Rick Torrison

Leadership Coach

Rick Torrison

Growth Catalyst and Author

Certified Success Coach and Accountability Advisor

Executive Director with the John C. Maxwell Team

Certified DISC trainer and facilitator on two platforms

Founder and president of Right Now Leadership LLC

Rick, is first and foremost a husband of 32 years and a father of two adopted children, living in Pasadena Texas. He is a man of God who loves serving and investing in others. His life vision is to glorify God and to add value to people.

Rick started his career as a public educator and basketball coach over 35 years ago. After a decade in education, Rick pursued a calling into fulltime ministry as a pastor and church planter, leading and serving ministries across Houston Texas, nationally and internationally. During his time leading ministries and pastoring churches, he also started several businesses, including a coffee shop and commercial cleaning company.

In 2018, tapping into over 25 years of coaching, speaking and leadership, Rick launched a coaching and training company focused on developing leaders and strengthening organizations through speaking, training, and coaching. Most recently Rick has focused on building his coaching business, partnering with Success Coaching as a coach and trainer of coaches. He has completed His first book titled Born Limitless, is currently in the hands of a publisher and should be released summer of 2023.

Rick lives his life with the belief that everyone was created for more. Not more stuff, but more influence and impact and more future and more hope. He gives his life to help people and organizations discover that more and walk it out.

In Search of Leadership

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look around and realize that we are experiencing a serious lack of leadership across our nation and in our organizations. In a recent survey of over 1,000 diverse industry leaders in the Houston area, they were asked to identify the greatest challenge they face regarding leadership development and retention. Mentoring and growing leaders and leading through conflict came in second. The greatest challenge reported was the need for effective communication. The truth is that to be a great leader; we must be a great communicator. The challenges of leadership often begin with the leader’s ability to communicate.

The greatest threat to stability, productivity, and growth is not the economy, change in governments, CORONA virus, or (you fill in the blank.) The greatest threat is the lack of transformational leaders positioned to lead in and through whatever challenges and threats may come. In the Global Agenda Survey done before COVID-19 by the World Economic Forum, 86% of respondents agreed that we have a leadership crisis. I wonder what the percentage would be if the survey were given today.

Take this quick Leadership Gap assessment.

You know you have a leadership deficit if:

You disappeared tomorrow, and the projects you are working on would cease.
You ask those on your team to share the vision of the project, and they can’t
You cannot identify your successor.
You can identify your successor, but there is no plan of action to prepare them for the job.

If not us, who? If not now, when? Has been quoted by at least three presidents pushing personal agendas and was also used in a 2010 SNL skit. Its origin is dated over 2,000 years ago and attributed to Hillel the Elder, a Jewish leader who actually said, ”If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And being for my own self, what am I? And if not now, when?” I, too, have an agenda for sharing this quote with you today. I desire these newsletters to challenge you to challenge yourself to be a transformational leader—someone who is having a positive influence and making a positive impact on the people and world around them. If we believe there is a void in leadership, then the challenge becomes figuring out how we fill it. I believe the answer is you! You must rise to the challenge and become the leader that your people, your family, and for some of you, your communities need. Not only do you need to become that leader, but you also need to be intentional about investing in and raising other transformational leaders.

Many of you have stepped up and are that leader! But you are tired and often feel alone. Over the past year, I have had the pleasure and honor, in some of the most difficult times we have ever seen, to work with leaders in organizations from HR and staffing to education, medical professionals, and industry. I have witnessed amazing leaders who have risen to the challenge and have shown great strength, innovation, and perseverance in the face of unprecedented challenges. These leaders, leaders like yourself, have grown tired and have realized that while they have great employees and managers, they have few leaders who can help them carry the weight. True leadership, what I call transformational leadership, is never seen when times are good, jobs are plentiful, and profits are growing. It is only in times of crisis that we see behind the curtain of leadership and discover what lies within.

Have you ever heard the saying, “you can’t build a boat in the middle of the ocean?” If we applied this to leadership, it would say, “you can’t develop the leadership skills needed for a crisis when you are in the middle of a crisis.” It is exceedingly difficult to be the leader needed in a crisis if we are not already that leader when there is no crisis. You can make no greater investment—and your organization can make no greater investment—than to invest in the current leadership and be intentional about investing and growing future leaders. To avoid future deficits in leadership, we must have leaders in the pipeline.

Begin filling the void today:

Invest in yourself. Self-care is the best care. Make the decision today to invest in your mental, emotional, and physical health. Consider hiring a growth coach. You will never grow others beyond your commitment to growing yourself. Seek opportunities, resources, and relationships that can help you grow.
Invest in others. Identify future leaders and begin to invest in their growth. Ask them about their goals and vision for their future. Where do they see themselves in three years? Five years? Expose them to the decision and vision process where possible. Create opportunities for their own personal development.
Develop career pathways. Consider creating a leadership institute or academy that focuses on character, culture, and competency. You may not have a position open today, but you want to have people prepared and ready for when you do.

The time to make a difference is NOW. The time to lead is NOW. Don’t wait for permission to lead and become a person of positive influence and impact. Yes, it is risky, but nothing of significance was ever realized without a measure of risk. In the next 24 hours, plan to invest in yourself, your leadership, and your team. Do one thing today that will add to your leadership and the leadership of your organization. Take a risk, step into the void, and volunteer to lead, make decisions and offer solutions. At every given opportunity, practice saying ‘yes’ to yourself, especially if it will help you grow as a person and leader. As you grow personally and focus on your own mental, emotional, and relational health, you will grow as a leader and set the example for those who come after you.