Episode 203: Why Your Leadership Pipeline is Actually a Placement Problem by Mac Lake

What if your calling stayed the same, but your assignment changed? That’s the pivot Mac Lake made—moving from pastoring and church planting to building leadership pipelines for churches and, later, for businesses hungry to grow healthy leaders. We sat down to unpack the turning points, the practical frameworks, and the simple habits that turn lofty leadership talk into measurable impact.

Mac shares the “intervention” that ignited his growth, why investing in yourself isn’t optional, and how a clear leadership pipeline can stop bottlenecks before they burn out your best people. We walk through the five-tier pathway—from leading yourself to leading the organization—so you can spot gaps, set ratios, and prepare your next layer of leaders on purpose. You’ll hear how development beats placement every time, and why the triad of knowledge, experience, and coaching is the simplest engine for transformation you can run across any team.

• origins of purpose and early leadership wake-up call
• moving from church staff to founding Multiply Group
• treating business as a platform for discipleship and influence
• investing in yourself with intentional growth plans
• designing a leadership pipeline with healthy ratios
• shifting from leader placement to leader development
• triad of knowledge, experience, and coaching
• pairing character with competency for trusted impact
• daily health practices that fuel longevity and focus
• how we develop our own team through monthly huddles

We also dig into the balance of character and competency, anchored in David’s model of a pure heart and skillful hands. Mac explains how pairing virtues with skills—patience with conflict, humility with decision-making, courage with change—“supercharges” leadership people trust. And because energy is a competitive edge, we zoom in on health span: eat, sleep, move, think, hydrate. From ditching processed foods and seed oils to resistance training and hydration, Mac shows how daily habits protect focus, raise resilience, and help you finish strong.

If you lead a business, a nonprofit, or a church, you’ll leave with a blueprint to restructure your team, a repeatable way to develop leaders, and a personal plan to sustain the energy leadership demands. Subscribe for more conversations with uncommon leaders, share this with someone who needs the nudge, and leave a review to help others find the show.


𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 Barb Betts:👇
➡️ 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧 (primary): https://www.linkedin.com/in/maclake/
➡️ 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐓𝐮𝐛𝐞: https://www.youtube.com/maclake
➡️ 𝐖𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞:  https://www.multiplygroup.org/
➡️ 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤:  https://multiply-group.myshopify.com/

Connect with The Uncommon Leader: 
🚀𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭s: 🍎 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the

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