The Leadership Telos: Pursuing purpose through virtue, faith, and formation

Dr. M
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In a world hungry for character-driven leadership, The Leadership Telos offers spiritual, psychological, and practical insights to help you lead yourself and others well. Explore how ancient wisdom and faith can form the foundation of modern leadership. 

  1. 12/16/2025

    Building a Flourishing Legacy: Virtue, Telos, and the Work that Remains

    Season 1 Finale | The Leadership Telos What does it mean to build a legacy that truly flourishes? In this Season One finale of The Leadership Telos, we step back to reflect on the journey we’ve taken together, one rooted in virtue, purpose, and the formation of character. This episode brings together psychology, philosophy, and theology to explore how leadership is ultimately measured not by achievement or visibility, but by the patterns, people, and cultures we leave behind. Throughout Season One, we examined nineteen core virtues that shape leadership from the inside out, revealing leadership as a lifelong process of becoming, not a checklist of competencies. In this closing conversation, we explore how those virtues move beyond personal formation to shape families, organizations, communities, and culture over time. In this episode, we explore: What “legacy” means through psychological, philosophical, and theological lensesHow virtue shapes cultures long after decisions are madeWhy flourishing is cultivated slowly, quietly, and faithfullyThe difference between being remembered and forming what remembers youHow personal virtue becomes collective impactReflection Questions: What kind of legacy are your daily habits creating?Which virtue most shaped your leadership this season?Who is being formed by your leadership right now?Thank you for being part of Season One of The Leadership Telos. The work of formation continues in Season Two of The Leadership Telos introduces a new framework:  Leadership at Every Level: A Telos Framework A 12-episode journey from Self → Family → Work → Community → Culture If Season One focused on who you are becoming as a leader, Season Two will focus on how that formation shows up wherever you have influence.

    21 min

  2. 12/10/2025

    Your Personal Virtue Audit: Seeing Yourself Clearly

    In this episode of The Leadership Telos, we walk through one of the most essential practices in virtuous leadership: the Personal Virtue Audit. This reflective process helps you examine who you are becoming, how you are leading, and where your growth edges lie across the four core domains of the Virtuous Cycle. Drawing from the original 19 virtues in the Virtuous Leadership Model, we explore how each virtue functions as a diagnostic lens—revealing not only strengths and blind spots, but also how aligned you are with your telos, your relationships, your decisions, and your daily habits. You’ll learn how to assess your leadership through four domains: 1. Orienting Virtues: The “Why” Hope, Wisdom, Prudence, Humanity, and Transcendence help you examine purpose, motivation, and direction. 2. Discerning Virtues: The “What” Justice, Truthfulness, Humility, Faithfulness, and Phronesis help you evaluate how you choose what is right and fair. 3. Action Virtues: The “How” Temperance, Patience, Forgiveness, Grace, Love, Courage, and Gratitude reveal how you embody integrity through behavior. 4. Aspirational Virtues: The “How Far” Magnanimity, Lifelong Learning, and Excellence help you measure your capacity for growth, vision, and greatness. This episode guides you through structured questions in each domain, helping you identify:  • where you are thriving,  • where your leadership is drifting,  • what virtues need strengthening, and  • how to realign your identity, actions, and purpose. Whether you are a leader of self, family, or organization, the Virtue Audit is a transformative process that brings clarity, conviction, and renewed motivation to your leadership journey. This is your invitation to pause, reflect, and courageously look inward so you can lead forward with greater integrity, purpose, and excellence.

    32 min

  3. 12/02/2025

    The Virtuous Cycle: Becoming on Purpose

    What if leadership development isn’t linear, but cyclical? In this episode of The Leadership Telos, we explore the Virtuous Cycle, a transformative model for becoming the kind of leader who grows on purpose rather than by accident. Drawing from Aristotle, theology, and modern psychology, we examine how character is formed through a repeating cycle of seeing rightly, choosing wisely, acting consistently, and becoming continually. This episode integrates all 19 virtues from my research: Hope, Humanity, Prudence, Justice, Wisdom, Courage, Temperance, Humility, Grace, Gratitude, Forgiveness, Patience, Faithfulness, Truthfulness, Love, Phronesis, Lifelong Learning, Magnanimity, and Transcendence, to show how they work together as an ecosystem that strengthens leadership from the inside out. You’ll learn: • What the Virtuous Cycle is and why it’s essential for modern leaders  • How virtues shape how leaders see the world  • How virtues guide wise decision-making  • How virtues turn values into action  • Why virtues expand who leaders are becoming  • Practical steps to start practising the Virtuous Cycle in your leadership today We’ll also connect the Virtuous Cycle to biblical principles of formation, showing how character compounds, how virtues reinforce each other, and how intentional growth transforms not just leaders, but the people and communities they influence. If you’re ready to elevate your leadership, deepen your character, and embrace a development model rooted in faith, purpose, and psychological science, this episode will guide you into becoming a more whole and purposeful leader, one choice at a time.

    50 min

  4. 11/23/2025

    Transcendence: Leading With a Purpose

    In this episode of The Leadership Telos, we explore Transcendence: the virtue that lifts leaders beyond urgency, ego, and immediate pressures and anchors them in a higher purpose. When leaders cultivate transcendence, they gain clarity, resilience, moral courage, and the ability to guide others through uncertainty with steadiness and hope. Together, we explore transcendence from psychological, philosophical, and theological perspectives, revealing how meaning, contemplation, and faith shape leaders who rise above circumstances and stay aligned with their ultimate telos. You’ll learn: What transcendence looks like in modern leadershipHow awe, gratitude, purpose, and meaning rewire your leadership psychologyWhy ancient philosophers describe contemplation as the highest form of leadershipHow Scripture frames transcendence as steadfast faithfulness in trialsPractical ways to operationalize transcendence in your daily leadershipThis episode includes guided reflection, journal prompts, and Scripture meditations to help you integrate transcendence into your leadership practice this week. 📝 Journal Prompts From Today’s EpisodeWhere do you currently find meaning in your work?What moments remind you that your leadership serves a purpose bigger than you?Where do you make space for contemplation or quiet awareness?What leadership decisions would benefit from slowing down and thinking more deeply?Where might God be inviting you to lift your eyes above your current circumstances?What is the telos—the ultimate purpose—of your leadership?📖 Scripture ReflectionsPhilippians 4:8 – What is true, noble, right, pure, and lovely in your leadership today?Proverbs 4:25–26 – Where do you need to “fix your gaze straight ahead”?Colossians 3:2 – What would it look like to “set your mind on things above” in your current challenges?

    31 min

  5. 11/16/2025

    Humanity: Leading with Compassion, Connection & the Collective Good

    In today’s episode of The Leadership Telos, we explore the virtue of Humanity, a leadership practice rooted in compassion, connection, and elevating the collective good. Modern research shows a powerful trend: employees, customers, and investors are increasingly choosing organizations that operate with integrity and care for people, communities, and the planet. Humane leadership isn’t soft—it’s strategic, sustainable, and transformative. We dive into:  🔹 Why 92% of millennials prefer ethical companies  🔹 How humanity fuels trust, motivation, and organizational health  🔹 The interpersonal strengths that define humane leaders, such as compassion, kindness, empathy, generosity, and care  🔹 How Ephesians 4 reframes humanity as a unified body, where every member is valued  🔹 What Aristotle teaches us about human flourishing  🔹 Practical, real-world ways to lead with humanity today You’ll also be guided through:  📝 Journal reflections to deepen self-awareness 📖 Scripture reflections to ground your leadership in timeless truths 💡 Practical applications to help you practice humanity in your role right now Humanity reminds us that people are not resources; they are the reason leadership exists. When leaders honor dignity, embrace compassion, and consider all stakeholders, organizations flourish into communities of meaning and impact. ✨ Journal Reflection Prompts: • Where am I prioritizing efficiency over humanity?  • Whose contributions on my team are going unnoticed?  • What decision requires me to broaden the stakeholders I consider?  • How can I practice compassionate transparency? ✨ Key Scriptures: Matthew 22:39 • Mark 9:35 • Ephesians 4:1–16 • Micah 6:8 If this episode encouraged you, please share it with a leader you admire.  And as always—lead with virtue, act with purpose, and always keep your telos in sight.

    16 min

  6. 11/13/2025

    Temperance: Leading with Self-Control and Balance

    In this episode of The Leadership Telos, we explore temperance, the virtue of self-control that guards against excess, indulgence, and emotional impulsivity. Discover how temperate leaders embody balance, humility, and patience by moderating their desires, emotions, and use of resources. Drawing from Aristotle’s Golden Mean, Aquinas’s theological wisdom, and modern psychology, Dr. M unpacks how self-regulation strengthens moral leadership and sustainable decision-making. You’ll also learn practical ways to cultivate temperance in your leadership today, including daily reflection questions, Scripture meditation, and small behavioral adjustments that build emotional discipline and integrity. 🕊️ Scripture Focus: Galatians 5:22–23 — “The fruit of the Spirit is… self-control.”Titus 2:2–6, 12 — Living upright, self-controlled, and godly lives.Proverbs 25:28 — “Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.”🪞 Journal Prompts: In what areas of my leadership do I struggle with excess or indulgence?How can I practice moderation and delayed gratification this week?Where do I need to surrender control to God rather than my impulses?🎧 Tune in to discover how temperance shapes the measured, humble, and faithful leader, one who acts not from impulse, but from integrity. #VirtuousLeadership #Temperance #SelfControl #FaithBasedLeadership #TheLeadershipTelos #ChristianLeadership #VirtueEthics #EmotionalIntelligence #Aristotle #Aquinas #SpiritualFormation

    25 min

  7. 11/02/2025

    Justice: Leading with Fairness, Stewardship, and Grace

    Justice is more than a moral principle; it’s a way of leading that safeguards dignity, restores balance, and cultivates trust. In this episode of The Leadership Telos, Dr. M explores how justice functions as a cornerstone of virtuous leadership by ordering reason toward the common good and aligning action with fairness and compassion. From psychological insights on equity and accountability to philosophical reasoning on the summum bonum, and finally, to the theological call to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly,” this conversation bridges the scholarly and the spiritual. Discover how just leadership transforms culture; not by enforcing rules, but by shaping hearts. 🌿 In this episode, you’ll learn: The difference between legalistic justice and virtuous justiceHow psychological fairness fosters trust and prosocial behaviorWhy Aristotle and Aquinas considered justice the “supreme virtue”How Scripture calls leaders to steward power with compassion and humilityPractical ways to build just structures, systems, and habits in leadership✍️ Journal Prompts: In what ways do I steward power or privilege in my role?Where might injustice, even subtle, exist within my sphere of influence?What would it look like for me to practice restorative justice with someone I lead?📖 Scripture Reflections: Micah 6:8 — How can I act justly and love mercy in my leadership context?Philippians 2:3–4 — Where do I need to humble myself to elevate others’ interests?Isaiah 30:18 — What does it mean to wait on the Lord’s justice rather than my own?Justice calls leaders to fairness, stewardship, and grace. The kind of leadership that mirrors divine order and nurtures human flourishing. 🎙️ Tune in to The Leadership Telos to reflect, restore, and realign your leadership toward what is just and good.

    36 min

  8. 10/20/2025

    Prudence: Leading with Discernment and Divine Wisdom

    In this episode of The Leadership Telos, Dr. M explores the virtue of Prudence, the guiding light of wise decision-making. Prudence is more than cautiousness; it’s the art of balancing courage and caution, wisdom and will, faith and reason. As Aristotle and Aquinas both remind us, prudence is the virtue that directs all others as the mother of moral action and the compass that keeps leaders aligned with truth and goodness. Drawing from psychology, philosophy, and theology, this episode reveals how prudent leaders: Seek wise counsel while discerning truth from deceptionBalance short-term pressures with long-term flourishingLead with both strategic clarity and spiritual humilityThrough real-world insights and reflective practice, you’ll uncover how prudence cultivates confidence, clarity, and peace in your leadership, even amid uncertainty. 💭 Journal Reflections: Where in your leadership do you need to slow down and seek wise counsel before acting?How do you currently discern between wise and misleading advice in your decision-making?What habits could you build to ensure your decisions are guided by both reason and faith?📖 Scripture Reflection: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” — James 1:5 (NIV)Let this passage remind you that prudence begins in humility — the willingness to seek God’s wisdom before trusting your own understanding. 🎙️ Listen now and rediscover how divine wisdom can shape practical, grounded leadership that cultivates eudaimonia, the flourishing of self, team, and organization. #VirtuousLeadership #Prudence #Wisdom #FaithInLeadership #TheLeadershipTelos #CharacterDrivenLeadership

    20 min
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In a world hungry for character-driven leadership, The Leadership Telos offers spiritual, psychological, and practical insights to help you lead yourself and others well. Explore how ancient wisdom and faith can form the foundation of modern leadership. 

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