Practical Leadership: Lessons from an Average Leader

As a young leader you arrive to work your first day, dressed for success. You look the part. You feel the part. But when a crisis arises, you feel inadequate to make that critical decision that could solve the problem. Leaders at every level face challenges daily. How they address and solve them defines how they are perceived as a leader. Author, Gregg Mays has walked in the “shoes’ of a young leader facing a leadership crisis but lacking experience. Using real events from his leadership journey, he provides practical ways for leaders to walk in the door on day one ready to lead effectively. United States Air Force Colonel, Jim Hewitt states, “Dr. Mays breaks leadership down to its bare essentials.” Embracing the K.I.S. motto, Keep It Simple, Gregg provides a clear road map to success. And when success does not happen, he has taught us how to deal with that.

Gregg Mays is a lifelong public servant-leader. He spent twenty-one years as an officer in the US Army, retired, and began a second career as a high school teacher. He is the founder of Agape Leaders, a ministry that seeks to help churches and organizations develop leaders who can better share the gospel. He holds a Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral Leadership from Andersonville Theological Seminary and a Masters of Ministerial Leadership from Southeastern University. He specializes in leadership development. During his time in the military, he trained soldiers to become officers. He did this while assigned to the US Army Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and to the ROTC at Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan. In addition to his military leadership experience, Gregg has extensive leadership experience in sports. He coached basketball and tennis for over thirty years at varying levels to include high school varsity, college club teams, and garrison level military teams. He understands how to develop and maintain a positive team climate. He also was a character coach for football programs at Central Michigan University and George Jenkins High School, Lakeland, Florida. In this role, he gave spiritually focused chapel talks weekly. He also has given chapel talks to the football teams at the University of Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan University, and Eastern Kentucky University, among others. As a ministry leader, Gregg has experience at starting youth ministries from the ground up, as well as sustaining established programs. He has been a leader in churches around the world, including time as an elder for two different churches. Gregg is an active volunteer for the Miss Florida Organization, which is a part of the Miss America Organization. This program provides a platform for young women to develop as leaders. His experiences include helping plan and execute the 2019 and 2020 Miss Lakeland competitions and judging four competitions: the 2018 Miss Florida Outstanding Teen competition, the 2019 Miss Pasco County competition, the 2019 Miss St. Petersburg competition, and the 2020 Miss Florida Citrus/Miss Winter Haven competition. With his experience in the military, coaching, leading church ministries, and the Miss Florida Organization, he has gained the knowledge necessary to provide practical leadership advice to today's up and coming leaders. Gregg has been married for thirty-one years to his wife, Son Hui. They have one daughter, Michele Jang, an actress with credits including Life of the Party, Black Lightning, and Brockmire. Gregg and Son Hui live in Lakeland, Florida, where he is a high school teacher at George Jenkins High School (GJHS), and she is a para-educator at GJHS. They actively attend The Rock Community Church. Gregg frequently gets the opportunity to speak at churches, schools, and other organizations in the central Florida area to share the gospel or conduct leadership development workshops. Contact Gregg at greggmays@agapeleaders.org or via the Agape Leaders website www.agapeleaders.org to book him for your leadership development needs. Checkout Word Wednesday weekly on the Agape Leaders Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as on the YouTube channel. Search Gregg Mays greggmays@agapeleaders.org. Other Agape Leaders content includes Monday Motivation (YouTube channel) and the Agape Letters (Agape Leaders website).