Week 7: The Most Important Thing You Can Do as a Leader

Podcast: Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast

Episode: “Self Leadership, Part 1” and “Self Leadership, Part 2”

Description: Andy teaches why protecting your personal health and clarity is the most crucial responsibility of every leader.

Discussion Questions (Updated 10.26.25):

1. When was the last time you realized you weren’t being fully honest with yourself about something - maybe your motives, your emotions, or your limits? What helped you finally see the truth, and what did you do once you did?
2. Think of an area where you’re consistently choosing what you want now instead of what you value most. What’s driving that tension, and what would it take to realign your choices with your deepest values?
3. If the people closest to you (spouse, friends, kids, coworkers) were asked what matters most to you based on how you live, what would they say? How does that compare to what you wish they would say?
4. Andy Stanley says, “You can’t lead in a reactionary way.” Right now, what are you unintentionally leading yourself toward? What’s the destination you want to be heading toward instead?
5. “I will not attempt to lead myself by myself.” Who in your life has permission to call you out when you’re off course and how often do you actually invite that kind of feedback?

This Week's Objective:

To understand that the hardest person you will ever lead is yourself and that self-deception and emotional drift will quietly erode your leadership long before external failure ever does.

Core Truth:

You can’t lead others well if you’re not first leading yourself with honesty, clarity, and discipline. Every leadership failure is, at its root, a failure of self-leadership.

Why We’re Studying This:

Because before you can effectively lead teams, churches, or organizations, you must learn to lead you - your motives, reactions, and habits. Leadership influence flows from inner integrity. If you lose that, you eventually lose everything else.

Try This (A Practical Application Option):

Practice “brutal honesty” with yourself once this week.

Each night, ask yourself these three questions and journal (even briefly):

1. 1. What emotion drove most of my decisions today (ie, peace, fear, pride, pressure, etc)
   2. Where was I tempted to choose what I want now over what I value most?
   3. What truth about myself am I resisting right now?