
Stay Forth Leadership Podcast
Leadership is challenging, a lot like climbing a mountain. The Stay Forth Leadership Podcast is a resource to help you become an effective leader- someone who is healthy, self-aware, and working with the grain of their gifting at a sustainable pace to produce long-term impact. Each week, Alan Briggs hosts practical conversations with leadership experts designed to equip you with tools to produce the highest amount of change possible through new awareness, new information, new tools, and processes to guide you on your journey to become the healthiest and most impactful leader you can be.
Find out more about who we are and what we do at www.stayforth.com
Latest episodes

Apr 15, 2021 • 42min
191 - Alan Briggs ”What we learned from The Phoenix Fill Up Experience”
On today's episode, Alan sits down with Pastors participating in the Phoenix Fill Up to unpack their time together and share why experiences matter.
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Apr 13, 2021 • 32min
190 - Tyler Reagin ”Leading things you didn’t start”
It's no secret that leadership is hard. The challenges and questions associated with leading well are wide ranging. For example, how do you lead a team or organization that you didn't start?
On today's episode, Alan talks with consultant and writer Tyler Reagin about how to navigate the challenges of leading a team or organization you didn't start
About Tyler
Tyler Reagin is an author the founder and CEO of The Life Giving Company. He was the President of Catalyst, a leadership development organization that exists to unify and equip leaders who love the Church through resources and experiential events.
Prior to leading the charge at Catalyst, Tyler served for seven years under the leadership of Andy Stanley as the Service Programming Director of Browns Bridge Community Church (a campus of North Point Ministries).
Whether you are leading a team of 2 or 200 there is much to be gleaned from this episode.
Connect with Tyler
The Life Giving Leader
Facebook
Instagram
tylerreagin.com
The Life Giving Company
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Apr 8, 2021 • 30min
189 - Alan Briggs ” Do you have a grid for saying yes or no?”
Very few leaders have a filter for saying YES and NO.
On today's episode, Alan shares the process he walks people through in determining whether to say yes or no to a new opportunity.
Spend some time developing your filter ahead of time, before you’re feeling the emotion of the moment pulling on you.
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Apr 6, 2021 • 26min
188 - Sarah Zylstra ”Between Beauty and Brokenness”
On today's episode, Alan talks with writer, leader and mom Sarah Zylstra about the challenges of living our faith out among the beauty of the story we were destined for and the brokenness of our world today
About Sarah
Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra is senior writer and faith-and-work editor for The Gospel Coalition. Before that, she wrote for Christianity Today, homeschooled her children, freelanced for a local daily paper, and taught at Trinity Christian College.
She earned a BA in English and communication from Dordt University and an MSJ from Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She lives with her husband and two sons in the suburbs of Chicago.
Connect with Sarah
Gospelbound: Living with Resolute Hope in an Anxious Age
Twitter: @sarahezylstra
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Apr 1, 2021 • 38min
187 - Bailey Hurley ”How to cultivate healthy community and culture”
On today's episode, Alan talks with writer, leader and mom Bailey Hurley about her passion for community and explores some ways to cultivate healthy culture.
About Bailey
Bailey lives in Denver with her husband, Tim, and their two children, Hunter and Liv. As a family, thy share a passion for welcoming people into the folds of godly community—especially Hunter who likes to have “all the peoples” over all the time.
Bailey earned her M.A. in Leadership from Denver Seminary and uses her education to build a meaningful home and ministry that impacts how we daily lead our communities.
Connect with Bailey
Website
Instagram: @baileythurley
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Mar 30, 2021 • 29min
186 - Jenni Catron ”How do we create a healthy culture?”
On today's episode, Alan has a conversation with leadership coach, author, and speaker about the importance of creating a healthy culture. This talk originally aired on our Healthy Leaders Summit.
About Jenni
Jenni Catron is a leadership coach, author and speaker. Her passion is to lead well and to inspire, equip and encourage others to do the same. She speaks at conferences and churches nationwide, seeking to help others develop their leadership gifts and lead confidently in the different spheres of influence God has granted them. As Founder and CEO of The 4Sight Group, she consults organizations on leadership, team culture and organizational health.
Jenni is the author of several books including Clout: Discover and Unleash Your God-Given Influence and The 4 Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership. She loves a fabulous cup of tea, great books, learning the game of tennis and hiking with her husband.
Connect with Jenni
Social media at @jennicatron
www.get4sight.com.
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Mar 25, 2021 • 37min
185 - Ashlee Eiland ”Leading with kindness in a brutal season”
There is a massive gap in kindness right now. We forget how powerful our words are. Sticks and stones can break your bones, and words do actually hurt you. Words can go where sticks and stones cant- to your heart.
On today's episode we're featuring Alan's talk with pastor and author Ashlee Eiland about leading with kindness in a brutally unkind culture.
About Ashlee
Ashlee is a leader, pastor, writer, and Bible teacher who exists to join God in His redemptive work here on Earth. Her work has one purpose: to help humanity build bridges back to the Truth of who God is and between one other in redemptive, healing relationship. Her passion for Scripture, family, writing, elevating women in the Church, and the holy journey of adoption are core to who she is. Ashlee serves as Formation & Preaching Pastor at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids. She and her husband, Delwin, have three kids, Brooklyn, Myles, and Journey.
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Books
Website
Instagram
Twitter
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Mar 23, 2021 • 30min
184 - Emily Ley ”More of the right things instead of all of the things”
On today's episode, Alan talks to high-powered entrepreneur, mom and author Emily Ley about the joys and challenges of being a female leader and entrepreneur, how burnout shaped her and how she would make The Rock cry.
About Emily
Emily Ley is the founder of Simplified® - a brand of planners and organizational tools for busy women. Emily has been featured in Forbes, Family Circle, Better Homes and Gardens, Glamour, and Good Housekeeping.
She has been recognized with numerous awards, including Best New Product at the National Stationery Show as well as Small Business of the Year, Female Owned Business of the Year, and Entrepreneur of the Year by Studer Community Institute.
Emily and her team collaborated with AT-A-GLANCE® to create gift and planning collections carried in Office Depot, Staples, and Target. Emily is the author of national bestselling books, Grace, Not perfection: Embracing Simplicity, Celebrating Joy, A Simplified Life: Tactical Tools for Intentional Living, and When Less Becomes More: Making Space for Slow, Simple, and Good.
Now as an author, entrepreneur, wife and mother to three, Emily lives in Pensacola, Florida with her husband, Bryan, and their son Brady, and twins Tyler and Caroline.
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Books
Website
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
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Mar 18, 2021 • 35min
183 - Tricia Sciortino ”What’s happening with working remote?”
A lot has changed with how we work in the last year and the landscape looks a lot different for a lot of people.
On today's episode, Alan has a great conversation with Tricia Sciortino from Belay Solutions about all things de-centralized and how to navigate the remote world.
About Tricia
Born and raised in Long Island, Tricia attended the University of Hartford where she obtained a degree in Business Administration and Management. For ten years, she passionately served as a District Manager for the retail chain Pacific Sunwear, however, when her first child was born, Tricia, like many other women, found herself struggling to balance her high profile career with her new role as a mom. Seeking a more balanced life, Tricia relocated to Charlotte, NC, and scored a job working remotely supporting an executive in Atlanta, Bryan Miles.
Their long-distance arrangement was so successful that when Bryan and his wife, Shannon, were looking for a way out of the corporate grind themselves and began contemplating some sort of entrepreneurial venture, Bryan had an epiphany: “If the virtual assistant thing works for Tricia and me, why can’t it work for everyone?” In 2010, after much prayer and due diligence, Bryan and Shannon gave notice to their successful jobs to start a company that would help professionals get administrative support in an incremental way that could scale with their needs. Tricia was brought on board as BELAY’s very first employee and became instrumental in helping Bryan and Shannon cast their vision of creating a new industry in staffing.
Tricia quickly worked her way up the virtual corporate ladder, serving as Director, Vice President, President, and COO. In 2020, Tricia was named CEO of BELAY. She is grateful for the opportunity to live out her “third option” every day as a hands-on mom to her two daughters and stepson while leading a vibrant organization that has become known for excellence and a willingness to serve.
Connect with Tricia:
Instagram: @triciamsciortino, @belay_solutions
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/triciasciortino/
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Mar 16, 2021 • 37min
182 - Amy Downs ”The OKC bombing was just the beginning”
On today's episode, Alan is joined by Amy Downs. Amy is an Oklahoma City Bombing Survivor, Credit Union CEO and Motivational Speaker.
Alan and Amy have a powerful conversation and Amy shares her incredible story of what the Oklahoma City Bombing was like firsthand and how her life changed from that moment on.
About Amy
Amy Downs was one of the last survivors to be pulled from the rubble of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing in which a total of 168 people were killed including 18 of her 33 co-workers. While buried alive and waiting to die, she realized she had never really lived. Once freed from the rubble, Downs promised God she would never live her life the same.
She began her career as a teller 32 years ago working for Federal Employees Credit Union located in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. At the time of the bombing, Downs was a credit card loan officer who flunked out of college and weighed more than 350 pounds.
In the coming years, she’d not only lose 200 pounds, but become a triathlete—and even compete in an Ironman Triathlon. She’d not only go back to school, but she’d graduate with a Masters of Business Administration. She’d not only get promoted by Federal Employees Credit Union (who would soon change their name to Allegiance Credit Union) but she eventually became its CEO—an award winning CEO, no less. She didn’t just fulfill her promise, she literally ran laps around it.
For nearly twenty years, Amy has been an inspirational subject in national and local media for her survival of the Alfred P. Murrah Building bombing, the deadliest domestic terror attack in our nation’s history. Amy now shares a message more powerful than her survival: her transformation in the aftermath. Her inspirational story of triumphant transformation through evil is a keynote message that will leave the audience feeling inspired and open to growth.
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Website
Facebook
LinkedIn
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