“Maximize Your Potential” is a unique and cool talk show that showcases individuals and companies in the community that are making a buzz and giving back. Our goal is to interview guests that are doing great things in their business and in their community. Today our hosts, Brian Sexton spoke with Tony Davis of Crestcom Leadership Development.
Tony Davis
President of Crestcom Leadership Development
Website Address: https://crestcomnefl.com/
Short company description:
Partner with business owners to transform their managers into leaders.
What is your “why”? What drives you to do what you do every day?
My mission statement is to “Make an impact in the lives of my clients by helping them grow in their leadership so that they can impact their world.” Leadership development transcends the workplace. When applied to how we lead, it can make us better spouses, parents, citizens and people!
What inspires you to keep growing and learning as a leader?
Leadership is not static. The workplace is evolving, and leaders must evolve with it. What inspires us is seeing leaders apply new tools immediately and watch their teams respond. We stay committed to research-based leadership development because the data is clear: organizations that intentionally develop managers outperform those that don’t. Growth is not optional if you want sustainable results.
What impact do you hope to leave on your organization or industry?
We want leadership development to move from an occasional event to an ongoing discipline. Too often, companies invest in one-time workshops that don’t translate into behavior change. Our goal is to help organizations in Northeast Florida build leadership systems that create measurable impact: improved productivity, stronger retention, and healthier workplace culture. If we can help normalize practical, applied leadership training, that’s a legacy worth leaving.
Who do you admire in the industry and why?
Leaders who combine emotional intelligence with operational excellence. The ones who understand that leadership is not about authority, it’s about influence and accountability. In our industry, we respect professionals who measure results and are willing to adjust based on evidence, not ego. Leadership development should be grounded in both research and real-world application. That balance is what truly creates transformation.
Transcript:
Howard:
Welcome back to Maximize Your Potential. I’m Howard Wolpoff, your host. And today I’m very excited for my guest Tony Davis from Crestcom Leadership of Northeast Florida. Tony, welcome to our conversation today.
Tony:
Appreciate you, Howard.
Howard:
Well, I’m glad you’re here because I have a lot to talk about with you. I think that leadership is something that you can learn, but sometimes there’s not a lot out there. People think they’re leaders, but they really need that discipline, that understanding. And that’s where you come in, really helping business owners and business leaders to maximize their potential and find ways to lead an organization.
Tony:
You know, such a good point that there are people out there that don’t understand how to lead and they think they’re leaders. But there’s even more people that don’t understand they’re leaders and they don’t look at themselves from that perspective.
They think, well, I have a role within my company where I don’t manage people, so I’m not a leader. And I love to have these conversations with these types of people because I want them to shift their perspective to a growth mindset and to understand that we lead every single day.
The title of leader or being a leader doesn’t attach to us because we manage people. A manager and a leader are completely different things.
We lead every day, but we lead self. Leadership starts with self-leadership. And if you don’t understand that, then you’re going to look at yourself as somebody who’s not a leader, and that’s going to be doing a disservice not only to yourself, but to the people that are in your world, inside and outside the workplace.
Leadership doesn’t stop in the workplace. It transcends beyond the four walls of the workplace. It’s all about how we lead self and then how we interact with every single person in our community, our families, and other people that we run into every single day.
People that think they’re leaders need to understand how to be a better leader. And people that don’t think they’re leaders need to understand you lead every single day, even if it’s just yourself. Leadership starts with self-leadership and it starts with being fully present for those we lead.
Howard:
Now, I absolutely agree. I think leading by example is first and foremost. You might not have direct reports coming to you, but doing your job, being there to answer questions for people, and being in that more senior role of experience really helps people find someone to emulate in an office or company environment.
Those end up being the best leaders because you’re focused on your job. But there are people who say, okay, I’m going to be a leader. I’m going to be the boss. And their personalities don’t really mesh with real leadership quality. It’s all about them being the leader and being respected as opposed to earning that respect based on your actions and how you treat people.
Tony:
Absolutely.
For me, I look at three different types of leaders. There are motivating leaders, and you don’t have to be a leader to motivate. You’re just getting people to do what you need them to do. Managers do that by any means necessary, sometimes threat, sometimes negative ways.
Then you have inspiring leaders. Those are the people that you talk to and you’re inspired by what they say.
But what you alluded to is the aspiring leaders. It’s the people that when you watch them and see how they carry themselves, their leadership presence, it’s those people that walk in a room and you know they’re there. You may not have one-on-one interaction with them right away, but you aspire to carry yourself like that. You aspire to lead like they do just from watching them.
When I talk about that with my clients in leadership training and I talk about being an aspiring leader, it really helps. Think about it. When you’re a parent and you have your kids, they watch every single thing that you do and they pick up on things whether you like it or not.
When you’re a leader in your organization or when you view yourself as a leader in your organization, other people are going to be like kids watching you as it pertains to how you carry yourself and how you lead without leading, so to speak.
Howard:
It’s a really great example. Kids emulate their parents for good or for bad. A challenge I see is leaders in their 20s and 30s trying to lead who may not have children yet. They’re not getting those life lessons.
When you realize your child is doing something they learned from you, that’s a wake-up call. In the office setting, you have to make sure you’re setting the right environment where everyone is comfortable and you’re getting the most out of people.
You don’t want to claim it’s a family because that gets messy. Truly being a leader is showing leadership on a regular basis. It’s good that you’re here in this marketplace because most people don’t realize they’re not leading the right way.
It’s about finding the opportunity to ask for help, to find that guidance, to build a company or division the right way by having the right insight, clearing your mind, and giving you the blueprint and strategies to lead an organization.
Tony:
Absolutely. And I love what you said there — asking for help.
As the leader goes, so goes the team, so goes the culture, so goes the company. When you look at what we can do by asking for help, leaders sometimes think they have all the answers. But we all have blind spots.
What I like to say all the time is feedback is a two-way street. We’re really good at giving feedback, but as a leader, ask yourself: how good are you at asking for feedback?
We all have blind spots and they’re called blind spots for a reason — we can’t see them. So what’s the only way we’re going to see our blind spots? Ask.
Ask, what can I do better? Where am I missing the mark? What could I have done better with this project? How can I support you more?
How many leaders are out there soliciting that advice on a daily basis? I don’t know. I hope a lot do. But I’m afraid more don’t than do.
That’s part of that growth mindset — always trying to be better versus that fixed mindset where you think, I am who I am, there’s nothing I can do about it. This is the hand I was dealt and I just have to play it.
You can have that mentality, but guess what? So will the rest of your team. So will your organization.
If you maintain a culture of a growth mindset within your organization, you will always be striving, always getting better, and that ceiling within your organization is going to keep rising. That’s what we all want in life.
Howard:
I would agree. In most things in life there’s a floor but no ceiling. You can keep going up and up. Growth not just in revenue, but in interpersonal skills, abilities, becoming a better person, better employee, better manager.
You have to ask those questions. You have to get that other side of how you’re being interpreted in what you’re doing because that interpretation is what creates either positive outcomes or challenges for staff.
I’m really glad you’re here providing this information not just to us today, but to your clients and to Northeast Florida. So we thank you so much for joining us today.
Tony:
Thank you. I appreciate you saying that.
Howard:
And thank you all for joining us as well. Leadership can be taught, but leaders need to look within themselves and ask, am I doing this right? Can I do this better? How can I be a better leader and find the right answers to help my people, my company, and myself grow and keep moving forward?
It’s good that Tony is here answering a lot of those questions. The key is to ask them.
Go out, have a great rest of today, and we will see you next time.
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