How to Create Your Servant Leadership Origin Story with Adrienne Wilkerson

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Servant leadership will take you a long way as an entrepreneur. When you practice servant leadership people want to get to know you through your “origin story”. Sharing it will help you boost your brand and enhance your marketing while attracting more clients. I discuss how to create and develop your origin story in this episode with my guest, Adrienne Wilkerson.

As Co-Founder and CEO of Beacon Media + Marketing, Adrienne is driven by a passion for developing people and fostering a culture where innovation thrives. In her early 20s, she realized she would make a much better boss than an employee, which led her to found her own company in 2001. Today, she is a visionary leader who’s company has earned it a spot on the Inc. 5000 list of Fastest-Growing Private Companies for three consecutive years.

We dive into topics including:

Why it’s ok to say “no” to servant leadership opportunities if the people involved don’t fit your ideal client or ideal partnership profile.
The structure that makes a great origin story.
Why you need to start with your “Why”.
Why it’s important to include your failures and what you learned from the challenges you overcame.
How your origin story shapes your servant leadership journey.
Why if you’re not failing you’re not trying enough new things.
Knowing when sharing your trials and tribulations becomes oversharing.
The responsibilities of a servant leader.
Why people won’t always follow what you say but they will follow what you do.
How to create an environment of trust, or a safe space, within your business.
Why putting other people first pays dividends as a servant leader.
The one thing, above all else, that you need to do to create and live your servant leadership origin story.

…and other golden nuggets of advice!

The Origin of Adrienne’s Servant Leadership Origin Story

One of Adrienne’s favorite things about having conversations with founders and business owners is that there’s almost always a powerful story behind why they’re doing what they’re doing. Why did they start their business? Why did they become successful?

That “why” has created them as leaders and created their success in the business world. Adrienne believes that’s why their origin story is so important. It’s a powerful connection piece. Entrepreneurship is a lot of Adrienne’s origin story. Her father is an entrepreneur and so was her grandmother.

Adrienne has a lot of entrepreneurs in her family and hence she had a lot of excellent examples of entrepreneurship in her life. Her grandmother together with a partner started the very first art gallery in Anchorage, Alaska. She was just an entrepreneurial person. Adrienne’s father started one of the first combined counseling and medical clinics. The idea was to take care of the whole person; the medical and the counseling worked together. It was a beautiful vision. Those origin stories and what both of them accomplished spoke to Adrienne as an entrepreneur and as a leader in business.

Growing Up Entrepreneurial

Because Adrienne’s father was a therapist there were a lot of times when she would have to tell her dad, “I need you to be my dad and not my therapist right now”. Then we would laugh and switch gears. He passed on his insights on to people and his understanding of what drives people and how people work and tick and interact with each other. He was sharing his experience and knowledge that he learned through school and working with business leaders.

That’s how he passed a lot of his insights on to Adrienne organically. He was a natural teacher. Even with the circumstances that Adrienne would grow up in, such as dealing with personal conflict at school, at college, and just even in relationships, he would just walk her through a lot of resolutions. He would tell her you must ask yourself insightful questions to understand what’s really going on in every life situation.

He told Adrienne if you’re going to lead, there’s a guiding relationship there. She remembers coming back from high school one day very frustrated. She was the year book editor in chief and they were just coming off a big deadline; and Adrienne did a lion’s share of the work. She was venting that her team didn’t do this and that. Adrienne had to take over for that them and had to do their jobs for them.

Her father’s feedback was: You met your deadline. You got across the finish line. But how many from your team came across the finish line with you? Or did you just plow through and make it happen and leave the rest of them in the dust?

That was one of many…

Leadership Lessons Learned

That was one of those moments that proverbially hit Adrienne upside the head and shifted how she viewed leadership. Adrienne learned it’s not just enough as a leader to accomplish a goal. You have to try your best to guide your team to accomplish the goal with you. Now granted, not everybody will choose to walk across that finish line with you. But you have to try.

If they choose not to, that’s their decision. As long as you are doing everything that you can to create the kind of environment where people want to grow with you, you’re doing the right thing. If you do everybody’s job and cross that finish line by yourself, it was a great hike, but that’s not leading.

There are stories such as those that Adrienne’s father wove into Adrienne’s life lessons. They shaped how she chooses to lead now. Adrienne definitely doesn’t nail it on the head every time. That’s part of the process of learning and growing.

Let’s look at…

Creating and Leveraging Your Origin Story

As an entrepreneur, there are smaller stories that make up your overall origin story. Those are powerful because they connect with people and make them want to do business with you. They hate to be sold, but they love to buy. You probably know this concept in business: Who do they want to buy from? They want to buy from somebody they know, like, and trust.

In this digital age, how do we as entrepreneurs connect with our audience, with our ideal client profile? We do it in part through our origin story. Through those stories that shaped us and shaped our company because people connect with those stories.

There are facets to that formula, and that’s why sharing your origin story, including the really raw and emotional parts of your story (your failures, your setbacks and so on) is so important. That’s what makes you human, and that’s what creates the opportunity for people to connect with you because they feel like they know you. That means they’re going to trust you.

And that is just the beginning!

Listen to or watch the interview to continue this story and get more golden nuggets of advice!

You can get my book here: “Idea Climbing: How to Create a Support System for Your Next Big Idea”

About My Guest

As Co-Founder and CEO of Beacon Media + Marketing, Adrienne Wilkerson is driven by a passion for developing people and fostering a culture where innovation thrives. She is a visionary leader who guides her team to find opportunity in every challenge, pushing creative boundaries to deliver impactful results.

This approach has established Beacon as an award-winning digital marketing agency, renowned for its work in the mental and behavioral health sectors. Adrienne believes that investing in people is the key to success, creating an environment where her team can learn, excel, and build with purpose. Her forward-thinking leadership has earned Beacon a coveted spot on the Inc. 5000 list of Fastest-Growing Private Companies for three consecutive years.

A respected voice in the business community, Adrienne extends her influence as a sought-after speaker, published author, and podcast host. She shares practical insights on leadership, ethical marketing, and adapting to industry shifts like the rise of AI, encouraging leaders to use technology to deepen human connection.

Beyond her professional achievements, Adrienne finds balance and inspiration with her family on their ranch. This life fuels her belief in hard work and resilience—principles she applies to both her business and her commitment to building a legacy of positive impact for the next generation.

Check out Adrienne’s Podcast!

Connect with Adrienne on LinkedIn!

Get Adrienne’s book “Digital Marketing for Mental Health: From Complex to Clarity” here!

Want to learn more about servant leadership? Check out “How to Embrace Servant Leadership with Andrew Kolikoff“!