Sometimes the best leadership lessons aren’t learned in a classroom, boardroom, or book.

Sometimes they’re learned on the blacktop.

On this episode of Like It Matters Radio, Mr. Black takes listeners inside his experience serving at Sturgis 2026, a trip that became far more than a mission. It became a lesson in people, pain, conflict, leadership, and his own heart.

Mr. Black went to Sturgis to serve a group of people he once avoided and assumed he had little in common with. What he found was a powerful reminder that underneath the differences, people are people. We carry wounds. We disappoint each other. We make mistakes. We want to belong. And we all need grace.

Through stories straight from his audio journal, Mr. Black shares three major leadership lessons the blacktop taught him:

• The Power of Awareness – You cannot change what you cannot see, heal what you cannot name, or lead what you do not understand.
• The Stewardship of Power – Power doesn’t create character, it reveals what’s already there. Leadership isn’t about having authority over people; it’s about using influence to serve, protect, reconcile, and build.
• The Courage to Confront – Avoiding conflict doesn’t make it disappear. It gives hurt, resentment, and misunderstanding time to grow.

You’ll hear the story of a simple seven-minute confrontation that turned tension into tears, humility, hugs, and reconciliation. It became a living example of what happens when a leader chooses courage over comfort.

But Sturgis also became a mirror.

Mr. Black gets personal about his own patterns of avoiding confrontation, the cost of allowing unresolved issues to grow, and what God revealed when he finally had the space to become aware of what was happening inside himself.

Because leadership isn’t about having people figured out.

It’s about continually learning people, understanding yourself, stewarding your influence, and having the courage to deal with what’s real.

People will disappoint you.

You will disappoint people.

You will even disappoint yourself.

But God is still working.

These are the lessons from the blacktop.

Inspiration. Education. Application.

When you live your life like it matters… it does.