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<v Speaker 1>Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of

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<v Speaker 1>performance through strong human relations, team building, and GOLAJV. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the Seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellavledo.

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<v Speaker 1>Hello everyone, and welcome to the Seven Minute Leadership Podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>It's episode six seventy eight. Today's episode is different. Today

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<v Speaker 1>we mark something. I honestly was not sure whatever happened

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<v Speaker 1>when I started this thing ten years ten years of

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<v Speaker 1>a microphone, an idea, and a belief that leadership lessons

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<v Speaker 1>could be shared in seven minutes. April eighteenth, twenty sixteen,

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<v Speaker 1>episode number one. I remember sitting there wondering if this

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<v Speaker 1>was a terrible idea. I had never hosted a podcast before.

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<v Speaker 1>I had no audience, no sponsors, no roadmap, no clue

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<v Speaker 1>if anyone would even care. All I knew was this.

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<v Speaker 1>I had spent decades in environments where leadership decisions mattered

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<v Speaker 1>immediately on the ambulance, in command posts, in disaster deployments,

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<v Speaker 1>in rooms where the stakes were real and mistakes had consequences,

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<v Speaker 1>And I kept thinking something. Leadership education had become bloated

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<v Speaker 1>with corporate buzzwords and PowerPoint slide decks that sounded impressive,

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<v Speaker 1>but did not survive contact with the real world. I

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<v Speaker 1>kept thinking, leadership should be simpler than this. It should

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<v Speaker 1>be direct, honest, short, tactical seven minutes. That was the experiment.

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<v Speaker 1>Could someone become a better leader if they spent seven

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<v Speaker 1>intentional minutes a day thinking about leadership? That question started

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<v Speaker 1>this entire journey. Episode one went out into the world,

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<v Speaker 1>and then something interesting happened. People started listening. Not thousands

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<v Speaker 1>at first, Sometimes it felt like maybe five people were listening,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe ten. I remember refreshing the download numbers and thinking, Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>someone somewhere actually heard this. Then the email started. A

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<v Speaker 1>supervisor from Texas, a business owner in Canada, a firefighter

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<v Speaker 1>in Australia, a nurse in Ireland, people saying the same thing.

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<v Speaker 1>I listened to your podcast on my drive to work.

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<v Speaker 1>I played your episode for my team. That seven minutes

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<v Speaker 1>helped me handle a tough situation today. That was when

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<v Speaker 1>I realized something powerful. Leadership lessons do not need to

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<v Speaker 1>be complicated to be valuable. They need to be honest,

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<v Speaker 1>and they need to come from experience. Over the next

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<v Speaker 1>ten years, the podcast kept growing. Episodes turned into hundreds, hundreds,

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<v Speaker 1>turned into more than six hundred and fifty and somewhere

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<v Speaker 1>along the way, the podcast began reaching leaders in one

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and forty four countries. That part still blows my mind.

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<v Speaker 1>Think about that for a moment, a microphone in Pennsylvania,

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<v Speaker 1>seven minute leadership lessons and leaders around the world listening.

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<v Speaker 1>That never gets old. But let me also tell you

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<v Speaker 1>the part people don't see, the messy part, because this

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<v Speaker 1>journey was not polished. There were nights when I recorded

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<v Speaker 1>episodes late because the day had been completely consumed by

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<v Speaker 1>running an EMS organization. There were weeks when I wondered

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<v Speaker 1>if I had run out of things to say. There

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<v Speaker 1>were episodes that did not land the way I had hoped.

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<v Speaker 1>There were critics, There was hate mail, There were people

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<v Speaker 1>who said leadership podcasts were a waste of time. And

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<v Speaker 1>there were days when life hit hard, real hard. During

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<v Speaker 1>those ten years, there were moments of personal loss, moments

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<v Speaker 1>of exhaust question, moments when the weight of leadership felt heavy.

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<v Speaker 1>But something interesting kept happening every time I hit record

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<v Speaker 1>the mission reset seven minutes, seven minutes to share something

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<v Speaker 1>honest with leaders who were facing their own battles. Somewhere

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<v Speaker 1>along the way, the podcast became something bigger than I expected.

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<v Speaker 1>It turned into books. Four leadership books came out of

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<v Speaker 1>these conversations. It turned into new friendships with leaders all

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<v Speaker 1>over the world. It turned into coaching conversations, speaking engagements

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<v Speaker 1>in leadership academy classes, and maybe most importantly, it turned

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<v Speaker 1>into a community, a community of leaders who care about

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<v Speaker 1>doing this job the right way. Now, let me share

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<v Speaker 1>something personal. When I started this podcast, I did not

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<v Speaker 1>think of myself as a podcaster. I thought of myself

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<v Speaker 1>as someone with experience who had something to say, and

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<v Speaker 1>that is still how I see it today. I'm not

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<v Speaker 1>here to impress you. I'm here to share lessons that

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<v Speaker 1>come from real environments where leadership matters. The cockpit, the ambulance,

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<v Speaker 1>the command post, the classroom, the hard conversations, the failures,

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<v Speaker 1>the lessons learned the hard way. Because leadership is not clean,

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<v Speaker 1>Leadership is not neat, leadership is not perfect. Leadership is human.

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<v Speaker 1>And if there's one thing this podcast has proven over

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<v Speaker 1>ten years, it's this leaders everywhere are looking for something real,

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<v Speaker 1>not corporate jargon, not motivational posters, real leadership, and that

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<v Speaker 1>is what this show has always tried to deliver seven

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<v Speaker 1>minutes at a time. Now, let me say thank you.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you to the listeners who have been here since

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<v Speaker 1>the early days. Thank you to the new listeners who

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<v Speaker 1>discovered this show last week. Thank you to the leaders

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<v Speaker 1>who share the episodes with their teams. Thank you to

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<v Speaker 1>the critics who pushed me to be sharper, and thank

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<v Speaker 1>you to the people around the world who remind me

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<v Speaker 1>every day that leadership is a universal language. Ten years,

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<v Speaker 1>over six hundred and seventy five episodes, four books, and

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<v Speaker 1>leaders in one hundred and forty four countries tuning in.

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<v Speaker 1>That's not something I ever predicted when episode one went live.

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<v Speaker 1>But here's the part that matters most. We are not done.

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<v Speaker 1>Leadership still needs voices that cut through the noise. Leadership

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<v Speaker 1>still needs honesty. Leadership still needs people willing to stand

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<v Speaker 1>up and say what actually works. And that mission continues tomorrow,

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<v Speaker 1>because tomorrow there will be another seven minutes. So here

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<v Speaker 1>we are, ten years later, still talking about leadership, still learning,

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<v Speaker 1>still growing, still sharing seven minutes that might help someone

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<v Speaker 1>make one better decision today, and sometimes that is all

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<v Speaker 1>leadership really is, one better decision. So thank you for

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<v Speaker 1>being part of this journey, and thank you for helping

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<v Speaker 1>me build this amazing leadership community. Around the world. This

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<v Speaker 1>has been the seven minute leadership podcast and I thank

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<v Speaker 1>you for listening. For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts,

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<v Speaker 1>visit paulfellowalito dot com.