JP Dinnell Podcast #107 Summary

Episode Title: The Price of Blame: How Forgiveness Creates Success
Hosts: JP Dinnell, Lucas Pinckard
Release Date: October 10, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode centers on the role of forgiveness in personal growth, leadership, and team culture. JP Dinnell and co-host Lucas Pinckard dissect how blame, holding grudges, and lack of self-forgiveness can become barriers to individual and organizational success. Drawing from their experience leading Echelon Front’s leadership training exercises (FTX), they demonstrate how controlled, stress-induced environments can both expose and develop strengths and weaknesses in leaders. The conversation weaves together actionable leadership lessons, impactful personal stories, and a deep exploration of forgiveness — not only as a personal necessity but as a superpower for high-performing teams.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power of Experiential Leadership Training (FTX)

• Structure and Intent: JP details recent FTX events, emphasizing their unique setup where diverse individuals, sometimes from competing organizations, are merged into fire teams.
  • "We’re exposing your leadership strengths and flaws in a stress induced environment that’s controlled so that you can sit and reflect after every run." (04:52, JP)
• Focus on Debrief & Reflection:
  • The true value isn’t in tactical performance but in honest self-reflection post-scenario.
  • "I don’t care about the tactics. What I care about is: are you humble enough and reflective enough to sit down and say, here’s what I did well, here’s what I did wrong, here’s what I learned, here’s my takeaways." (05:27, JP)
• Personal Growth and Group Dynamics:
  • Participants’ desire to win can become an obstacle unless harnessed productively.
  • Most people want to succeed and are bothered by losses, but leaders must use failure as a vehicle for learning, not blame.

2. Competition, Blame, and Learning

• The Trap of Blame:
  • When participants fail, there’s often a tendency to point fingers at others, a moment that exposes real leadership deficiencies.
  • "The competitive dad attitude…that 'I have to win no matter what.' We'll address that because people start blaming each other." (07:20, JP)
• Win or Learn? Not So Fast:
  • "You either win or you lose. Now, whether you learn from those wins or losses is 100% on you." (17:12, JP)
• Peer Recognition:
  • A powerful moment arises when an attendee crystallizes the lesson:
    "It’s not about these runs, it’s about what do we write down in these workbooks, what do we take away that can be applied to our business and our families, in our personal lives." (18:48, Attendee via JP)
  • JP reflects on the impact:
    "For him to see that and reflect upon that… so much more powerful coming from him instead of Cody and I." (19:17, JP)

3. Leadership Challenges: Empowerment & Stepping Back

• Letting Others Lead:
  • JP shares a story about a coaching client realizing that always leading keeps others dependent, rather than equipping them to lead.
  • "If you’re always out front leading the charge, then these men will always need you...that’s not his intent. His heart posture is to grow and develop and equip these men." (12:12, JP)
• Creating Space:
  • Lucas, as a pastor, describes the challenge in empowering team members and making them realize they’re being positioned to lead rather than feeling unsupported. (13:27, Lucas)

4. The Mental Toll of Role Reversal

• Leaders Forced to Follow:
  • Observations from FTX reveal that senior leaders struggle to follow more than less-experienced leaders struggle to lead.
  • "The mental fatigue on the person that’s forced to follow when they’re used to being at the front is what really struck me…those were the people that felt like they were on the verge…"(21:24, Lucas)

5. Forgiveness as a Leadership Superpower

• Catalyst Story:
  • JP recounts a powerful, emotional conversation with an attendee struggling with chronic PTSD, who realized through JP’s guidance that self-forgiveness and forgiving others are crucial steps toward healing and leadership growth. (31:14–40:53)
  • "Forgiveness is for your healing. It’s not for them, it’s for you." (31:44, JP)
  • "When you forgive somebody, it doesn’t mean you let them back into your life. You can still set healthy boundaries. But if you don’t forgive them, you’re always going to carry this burden." (34:20, JP)
• The Impact of Letting Go:
  • The next day, the attendee reports a transformation:
    "He comes up to me... ‘I did it. I forgave all those people. And I finally forgave myself… I’ve never felt like this before.’" (40:13, Attendee via JP)
• Leadership Application:
  • JP ties forgiveness back to performance:
    "If you’re a leader who can’t forgive, you’re going to hinder your abilities to lead because that unforgiveness blinds us." (40:53, JP)
• Attendee’s Insight:
  • "Detachment’s a superpower... Forgiveness is the second superpower as a leader." (42:54, Attendee via JP)
• Consensus on Forgiveness:
  • Lucas: "Resentment only hurts you." (44:12, Lucas)
  • JP: "Forgiveness is a choice, but I would say it’s a necessity. 100%." (45:19, JP)

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On winning and learning:
  "Winning is learning. If you can’t learn from these runs, then yeah, you’re not winning." (16:23, Sal Frisella via JP)

• On leadership stress:
  "Who you are comes out in a stressful environment, the good and the bad." (28:44, JP)

• On reflection during FTX debrief:
  "It was cool because after...they came up to me and they’re like, ‘This is the best training I’ve ever been a part of.’" (28:53, JP)

• On post-forgiveness transformation:
  "He comes up to me with this big old smile… ‘I did it. I forgave all those people. And I finally was able to forgive myself.’…I can tell the difference in your eyes." (40:13–40:26, Attendee via JP)

• On resentment:
  "Resentment only hurts you." (44:12, Lucas)

• On the necessity of forgiveness for leaders:
  "If you’re a leader that can’t forgive, you’re going to hinder your abilities to actually lead, because that unforgiveness blinds us." (40:53, JP)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:44] – Intro: Structure and goals of recent FTX events
• [04:51] – Focus on reflection, humility, and self-assessment during debriefs
• [07:24] – Addressing competitive blame and indirect feedback in training
• [13:27] – The challenge of empowering others to lead (Lucas’s perspective)
• [17:12] – The myth of “win or learn” vs. actual learning from loss
• [18:48] – Participant realizes it’s about application, not tactics
• [21:24] – Leaders’ struggle to become followers and the mental toll
• [31:14–40:53] – JP’s in-depth story on forgiveness and transformation
• [44:12] – “Resentment only hurts you”: distilled insight on forgiveness

Takeaways

• Leadership isn’t about tactics; it’s about humility, honest self-reflection, and developing others.
• Defaulting to blame and grudges blocks personal and team growth.
• Forgiveness — of others and self — is an essential, often neglected leadership discipline and mental health necessity.
• True training is uncomfortable, but that discomfort is necessary for growth in leadership and life.
• Post-traumatic burdens, whether from combat or everyday life, persist unless intentionally addressed through forgiveness.

As JP closes, the lasting message is clear:
"Forgiveness is a choice, but it is a necessity for your growth. But that choice is yours… Never settle." (53:15, JP)

For more leadership insights, check out the podcast archives and resources at Echelon Front.