L.O.A.D.- Bearing Leadership w/ Dr. Greg Kimble

Wait, we need to wear weighted vests for the whole Gamma Group event?

My mind is racing, I'm not in boy scouts anymore!

I’m surrounded by powerful men who I respect and have been able to get to know over the years in The Final Percent’s events. This event is men only, the challenges are rougher, the experience is a rare chance to grow through challenges. We aren't happy clappy gathering around a campfire singing, we are about to forge a bond over doing hard Things together. This is a brotherhood being pressed together.

On Day one we were broken up into small groups of 6 and appointed group leads. Each group was given a 30-50 lbs weighted vest someone had to be wearing the whole weekend while we were awake. No exceptions, the weight needed to be carried by someone in the group at all times. The leader was expected to bear the weight and share the weight.

Leadership is a load of responsibility. Then it hits me that load-bearing leadership is more than carrying the weight all by yourself; it is the ability to know when to not only lift it but to know when to pass it. Leadership isn’t about waiting to have people tell you what to do, It's about bearing, sharing and not dropping the weight. Load bearing leaders don’t wait to take the weight, they bear the load and entrust others at times to lift where they can.   Load-bearing leadership is donning the responsibility to take the load and entrust others to offload it at times. It is taking back responsibility if the load is unbearable to subordinates.  The real weight of leadership isn’t just about shouldering everything alone however It’s about knowing when to bear it—and when to share it.

"Load-bearing leaders don’t carry everything—they carry what counts. They leverage strength, take full ownership, live in alignment, and distribute the weight to empower others.”-Brigham Blackham

Leaders need to be vigilant when they pass that weight because just like a load bearing wall, poor passing of the weight of responsibility can crack an organisation like a wall.

“If architects want to strengthen a decrepit arch, they increase the load which is laid upon it—for thereby the parts are joined more firmly together.”

—Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

Just like how without a load bearing Keystone an arch crumbles,  What is your keystone?

Leadership isn’t about holding a title—it’s about holding weight. Real leadership is load-bearing. It’s about carrying pressure, navigating resistance, and protecting the people and purpose entrusted to you.

 

Introducing Dr. Greg Kimble, self-proclaimed "head Intern," is a leader who doesn’t need a title to make an impact. He goes the final percent in every area of life—professionally, personally, in his vitality, and in his community.  In other words he is the example. There is nobody. better to help you gather the value loaded in this framework that him.

Load-bearing leadership rests on four laws.

This L.O.A.D. framework. is the law of leverage, the law of ownership, the law of alignment and the law of distribution. 

L — Leverage

Leverage is what allows a leader to lift heavy loads—not by brute strength alone, but by wisely applying pressure in the right places, at the right time, with the right support.

“The ultimate Leverage we have is Community”- Dr. Greg Kimble

Leverage is created with intentionality. Are you like the barrel chested competitive strongman who will pick up 333 lbs atlas stone and hoist it onto a 33’platform by brute strength alone?

At times that may be metaphorically called for, but if you understand the law of leverage, More often than not, there is a better way. The weight needs to be lifted but what about rigging up the stone to a pulley system, or using a forklift, or banding together to bear it up? As my biometric specialist and hyroc’s champion friend Gunther Klaus says,“work smarter so you can go harder.”

Use each weight like a rep in the gym. The weight of leadership will tear you up, weigh you down but that turmoil will build you up.

It’s not adversity, it's resistance. The pressure, heat and time is what forms you into a strong leader like a diamond is formed. The law of leverage is putting pressure in the right places, and being resourceful when resources are scarce. Doing what is necessary to lift, the load. Resistance either builds us or breaks us.

Leverage isn’t about lifting alone—it’s about using community, faith, systems, and mindset to lift what could crush you by yourself.

Dr. Greg Kimble—dynamic, soulful motown singer but for years people pressed him–You’ve got to go through adversity to really sing the blues.

Greg has a real problem with that, it isn’t about adversity. “You don’t have to be heartbroken to sing the blues—you just need to learn the song.”

You don’t need trauma to be trustworthy.
You don’t need to fall apart to develop strength.
You don’t need to be crushed to carry the weight.

What if we did like what greg suggested and just learned the song?

“Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better.” – Jim Rohn

 

O — Ownership

“Ownership is Simply Example”--Dr. Greg Kimble

Ownership is the act of radical responsibility—choosing to claim agency over your actions, outcomes, and even your attitude, regardless of external circumstances. Rising up to be the example instead of the warning.  It’s not just about taking credit when things go well or accepting blame when they don’t—true ownership is knowing the buck stops with me.

Greg shared about how Bernard Quisumbing didn’t join TFP in the early days because he didn’t feel like Greg matched his preaching yet. The concepts were great but they didn’t match his actions fully. Bernard told Greg,  ’You told people to eat healthy—but you weren’t living it.”  to Bernard’s point Greg even ballooned up over 233lbs while Cayla was pregnant. “ I had all the pregnancy cravings” and his waste line showed it, he had to own those choices.

He had recognized he was a warning for others when he got after his team for giving him a shirt that fit too tight thinking that they gave him a medium when in fact is was an XL. He made a massive shift. A decision. He made a choice to become the example,but when he took his health to the next level his Example became the attraction to the message.

Three years later he is in the best shape of his life and just recently his assistant Rebecca shared with Greg just how astonishing it is how often men come up to him to talk about his body.

At his last event, he had many of the gentlemen eating at his table refuse to order until they saw what Greg ordered. That is what you call setting the standard and owning your results.

So many of these men were asking “how do I get a body like yours” but when he tested them on if they were serious by going to the original Golds Gym to skip out on a pool party exactly nobody came to join him.  Ownership can be lonely and can be frustrating. What that means is the buck stops with you.

When people say “how do I get results like you” Greg claims they are asking the wrong question. The question could be what are you doing to get results like that. And Who do you have to become to have standards like that? It is all about the What.

Something I have heard over and over is that  when you have boundaries and standards, they do not require anyone else’s participation. If my discipline stirs up your insecurities, let that inspire action not shame, or get stuck in the comparative reality of blame.

Here is the long and short of it, if we clearly see what we are building and see what it takes and do the actions to get there consistently, we are owning our results. We need mentors who know the way, go the way and show the way so we can remove our blindspots and make consistent progress.

Caution: “if someone tells you what to do without asking first what you're trying to do they are just trying to sell you something.”-Dr. Greg Kimble

 

Isn’t it interesting how most people are looking to be in the spotlight but neglect to create a legacy of their life that will live in the history books? I don I want to be in the history books not the headlines.

Own your outcomes and you give permission to your followers to do the same.

A — Alignment

Alignment is the harmony between your inner world and outer impact—where your beliefs, behaviors, and becoming are synchronized across all areas of your personal, professional, vitality and community.

It truly is Be+ Do = Have.

It's living in such a way that your faith, purpose, and priorities are not competing—but cooperating with synergy.

Christ modeled this perfectly:

"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." (Luke 2:52)

Christ grew mentally *Professionally (wisdom), physically *vitality-(stature), spiritually *Personal (favor with God), and socially*Community (favor with man). That’s holistic alignment and we use the Infinity model in The Final Percent to give you  a holistic approach to personal development.

There’s no such thing as perfect alignment in leadership. If you're waiting for 100%, you’ll never move. Hugh Zaretsky taught me: “if you’re 70-80% aligned with what you want—do it.”

Alignment isn’t about agreement from everyone—it’s about clarity within yourself. Boundaries protect that clarity, and your boundaries are your chosen standards.

“My boundaries don’t require your participation.”-Dr. Greg Kimble

When your vision, values, and actions align, you become steadfast and immovable.

“ be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his…”(Mosiah 15:5) 

When you are in alignment, you may wobble under the load—but you won’t fall with Christ by your side.

Recently in a toastmasters meeting, I demonstrated alignment by having an audience member named Curtis hold out his arm and resist me pressing it down. He had a ton of strength as he stood upright and it was difficult to push down.  Then I had him cock his neck to the side and lean over slightly at the hip creating misalignment, which made it easy to push down his arm.  His strength hadn’t weakened; his misalignment took away some of his ability to use that strength.

Leadership is similar, When we are misaligned we can’t function at top capacity. Tires that are misaligned wear unevenly and pull to one side. If you have ever thrown your back out  you know how some misalignment can hinder everything you do.

A Load-Bearing Leader is like a chiropractor in that sense where his job is to make the adjustments allowing his followers strength through alignment. He is also in charge of keeping him in alignment so he can tap into his strength.

 

Greg gives a great example of how even when we have areas of misalignment we don’t want to let that destroy a relationship. It is just like how Greg is a non-denominational Chirstian and I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are zones of disagreement and misalignment,  but we don’t want to let the 10 or 20% misalignment destroy a great relationship or create contention.

This was crucial for me as a missionary,  I always looked for agreement or areas of connection first. Seeking insight over agreement is a skill leaders develop over time only if they are looking to live the law of alignment. How much more effective can we bear the load of leadership if we are in alignment and help our teams stay in integrity and alignment? We literally strengthen our bonds,deepen our understanding and empathy for others and avoid wallowing in the zone of disagreement.

Which adds light to how Gordon B. Hinckley encouraged us to , “Bring all the good that you have and let us add to it.”

Just like the old saying, “a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” We are not leaders if we force obedience, we are leaders as we serve.

Just like how Dr. Greg Kimble said, ‘leaders have two hands for a reason. One is to say ‘here is where I can help’ and the other is to say, ‘I need help.” We need both to be in alignment.

 

D — Distribution

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest... For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28,30)

Load-bearing leaders know how to make sure to distribute weight and transfer that weight for the highest benefit. Just like the 50 lbs bullet proof vests we wore for our last Gamma

Retreat was passed around. We were not able to break it apart into smaller parts like we often can in our regular leadership roles but we can pass the weight to trusted leaders that we develop. The greatest gift we have as leaders is to create more leaders.

As leaders we aren’t looking to help people fit in, we want them to know they belong. That we only share that load with other leaders we can trust. As leaders we get to choose how we show up and when disagreements happen with others in our organization once the decision is made we go from sharing our opinion and insights to gathering information to make a decision to support mode. An Amazing example of this is Chris Wiechman. He and Greg do not always see eye to eye but when the decision is made Chris sets the example of taking that decision and doing his best with the best attitude. How many people only do one or none of those things? They do their best with a crappy attitude, or they don’t do their best but have a good attitude. Even more common would be not doing your best and having a bad attitude. A load bearing leader recognizes when it is essential to lead, but even more so when it is necessary to follow.

If you want to experience more about how to develop this level of leadership stay connected!

Load-bearing leaders don’t carry everything—they carry what counts. They leverage strength, take full ownership, live in alignment, and distribute the weight to empower others.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, want to experience the full conversation?

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Go to thefinalpercent.com/brighamblackham