'Help! I Work With People': Chad Veach releases new book, says everyone must learn power of influence
Bestselling author and distinguished pastor of Los Angeles’ Zoe Church, Chad Veach, says he wants to help everyone tap into their leadership potential.
The pastor's new book, Help! I Work With People: Getting Good at Leadership, Influence, and People Skills, was birthed out of something God deposited into his heart a few years ago.
"God was speaking to me about writing my first leadership book. ... There's nothing that God loves more than humanity,” Veach told The Christian Post in a recent video interview.
John 3:16, he said, is the most famous verse in the whole world because it resonates with everyone that God gave His only Son, for the “whomsoever's, anyone.”
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“I wanted to write a book that was all about people because we really need to turn our heart toward humanity," added Veach, who leads one of the fastest-growing young adult ministries in the United States. "I feel like in this political climate, in this culture that we're in right now, opinions are not going to change people, but the love of God will.
“The spirit of it (the book) isn't, ugh ... 'Help! I work with people!' It's more like the Apostle Paul; I want to win with people. So I become all things to all people, only so that I can win them over to Jesus,” the pastor explained.
Veach is a spiritual covering for many high profile celebrities, including award-winning actor Chris Pratt and reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian. The young minister said he's not fazed by criticism that might come from being seen out at events or parties in Hollywood because his leadership is modeled after Christ.
“One thing we have to always remember about Jesus is that He was highly criticized for who He was associated with,” he maintained. “I don't think it really swayed Him or discouraged Him. I don't think it really moved His ministry. I think He knew His audience. It's always got to be something that alarms us if we're not being criticized for who we're associated with.”
"I don't think Jesus was hanging around notorious sinners, famous sinners, worried about being contaminated. He was injecting them with faith, infusing them with love. They weren't contaminating Him. So I think either we're going to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, or we're going to hide out in our Christian kumbaya boxes,” Veach maintained. “This book is all about saying we love people from all backgrounds, from all ethnicities, no matter what sin cycle they're in. We love who God loves and God loves humans.”
During times of political and social unrest, Veach said he wants everyone who reads his book to develop the people skills Christ had to help win over a hurting world.
"We've got to get really good at using our influence for good. Having leadership and people skills,” he stressed. “We've got to develop people skills; we can't win with people that don't like us. So in order for you to work with somebody, they got to first like you, so we can't just live off our faith.
“That’s why they would come around Jesus and they would listen to Him talk. They marveled at His gracious words and His authority. So what was He? He had unbelievable influence and leadership and people skills. Even Pontius Pilate, he didn't follow Jesus, but he was influenced by Jesus. Nicodemus just the same,” Veach added.
He went on to share some of the people skills listed in Help! I Work With People.
“I think we've got to really work on our people skills. People skills is asking questions, learning people's names, expressing gratitude, building their confidence, not using them for our confidence. Just practical hacks to great people skills so we can win them and lead them,” the 39-year-old father of four shared.
Veach further emphasized that for someone to lead anyone, people first have to work out their own personal issues.
"Leadership is so easy. It's just so natural if you first learn how to lead yourself. The hardest person to lead is not someone in my family or my company or organization, the hardest person to lead is me,” Veach said. “You and I are the same. There is always a difference between what we know we should do and what we actually do.”
He then quoted the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:15, which says, “The things I want to do, I never do, and the things I hate to do, it's what I always do.”
"So the hardest person to lead is us. It always starts with me. If I can lead me, leading others is easy. I am the common denominator of all my problems. So I've got to learn how to deal with my insecurity, my wounds, my hurt, my disappointment. And if I can get healthy, then I'll naturally grow,” Veach said.
The book, he added, begins with helping people work on themselves and then progresses to learning how to influence others.
"I think leadership starts with me, and then impacts my one on one relationships, and then impacts the group. I think churches, teams group, we got to learn how to build great morale and great chemistry, and we got to learn how to have conflict and resolution. Every team is going to have conflict. Every family has conflict. How do you bring resolution?” he asked.
Veach hopes his book is a “game-changer” and impacts all people, not just Christians.
"Leadership, by definition, is influence — nothing more, nothing less. So what we're trying to convince every person is that you have influence. You might have influence over the stay at home kids that you're raising and developing. You might have influence over your co-workers. You might have influence over your family, influence on social media, all of us have a measure of influence. So we've got to get good at using our influence for the right things,” he insisted.
Veach concluded by adding: "I'm broken, you're broken, everybody's broken. And we've got to do our best to bring encouragement and to bring strength and to bring love. Shame will not change people, but the love of God will. And so we've all got to do our part, to use our influence, to point people to the ultimate solution whose name is Jesus.”
The foreword to Help! I Work With People was written by leadership expert John C. Maxwell. The book was also endorsed by business moguls Ed Bastian of Delta Airlines, Kourtney Kardashian, and DeVon Franklin, among others.
