𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

 🔥 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲-𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆?
 
 From a tough conversation with his hockey coach to a pro athlete’s mindset—and now, the founder of a global Christian marketing agency—𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗝𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 shares the unfiltered story behind his rise.
 
 In Episode 169 of 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁, discover:
 
 ✨ The game-changing R7 vision framework combining faith, psychology, and business strategy
 ✨ How to defeat the hidden enemy every leader faces: FLAP (Fear, Lust, Anger, Pride)
 ✨ Why radical integrity and fierce accountability separate good leaders from great ones
 ✨ The secret to leading with unstoppable purpose, even when the plan falls apart
 
 If you’re ready to break free from distraction, lead with clarity, and build a legacy rooted in faith, this episode is your blueprint.
 
 🎧 Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.  

🔗 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 Podcast 👉: https://misgood.com/r7-podcast/
 🌐 Visit M Is Good: https://shorturl.at/c5JfH
 📖 Explore Vision Wins Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/173664680X?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
 📲 Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/superdavejones/
 

🎙️𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 Host 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 👇:
 🌍 Visit The Uncommon Leader Podcast: https://youtu.be/MojL0gN8FFg
 📲 Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachjohngallagher/t
 🔗 Visit John’s Linktree for all resources: https://shorturl.at/mjCPJ
 

Thanks for tuning in to The Uncommon Leader Podcast! If Dave Jones’ story resonated with you and you're looking for more leadership inspiration or want to connect further, 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧’𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞, where you’ll find access to all of his business links and ways to connect directly. 

👉 If this story inspired you, 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬 𝐚 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄, 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐚 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 with your biggest takeaway, and 𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐄 for more uncommon leadership stories every week.

 #Leadership #VisionWins #FaithDrivenLeadership #Entrepreneurship #UncommonLeaderPodcast #DaveJones #ChristianBusiness #MarketingWithPurpose #PlanToWin #PersonalGrowth #LeadUncommon #JohnGallagher"

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Chapters

• 0:00 Growth Mindset and Leadership
• 5:16 Dave's Faith Journey and FLAP Concept
• 11:28 Emma's Good: Marketing with Purpose
• 19:13 Vision Wins: R7 Process Explained
• 25:32 Psychology in Sports and Business
• 31:57 The Role of Mentors in Leadership
• 36:00 Plan to Win and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

So I have this growth mindset. So, no matter what you do because I've coached a lot of high performers in business and on the ice no matter what you do, you're gonna get to a point where the skill level is pretty much the same, whether you're writing, whether you're playing, whether you're leading, you know, and so it all comes down to mindset.

Speaker 2: 0:32

Hey Oncoma Leaders, welcome back. This is the Uncommon Leader podcast. I'm your host, john Gallagher. I can't wait for you to meet our guest today, dave Jones. Let me give you a little bit of his bio so you can understand where we're going with this conversation, because I think it's going to be fabulous. But he's the founder of Emma's Good, a global Christian marketing powerhouse, and a former professional hockey player, so we'll talk about how those things go together. He's also a doctor of sport and performance psychology and the host of the R7 podcast those of you on video can see some of those things behind him and he's the author of Vision Wins ultimately a book that ties in how we can all tap into the internal compass to achieve true fulfillment in life. So I'm looking forward to our conversation today. Dave Jones, welcome to the Uncommon Leader Podcast. How are you doing?

Speaker 1: 1:14

I'm doing awesome. Thank you for having me on as a guest. I've been a fan, so I'm excited to be here.

Speaker 2: 1:19

Oh cool, I like it. I like it when we have being a fan and going forward, and I can't wait. I know some of the things we talked about before we even hit the record button, some of the connections that the world just ends up being smaller and smaller. But I'm going to start you off with the first question. I always start off my first time guests, and that's to ask you to tell me a story from your childhood that still impacts who you are today, as a person or as a leader.

Speaker 1: 1:43

All right impacts who you are today as a person or as a leader? All right. So my story. I love this question. I've heard other guests on your podcast answer this question. I don't know if mine's as good as some of the other ones, but this is my. This is one. This is my story, I guess. So I was. I was 15 years old and me and a teammate I was on the high school hockey team.

Speaker 1: 2:03

Me and a teammate were smoking pot and I had never smoked marijuana before and I don't smoke it today, but I got introduced to it at 15. And my high school hockey coach called me into the office. Now, before I go further in the story, let me just give you some context. This high school hockey coach, his name is Jamie Plunkett. He's the winningest high school hockey coach of all time. Oh my gosh. He's in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He just retired last year after 30 some years and 3000 wins something crazy. He was featured on NHL and NHL network and so I'm 15 years old and he calls me into the office and he says hey, um, you have to go talk to this person who I was just with, like 15 minutes ago when we were smoking pot together, right, and he says I want you're going to be a leader and there's always going to be people that are looking at you, that you don't know that

Speaker 1: 3:05

are looking at you, and so, as a leader in this community, in this team, you have to do some things that, uh, they're uncomfortable, but you'll be a better person for it. And so I need you to go tell this person, who I was just with, that he needs to stop smoking pot. And I, I like, oh my gosh, like I didn't realize at the time how amazing that was, until after I graduated high school. But I knew now, I know, now Jamie knew that I was doing that too and made me be. So I had to go, you know, and tell this this person hey man, we gotta stop doing this.

Speaker 1: 3:42

Jamie just called my office and like I gotta tell you to stop. Hey, man, we got to stop doing this. Jamie just called me office and like I got to tell you to stop, but inherently I had to stop too, right. And so, uh, and so I did I, I stopped, I never smoked it again, and it was because of that leadership. And so the story that sticks with me today because of that is, there's a couple of things.

Speaker 1: 4:00

One, as a leader, you know, um, there's a couple of things. One as a leader, you know there's ways to communicate inspiration to people. Because he could have just said Dave, I know what you're doing, stop, you know, but he positioned it differently, you know. He put me in a position of leadership and accountability, and he followed up with me soon after to say, hey, did you talk to this person? I said, yeah, I talked to him. It won't happen again. Sorry, jamie, you know, um, and so that's that's story number one.

Speaker 1: 4:31

Story number two is that you know, it's just what I said. You know, like there's always somebody watching, there's a great book out there who you are and no one's looking, and so, um, you know, when you're talking about integrity and accountability, it's not pleasing others. It's not pleasing others. It's about pleasing God and who you are as a person, to glorify him. And you know we all want to hear the words well done, good and faithful servant at some point in our life. And so, you know, this leads into what I call flap.

Speaker 1: 4:57

You know there's, there's certain things that hold you back to being your, you know, living out your God-given potential, and so I live off of this acronym and I coach off this acronym. So FLAP stands for your fear, your lust, your anger and your pride. Most of us are dealing with two of those at any given moment. So in fact, I just wrote another book after Vision, vision wins. This book's called on thin ice, I'm not sure when that's going to release. That's a faith story, it's. It's coming off of my doctoral dissertation. But, um, my next book after that is going to be more of an ad agency leadership book and it's going to be something the title around, you know you know. Uh, how is your flap or we need to you know removing your around, you know you know how is your flap or we need to you know, removing your flap for, you know, better leadership, quality and integrity reasons, something like that.

Speaker 1: 5:51

But yeah, so your flap. Fear, lust, anger, pride, and so when we think about fear is pretty easy, anger is pretty easy. Pride Lust is interesting because lust could be, you know know, sexual, but it also can be lusting over stuff. Sure, houses more commas in your bank account, you know, it doesn't have to be, you know, porn or whatever it's the idols.

Speaker 2: 6:19

What is it that grabs your attention? What is it that you move toward, uh, rather than moving toward, god? Oh my, I mean absolutely. I love that. I appreciate you sharing that as well. I mean your faith being such an important part of your journey. I'm going to come back to that. Just as a note, a book that I read recently in 2024, fighting Shadows, talks about four of those flaps. They talk about seven of these things that keep men from basically living out the life that God has called them to live, and how we overcome those shadows that exist. Phenomenal book, jefferson Bethke. I would recommend it to you and to the listeners of your podcast as well, especially, uh, obviously, those who men, who are, uh, on a faith journey. Tell me about your faith journey, then, mark. I mean or excuse me, dave that tell me about your faith journey that ultimately, um, frames who you are today. Was that? Have you always been a believer? You know, found God when you were little. What is, what is that story? Always?

Speaker 1: 7:24

been a believer, you know found God when you were little. What is that story? Yeah, so no. I grew up in northwest Pennsylvania in a very small town, town that was broke and I think it's not doing well today, and I always wanted something more. You know, I don't know how that works in terms of my DNA, but you know I was always chasing something and I realized early on that scoring goals was positive, that I got accolades for that, and so I just did more of that to the point where, you know, I didn't you know blame pro hockey.

Speaker 1: 8:01

But it was after I got drunk one night after winning the state championship that my brother, who was going to Moody Bible Institute, came and said hey, do you want to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior? And I said I want anything other than this. This is there, and so that was at 16. And then, after I played hockey in Europe, I came back and I just really prayed a prayer of God what do you want to do with my life? Because this isn't working, and I would say that I've been pretty obedient to that since. You know, m is Good.

Speaker 1: 8:34

Now is in its 24th year. We represent clients from all over the world. You know we're a very strategic Christian ad agency. God continues to prop that up and I just really just pray for wisdom honestly, and I don't do good at that a whole lot. You know, I mess up for sure, um, but I'm always seeking kind of the Lord's direction, um, and I I think I've done a pretty good job of following that, um, that direction. And so, um, yeah, I, I I would say that I do come early, stay late, I I've realized as a hockey player that I was never the most talented guy, so I had to make up with it with just activity. And I think I've pushed that into the agency of just come early, stay late and care, care about what you're doing, not because of the project but because we want to glorify the Lord and become the best version of ourselves, and so that's really my fuel. You know, and I've stumbled a long way, I've probably made more mistakes than I've had, you know, been successful.

Speaker 2: 9:47

So you know you talk about that and, dave, one of the things that I think about, we are most powerfully positioned to help the person that we used to be. And so your story that's a lot of where I'd lead in with that first story because it connects right In terms of your journey all the way through, and I'm sure you can still see yourself. I was going to ask you, compelled to ask you, if your leadership story start was before or after your brother asked you if you wanted to have Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, and your marijuana story. But then that's a whole different. Give me, we can talk about that one. And then the other side. I mean we're connected. Not only we're connected Smithbound Lake and the Virginia area, raleigh, north Carolina, where you're from but we also share a little bit about.

Speaker 2: 10:32

You mentioned Western PA. You said Northwest PA. I've read a little bit eerie in terms of where you're from or something. I grew up in Northern Panhandle, west Virginia, so Steel Town, 30 miles directly west of Pittsburgh. So I understand the. You know the upbringing and that environment, if you will. I mean ours was more high school football was the thing you had to do when I was growing up as a kid versus hockey. They can get up there near Erie and get a lot colder and get some hockey in. That's definitely a little more for us, but I can understand, and sports has played a very important role, obviously, in your life and your development. Now you run this organization. Tell me a little bit more about Emma's Good. You founded that company in 2001. You obviously talk about your faith inside of that business as well. But what is Emma's Good doing today that is adding value to the community that you serve?

Speaker 1: 11:29

Oh man, what a great question. So, emma's good. His vertical has always been Jesus. We represent clients from all over the world. We have about 41 clients we manage on a weekly basis. Our core competency is messaging and KPI management, so key performance indicators. We spend about $1.6 million a month in ad spend through those 41 clients. So it's about conversion. So we do have a heavy presence in Israel right now and we do have a heavy presence with pregnancy resource centers, and so when it comes to donors, when it comes to bringing other clients, donors, first-time guests into your community, you know there's usually a drip campaign.

Speaker 1: 12:16

You know that happens. So when you're prospecting versus retargeting, you know there are, there are people out there like John. You and I have a kindred spirit, for sure, you know, but before this we really didn't know each other. So if we saw each other, you know, walking along the street, we probably wouldn't say anything because we didn't know each other. You know that's prospecting. So if we saw each other, you know, walking along the street, we probably wouldn't say anything because we didn't know each other. You know that's prospecting.

Speaker 1: 12:38

So when it comes to organization Christian organizations that are trying to introduce new people it's called prospecting, and so you know there's, there's millions of evangelicals out there that want to be involved in ministry, and so we build those campaigns and then we do a retargeting campaign. So you know, now we kind of invite you into the community of whatever organization we're representing. So there's lots of ads, lots of messaging, lots of email, lots of retargeting ads, and so it's conversion. So you're spending money, you want that money to be accountable, and so we basically do a pretty good job of mining data to understand, um, if that marketing campaign is working or not.

Speaker 1: 13:20

And so I'm super thankful for the opportunity to serve. It was good, you know, being the leader there, but, uh, it's, it weighs on me. It's very heavy because there's a lot of responsibility there, um, terms of, you know, representing Israel and we know, as a seasoned Christian, you know that we need to support Israel, and so there's several organizations that come to us and say, can we reach other evangelicals that share the same heart and help us? You know, support Israel, and we know that Israel is God's chosen land and you know the Jews are God's chosen people.

Speaker 2: 13:56

Wow, that's fascinating. I'd love to be able to dig more into that. Just to understand, I love the chat about key performance indicators. As a consultant and as an executive coach, they're definitely important. And where that kindred spirit comes into play as well is that I've been moving more into working with Christian business leaders as well, and I kind of have modified that a little bit. They'd be kingdom performance indicators and what are those.

Speaker 1: 14:18

Oh, I like that yeah.

Speaker 2: 14:19

Influence on God, that they just go a little bit further and it's the impact we're having on the world, being very intentional in measuring that, because if you want to have kingdom impact, you've got to measure kingdom impact, and you do that in the form of those indicators, just like you would revenue and margin and hits and all those different things that come along so pretty powerful. Well, fast forward 20 years to really how I ended up being introduced to you is you wrote a book called Vision Wins, and can you elaborate on what Vision Wins is about, who you wrote that for and why did you write it? Why did you write Vision Wins?

Speaker 1: 14:57

Yeah, you know, vision Wins is all about R7. It is told through a story of Kelly and Elliot, who are. Since I have a hockey background, I put it in the mecca of hockey which is Edina, minnesota, and I built out these characters. I am a big fan of John Gordon. I love all his books. I love how he tells a story and I happened to have the opportunity to carry his bags once when he was speaking at a conference and I asked him how do you write a book? And he kind of laid out how to write a book and it took me five years to kind of figure out what he had told me there. But I wanted to tell a story that people can relate to and how, what I think the world turns. So I build out these characters, kelly and Elliot, and the supporting people around them, their parents and the hockey community. And you know, when it comes to R7, that's our process here, that we take people through.

Speaker 1: 16:01

But you know you have a destiny. You know, as a Christian, you know our destiny is to glorify the Lord with our talents and abilities. And then you know that vision. You know writing a vision and you know on a tablet making a plane. Habakkuk 2.2 tells us that you know writing a vision and you know, on a tablet, making a plane. Back at two, two tells it tells us that you know to write it on a tablet, make a plane. So run running by I can see and carry with them. And so when we have a vision for our life, you know we want to cast vision, we want to, we want to tell the world how we see the world through our lens. But really it's, it's a, basically a, you know, mirroring what God wants us to do. And then you know, how do we, how do we, what's the strategy for that, for that vision to happen? So that's step three. And then you know, you build the brand, communicate, pray about steps one through five and then step seven, take action.

Speaker 1: 16:47

So, I didn't want to write a book that just had the steps, you know. I wanted to tell the story of how somebody's living through these steps, and that's what I did with kelly and elliot. And so they go through that process and through a mentor named jj, who happens to be the very successful. In fact, john, you probably emulate jj very much. Um, jj was JJ is an older gentleman who has so much wisdom about him, but he takes this job as a Zamboni driver and he's just kind of like in the rink and everybody goes to JJ because they trust JJ.

Speaker 1: 17:30

He's just very open and you're able to talk to him very well and he listens and he helps people with their life and their you know their God-given purpose and so so JJ is a big character in the book and it just tells the story and there's some tragedy that happens because in life we have tragedies, you know, we have crisis, we have drama. So there's some crisis and drama in it and it's it's. I actually just I love the book now because I wrote it because of the story and so yeah, that's that's vision wins.

Speaker 1: 18:05

So so the title of the book I really love too, because no matter where you're at or what you're doing, vision always wins. And I don't want to make this a political thing, but when you look at politicians and how they run for the presidency of the United States of America, it's really interesting to see. You know, you can go back, and I have example after example of the presidential candidate who has a compelling vision wins.

Speaker 2: 18:41

Hey Uncommon Leaders, Hope you're enjoying the episode. So far, I believe in doing business with people you like and trust, and not just a company name. That's why a strong personal brand is essential, whether you're an entrepreneur or a leader within a company. Brand Builders Group, the folks who have been helping me refine my own personal brand are offering a free consultation call with one of their expert brand strategists. They'll help you identify your uniqueness, craft a compelling story and develop a step-by-step plan to elevate your impact. So head on over to coachjohngallaghercom slash BBG, as in Brand Builders Group, to schedule your free call and take the first step toward building a personal brand that gets you noticed for all the right reasons. That's coachjohngallaghercom slash BBG. Now let's get back to the episode. Love that and I think you mentioned. You said your book was described as a faith-based personal development book wrapped up in a hockey story. That's it, and I love that as the seven steps that you go through.

Speaker 1: 19:38

Now you story.

Speaker 2: 19:38

That's it, Uh, and I love that. That's the. That's the seven steps that you go through Now. I appreciate you referring me to JJ. You had me until you said older or after that talk what's your favorite John Gordon book?

Speaker 1: 19:43

You got a favorite. Is it energy bus? I love the energy bus. Carpenter is good. Um, yeah, yeah. Those are my two favorites.

Speaker 2: 19:49

I was actually, I'll say, introduced to him, not formally but in terms of his writing, with the coffee bean and the story he and Damon West did together, and I heard Damon West on a podcast and he talked about it, and I love how John Gordon tells stories with his books, though, and I love the use of fables, and you're actually the third hockey person I've had on the podcast that's written a book in the story of a fable hockey story. So, really, and that it's not that unique. Although Gordon was a, he was a lacrosse player, right he was more of a lacrosse than he was hockey.

Speaker 1: 20:19

So excellent.

Speaker 2: 20:21

You mentioned your background as a professional hockey player as well and a sports psychology coach, so that gives you quite a perspective as well. You bring your faith in and you talk about your business, what's happening, but you know how. How has a mental performance in sports translated to your business, and it's good. What are? How are those things overlapping even in the story?

Speaker 1: 20:43

Yeah, it's such an awesome question and originally I didn't know, john, like I just wanted to chase psychology, because I believe that human behavior is like everything. You know, how we react to certain messaging, how we act to certain words, how we react to drama around us. It really determines who we are and we get in these ruts. And because of our behavior, you know, we find out things that work that are ineffective and we find out things that work that are effective. And so I just became a student of chasing psychology to the point where I was like you know what I'm, just I wasn't really interested in excuse me, interested in the title, I was interested in chasing a path and, and, um, I really just wanted to study the psychology and I had to pick, you know, industrial, organizational psychology or sport, because I was a pro hockey player. I was like you know what, I'm going to go sport, of course. And so I started working with a bunch of hockey players, um, from the NHL down, and I just said, you know, I'm just going to keep chasing, you know, until I get my doctorate. And that's what I did. I just kept chasing it, and that's kind of my advice to the people that are listening out there, you know, when God's got you in a place where you feel really good, instead of changing careers, you know, instead of going wide, go deep. It's so much more fulfilling to go deep than it is wide, and that's what I did.

Speaker 1: 22:18

There's so many times I wanted to change my career out of marketing and I said no, I'm going to reinvent marketing, I'm just going to go deep with it and learn more and become a student. So have this growth mindset. So, no matter what you do because I've coached a lot of high performers in business and on the ice no matter what you do, you're going to get to a point where the skill level is pretty much the same, whether you're writing, whether you're playing, whether you're leading, you know. And so it all comes down to mindset and growth mindset and listening and understanding, and you know, and glorifying the Lord through all those peaks and valleys of all that. And so you know. I think the psychology applies to everything we do, especially. I mean, and everybody does. You know, like so and how do you react to the world is all psychology.

Speaker 2: 23:18

I love that in terms of you know, talking about again, going back to even that, going deep. Oftentimes, when you bring faith into play too, leaders will get they'll be born again, they'll be talking. They're like well, now I have to go into ministry full time, versus taking their ministry right where they are at that point in time and making a difference in the space. You know, in ministry, if it's full-time ministry, you get Sunday mornings, maybe Wednesday nights, depending on how that works In the workplace. You're 40, 50 hours a week impacting lives of others and the impact that you can have is so much more powerful as you go through that.

Speaker 1: 23:54

Yeah, there's a Gallup poll out there that says that, um, in your lifetime you're going to spend about 88 to 90,000 hours at work.

Speaker 1: 24:05

That's crazy and so being, being a blessing of where you're at. You know, um, it's powerful being grateful for where you're at. It's powerful. That's where the flap comes in right. The fear less than your pride. There's like, oh, it's so much better over there. If only I could. When I become a millionaire, I'm gonna donate. No, you're not. You're not. If you're not giving now, you're not gonna donate when you're a million million. But it's not gonna happen. It's just, it just doesn't work that way. And so I I listen I've been guilty of all this. I'm not preaching, you know like something I haven't done. I've messed it all up twice, you know.

Speaker 2: 24:42

I told you, your most powerfully positioned to help the person you used to be and, in some cases, as men of faith we're we still are. I mean, there's only one perfect person that's been in the world and all we're trying to do is emulate him. Um, do you have an? Uh, an inspirational story that you especially like to talk about with regards to an organization or a leader or someone you've helped take through these R7 principles that you talked about? The, you know, the destiny, the vision strategy, strategy ultimately leading up to taking action.

Speaker 1: 25:16

I think that I don't have a particular story of like this just was over the top. My story has been grinding. That's my story and I didn't want it to be my story, but that's my story. I think that you know, for me it's never been an audible voice of like God saying go, do this. I kind of have a problem with you know, people saying the Holy Spirit told me I've just been a very good steward of and I don't see there's nothing wrong with that, I'm just saying I just that's just hasn't been my story.

Speaker 1: 25:51

I've had this intuition of where I think it should go and through prayer and mentorship, I was telling my staff today actually we were talking about leadership and there was an example that came up and I said you ever see a turtle on a fence post? And they're like what are you talking about, dave? And I said you ever see a turtle on a fence post? What do you think when you see a turtle on the fence post? And somebody said that's weird. And I said you know, you look at a turtle on a fence post and you think how did it get there? And the answer is not by itself. And so that's how I feel like God. God, through those Destiny of Vision strategy, through R7, god sent me leaders in every one of those categories for my career.

Speaker 1: 26:42

And I didn't know it until I looked back and I went my gosh. Jay was there, tom was there, john was there and I'm like Dick Rubin was there, like all these people showed up for me, and I think that happens to us all the time and we ignore it. I think the noise around us keeps us like blinded to God working in our lives and I think, on some very small level, john, I've been able to recognize that and say this is God sending this person in my life? I need to wake up and pay attention.

Speaker 2: 27:18

Dave, I think you're spot on. As I said, you talked about not hearing the voice of God or not hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. Attention, because he will bring the individuals into our life that need to make a difference. If we're watching, if we want to hear the voice of God, take your Bible, read scripture out loud, you'll hear it. That's his voice, no doubt about it. If you pay attention to those things that are going on in your life, you'll recognize the gifts that are being handed to you and if you'll just take those and take action on those things that come in, you mentioned, kind of there's been someone in each one of those seven steps who influences your leadership style the most. Who do you follow that influences you?

Speaker 1: 28:07

I mean, I just hate to be, you know, you know.

Speaker 2: 28:10

I'd say names, right.

Speaker 1: 28:12

Say the same. No, it's, it's just been Jesus man. You know, it's people that have been in my life, leaders that have brought the word of God in a different kind of way, and I learned from that. Look at my life and go okay, this is I'm a. You know I'm probably the cliche of. I'm a, um, I'm an average of everybody's been around me. You know, take your top five friends. I had, I had a. I had one particular mentor early on, um, it was actually through the Amway business. His name was Derek Woods and he said you know, you don't like your self image. Turn off the TV and read these 30 bucks. And I did. I took it took me two years and turn off the TV, read these books. I can still, when I tell the story, I can remember the rocking chair of the land, of the house that we're in at the time and I would go up there and I would read.

Speaker 2: 29:13

And I'm turning the light of that headlight on my, on my head, and I would you know like read a good lighting love that.

Speaker 1: 29:19

And so I read, you know, and I, and I turned it around because I just didn't like who I was. Um, you know, so I think, from an inspiration, somebody, a mentor, telling me what I need to hear, not what I want to hear, that's the true value of that mentor, absolutely not what I need to hear, not what I want to hear.

Speaker 2: 29:36

That's the true value of that mentor, absolutely Not what you want to hear. You know, if you want someone who's going to tell you what you want to hear, you got to go to a different place. If you want to grow, you got to hear what you, what you need to hear.

Speaker 1: 29:48

I think that's good. Go ahead. Yeah, as you say, I think I've been willing and willingly and been willing to let my friends go for not helping me.

Speaker 2: 30:03

That I have to be open to it. You have to be open to hear that. You have to be open to be able to and be humble and not prideful to listen into that. In terms of the flap that you're talking about, you've had a couple of good visual illustrations. You talked about the turtle on the fence post, the rocking chair and the light on your head that you use to read. Those who are not watching on YouTube wouldn't be able to tell as well the hat you have with the big S on the front of it. It looks like a Superman S. Tell me the story of the s on your hat and what is? What is that really for?

Speaker 1: 30:37

yeah. So, um, when I was in high school I was a pretty good hockey player in the area so they called me wonder dave there's one wd, wonder dave and uh, and so that kind of stuck with me. But then after I left, all my high school friends and you know, kind of pursued the hockey thing. Nobody knew wonder dave. And so then I, you know, I was playing hockey and I was okay at that, and then I joined the crossfit community and I did really well there and it became super dave. And so, you know, through through coaching, through you know different ranks whenever you know my my, you know name became super dave with with the hockey community and so my kids call me super and you know people refer to me as super dave with with the hockey community. And so my kids call me super and you know people refer to me as super dave.

Speaker 1: 31:18

So, um, yeah, so the s is is for superman, obviously, but you know people call me super dave for for different reasons. So and it's. You know I will say it's nice when I go to like the cleaners or I go to my country club, there there's lots of Dave Jones and so I differentiate myself with you know, that's kind of nice, so like which. Dave Jones, are you? And I'm like, oh, super, dave, yeah.

Speaker 2: 31:44

Super Dave, love that, love that. That is so cool. Yeah, so Super Dave. What's next? You mentioned this book On Thin Ice. Tell me a little bit about that as it's coming out. What's going to be different with the story?

Speaker 1: 32:02

So On. Thin Ice is a sequel to Vision Wins. So Kelly and, as I mentioned earlier, kelly and Elliot are the two primary characters and I had to make a decision in Vision Wins to have a primary character, which ended up being Elliot, and. But Kelly was really just a, she was she's. She's pretty studly in terms of hockey, like she's won the Minnesota State Championship four times. She goes on the St Cloud stage, she wins, wins, wins, um, and and so On. Ten Ice is about Kelly's faith story, because she's not really a Christian but everybody around her is a Christian. And so after her hockey career, life hits and you know it's kind of the stress happens and so it's a faith journey. It's all about faith and defining what faith is. You know, faith in your skill or faith in God, and so there's kind of a. There's a line there, there's some drama that happens to Kelly, but um, it's a real world book, um on. You know how faith works.

Speaker 2: 33:12

Love that Can't wait to see it come out when it's there for the story, because I can tell the influence that your faith has on who you are, dave, and the others that you come in contact with on a regular basis. I'm sure you are someone that influences folks in a big way. I've enjoyed this conversation. I know we could continue to go on um respecting your time and and the time of the listeners as well. Dave, how do folks get in touch with you and learn more about you?

Speaker 1: 33:42

Yeah, I mean, um, you know, if, if you're an organizational leader out there and you're maybe questioning your messaging and questioning your, your overall brand, you brand you can reach me through Emma's Good, just emmasgoodcom. I'm waiting for your last question here, John. I've been kind of late.

Speaker 2: 34:03

Well, there's always one. I give you the last voice and I'll get to the last question here, but I want to make sure folks know how to get in touch with you.

Speaker 1: 34:10

Yeah, so through Emma's Good. The actual last question.

Speaker 2: 34:12

No, I'm not going to forget it.

Speaker 1: 34:13

Okay, so emmasgoodcom is something that goes.

Speaker 2: 34:17

I think you ought to go out there and look, because davejonescom is probably taken, but maybe superdavejonescom is available.

Speaker 2: 34:25

Or superdave. Maybe that's available and you can pick that up on GoDaddy or wherever you get your website domains. I'll put a link to emmasgoodcom in the show notes. And yes, thank you for sharing who you are with the listeners of the Uncommon Leader podcast. And I will give you the last word by finishing with the same question that all the folks go through. I'm going to give you a billboard, dave, and you can put any message you want to on that billboard. What's the message you're going to put on it and why do you put that message on there?

Speaker 1: 34:57

Oh, I love this question. I'm going to I'm still going to steal this question, john. This is so good.

Speaker 2: 35:01

Excellent. I wish I could say it was mine as well, but I'll share. I'm going to give you credit for two weeks.

Speaker 1: 35:06

I'm going to give you credit for two weeks and then I'm going to make it mine. The message is plan to win. Um, the message is plan to win. So, and why is plan to win? Now, I could say plan to win and then scratch out, win. You know how you see, like the scratch out, like and say dominate, so plan to dominate. And so plan really doesn't require a whole lot of talent, it requires a whole lot of discipline. And so when I think of plan, it's mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. And so how do we plan to win? You know everybody, that's what I love about this message is everybody can plan to win. You can ask the Lord that I want to win for him. So this is all about Ephesians 6 and putting on the armor of God and going out there and kicking butt, because God kicks butt, jesus kicked butt man. So yeah, that's my billboard plan to win, slash, dominate. That's my billboard plan to win, slash, dominate.

Speaker 2: 36:13

Plan to win? Slash, dominate, love that Super Dave Jones. Thank you so much for adding value to the listeners of the Uncommon Leader Podcast. My friend, I hope we can stay connected in some way, shape or form Not that far apart in terms of rally and things like that, but regardless, I wish you the best on your book that's going to be coming out here soon, as well as in the work that you're doing. It's very important. Thank you very much.

Speaker 1: 36:38

John, it's a pleasure having you, a pleasure being on your podcast. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2: 36:46

And that wraps up another episode of the Uncommon Leader Podcast. Thanks for tuning in today. If you found value in this episode, I encourage you to share it with your friends, colleagues or anyone else who could benefit from the insights and inspiration we've shared. Also, if you have a moment, I'd greatly appreciate if you could leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback not only helps us to improve, but it also helps others discover the podcast and join our growing community of uncommon leaders. Until next time, go and grow champions.