their grandchildren.
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the John Gordon podcast, where we share John's interviews with guests, as well as key strategies and lessons from his keynotes, coaching, and more. |
| 0:09.0 | We want to encourage you to check out John Gordoncertified.com if you're interested in growing as a leader, coach, speaker, or trainer. |
| 0:15.6 | When you get certified, you'll be able to teach, coach, and train others on John's most impactful mindset, leadership, and teamwork principles. |
| 0:22.5 | For more information, visit john Gordoncertified.com. That's J-O-N-Gordoncertified.com. Now let's jump |
| 0:29.0 | into today's episode. Hey, this is John Gordon with the John Gordon podcast. And today my guest is Jeff Wittle. |
| 0:37.4 | Jeff, how you doing? |
| 0:38.6 | I'm doing great, John. I'm thankful for the opportunity to be here with you. Well, it's great to be |
| 0:43.6 | with you. You know, I just love the way you view leadership and the way you think about it, |
| 0:49.2 | how you view it, and your role as a pastor. you see yourself as a shepherd. |
| 0:55.0 | Can you talk about that? |
| 0:56.0 | You know, I think a lot of times, you know, that metaphor maybe even for business leaders might put that in a category, that that's only like clergy. |
| 1:07.0 | But really the biblical metaphor, and by the way, obviously, very cultural, a cultural connection to the Middle East and a lot of other cultures around the world, you know, but maybe not so much for Western society. |
| 1:24.7 | We probably don't know a lot of like shepherds and sheep, right? So it's like we |
| 1:30.2 | kind of understand it conceptually. But I think that, yes, I think that culture is obviously a |
| 1:39.6 | big topic on teams. And you work with football teams or or business leaders or management teams or |
| 1:46.7 | executives but the principles apply and that and so people talk about culture they talk about |
| 1:54.4 | EQ versus IQ talk about you know being a relational leader a a servant leader. And actually, the shepherd metaphor |
| 2:02.9 | is, is, is connected. And so for me, I love the idea that a shepherd smells like sheep. |
| 2:12.4 | And, and I, and I believe that if, if someone's a business leader, that that's what makes that undercover boss show or some of those so engaging to us because I think there's this consistent question of, do they like live in an alternate reality? |
| 2:30.7 | Do they understand when they all gather at that table and pass down these mandates? Do they |
| 2:36.8 | understand our customers? And we know number one reason employees transition. I mean, by any |
| 2:44.9 | statistic, bad manager, you know, bad, bad leader, bad, it's, it's very much, most of the time, |
... |
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