Are YOU Ready to Ignite?

Season Kickoff: A Look Back & A Look Ahead

We’re kicking off a brand-new season of IgniteCast with a conversation that blends the best of the past with the excitement of what’s ahead for the Ignite Leadership Conference 2026.

Join hosts Judd Wilson and Taylor Tutor as they reflect on past Ignite highlights, share behind-the-scenes insights on how speakers are chosen, and revisit powerful moments from keynote voices like Kwame Christian on navigating difficult conversations, Dr. Henry Cloud on the power of connection, and Aaron Davis on knowing your “why.”

Plus, get a sneak peek into what makes Ignite such a transformative experience for leaders and why January 29, 2026 is already circled on our calendars. The speakers are still a secret—but trust us, you won’t want to miss this year.

🎧 New season, new energy, same mission: to spark leadership that lasts.

Big thanks to iHeartMedia—our Presenting Sponsor for the entire IgniteCast podcast and the powerhouse fueling this season’s episodes! 🔊🔥 

🎧 New episodes drop every other Thursday, packed with insight, inspiration, and actionable ideas to help you grow as a leader—right where you are.

Want to learn more about the Ignite Leadership Conference?
Visit 👉 www.igniteleadership.com

Transcript

Taylor Tutor: [00:00:00] Welcome to Ignite Cast, where ideas Spark action brought. To you by the Community Development Foundation, your Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development engine for Tupelo and Lee County, thank you to our presenting sponsor, iHeartMedia for powering this season of Ignite Cast. I'm Taylor. I'm Judge and welcome to Ignite Cast

Judd Wilson: Taylor, another episode of At Nightcast. I love just sitting in here and having conversations. 

Taylor Tutor: Another season. Look at that. Of ignite cast. 

Judd Wilson: Season opener. Season opener. But I love having conversations and sometimes we have guests and sometimes it's [00:01:00] just the two of us. Taylor. Yeah, just the two of us. Just the two of us.

Um, we got a big week kind of coming up next week with, uh. CDF events, don't we? 

Taylor Tutor: We do. We have, um, business Lunch and learn Tuesday the 19th here at CDF, that's at 1130. You do have to register for it 

Judd Wilson: and they're gonna be talking about the big beautiful bill. That's huge. 

Taylor Tutor: That's huge. 

Judd Wilson: Sorry, I had to, you 

Taylor Tutor: had to, 

Judd Wilson: I had to, and, and then tell us about Thursday.

Taylor Tutor: And then also on Thursday we have business after hours, which I do enjoy business after hours and. This month's business after hours is at community Bank. You do have to register for it. 'cause we, like you say, Judd, need to know that you're coming. We 

Judd Wilson: do, we do. We love to see folks at those events. And what's always great as CDF members, they can network with other CDF members.

Taylor Tutor: That's right. You can register for both of those events online on our website at cdms.org/event. 

Judd Wilson: Awesome. [00:02:00] And now we're in the new SE of season of at Nightcast, and we are the official podcast of the at night leadership conference. The official, I don't know if there's any unofficial ones out there. We need to, we need to Google that.

But, um, you think about it at night is not far off. You know, it. 

Taylor Tutor: We've already started thinking about it. We've already started planning. Yeah. Darren's designing here. 

Judd Wilson: So hopefully stay tuned. We'll start announcing those speakers soon. You'll probably get a, a little postcard reminder soon. Of course. And you'll start seeing, we, we've been promoting it on social media, just teasing it a little bit, just a little.

So it's exciting. I love at night. Why do you, like at night, Taylor, if you started talking about the at night leadership conference, what's kind of your favorite part about it? 

Taylor Tutor: My favorite is all the leaders in the room together. And I think just being united in that way, and it's almost like with it being at the beginning of the year, we're it, we get excited, we get ignited to, um, just keep pressing on and stay focused on whatever your company's mission [00:03:00] is.

Being encouraged by those in the room, but also the speakers. Every year we have incredible speakers that just always bring some kind of leadership tips, something practical we can take back a skillset to be better on, and just even if it's one small thing that we can be 10% better at, you can leave with that every year at Ignite.

Judd Wilson: Yeah. Yeah. And it's, and it's neat because last year was your, well actually this year, 'cause it was in 2025, but it was your first at night. Um, you know, we started in 2018 and, and like you said, I mean, there's so many different speakers, and I'll tell you as, as, as, as the group here at CDF, that kind of helps plan for that event.

Every year when it's done, we're like. How are we gonna be able to top that? You know, it makes us nervous a little bit on the planning process, but I mean, the speakers every year deliver, don't they? They do. 

Taylor Tutor: I thought last year speakers were all, all incredible, all three brought just different perspectives, different tips, and then I can't wait for everyone to know who this year's speakers are.

Judd Wilson: I know. Still [00:04:00] a secret. 

Taylor Tutor: Still a secret. 

Judd Wilson: Still a we know. Well, 

Taylor Tutor: of course we know, 

Judd Wilson: but it's neat when we're planning for that. You kind of mentioned it already, about, uh, taking away different things and so we are really strategic on how we do that. So we always want to have somebody that's gonna speak really on leadership.

I mean, that's something that, it's a leadership conference. You would want them to speak on leadership, but also maybe somebody that's gonna speak on a skillset as well. And they can be a leadership speaker and talk on a skillset set. But we try to do that and then we always wanna leave inspired. And so we, we always have somebody.

That really has inspiration behind their message as well. So, and that person could be on a skillset and, and a leadership, but we try to make sure we have each of those buckets sort of filled on that. So that's what we look at as an at night team when we're kind of planning that. And I think it, it's like you said, Taylor, it, it allows somebody to maybe take a little nugget from each speaker.[00:05:00] 

Mm-hmm. Um, and that gives them the opportunity to do that is when we're looking and making sure that we, we get the right. Person on the stage to do that. So, um. I think we've done that this year, but they'll have to wait. But let's look back, let's kind of look back at some other at night, uh, leadership conferences that we've done.

I think we've been, uh, really neat when we've had, when we've had guests on this show, we try to bring in some past at night speakers and, and listen to some of what. They said and, and get their feedback on that. So that's always an interesting thing that we do here on the at Nightcast, and I thought it would be good for us to do that now and maybe listen to a couple of those speakers that we've talked about in the past.

So let's start, I kind of talked about the little buckets that we look at when we're planning at night. Let's look first at a skillset. So we're gonna hear from, uh. Kwame and Kwame a, a Christian, he actually, uh, came to us. I don't remember exactly what year it was, but he was big on negotiation. What an unbelievable skillset that is.[00:06:00] 

And so let's, let's listen to Kwame now and kind of talk about that a little bit. Taylor, 

Kwame Christian: the best things in life are on the other side of difficult conversations. If you think about the most impactful moments of your life. You're gonna realize that most likely somewhere in the vicinity of that moment was a difficult conversation.

So to a large extent, our success and failure, our happiness and sadness, is going to be contingent upon how we perform in these difficult conversations. 

Judd Wilson: Wow. So negotiation tailors are gonna be difficult conversations. Can you think of times as a leader, Taylor, and we're getting personal here, I guess mm-hmm.

Where you've had to have a, have a difficult conversation and really after that, um, you know, it actually worked out pretty well because you were able to have that difficult conversation. 

Taylor Tutor: Yes. I have had [00:07:00] to have difficult co conversations, not necessarily negotiating like salary or anything like that.

When I graduated college, my first job was at a college. So therefore those students were very close in age, um, for me. And so even when I was being hired, one of the questions I got asked was. How am I gonna handle those that used to be my peers and my friends, and now I'm their authority. How am I gonna handle discipline them and, you know, giving them constructive criticism so that they can be better.

And so I did have to have, um, difficult conversations then. And just like he mentioned, those difficult conversations on the other side of that are really success. Um, I think both parties grow when they do have to have those difficult conversations. And especially if you. If you ad address them from a place of love and that you want them to be better, it's all for them to be better.

For you to be better because you do grow in those things. You know, growing pains are exactly that, they're pains. [00:08:00] So growing and becoming better is not ever really gonna be easy. And so when we do have difficult conversations or difficult times in our life, it is for a reason and it is gonna be pretty on the other side, I guess you could say.

So. I've had several of those, and I'm sure I have many, many more to come. Um, but I keep that in mind when I do have to have those, that it is for good and good will come of it. 

Judd Wilson: And, and, and it's amazing too because I, I think it is a skillset. 'cause I know a lot of times, um, I mean I would probably consider myself a people pleaser.

Mm-hmm. Um, like to always please people and, and, and what I have a hard time with sometimes is having a difficult conversation. Mm-hmm. But I always realize if you do that, it's so much better than just. Bottling it in. 

Taylor Tutor: Absolutely. You 

Judd Wilson: know, 

Taylor Tutor: nobody likes somebody who's passive aggressive. 

Judd Wilson: They don't. They don't.

They don't. So that is a great skillset. I remember when Kwame talked about that. He was actually with us in 2021 at the night leadership conference then, and we had another speaker that year in 2021 that was a [00:09:00] leadership speaker. If I was to mention leadership to people. The name Dr. Henry Cloud would pop up a lot.

I mean, he was, um, he is a very famous author, very famous leadership, um, speaker. We were very blessed to have him here in Tupelo, Mississippi because he's so well known across the country. Here's the deal. Taylor, do you know why? I think we were able to grab him. Why? He's a native Mississippian. No, I didn't know that.

Yes. And so that was, I remember we were in the planning process of that. We were like, can we get a Dr. Henry cloud? Of 

Taylor Tutor: course we can. 

Judd Wilson: Of course we can, number one. But I think we really kind of had that Mississippi draw and it's really neat too, kind of behind the scenes of how at night works. Um, when our, before our speakers come, we always do a vision call.

Because we wanna make sure our speakers know about our audience. We wanna make sure our speakers kind of know, you know, what's going on in our community so they can craft their message to our leaders and what great, uh, leadership speaker [00:10:00] that Dr. Henry Cloud is. And, and I do remember getting on that, that, uh, vision call with him several weeks before the conference.

And he was so excited about coming back to his home state. So yeah, he was a proud Mississippi. And it's, it's good to hear from a great leader. He was actually with us in 2021, the same year as Kwame. Um, and so let's listen to Dr. Henry. Cloud 

Dr. Henry Cloud: connection fuels human performance. That's where trust comes from.

'cause if somebody feels connected to you, they'll take the bullet for you. But not only that, they'll be able to because you change the wiring of their brain. One of the things we know about this role of deep connection, um, is that it changes the brain chemistry. You know, when people go through stress, they're thinking side of their brain drops and they're reactive.

The fight or flight side, you know, gut goes up and that's all chemically. Driven. And what you want is, you want, you want people whose brains are able to work, right? They're, they're [00:11:00] able to think, but if they're getting flooded with cortisol and a bunch of that, their brains shut down and they're not thinking they're fight or flight, they're moving away.

They're scared or they're, you know, combative or they're arguing. 

Taylor Tutor: So Judd, I know you're a pretty personal person and you do like to get to know everyone very well, and I can appreciate that about you, but what would you have to say about connection, fueling, um, human performance? 

Judd Wilson: Well, you know what, I've, I've, I've always been that way, Taylor, but it was kind of good to hear.

Dr. Cloud say that, I guess I can call him Henry, since we know each other. Henry, now Henry, we're friends, you know, 'cause he is, I mean he's a leadership speaker. He's written, uh, tons of leadership books. But he is a psychologist and so, you know, he knows how the brain works, knows how that happens. And so, you know, I always have made connections just because.

I feel like you get to know people better. Mm-hmm. But I see that side of it now and I, I never really put two and two together. Um, probably 'cause I'm not a psychologist or a math major, but, um, [00:12:00] but seeing that, that, you know, great leaders, that they have connections with people. It's almost kind of like you say, when you have a team, you know, when you're leading a team, um.

You know, you'll hear somebody say, man, I'm, I'm on so-and-so's team, and I would run through the wall for 'em. And I think it's because they have that connection with them. Mm-hmm. And, you know, sometimes as leaders, we think we got, well, we got, I gotta be best friends with everybody that I lead. And it's not that you do, but you, you still need to have a connection with them.

Um, and, and, and, and work through that. And we see, you know, through the science that, uh, that, that Dr. Cloud kind of uncovered that. That there's, there's science behind that, that you're willing to, you know, run through the wall for somebody or you're willing to do this for somebody. 'cause you've, you've met 'em on a personal level.

Mm-hmm. And I think too, you know, if you as a good leader, I mean, that takes time to do that. But also I think you can come in contact with somebody, um, on a day-to-day interaction if you treat that person with respect and, and even kind of get to know 'em. [00:13:00] I think that, you know, kind of breaks down barriers as a leader as well.

So I think it was kind of neat what he brought out in that, uh, that part of the, the talk there that, you know, real connections kind of, kind of help you mm-hmm. Lead a team. 

Taylor Tutor: Absolutely. I think even here in. Just the leaders that we have, and I mean people that we work with, like we all work in, in a team. So it's kind of hard to say.

Some necessarily lead others, but we do all lead each other here. But I, I think when people remember what you say and follow up with you on something in your personal life and check in on this, or say your mom is sick and they ask you how your mom's doing, or if they can help with something or bring you something, it makes you want to.

You know, go out of your way for them and work with them more so that, that kind of proves the science behind it and it makes sense that there is a science behind it. But, um, another speaker that we had at Ignite, I wasn't there then, but his name's Aaron Davis and he spoke on inspiration and we have a little clip from him that we'd [00:14:00] like to share with you.

Aaron Davis: What's your why? Champions know their why, because you know what folks? There are gonna be days you don't feel like doing it. Whatever it is. Champions know their why and they keep the attitude of a champion because even when they don't feel like it, they remember why they're doing it. Even like they just mentioned that it gave me little more pep in the step because I know why I'm doing it.

What is your why? Champions don't forget their whys. 

Judd Wilson: Taylor, I hate that you weren't there. Aaron is a great speaker, dear friend. It's kind of neat Through this at night process, you kind of get to know these folks too. 

Taylor Tutor: Mm-hmm. 

Judd Wilson: A lot of people don't know this. Guess what I call Aaron? 

Taylor Tutor: What Judge? I 

Judd Wilson: call him ad a lot of his friends call him AD for Aaron David.

So I'm one of the privileged ones to get to say 

Taylor Tutor: so privileged. I hate him. 

Judd Wilson: A, a d. So, but he, he's an inspirational speaker. But as I mentioned earlier, I mean. He can unload you some skill sets, he can unload you some leadership tips as well, but he brings [00:15:00] it with passion. Mm-hmm. So Aaron is one of those that brings inspiration and, and we've heard it before, as leaders and as we follow leaders, we gotta know the why.

Taylor Tutor: Mm-hmm. 

Judd Wilson: How, how does that drive you, Taylor, when you think about why. 

Taylor Tutor: Well, the why is what keeps us going even when we're tired and we don't wanna do something. We've had a busy day and we've got another meeting or something to go to after work, or one more networking thing to do, and knowing our why behind it and how it.

Kind of all plays together. So maybe something that seems small and actually is part of the big picture and the makes everything come full circle. But my why would be, you know, just the community and the work that we do, and that it's giving back to the community and building our community and connecting people and creating a better environment for the people that live here.

And that just. I get to benefit from that too. And so that can be selfish, but all of that would be, you know, my why and to, to keep pushing forward and to, you know, [00:16:00] still give 110% even when you're tired. 

Judd Wilson: Right, right. And, and what I love about the why is, you know, companies and organizations can have a mission statement, but why I love the why is, is because it's, it's boiled down to you.

Mm-hmm. You know, to you Taylor, to me, Judd, what that why is, and it might be slightly different for every individual, but. It's almost back to that common purpose, you know, as well. So it's that, it's that one that drives you in, in ad. Look at, I'm dropping it again. Uh, AD did a great job of doing that. Um, and, and that's why it's so important that, you know, when we look at the Ignite Leadership Conference, that you know, that we try to hit these different areas of, of leadership, of inspiration and, and that skillset.

So those that are in the audience can take that nugget and, and go through and, and, and help feed their why more than anything else. So we're in this new season, Taylor. I, I know we're not gonna announce who's gonna be with us this season, but we got another good one planned, don't we? 

Taylor Tutor: We do. I'm very excited about, [00:17:00] um, our three new speakers.

Um, we met the c, the CDF team back in, I think July. Um. Started working on those and decided on those. And so we're just gonna tease y'all for a little bit longer on the speakers. But, um, the ignite date is set, um, January the 29th of 2026. Tickets will go on sale soon. Um, in August you'll get emails and you'll see socials.

So make sure you're following us on all socials and um, that you get the CDF emails. We're excited for it. Um, we do have a sponsor for Ignite this year and it's Renaissance. So very excited to have Renaissance as a sponsor of Ignite um, leadership Conference this year. And just be following along on social media and looking out for when the early bird tickets, um, go on sale and get your tickets early.

'cause it does fill up fast even though the orchard is, um, a big space. We do have a full house each year, so I'm excited to see. The speakers this year. I'm excited to see all of the familiar faces and maybe even [00:18:00] some new ones. 

Judd Wilson: That's awesome. That's awesome. And join us here on at Nightcast as well. Um, we're looking forward to a another season of at Nightcast as well.

So Taylor's always a pleasure. 

Taylor Tutor: Always a pleasure judge. 

Judd Wilson: Always fun to talk with you. Even if we don't have a guest, we still get to have fun talking with one another. So much 

Taylor Tutor: fun. 

Judd Wilson: Appreciate you, Taylor. 

Taylor Tutor: Thanks Judd.

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Ignite Cast, presented by iHeartMedia. For more leadership insights and engaging conversations, be sure to hit subscribe. And if you enjoy today's episode, we'd love for you to leave a review. And remember, go for, go for and do good [00:19:00] things.