Are you ready to unlock your true leadership potential and learn how love can be your most potent strategic advantage? This isn’t just a podcast - it’s a blueprint for a new kind of leadership that works! International speaker, best-selling author, and accelerated business growth consultant, Louie Sharp, reveals a groundbreaking approach to leadership that transforms how we connect, motivate, and inspire in our organizations, teams, families, and most importantly, ourselves. Transform the way you Lead and Love, forever!
Ep 59. Mastering the Controllables in Business and Life
What if the secret to elite leadership wasn’t a complex strategy, but a simple, repeated question? In this episode, Louie Sharp sits down with real estate broker and varsity coach Brett Saunders to dismantle the "lone wolf" leadership myth. Brett reveals how he builds "emotional equity" across the football field and the real estate office by focusing on the only thing we can truly control: our reactions. From learning to respect individual timelines to the transformative power of "three good reps," this conversation is a masterclass in leading with love, presence, and the humility to be led by others.
Guest Information
Speaker: Brett Saunders
Professional Roles: Real Estate Broker at Fulton Grace (Rock Hill, SC) | Varsity Football Coach (Liberty High School) | College Lacrosse Coach (Lake Forest College).
Specialty: Cross-disciplinary leadership, emotional intelligence in coaching, and servant leadership.
Contact/Follow: @brettrealestate
Recommended Reading & Special Offers
Book Recommendation: “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream” by David Platt. Brett credits this book for re-engineering his approach to servant leadership and humble service.
Guest Challenge: This week, identify one person in your "community" (the gym, the office, the church) and ask them a sincere "How are you doing?" Then truly listen to the answer.
The "Love Nugs"
[00:00:00] Control the Controllables: Why energy spent on external chaos is wasted and how to redirect it toward your own demeanor.
[00:04:59] Building Emotional Equity: The "How are you?" strategy for moving past surface-level small talk to genuine vulnerability.
[00:10:19] The Power of Patience: Understanding that your team operates on their timeline, not yours.
[00:12:59] Making Excellence Fun: How a "student mentality" and a sense of play drive higher performance than pure intensity.
[00:16:08] The Gift of Presence: A leader's guide to helping team members through personal crises by focusing on the "now."
[00:19:23] Calling Out Greatness: Using the "Three Good Reps" method to prove potential to people who don't see it yet.
[00:23:03] Leaders Must Be Led: Why you should never hire a coach who doesn’t have a coach of their own.
[00:25:05] Micro-Communities: How to find mentors and peers in everyday places like gyms and coffee shops.
#LeadershipAndLove #ServantLeadership #CoachingMentality #BrettSaunders #EmotionalEquity #LeadWithLove #ControlTheControllables #PersonalGrowth #BusinessCoaching #LeadershipDevelopment #RadicalLeadership #PresentMoment
21 Apr 2026
Ep 58. From Tired to Inspired: Aligning Your Life and Leadership
In this powerhouse reunion, Louie Sharp welcomes back the extraordinary Dr. Deonne Johnson for a deep dive into her new book, From Tired to Inspired. Deonne doesn't just talk theory; she shares the raw reality of her journey from 80 pounds overweight and struggling with depression to becoming a high-impact speaker and author. This episode explores the "Upward Spiral"—the phenomenon where improving just one area of your life elevates everything else—and the "Choose Your Hard" philosophy that dictates our future health, wealth, and happiness. If you are navigating your own "dumpster fire" or waiting for your "bamboo" to break ground, this conversation is your fire extinguisher and your fuel.
👤 Guest Info
Guest: Dr. Deonne Johnson (Author, Speaker, & Coach)
Website: DrDeonne.com
Newsletter: Subscribe to her Substack via her website for weekly insights on change management and joy.
The Books: From Tired to Inspired (Available Now) and the upcoming children's book Love from Head to Toe (Coming May/June).
📖 Recommended Reading & Resources
The Book: From Tired to Inspired by Deonne Johnson.
The Framework: The 12-Week Year (referenced by Deonne regarding lead and lag indicators).
The Inspiration: The Diary of a CEO with Kevin Hart (referenced by Louie regarding consistency).
The Mentor: Tiffany Peterson’s goal-setting strategies.
✨ Love Nugs (Timestamped Highlights)
[08:25] The Power of Three: Why narrowing your focus to 3 core values simplifies every decision you make.
[17:10] Culture via Connection: How a virtual cookbook kept a distributed team connected long after Deonne left.
[24:59] The Upward Spiral: Why measuring joy or visibility in one area causes your entire world to "spiral upward" like a beautiful tornado.
[30:31] Ideal, Stretch, and Minimum: The "Grace Strategy" for goal setting that prevents the "all-or-nothing" burnout.
[34:09] Choose Your Hard: A profound truth—working out is hard, but being unhealthy in 30 years is harder. Saving money is hard, but being broke at 80 is harder. Which hard will you choose?
[38:28] The Bed-Making Philosophy: Why Deonne makes her bed 98% of the time as a signal of stewardship to the universe.
[40:35] The Bamboo Plant: Understanding that growth often happens underground for years before you see a single inch of progress.
[49:09] Owning the Dumpster Fire: Deonne’s transparent look at divorce, depression, and weight loss, and why your past doesn't define your "rocket ship" future.
#LeadershipAndLove #ChooseYourHard #UpwardSpiral #DrDeonne #PersonalResponsibility #DumpsterFireToRocketShip #BambooGrowth #ValuesBasedLeadership #FromTiredToInspired
14 Apr 2026
Ep 57. Why EQ Matters More Than IQ in the Modern Workplace
In a world increasingly dominated by AI and technological systems, the "human" element of leadership has become our greatest competitive advantage. In this episode, host Louie Sharp sits down with EQ coach and author Dr. Melissa Robinson Weinmiller to dismantle the myth that empathy is a "soft" weakness. Dr. Robinson introduces a revolutionary "Empathy-First" framework, arguing that empathy isn't just a tool in your bag—it’s the lens you need to choose the right tool for the job. From building "emotional bank accounts" to navigating difficult terminations with dignity, this conversation provides a practical roadmap for leaders to increase profitability, innovation, and loyalty by leading with love.
Guest Info
Guest: Dr. Melissa Robinson Weinmiller
Role: EQ Coach, TEDx Speaker, & Author
Website: EQviaempathy.com
Book: The Empathetic Leader: How EQ via Empathy Transforms Leadership for Better Profit, Productivity and Innovation (Available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble)
Recommended Reading & Special Offers
Guest Recommendation: Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir.
Special Offer: Visit EQviaempathy.com to sign up for Dr. Robinson’s newsletter for regular insights on emotional intelligence and empathetic leadership.
Watch: Dr. Robinson’s TEDx talk (Search: "Melissa Robinson Weinmiller TEDx").
Love Nugs
[00:04:44] The Empathy-First Framework: Why empathy must come before other EQ tools like motivation or social skills.
[00:08:20] The Foundation of Self-Empathy: You cannot give what you do not have; empathy for others begins with empathy for yourself.
[00:10:49] Emotional Bank Accounts: How consistent small "deposits" of empathy allow you to lead effectively even during difficult "withdrawals."
[00:12:24] The 4 Steps to Self-Empathy: A practical guide through Self-Observation, Self-Reflection, Self-Awareness, and Self-Compassion.
[00:20:59] The Platinum Rule: Moving beyond "Do unto others as you would want" to "Do unto others as they would want."
[00:28:39] Firing with Love: A real-world example of how terminating an employee with empathy can actually build long-term loyalty and community respect.
[00:35:25] The $1.2 Trillion Cost: Understanding the massive financial drain that poor communication and low EQ cause in modern business.
[00:49:04] The Empathy Trifecta: Balancing Intellectual, Emotional, and Self-Empathy like a three-legged stool.
[00:56:27] Empathy vs. Judgment: The powerful realization that empathy and judgment cannot occupy the same space at the same time.
#LeadershipInLove #EmotionalIntelligence #EmpatheticLeadership #EQ #BusinessGrowth #SelfEmpathy #LeadWithLove #CompanyCulture #DrMelissaRobinson #LouieSharp #ProfessionalDevelopment
Inside a recent episode
Ep 59. Mastering the Controllables in Business and Life
Published 5 May 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] They start to become more vulnerable. You start to understand who they are. And then it just goes from not only how are you doing, but now you can start parlaying that into conversations that you had the previous day, previous day, previous day, previous week. And now you're starting to build equity with them to understand how they're doing. And it's not just a surface level question anymore. It's like, hey, we're going deeper into the person that they are. And then as I get deeper into the person that they are, Now I can really work well with my players, with the people that I'm, you know, coaching through in real estate. […]
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