6/17/26 - 2151: Become the Kind of Leader Your Workplace Has Been Waiting For

Jim: This is iWork4Him, where faith meets work and believers unleash their calling.

In today's world, you can attend a summit or a conference without ever leaving the comfort of your own living room or office. You can glean from dozens of leaders and speakers while saving thousands of dollars on travel and hotels. Even more amazing is the ability to make connections while at these virtual summits because the video platforms give you a chance to break out and meet people during pauses in the conference schedules.

Well, Craig Clutts is hosting a Leadership Summit on June 27th from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific, or for those of you Easterners, 11:30 AM to 8:00 PM Eastern. This summit will be focused on providing a transformational experience for leaders, entrepreneurs, executives, and business professionals seeking practical strategies for growth, leadership, operational excellence, and innovation.

And each speaker will use his or her voice, expertise, and insight in equipping you with actual wisdom inspiration. When I sat down to meet Craig a couple of weeks ago, I was so impressed with the aim of the summit, I'm like, "I wanted everybody here on iWork4Him to know all about it." So Craig Clutts, welcome to iWork4Him.

Craig Clutts: Thanks, Jim. Appreciate you having me.

Jim: Hey, before we get talking about the summit, Craig, I wanna know your Jesus story. 'Cause we always share our Jesus story for every first-time guest on iWork4Him. So what's your Jesus story?

Craig Clutts: Amen. Sounds great. So I was raised in the church, raised by godly parents. Grew up in lower Indiana, so country upbringing. Everybody knew everybody. Everybody knew whose vehicle was everybody. I was in the church, raised knowing who God and Jesus were, and who the Holy Spirit was. But it was actually, I was 10 years old, went on my first overnight camping trip with Cub Scouts. So I was getting ready to be a Webelo Scout.

My dad and I are on this camp out together. We're actually at a monastery on the southwestern side of Indianapolis, and we go camping. And Indiana's well-known for the four seasons, but it's all four seasons, and it's all of each season. And so we're out there, it's late spring, early summer, and it begins to storm.

And the storm was horrendous. Terrible storm. Not like the little sprinkles we get for rain in Southern California. This was cats and dogs and cows and Volkswagen Bugs. This was real rain coming down. And I woke up in the middle of the night scared of the weather, scared of the storm. And we're in this little nylon pup tent, me and my dad, and I look over at my dad, and he is sound asleep.

And I think, "How is he doing this? I'm miserable." And so I... It's a little A-frame pup tent. I open up the top of the A-frame window just enough so it's not raining in, and I look out, and right there in front of me, six feet away, lightning strikes. Now my eyeballs are, no kidding, three inches away from a metal pole.

There is no reason why that lightning struck in the middle of nowhere instead of one of the other tents or the pole just inches away from my eyeball. And as soon as that happened, I said, "God, if you save me from that lightning, and if I see the testimony of Dad being asleep, being confident in his faith in you, then I know that I'm yours and I want you to be mine."

And I accepted Jesus Christ that night. And since then, I've been able to sleep through any kinda storm, combat, I can sleep well, anywhere.

Jim: Wow. That's a pretty great story. I didn't know that story. I don't even know how you did that. And the fact that you could still see after seeing that kind of lightning, 'cause that's a pretty bright flash.

Craig Clutts: Very bright.

Jim: I bet it was - was it loud or could you feel it? Because when, I know when you're closest to lightning, it's not as loud as when it gets a chance to roll. What did that sound like?

Craig Clutts: Yeah, I don't remember the sound because I was in so much shock of how bright it was and how close it was. I don't remember any other sense. Just a sense of God's there, I can accept him, and I don't have to worry anymore.

Jim: Wow, very cool. Wow. All right, so you then spent 30 years after Cub Scouts. Did you go on to Boy Scouts, get your Eagle Scout?

Craig Clutts: Boy Scouts, Eagle Scout. Yep.

Jim: Nice. All right. Did the whole thing. Then you spent 30 years in the Navy as a leader. How did that training and experience prepare you for the biznistry that you're in today?

Craig Clutts: A great question. So one of the things that I love about the military is that you do get training often. And it's hundreds of years of experience in what training each person needs, and they actually typically train us before you need the information, which is phenomenal.

I don't see that as much in the corporate world. So a lot of it has to do with the fact that I did get training, and then another piece of it is in the military, we get exposed to things at a much quicker, faster pace than you do on the outside. And so if you can imagine, I was 19 doing special boat insertion extraction with the SEALs.

At 20, I was rappelling out of helicopters. At 22, I'm now entrusted for everyone to be asleep on a 18,000 tons of steel diplomacy US war vessel while I drive it, and everyone trusts that I will keep 880 lives safe as we steam through the ocean. And so you are put through the fire so quickly that now whenever I come into the business ministry world, I don't have to worry about pressures or how to make this tough decision because I'm at such a calm based on the stresses that I've seen elsewhere.

I'm not in combat being shot at. I'm not on a ship at sea in the middle of a hurricane, which I did twice. I don't recommend that. And so I have the time, the calm.

Jim: Twice? Wait, twice you rode out a hurricane in that ship? Driving? Were you driving? I mean-

Craig Clutts: Yes ...

Jim: I know it's not driving.

Craig Clutts: Yeah, they call it commanding the ship, navigating the ship.

Jim: Yeah. Holding onto that big wooden steering wheel going, "Oh, what in the world?"

As long as you're going with the wind, it's okay. Going against, against the wind, let's see, in a hurricane you're probably going into the wind, aren't you? To be able to save yourself.

Craig Clutts: The wind is everywhere in a hurricane. Yeah, so there, there's actually a technique. Once you identify which quadrant of the hurricane you're in, you know which side, and whether in the bow or the stern to put the wind so that you can get out quicker. But quick is about 48 hours. So it's miserable for 48 hours.

Jim: I've ridden out hurricanes in Florida, but I was on the ground, not on the boat or ship... because it's, they say it's bad to be on the, they say 50-foot waves are impressive. So you've got a construction business. I don't wanna mispronounce it. Tell us why God had you start that.

Craig Clutts: So the name of our company is En Gedi Construction.

Jim: Okay, so the Bible. En Gedi. Like the Bible, En Gedi.

Craig Clutts: Yes.

Jim: Okay.

Craig Clutts: All right. Exactly like the Bible. So En Gedi is Hebrew. It means the crag of the ibex or the rock of the goat. It is the largest freshwater oasis on the western shore of the Dead Sea. Why did God give us that name? So this is the oasis where David hid from Saul when Saul was trying to kill him. This is where David was magnanimous, which I love that virtue. I just love saying that word, magnanimous. So he had the opportunity to kill Saul and he didn't. He just cut a piece of his cloak.

And so it, it's above forgiveness. It's above not taking the action. It's being magnanimous. So in this area, you have the Dead Sea, where nothing's alive, and then ashore you have this vast desert where nothing's alive, and then you have this spring where life is created and supported by this fresh water.

That's the En Gedi. God gave us that name because he wants us and our construction company and our coaching company to provide that peace of mind, that serenity, build everyone's paradise one home and one business at a time.

Jim: I love that. Speaking of serenity, when you're working on your computer, that's what you want. You want serenity, and when you're working on your iPhone or your tablet, whatever it is. That's why we partner with SaferNet at iWork4Him, because no matter where I go, even if I'm using public Wi-Fi, I have SaferNet on my phone. SaferNet is a VPN. It's also got an antivirus. It's got web filters.

It's got so many devices to protect me. I can use the public Wi-Fi anywhere in the world, and I don't have anything to worry about. I recommend that everybody listening, whether you've got a business... It's also got a console, so if you've got employees and they're all using the internet on your dime, you can see where they're going.

You can keep them from going certain places that you don't want them to go. You can make sure they're going to places that you, they have access to where they need to go. SaferNet.com is where you need to go, and make sure you let them know that iWork4Him sent you. They've been a longtime partner of iWork4Him. We recommend them highly. SaferNet.com.

All right, Craig, you are holding an online summit on June 27th, 2026. What's the theme?

Craig Clutts: So the title is The Leadership Summit. Our tagline is Mastering Relationships, Maximizing Leadership. So the theme is that in our life, one of the most important things is our relationships, and in order to lead well, you have to have connection. You have to be able to engage. You have to be able to relate.

So we wanna help brothers and sisters in Christ, business leaders, business influence personnel, learn how to manage those relationships and build them so that they can expand their leadership and continue to serve in the way that God's called them to.

Jim: We only met a short while ago, so I haven't read your book yet, but when I've read just a little bit of summary on Leadership is Not Likership, most leaders wanna be liked. But you're talking about relationships, and in order to have a relationship, you gotta be liking each other. What's the summary - the, your book probably is a derivative of everything you are. Tell us about your book really quick, and we'll get back to the summit. Leadership is Not Likership. What's that about?

Craig Clutts: Leadership is Not Likership. So that title came to me in the Navy. All the chiefs who run the Navy, they're the senior NCOs. They're the ones that are making everything happen. They're the ones that are taking care of the sailors, making the ship work, making the construction work. Whatever area of the service we're in, they make it happen. They continue to always yell or bark or tell the young sailors, "I'm not here to be your friend. I'm not here to be liked."

Leadership is not likership. So I finished my tour in Afghanistan. By God's blessing, we bring everybody home, and I'm on a run, and I ask God, I said, "Okay, so leadership's not likership. I agree with him, but what is it?" And God politely said, "Yes, I agree with him." I said, "Okay, got it, God. I agree with him. So what is it?" He said, "It's lovership."

Jim: Nice.

Craig Clutts: So leadership is not likership, but it is lovership. And so in the book, I give 15 chapters -

Jim: but you didn't put that on your cover, 'cause you wanted people to read it, 'cause no business leader would ever read a book about lovership.

Craig Clutts: You're right.

Jim: Because they don't get it, even though Jesus was the absolute ultimate example of lovership as a leader.

Craig Clutts: Exactly.

Jim: But, why is it ... we're gonna get back to your summit here in a second. Why is it so many leaders really struggle with the fact that in order to lead, you gotta love?

Because your people, when they know that they're loved, you can get them to do anything, and as a company or an organization, you can accomplish anything if people know that they are, they're known, they're liked, and they're loved, and they're appreciated.

Craig Clutts: Yeah I completely agree. There's so many people that talk about addressing conflict resolution. There are so many people that talk about, hey, you can't make this decision just for the person. You've gotta look at the whole situation. You've gotta look at the team and everything. What describes that better in one word than love?

And Jesus' example is exactly that. He turned over the tables in the temple. He had to correct his three closest disciples whenever they fell asleep while he asked them to pray for him. The correction is there, just as we're parents. The whole parent thing if we only took our leadership examples from being a parent and applied them better in the work that we do, we could do better. Because we love our kids. We still reprimand them, but we love them, and that's what we need to do with our folks at business as well.

Jim: How many kids do you have, Craig?

Craig Clutts: Two.

Jim: Two kids. They're both alike, right? So you only had to learn it one time, right? And they're the same the whole time too, right?

Exactly the same. Yeah, they never change. Never had to change, right? When the hormones kicked in, they were still the same.

 (chuckling)

Jim: This is... Ladies and gentlemen, listen. The iWork4Him audience that's tuning in today, this is why I wanted you guys to hear about this. When I first met Craig, I'm like, "I like this guy. I like what you stand for," 'cause you're a real guy, and you've gotten dirty in order to be able to... Not dirty, immoral dirty. You served in the Navy for 30 years. You know what it's like to be a janitor, and you know what it's like to command a ship and everywhere in between, and then listen to people above you.

Even though you're commanding a ship with 1,000 people on it, they're still telling you what to do. That's the guys in the... If, so were you in a battleship and the, they're... Who runs the show? The command- the aircraft carrier 'cause they're the big boys? Or, who's in charge?

Craig Clutts: Yeah, so I, I was on an amphibious ship and a frigate. And so when you're doing the operations, there is a commodore. So the ship has a commanding officer that's in charge of that ship, everything that, that's there.

Jim: Yep.

Craig Clutts: They're the head honcho.

Jim: There's no one- So you weren't that guy. You were just the guy at the helm.

Craig Clutts: I was a lower level.

Jim: Okay.

Craig Clutts: Okay. But I'm still the one that's entrusted to run everything when that guy or that girl's asleep.

Jim: Got it.

Craig Clutts: Got it. At 22.

Jim: That's just amazing. That means you, they've had very high confidence in you. Which is why we go back to the summit, the Leadership Summit on June 27th. And we'll have all of the website information, everything connected to this podcast. Do you have the website, what's the name of the website when everybody's listening to this, the bit, so they can get connected up?

Craig Clutts: Theleadershipsummit.com. And we'll make sure that you have the link to share it as well.

Jim: Theleadershipsummit.com. All right. Who are some of the speakers?

Craig Clutts: So some of the speakers will be Brother Jim.

Jim: And we're going to open it up. Just put a challenge out there, light people on fire, and let people just explode all day long. It'll be some fun.

Craig Clutts: So a couple others that we're going to have, we're going to have Camila Markson, Mila Markson.

If anyone is a believer and on Instagram, you've probably seen her. She's nanny to millionaire. She came to America with little to nothing. One day she said, hey, making these few dollars a day as a nanny isn't supporting my husband, my life, my future the way God called me to. What do I do? And so she's got an amazing story about how she went from nanny to millionaire.

We also have Dr. Martha Nestler, which I'm so excited. She's full of fire just like you, Jim, and she's going to fire everybody up. She's a chiropractor. But she now does coaching related to the key women of the Bible. And she has a story for every one of them. She actually does an assessment with ladies, helping them identify which one they are, why are they like that, how God's going to use them, what a testimony.

And we've got some starters out there like Andrew Heathcote, which is just starting his coaching on behalf of God, but he's called to it. And his whole thing is how do you take Sunday into Monday?

Jim: That's, that's a topic, you and I could talk about that forever. 'Cause literally you got one hour on Sunday and another 167 everywhere else. How does your Sunday morning prepare you for the other 167? And if it's not, help the pastor to do it or find a church that will do it. Because you need - Sunday morning should be manufacturing day. You're going to be equipped, retooled, fined or, fine-tuned, whatever it may be. If you need to be fined, I suppose you could be fined if you'd done something wrong.

But, ... that's just a joke. But Sunday morning should be preparing for the other 167, especially your time at work. Yes ... that's the, what's gotta happen. So who should be in attendance at your summit that's gonna happen on June 27th, The Leadership Summit?

Craig Clutts: So I'm part of the marketplace ministry at our church, and what I love about it is some people call it marketplace, some will call it workplace. You don't have to be an owner to be a part of it. It is how to live your faith in the rest of the world that's outside of the church and outside of the home. That's what marketplace ministry, workplace ministry is all about. For the Leadership Summit, we're looking for every brother or sister in Christ that has influence in the marketplace to show up and get wisdom on how they can continue to grow in their relationships on a faith-based level the way God wants them to, the way Jesus gave us the example, and how to take that leadership into every action that they have.

When you're shopping at the grocery store and you come up to the cashier and you notice that the cashier is just going robotic, pulling their hair out, just trying to get through the day, what if you stopped and you s-

Jim: Wait a minute. Stop for a sec. Stop for a sec. You go to a grocery store that's still got a cashier? Whatever happened to customer service? You go into McDonald's, you get a computer. You go to Walmart, and you get a computer. You know what? They're making so much more money now and they employ less people. I like the idea of going to a grocery store. Give your grocery store a plug if they still got a cashier. Go ahead.

Craig Clutts: Yeah, Vons still has a cashier. Ralphs still has a cashier. We go to both of them.

Jim: Love it. What an idea. I was back in Florida not too long ago. Publix still has cashiers. What an idea, people, you could actually interact with people. Okay, sorry, Craig. I just, when I walk into McDonald's and all they have, they got nobody at the front desk and all they have is computers, I'm like, I turn around and get in the drive-through. I want a people. I want a people. And your stupid computer doesn't make sense to normal people, and I'm a computer guy.

Craig Clutts: That's right.

Jim: Stop. And you can't just scan things. Okay.

Craig Clutts: So what I love about it is you don't have to be a business owner, founder. Okay. You don't even have to be a supervisor in your role at work. Because if you're a stay-at-home mom like my wife and you're taking care of two kids, and you go to the grocery store and you see the cashier is just down on their luck going through the motions, when you stop and ask them how they're doing and you mean it, it changes their life.

And one of the greatest testimonies that I've heard that I love to share is that you're supposed to preach, and then use words if you have to. You don't have to preach the gospel at the cashier or the cash register in order to let them feel the love of Jesus Christ emulate out of you.

Jim: No and the greatest way to... let's just say you ask that cashier, "How you doing?" And she's, or if you use your New York accent, if you're me, "How you doing?" And and she goes, she says, "I'm fine." You have to use the line from The Italian Job. "Really? Freaked out, insecure, neurotic, emotional?" "No? How are you really doing?" Then you shut up and you listen.

Now, if there's a long line of people behind you, get the person's number and follow up with them. But literally give them a chance while they're scanning all your items. It just... you're right. Because so often people just miss the people who are right in front of them, like the cashier at the gas station or at the grocery store or at the Dairy Queen or wherever else you may end up going. All right, so your takeaway, you're looking for every attendee, bottom line it for me.

Craig Clutts: Okay, the takeaway is that you can transform your life by identifying the relationships that are important to you in your life, stewarding those so that you can learn how to engage and connect better as a leader in every facet of your life

Jim: And this is happening on June 27th, everybody. And it's an eight-hour, nine-hour conference from 8:30 to 5:00 or 5:30. That's Pacific Time. On the East Coast, it'd be from 11:30 to 8:00 or 8:30 your time. Action-packed all day long. Are there breaks during the day, Craig? Or is it nonstop? And what if I miss one?

Craig Clutts: We're gonna have three 15-minute breaks. The rest of it's go.

Jim: And if I miss one, and I'm signed up and I get ready to go, and I, but I have to go, so I miss one, are they gonna be recorded? And if I've paid to attend, will it, will I get access to the videos later?

Craig Clutts: Yeah, great question. So the attendance is free.

Jim: What? Free!

Craig Clutts: We want everyone to come and hear whatever portion they can. And we're purposely doing it on Saturday to try to get away from the business day when people are typically occupied, and that's why we're trying Saturday.

Jim: Okay.

Craig Clutts: See how we can fit into everybody else's time. And if for some reason you can't make the whole day, you wanna hear more, there's gonna be a small fee, you will have lifetime access to all the recordings, all of the free gifts from all of the speakers, the free gifts from me and Joy, and you'll be able to read them, listen to them multiple times, and continue to learn and hear from God.

Jim: Joy. That's the first time you've mentioned Joy. Tell us about Joy.

Craig Clutts: So Joy Johannes, Sister Joy as I like to call her. Love this lady. She is Washington State. She's a lifetime realtor, and she and I are gonna co-host this event because she is all about transformation. What she does is a quick 15-minute transformation assessment for ladies, is who who her customers typically are, but she's done it for men and women.

And what she's found is throughout her years of this transformation coaching, she's found that it's always related to a relationship. I'm not surprised by that, because suicidal tendencies are typically by one of three reasons they've found psychologically. It's either a change in your job, a change in your location, you move, or a change in a relationship.

I'll tell you from a Navy perspective, it was always based on a change in relationship. So Joy has found that out. She helps people identify what relationship is most important to them, how to pay attention to it, how to invest in it so that they can have a better life.

Jim: Speaking of making a great investment, Craig, I imagine you carry a cellphone, correct?

Craig Clutts: I do.

Jim: And your two kids, they got cellphones?

Craig Clutts: They do.

Jim: And everybody listening's got a cellphone. And yet most of us listening to the show today have a cellphone company who absolutely spits in the face of Christianity, faith, freedom, and family, period, end of story.

They don't like you. They use their profits to support things that are completely against what you stand for. Not Patriot Mobile. Patriot Mobile, and iWork4Him hooked up about two years ago, and it is a cellphone provider that is all about faith, family, and freedom with a US-based, that's right, US-based customer service.

Martha and I switched over couple of - two years ago in April, and have been test driving their stuff for two years. They use the same cellphone towers that all the major carriers use. Their pricing is as, is similar to all the major carriers, but when they make profits, they stay in the US and they go to Christian kingdom-based nonprofit organizations to make a kingdom impact.

That's what you want your money going to invest in, not the other stuff that will go unmentioned on this show, 'cause this is a PG show. Check out Patriot Mobile online, patriotmobile.com/iwork4him. Seriously, do it. You won't regret it. It's gonna change your life. Get away from those big carriers. Get onto patriotmobile.com.

All right, Craig, let's close out with this question: What do you see Jesus-following business owners and leaders struggling with most in their leadership role?

Craig Clutts: The one that I feel like they struggle with the most is how to make that difficult decision, and a lot of those are related to human capital management.

How do you reprimand? How do you address tension with other people? What's fascinating is that they've determined psychological safety actually improves when you address the elephant in the room. And so people are avoiding something because they're not comfortable with it, and they want everybody to feel safe, when actually, when you address it, people feel safer because now they know that not only does it exist, but you see it and you will address it.

And what I love about Jesus' example, and so many different speakers at this summit are gonna share different versions of wisdom related to this, is the decision that you have to make, you've already decided it. You just don't wanna act on it. And that decision is probably a puzzle work. It's probably a process thing.

But in the end, the person that you have to talk to has already made their bed. They either earn rewards or they earn reprimands. It's how you deliver it that is important. I recently, whenever I retired from the Navy, I served at the county for three years as an executive. The last lady that I had to let go, I had to fire. It was a tough discussion. We went through the whole process. She had served well for 18 years, but she stopped doing the job, and so I had to let her go.

20 minutes after I let her go, and going through this process of all the emotions that I have to carry, she has to carry, the union rep has to carry, I'm in the snack room just getting a drink before I walk to the other building where I work. Her and her union rep are sitting there, and they come over and say, "Thank you." I've just fired this lady, and they told me thank you. But why did they say thank you?

They said thank you because of the way that I presented it. I let them know that I care for this individual, that we care for the process, but here's what you did, and here's what you earned, and that's what we have to do. So I really hope that our brothers and sisters in Christ will show up to The Leadership Summit, hear even better wisdom from other people that ha- are more talented than me, but walk away with those little nuggets of, I can do this because I can relate to them. I can do it in love, and in the end, we will all be better for it.

Jim: Theleadershipsummit.com. Craig Clutts, look forward to that day. And June 27th from, depending on which side of the coast you're on, 11:30 AM it gets started on the East Coast, 8:30 AM on the West Coast. A whole day jam-packed full of encouraging, challenging words for you as a leader. And remember, if you've got two friends, you're a leader, and if you've got somebody working underneath you, you're a leader.

Doesn't mean you have to have the words owner or president or CEO after your name. The Leadership Summit. Craig, I'm super excited about this. Can't wait to walk alongside. Just 10 days away. Just 10 days away. We're very excited about it. Craig, thanks for bringing it to the iWork4Him audience.

Craig Clutts: Thank you, Jim. Appreciate it. God bless you.

Jim: All right. And before we go, just a reminder, everybody, of our summer initiative at iWork4Him. Have a picnic in your neighborhood. Invite your neighbors into your territory. Love on them by having a potluck picnic. Send us a picture and get entered into a contest for a $100 gift at the end of the summer.

We get people coming in with pictures from all over the country. We want to encourage what Jesus said, to love your neighbor, and we gotta do that through picnics this summer. Make sure you take a picture. Send it to jim@iwork4him.com, jim@iwork4him.com. You've been listening to iWork4Him with your host, Jim Brangenberg.

I'm a Christ follower. My workplace, it's my mission field, but ultimately, iWork4Him.