You don't need the final word to lead powerfully.
Your seat isn't a waiting room. Leo Crosby helps executive pastors and second-chair leaders build trust, clarity, and influence, wherever they sit, through writing, speaking, and coaching.
"Where can I make the greatest Kingdom impact?"
In more than 30 years in ministry, I've held many different seats, but never the first one. I've been an event coordinator, a marketing director, and an executive pastor.
What I've learned is that God allows me to choose doors to walk through, sometimes not exactly where He was taking me, but He uses them and keeps me pointed in the right direction. For a long time, I thought the ultimate goal of that pathway was up some imaginary ladder to the senior pastor role.
What I found was that my impact on the Kingdom of God can be made from any seat, and sometimes the greatest impact is the one I'm already in. Not the #1 seat, but a seat among equals, as an executive pastor.
- Senior Executive Pastor, Element Church, Wentzville, MO, 2017–Present
- Executive Pastor, Life360 Church, Springfield, MO, 2012–2017
- Director of Marketing, Church Multiplication Network, 2008–2012
A different definition of leadership from any seat.
Most people misunderstand what it means to lead without the title. Leo's framework starts by clearing that up.
Influence from Any Seat Is Not
- Blind loyalty
- Passive support
- Saying yes to everything
- Waiting for permission
- Chasing a platform
Influence from Any Seat Is
- Trusted leadership
- Honest feedback
- Courageous conversations
- Stewardship of vision
- Legacy over platform
Lead Yourself
Influence starts with you.
Lead Up
Influence authority you don't possess.
Lead Across
Influence people you don't control.
Lead Down
Influence by developing others.
Serve the Mission
Your influence exists for something bigger than you.
Find Your Seat
The highest seat isn't necessarily the seat of highest impact.
Practical leadership talks for real rooms.
Leo speaks to staff teams, church boards, executive cohorts, and leadership conferences, bringing decades of experience leading from any seat into language any leader can use Monday morning.
- Influence from Any Seat
- Building a Culture of Trust
- The Courageous Conversation Every Team Avoids
- Turning Vision Into Execution
- Healthy Ambition Without Ego
"Leo doesn't talk theory. He talks like someone who's actually carried the weight of a leadership team on his back."
"Our staff still quotes lines from his talk a year later. That doesn't happen very often."
"He understands leadership without the title because he's actually lived it. You can tell the difference."
See it, don't just read about it.
Help for the leader carrying the weight.
Leo works directly with executive pastors, organizational leaders, and their teams through one-on-one coaching and team consulting.
Executive Coaching
Ongoing coaching for executive pastors and leaders, wherever they sit, navigating trust, influence, and organizational complexity.
Schedule a ConversationLeadership Team Consulting
On-site and virtual consulting to help leadership teams build trust, clarify roles, and execute vision with less friction.
Inquire About ConsultingInfluence from Any Seat
You don't need the final word to lead powerfully.
Leo is currently writing Influence from Any Seat, a practical, story-driven book for the leaders underneath the top seat who make the vision real. Your seat isn't a waiting room, and this book is the field guide for it.
01 Lead Yourself Influence starts with you.
- Ch. 1: Make Mornings Matter. The discipline of filling your own tank before leadership empties it.
- Ch. 2: Own Your Calendar. Deciding what deserves your best before urgency decides for you.
- Ch. 3: When the Next Step Isn't Up. Separating growth from promotion, and status from contribution.
02 Lead Up Influence authority you don't possess.
- Ch. 4: Ask More, Tell Less. Why questions build more influence than being right.
- Ch. 5: Plant Seeds Before You Need the Harvest. Timing, patience, and playing the long game on ideas.
- Ch. 6: Gracious Candor. Telling the truth to the leader above you without breaking trust.
03 Lead Across Influence people you don't control.
- Ch. 7: Serve Sideways. Trading "what I need from you" for "how can I help you succeed."
- Ch. 8: Ask Permission to Influence. Earning the right to speak into a peer's leadership.
- Ch. 9: Don't Borrow Someone Else's Conflict. Refusing to become everyone's fixer.
04 Lead Down Influence by developing others.
- Ch. 10: Don't Lead Everyone the Same. Different people require different approaches. Different doesn't mean deficient.
- Ch. 11: Is It Skill or Is It Heart? Diagnosing the real problem before you try to correct it.
- Ch. 12: Give Them Room to Get It Wrong. Coaching outcomes instead of directing every task.
05 Serve the Mission Your influence exists for something bigger than you.
- Ch. 13: Get the Right Results. The difference between activity and alignment.
- Ch. 14: Do Your Job. Advocating for change without letting frustration distract you from what's already yours to carry.
- Ch. 15: Stay Long Enough to Matter. Why trust and credibility compound over years, not months.
06 Find Your Seat The highest seat isn't necessarily the seat of highest impact.
- Ch. 16: Bloom Where You're Planted. Contentment without complacency.
- Ch. 17: Find Your Greatest Contribution. Reframing success around stewardship and impact, not title.
Find out where your influence is weakest.
Weekly articles, a short self-assessment, and eventually a podcast, built for leaders who want practical help, not more noise.
Weekly Leadership Articles
Short, practical writing on trust, clarity, and execution for leaders at any seat.
Read the Articles →The Seat Audit
Coming soon: a short self-assessment that shows which direction your influence is weakest, leading yourself, up, across, or down.
Get Notified →The Any Seat Podcast
Coming soon: conversations with leaders who've done the work behind the scenes.
Get Notified →Let's have a conversation.
Whether you're looking to book Leo to speak, start a coaching relationship, or bring in consulting for your leadership team, reach out below.