Become AI Fluent

Six months ago I typed a question into Google.I do that less and less now. Not because I stopped being curious, but because I discovered what happens when you bring that same curiosity to a real conversation instead of a search engine. That shift changed how I work, how I plan, and how I think about the next decade of my career.It did not happen overnight. It happened through four steps — a framework that took me from AI curious to genuinely AI fluent. Not fluent in the technical sense. Fluent in the way that actually matters for leaders: knowing how to bring AI into your work as a thinking partner, a research engine, a process consultant, and a builder.Thirty years in enterprise technology and I still had to build this from scratch. That alone tells you where most people are starting from.Step 1: ResearchStop using search engines as your primary research tool and start using AI models. Not one model — four. Download ChatGPT from OpenAI, Claude from Anthropic, Copilot from Microsoft, and Grok from X. Put them on your desktop and your phone. Then take the same question and run it through all four.This matters because each model has a different personality, different training, and different strengths. ChatGPT tends to be comprehensive and affirming. Claude tends to push back and help you think through tradeoffs. Copilot connects into the Microsoft ecosystem. Grok pulls from a different information stream entirely. Using one model is like reading one newspaper and calling yourself informed. Using four is how you start to see the full picture.Try this with something low-stakes first. Planning a trip. Thinking through a career move. Evaluating a business idea. Type the same detailed prompt into all four and watch what comes back. Then have a real conversation in each one — not just a query, an actual back and forth. That conversation is where the value lives.Using one AI model is like reading one newspaper and calling yourself informed.Step 2: Process ReengineeringOnce you have started using AI as a research tool, the next step is bringing it into your actual work.Take the things you do every week — the recurring tasks, the reports, the communications, the decisions — and before you do them, ask an AI how you should think about doing them differently. Not for the sake of change. With a specific goal: identifying which parts of that task are truly irreplaceable and which parts could be automated, accelerated, or redesigned.This is what process reengineering means in practice. You are not asking AI to do your job. You are asking AI to help you see your job more clearly — to find the manual painful steps that could become repeatable mechanisms, and eventually, automations.The leaders who do this well are going to separate themselves over the next two to three years. The ones who do not will still be doing manually what the others handed to AI in 2025. That gap will compound faster than most people expect.The leaders who reverse engineer their work with AI now will separate from those who wait. That gap will compound faster than most people expect.Step 3: BuildThis is the step most people skip. It is also the one that matters most for actual fluency.At some point you have to stop reading about AI and start building with it. Not building in the engineering sense — building in the sense of taking an idea and using AI to make it real.I had never opened GitHub. I did not know what Vercel was. I had no traditional development background. But I had an idea — a platform to help leaders like me become more AI fluent — and I started having conversations with Claude about how to build it. On an external account, with no internal information involved.Claude walked me through everything. Setting up a GitHub account. Deploying on Vercel. Pointing my DNS. Connecting an API to my Substack. Every time I got stuck I came back with a screenshot and said “this isn’t right — do you see what’s wrong?” and it helped me fix it.That platform is BecomeAIFluent.com. It is real, it is live, and I built it without a developer. That is what AI fluency looks like in practice.Step 4: The Learn-It-All MentalityThe fourth step is the one that sustains everything else — and you are already doing it by watching this.Becoming AI fluent is not a destination. It is a posture. A commitment to keep learning, keep asking, keep having conversations — with AI, with colleagues, with people who are further along than you are.Ask the people around you what they are learning. Find the leaders in your organization who are building AI fluency and have real conversations with them. Seek out content, coaching, community — not passively, actively. The people who grow fastest in this space treat every week as another opportunity to learn something they did not know before.Becoming AI fluent is not a destination. It is a posture. A commitment to keep learning, keep asking, keep having conversations.Episode Chapters00:00: The Confession Every Tech Leader Needs to Hear01:00: What AI Fluency Actually Looks Like in Enterprise Tech02:30: The Sticky Note That Started Everything04:30: How to Reinvent Yourself When You're Already the Expert06:00: Chaos to Process to Automation: The AI Readiness Ladder08:30: How a Non-Coder Built a Web App Using Claude and Vercel10:30: Welcome to Become AI FluentYou can do this. I am in my mid-fifties with 30 years in tech and I still had to build this from scratch. The dots connected faster for me than they might for you — but they will connect. The question is whether you start.Research. Reengineering. Build. Learn. Four steps. Ninety days. That is the path.If this episode connected with you, leave a comment. I read every one and try to respond to all of them. And if you know a leader who is quietly falling behind on AI, share this with them. The window is still open — but it does not stay open forever.Subscribe free at LeaderUnlock.com, or join the community for as little as $7 per month.Much Love,ChrisLeader Unlock is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.I take my commitments to Microsoft seriously, including all non-compete and conflict of interest obligations. Nothing I write here competes with or compromises my responsibilities there.All opinions and stories shared here are my own and in no way represent Microsoft or any other current or past employer. Nothing in this publication should be taken as official company views or endorsements.All content on Leader Unlock is for personal use only. Please do not copy, repost off platform, or republish substantial portions of this work without permission. If you want to quote or share something, link back to the original post so people can read it in full and in context. Get full access to Leader Unlock at www.leaderunlock.com/subscribe

Six months ago I sat down with a sticky note and wrote three words on it. Not a goal. Not a plan. A question. The three words were “become AI fluent” — and I wrote them because I genuinely did not know if I wanted to answer yes.That might sound strange coming from someone who has spent thirty years in enterprise technology. I have navigated the internet age, the dot-com era, the shift from on-premise to cloud, Smart Home at Amazon, and seven years building AI enablement programs. I know how to reinvent myself when the ground shifts. I have done it before.But this one was different. And I was behind in a way I had not expected.“The gap between using AI and becoming AI fluent is wider than most leaders in technology want to admit.”This is the first episode of Become AI Fluent — a show built for senior leaders, directors, VPs, and executives who are technically literate but quietly falling behind on AI. Every episode shares what I am actually doing, not what sounds good in theory. And this first one starts where every honest conversation starts: with a confession.What I Had to Admit to MyselfI was using AI on a daily basis and calling it productivity. Summarizing transcripts. Cleaning up emails. Running research queries. All of it useful. None of it transformative. And at the time, I genuinely believed I was keeping pace.I was not. The people around me who were building real AI fluency were not using it as a text editor. They were designing workflows with it. Building tools with it. Using it as a thinking partner, not a finishing tool. That gap — between using AI and becoming AI fluent — is wider than most leaders in technology want to admit. And the longer you wait to look at it honestly, the harder it becomes to close.Nobody in this space is a complete expert. The models are evolving too fast, the use cases moving too quickly. But that is actually the good news — it means the window is still open. The question is whether you are willing to walk through it.“The people building real AI fluency were not using it as a text editor. They were using it as a thinking partner.”Chaos to Process to Automation: The AI Readiness LadderThe biggest mistake I see companies make when implementing AI is skipping the steps. They have broken processes — manual, inconsistent, held together by tribal knowledge — and they try to automate them. What they get is automated chaos. Faster output, no better results. Sometimes worse.The ladder works like this. First, you take chaos and turn it into a process. You document what actually happens, not what is supposed to happen. You clean the inputs and define the outputs. That alone is harder than most organizations expect.Once you have a real process, you build mechanisms around it. Repeatable steps. Consistent inputs. Quality checks. A mechanism is a process your team can run without you explaining it every time.Only after the mechanisms exist do you move toward automation. At that point, AI is not replacing a broken system. It is accelerating a working one. The results are different in kind, not just in speed.“AI is not replacing a broken system. It is accelerating a working one. The results are different in kind, not just in speed.”What Building AI Fluency Actually Looks LikeThe most concrete example I can give you is BecomeAIFluent.com. I am not a coder. I had never touched GitHub. I had never heard of Vercel. I did not know what deploying a web app meant in practical terms.What I had was a clear vision, a willingness to iterate, and Claude. I started with a conversation. Then another. Then another. Each one pushed the idea further until I had something real — a platform with API integrations, a live subscriber connection to my Substack, and a fully deployed web application I can point people to.That is what AI fluency looks like in practice. Not mastering a tool. Not memorizing prompts. Knowing what you are trying to build well enough to describe it, and trusting the process enough to keep going when it gets complicated. The technical barriers that used to stop non-technical leaders are not what they were. What remains is the willingness to start.Episode Chapters00:00 — The Confession Every Tech Leader Needs to Hear01:00 — What AI Fluency Actually Looks Like in Enterprise Tech02:30 — The Sticky Note That Started Everything04:30 — How to Reinvent Yourself When You're Already the Expert06:00 — Chaos to Process to Automation: The AI Readiness Ladder08:30 — How a Non-Coder Built a Web App Using Claude and Vercel10:30 — Welcome to Become AI FluentIf this resonated with you, I would love to hear where you are in your own AI journey. Leave a comment below — that conversation is worth having.And if you know someone in leadership who is quietly wondering whether they are falling behind on this, share this episode with them. The window is still open. But it does not stay open forever.Subscribe free at LeaderUnlock.com, or join the community for as little as $7 per month. New episodes drop consistently, and every one is built around what I am actually doing — not what sounds good in theory.Confidentiality, Integrity, and RightsI take my commitments to Microsoft seriously, including all non-compete and conflict of interest obligations. Nothing I write here competes with or compromises my responsibilities there.All opinions and stories shared here are my own and in no way represent Microsoft or any other current or past employer. Nothing in this publication should be taken as official company views or endorsements.All content on Leader Unlock is for personal use only. Please do not copy, repost off platform, or republish substantial portions of this work without permission. If you want to quote or share something, link back to the original post so people can read it in full and in context. Get full access to Leader Unlock at www.leaderunlock.com/subscribe

Thank you Maury Wood, Andrew, Pamela Day, We Are Erinn, Nelson F. Gonzalez, Kiera Antonelli, Chris Rutledge, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.Here is what we discussed in this livestream:All the numbers are cool. Great. I hope it grows. But what matters to me are the stories… the PEOPLE!Leader Unlock Is Not About Me... It’s About YouI have a lot to talk about today... but primarily to talk about you. Really to talk about what God’s doing in your life, and things we’re going to be doing here on our Substack.If you’ve never met me, my name is Chris Antonelli. I’m an imperfect individual... but I have spent my life traversing it in a way that I’ve learned some pretty powerful lessons. Some of that’s been in corporate tech world. I currently am a director at Microsoft. I’ve worked at Amazon and EMC and Cisco and lots of companies. But I’ve also been a pastor. And I’m here to help you, whether you’re an executive or a parent.To me, when I say leader, don’t think that you’re excluded from that... because I would bet that you’re a leader. Are you willing to learn? Are you willing to put in the work, the blood, the sweat, and the tears to truly not only unlock yourself but unlock other people?My Origin Story: Pain, A Tailspin, And A Turning PointIf you read a little bit about my origin story, I had a pretty tumultuous upbringing. My mom committed suicide when I was in junior high. I was the only one at home. I had a discernment in my spirit even before I was a Christian that there was something off. I went upstairs to find my mom and see if everything was okay. I saw empty pill bottles on the counter. She came over, kissed me, and said, remember, I love you more than anything in this world. I called my dad, he told me to call 911, and I did. And that day, my mom, unfortunately, didn’t survive.And that sent me, as a young man, into a tailspin. I started partying. I started smoking marijuana on a daily basis, cutting school, and ended up barely graduating high school. I got kicked out because I was so far behind. They sent me to a continuation school, and the president of that school sat me down and said, look, you have two choices. Either you can drop out or you can graduate. It’s up to you. I decided, okay, right there, I’m going to stop drinking. I’m going to stop partying. I’m going to graduate. I don’t even know where that came from that early in my life... but I just had this tenacity of like, okay, well, great. So if it’s on me, I’m going to do it. I ended up working so hard, I ended up graduating a half a year early.But that tailspin didn’t stop. My dad got remarried and he asked me to move out. I had like two weeks to move out and totally understandable. He had a new wife moving in and it was time for me to move on being over 18. And that just threw me back into a continuation of that tailspin where I became homeless, reverted back to alcohol and drugs, and I lived in my truck for a good six months and couch surfing between friends.I would sleep in my truck, in the back of my truck with a camper shell. And then for some reason, I don’t even know what I was thinking, I got a pet rat and I named him Merlin. So I often tell the story that I was homeless, drug addicted, alcohol, living in my truck with my pet rat in Santa Cruz, California.A buddy of mine invited me to church. I said yes. I didn’t go right away. He kept inviting me and he’d call me and I’d be like, I’m sick. He’d call me again, and I’d be like, I’m too tired. The truth was every time he called me, I had forgotten he invited me. And I was high as a kite when he called me. I was thinking, no way am I going to go to church. I know enough about church that I’m not going to go totally stoned out of my gourd to church.But he kept asking and he actually took me first to a small group. I went to a small group and they were talking about the things of the Lord, talking about the Bible. And he opened it up. And again, remember, I was just totally stoned out of my mind. The person opened it up and said, tell me a little bit about what you think about the Lord and the things of the kingdom of God and what he’s doing in you. So I decided, you know what, I’m going to go ahead and share. I don’t even remember what I said because, again, I was baked. Thinking back now how gracious they were... this guy needs Jesus.I came out of that small group and I felt different. Something changed in my heart. I felt like, okay, Lord, if you’re real, I want to know you’re real. Prove it. Prove that you’re real and not just some other fantasy because I’ve been hurt and broken in life.What the primary thing that happened is I lost my appetite for drugs and alcohol overnight. I woke up in the morning and my buddy who I lived with was like, hey, you want to bake out with me? I got some pot. You want to smoke out? And I’m like, no, I don’t think I do. I’m going to just go for a walk. I went walking on the beach and just thinking about life, thinking about where I had been, thinking about my mom and my dad. I was like, yeah, this isn’t the lifestyle that I’m meant for. I went back and called my buddy and said, yeah, I want to go to church with you this weekend.He took me to church. I don’t remember what the pastor spoke on. I just remember the feeling. The feeling was safety. The feeling was reconciliation. There was no shame or guilt or anything. There was acceptance and community and an ability and opportunity really for me to decide, is this what I want?At the end of the sermon, the pastor offered, let’s bow our heads in prayer. Does anyone here want to accept the Lord? If you could just raise your hand. And ironically, because I was stoned, I thought he said hands. So I raised both of my hands as high as I could. Like, I want Jesus. And I swear he got kind of a chuckle on his face like, man, this kid really, really wants God.That’s how my life has been since January of 1994. I’ve lived my life forever reconciled that I am broken and Jesus died for my sins. I live in an unperfect world. I’m an unperfect human... but he has been able to redeem me, build me up and restore me. Since then I’ve been on this journey of life.30 Years In Tech, 20 Years Pastoring... And The Tension That Wouldn’t Go AwayAll this was leading up to how I got in tech. 30 years in tech, I barely graduated high school. A friend said, hey, I heard of this company called Seagate. They’re hiring people that are just willing to learn computers. Through high school, even though I didn’t, the class I didn’t cut was computers. I had a Commodore 64 and then a Commodore 128 and I was coding (yep, I am old). I’m like, hey, I can learn computers. He got me an interview and I got a job at Seagate Technology.And then about 10 years into following God, I really felt like I was supposed to help other people navigate life. I had already been leading small groups and pastoring people. I don’t think pastoring is a title. It is a disposition to help others. It’s shepherding. And I talk a lot about that on Leader Unlock because I feel like that is kind of a missing ingredient in leadership in corporate America today.I’ve had that tension a lot as someone who’s been 30 years in tech and 20 years pastoring people. For me, those have always been separated... siloed. People at church don’t give a rip about my job in high tech. People at work don’t care to hear much about my pastoring life. That’s why I ended up starting Leader Unlock... because I wanted to connect those together.Because leaders, especially in the world today, are under immense pressure. We’re under pressure to perform and get results and often on the backs of people. Some leaders chew through people as much as a wood chipper chews through wood. They may get great short-term results, but because they chew through those people, they lose long-term ability to deliver. They lose reservoirs of trust. They lose reservoirs of knowledge. They lose reservoirs of momentum and innovation.For me, that’s why I put Leader Unlock together.Why Substack... And Why This Community Has GrownI was on X for about a year. I grew my account from like 4,000 to almost 15,000 in a year. I learned a lot. I learned that X for me was too transactional... and primarily a lot of drama.Dino | 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 🇺🇸 and The Culturist were having a class, and they started talking about Substack. It felt like a missing ingredient for me personally. When I started on Substack, I’ll be honest, I was a little like, we’ll see if this is any better than X… I was skeptical. Man, I was wrong. LOVE IT HERE!Over the last three months, Leader Unlock has grown greatly. It’s been crazy for me. I’m so blessed. I don’t feel like it’s me. I feel like it’s the Lord... but I also feel like it’s the community willing to embrace diverse thought and consider that you might have something to say that will help them in their journey.We have grown to a little bit over a thousand. I think today we’re at like 1065 subscribers. 10 of those are paid. And that’s in three months.I’m always transparent. I imported like 1500 emails accidentally. I meant to import my subscriber list from a previous newsletter. I accidentally imported my entire Gmail contact list. So people I had emailed over the last 15 years got imported. The IRS got an email from me, welcome to Leader Unlock. A bill collector from 10 years ago. Someone within my county government. Friends I hadn’t heard from. People that had cut me out of their lives. And then I decided to trim that list. So at the end of October, I trimmed it down to like 400 people. And then since then we’ve grown to 1065 subscribers today.I don’t take that lightly. Whether you’re a free subscriber or paid subscriber, to me it doesn’t matter... even followers. I take it as a badge of responsibility to shepherd the people that are in our community.The Point: Invest In People, Not A PlatformAll the numbers are cool. Great. I hope it grows. But what matters to me are the stories… the PEOPLE!I’m using a lot of the subscription money to help a family in need. There’s a young couple I’ve known. I pastored them. I’ve shepherded this couple for a long time. They were actually a part of our church plant as foundational members. They’re going through a hard time, and I really felt like, okay, what can I do as a gift to them? I’m giving them a small amount of money. Currently, our subscriptions don’t cover that, and that’s fine. I had a set amount of money. I’m going to keep giving them that money as long as I can to help them buffer their season. He’s doing a little bit of media management for me for that. For me, a big deal is that Leader Unlock is actually supporting real life, a real couple, a young couple that’s in need.Another one is a senior vice president that I used to work for, an amazing man. People rally around this guy because he is truly one of those leaders that loves his people. He doesn’t chew through people. He stood in front of arrows when they were being directed at me a long time ago. He took the bullets instead. That’s what a leader does. A leader protects his people and loves his people.He was under immense pressure and going through things that were just too much. The relationship of the company became more transactional with their customers and transactional for their employees. He was being forced into positions that would have caused him to have to have a moral decision on whether he was going to do it or not. He decided to opt out and resign. He doesn’t know what his next is, but he joined the founder circle. I get to talk to him one-on-one on a monthly basis. These conversations are really good. It’s bi-directional. I get something out of it too. I get to hear his story. I get to tune how I can help other executives in his predicament.He’s in a bridge season. A bridge season is a connection between the previous season and the next season, and you’re not really sure what’s going to happen, but you are ready for that next season. So you’re in training. It’s like a Rocky movie. Physical, spiritual, emotional, financial. Get those areas of your life in order and get ready for whatever is next. Sometimes we know what our next is. Sometimes we don’t. But regardless, when you’re in that in-between season, you’re working out things for your next season.Another one is a young man who has a family, got laid off. He talked about the heavy weight of the lies that he hears, that he’s going to ruin his family. Believe me, I’ve been there. I’ve been through one of those seasons where I got laid off. It was right before 9-11 and the dot-com bust. I couldn’t find a job delivering a pizza. We ended up losing our home. Our car got repossessed. We filed for bankruptcy. It was a horrible season. Those lies do grow when you go through those seasons. You can hear that you’re a failure, that your demise is certain, you’ve let everyone down. And you might as well end it all.If you’ve ever heard those lies or you’re listening to those lies now, I absolutely rebuke them in the name of Jesus. Because they’re lies. Here I am in my 50s. My mom committed suicide when I was in junior high. It still impacts me. Even if you think people don’t love you, or even if you’re alone, you’re important. You’re a part of the puzzle, and you’d be a missing part if you exited early. Please reach out to me if you ever need someone to talk to. I don’t care if you are a follower, subscriber, I don’t care. Just DM me and I’m happy to talk with you if you ever have any of those struggles whatsoever.So to him, I just said, look, you’re not walking your family into ruin. You’re in your season of no fault of your own, and lots of people are struggling. This isn’t all on you, and this isn’t the Lord somehow having some harshness towards you. The bottom line is when bad things happen to good people, people have asked me this even as a pastor, how can God exist with all this pain? And I said, we’re an invasion force. The world’s been turned over to the enemy. It’s like we’re on the beach of Normandy and we’re in the midst of the battle and bad things happen in the midst of battle. But also you’ll hear stories of good things that happened... camaraderie... miracles. A bullet was headed for so-and-so and something fell in front of them. You hear about miracles.So I said, don’t focus on the future and don’t focus on the past. Focus on today. Today has enough worry of its own, the Bible says. Focus on the four pillars: physical, spiritual, emotional, and financial. Work those as best as you can to get ready for your next season.The last was a young person reached out to me and was talking about how they had struggled with those thoughts of taking their own life. They really hit home the story that I was sharing about my origin story and my mom and drug addiction and just the tumultuous stuff I’ve been through... but that God is good. Bottom line for me is that’s what I want to talk about. Not all the pain, but all the hope.Those stories are more important than anything.Leadership Under Pressure Is Not Just The CEOOne of the main keys of why I started Leader Unlock is to encourage leaders that are under pressure, whether you’re a parent, whether you’re a teacher, whether you’re a manager, director, executive, it doesn’t matter. When I think of leadership, I don’t think of just the CEO. There’s a lot of people who carry a lot of leadership in lots of different ways.Moms. I remember a mom talking about feeling invisible. Do I even matter if I disappeared? Would anyone ever notice? I wrote a post about it because yeah, they will. They will notice and they will unpack them forever if you ever just disappeared. It’s important to talk about these things because there’s a lot of growing pressure in our society.Strong And Loving: A Fork In The Road For MenI’m working on another post right now talking about masculinity because I think we’re at a fork in the road for masculinity in our society. Men are told to either shut up and be quiet, or they have to be this take character with a lot of meanness, be hard, be mean, be for yourself, get rich, leave a lasting legacy for yourself.Where in truth and reality, true masculinity is love and dangerous enough against evil, but soft towards people. True godly masculinity is being strong and loving. Strong and loving.Contagious Optimism Is Not Denial... It’s PartnershipI have this picture. It says dream, explore, discover. It’s a picture we took in Canada at Lake Louise as the backdrop. For me, that is absolutely the key to life. Being optimistic is a superpower.At Amazon, I had this executive do my annual review and he said, you have this superpower and I don’t know what to call it, so I’m just going to call it you have a contagious optimism. Optimism is not that you’re in denial of your circumstances. Optimism is no matter what we’re going to get through this. No matter what, we’re going to overcome this. No matter what, we’re going to find a way. It’s going to work out. Not because I’m just going to sit back and wait for it to happen, but because I’m going to partner with God and make it happen. Not in my own power, but in his strength.How To Build A Real CommunityIf you’re creating on Substack or really anywhere, be optimistic. Build relationships like you actually care about people. When they DM me, I try to DM them back. I try to respond to every comment, good or bad, happy or sad. Sometimes I don’t. It’s been super busy at work in real life. I’m working 50, 60 hour weeks. I have a family and I’m doing Substack. I probably missed some of your comments. If I have, please forgive me. I definitely don’t want to not get those comments.Substack is an opportunity for you to connect with people. A lot of you are here to make money and build coaching businesses and that is good, but primarily be for people and not for yourself because people are going to be able to discern and know if you’re really out for yourself or if you’re actually out for others.I’ve built teams in high tech. I’ve built church communities with small groups. I’ve built a church plant. My wife and I used to do bistro nights with public events. Live music, free food, free espresso drinks, donation-based. Build community. Get to know people. Don’t let life be so transactional. Don’t think primarily of yourself. Give yourself away. Don’t bring every conversation back to yourself. Try to figure out how you can build others up. In the meantime, those things unlock things for you.The Invitation: No Polarizing... Just BuildingMy dream for Leader Unlock, I know it might be bold, I might be crazy, but I want it to go big. Not for Chris, because I work in tech, I’ve been 30 years in, I make great money. I want to see Leader Unlock explode so that people don’t have to keep separating corporate world from godly world. Those things need to be put back together... recoupled rather than decoupled like they have been in our society.Last but not least, don’t polarize people. Stop using things in your lives to pull people apart. Whether it is politics or even religion…You don’t need to be a Christian to be here. You don’t need to believe what I believe to be here. But at the same time, what I ask for people who join Leader Unlock is to not be opposed to ancient wisdom that’s been around for thousands of years that have helped people. If you can at least accept the Bible as wisdom, then you’re absolutely going to find Leader Unlock is going to provide a lot of value for you to help you build those four pillars in your life: physical, spiritual, emotional, and financial.Please reach out, send me a DM. I’m not saying send me a DM if you’re a subscriber. I don’t care if you follow me. If you want to talk and build a relationship and ask me questions about one of my posts, just go ahead and reach out. I would love to talk with you.Have a good rest of your day and weekend, and we’ll talk to you soon.Let’s go.Leader Unlock is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Leader Unlock at www.leaderunlock.com/subscribe

Nearly a Million PeopleNearly a million people each year die from the most baffling thing to me. I read a statistic and I wrote an article on Leader Unlock about this (link below), but I wanted to make a quick video about it because I think it’s so important in this time in our society.LonelinessLoneliness? Really?! Like, I get why, right? And they attribute it to many different things and types of loneliness and types of deaths, but the bottom line is whether people take their own lives or whether they let themselves just slip away. Nearly a million people every year die because they don’t have deep rooted relationships and support systems.Why We Started Leader UnlockThis is one of the main reasons why I started Leader Unlock. It’s about forging quality, deep rooted relationships and learning how to manage the things of family and leadership at work and all of the complexities of life in a way that doesn’t absolutely kill you and isolate you and make you cut off from what is most important.Rooted in FaithEverything that we do is rooted in faith. And you don’t need to be a believer to be here. You don’t need to believe in Christianity as long as you can at least look at the foundations of this ancient level wisdom that helps unlock people’s lives for thousands of years.Why I’m HereSo, if you’re a part of Leader Unlock, whether you’re just a casual reader or a subscriber or a paid subscriber or a part of the founder circle, I want you to know that truly that’s why I’m here. And I do want to connect with you, and it’s not transactional.Investing It Back Into PeopleYes, of course, that Leader Unlock as a publication long term, we hope and believe it’ll make money, but primarily so we can take that money and invest it like we did recently in a young family who’s been struggling. I hired him as a media manager, just using him to be able to do some tasks and be able to support him monthly, and we’re taking our subscription money to help him.What We’re Going to Talk AboutLoneliness is something that we’re going to talk about. Relationships, how to manage leadership, whether you’re an executive or you’re a parent, doesn’t matter. We’re leading in all kinds of different scenarios in our lives, and it’s important to be able to navigate those choppy waters with wisdom and insight and together.You’re Welcomed HereLast but not least, I want you to know you’re welcomed, and I hope that you would make comments and chime in in the subscriber chat because I actually want to get to know you. I know sometimes when you hear things like that online, it can feel wrong, again transactional is the best way to say that, and it’s not.The Four PillarsI’ve been a pastor for a long time and I tend to love people deeply, maybe too easily and too deeply sometimes because that’s not how the world is structured anymore, but the bottom line is I’m here to not only connect with you, but also to encourage you, build you up, and make sure that you’re well equipped for navigating life in the four pillars: physical, spiritual, emotional, and financial. The world wants you to sacrifice the first three for financial, and my disposition is that the Lord wants to build all four of those quadrants on a firm foundation.Welcome to Leader UnlockSo I hope to get to know you more.Welcome to Leader Unlocked. Let’s go.Much Love,ChrisLeader Unlock is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Leader Unlock at www.leaderunlock.com/subscribe

Archive Drop for Subscribers:This is a clip from my personal archive that I wanted in the Leader Unlock library so you can revisit it any time.Success is not about never failing. It is about staying in the game.Failure is baked into real life. Goals get missed, plans fall apart, and some days the results are just not there. Tenacious leaders do not obsess over the daily “micro” results. They keep their eyes on the long term “macro” story and keep moving.If you are measuring, learning, and still showing up, you are further ahead than you think. Your tenacity is the difference.If this hit you, you are the kind of leader we are building Leader Unlock for.Hit Subscribe to get more videos and posts that help you:* Lead with clarity* Live in rhythm* Leave a legacyYou can do this. Let’s go. Get full access to Leader Unlock at www.leaderunlock.com/subscribe

Archive Drop for Subscribers:This is a clip from my personal archive that I wanted in the Leader Unlock library so you can revisit it any time.If your life always feels like an emergency, you might not just be busy.You might be addicted to chaos.Constant drama, nonstop notifications, one crisis after another... live in that long enough and it starts to feel normal. It starts to feel like you. That is where it gets dangerous.In this video, I talk about:* How chaos slowly becomes part of your identity* Why some of us feel strangely comfortable in drama* Simple ways to step out of the noise and reset* Faith informed practices to find peace without being preachyTake a breath. Step away from the noise.Pray, meditate, listen to music, or get out in nature... do something that breaks your agreement with chaos.If this hit home:* Subscribe to Leader Unlock for more tools to lead with clarity, live in rhythm, and leave a legacy* Bookmark this for the days when life feels loud* Share it with someone who is stuck living in constant drama Get full access to Leader Unlock at www.leaderunlock.com/subscribe

I ran a small Space on X recently. A junior Engineering student from Nigeria asked how to break into tech.I offered two simple tweaks… and he implemented one while we were still talking.That’s it. Learn… act… immediately.Most people collect advice. Winners implement it.Watch the 3-minute video, then tell me what you will execute in the next 24 hours? Get full access to Leader Unlock at www.leaderunlock.com/subscribe

Welcome to Leader Unlock, Episode 002.This one’s personal.I share about a moment when my faith was hanging by a thread… after losing two pregnancies, sitting alone in the back of our house, crying out, “Lord, I don’t know if I can handle this and still believe in You.”It’s a story that reshaped my faith… and reminded me that God’s strength starts where ours ends.If you’ve ever carried someone else’s pain or wondered whether God still shows up in heartbreak… this one’s for you.🎧 Listen now:Because sometimes, the miracle isn’t that we can bear the burden… it’s that we can carry those we love to the feet of Jesus. Get full access to Leader Unlock at www.leaderunlock.com/subscribe

If I’m honest... even saying the words “Leader Unlock Podcast” feels surreal. I’ve spent 30 years in high tech, 20 years pastoring people, and spoken in boardrooms, churches, and conferences. But somehow... starting a podcast never crossed my mind.Maybe it felt too crowded. Too noisy.Like... how would anyone even find this voice in the sea of thousands upon thousands?But as I started building on Substack, I realized something deeper.It’s not about being heard by everyone.It’s about reaching the right ones.The ones carrying weight on their shoulders.Leaders. Parents. Pastors. Executives.Those quietly holding families, teams, and communities together while wondering if anyone sees the load they bear.This first episode is for you.I share why I finally hit record and what “Leader Unlock” is really about.It’s about rediscovering the power of being number two... the one behind the scenes helping others rise.It’s about thriving, not just surviving.And it’s about aligning the four pillars of life... physical, mental, spiritual, and financial... so you can lead with strength and clarity again.Faith will always be a thread here.Not religion. Relationship.Because everything I’ve learned from the pulpit to the boardroom comes back to one truth:We lead best when we’re led by something greater than ourselves.So if you’ve felt stretched thin, unseen, or just ready to rise again with purpose, you’re in the right place.Welcome to Leader Unlock.This is where we release the pressure, rediscover our calling, and build something that lasts and leaves a legacy!Let’s go.P.S. I poured my heart out for five minutes and somehow it used the wrong microphone, so the sound is decent... but the audio quality will be better in the future. Get full access to Leader Unlock at www.leaderunlock.com/subscribe