#125: Jason “Buzz” Lewis - Formation-Based Leadership
Formation-Based Leadership: Less About Me, More About We
Featuring Jason “Buzz” Lewis | Tales of Leadership Podcast Ep. 125
Leadership is not measured only by what you accomplish. It is also reflected in who other people become because you took the time to invest in them.
For retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Jason “Buzz” Lewis, that understanding developed through 26 years of military service and continued to deepen after he stepped out of uniform. From leading soldiers to coaching youth sports and raising a family, his leadership journey has become less about having the answers and more about creating the conditions for others to grow.
In Episode 125 of Tales of Leadership, Buzz shares a definition that captures that shift:
“Leadership to me is intentionally creating the environments where people can become the best and the most capable of who they’re supposed to be.”
That is the heart of formation-based leadership. Rather than making yourself the center of every decision, you intentionally shape the experiences, responsibilities, and relationships that help other people become more capable. It is not the absence of influence. It is using your influence to build an environment where development can happen.
Less About Me, More About We
Before Buzz wore a uniform, his mother provided his first example of leadership. As a single parent, she worked to create opportunities for her children while encouraging them to become independent. Years later, he learned that she had relied on a support system of her own.
That realization challenged the idea that strong leaders figure everything out alone. Even the people we admire most need help.
One of Buzz’s most influential military mentors, Sergeant First Class Clint Teague, reinforced that lesson. As a young platoon leader, Buzz believed he needed to be involved in every action. During a deployment, he repeatedly ran between vehicles at a traffic control point, exhausting himself while experienced soldiers were already positioned to do their jobs.
Teague eventually pulled him into the truck and pointed to the radio.
“This is a microphone. Use it.”
The lesson was bigger than communication. Buzz did not need to personally execute every task to lead effectively. He needed to provide direction and allow his soldiers’ experience to contribute to the mission.
Looking back, he recognized that Teague was doing more than correcting his behavior. He was forming him into a leader who could see beyond his own effort and recognize the capability of the team.
Every Person Has a Story
Another turning point came when Buzz was a company commander. After several young soldiers performed poorly on a physical fitness test, his initial response was frustration. He planned to counsel them personally and make the expectations unmistakably clear.
But the conversations revealed more than the scores did.
As he listened, he began to understand that performance was connected to what was happening in each soldier’s life. The question was not simply why someone had failed to meet the standard. It was also what circumstances were affecting that person’s ability to succeed.
That experience reinforced a principle he returned to throughout the conversation: every person has a story.
For Buzz, learning those stories became a practical leadership tool. In the National Guard, his soldiers brought experience from civilian careers, families, and communities. Their value extended beyond their military job descriptions.
He offered a simple example: when the unit needed a fire marshal, why automatically assign the responsibility to a platoon leader when a soldier already worked as a firefighter?
Understanding people helped him connect their strengths to meaningful responsibilities. Soldiers could contribute something valuable rather than simply show up and wait for instructions.
That approach did not eliminate accountability. In another deployment story, Buzz described a soldier being injured after a required weapon safety check was not completed. He addressed the soldier’s responsibility while also acknowledging his own failure to verify what he expected.
His approach connected care with responsibility: understand the person, make the standard clear, and address the behavior that puts the team at risk.
Develop Leaders Who Can Lead Without You
Buzz’s understanding of formation continued to grow as a battalion executive officer. His commander gave him guidance, responsibility, and room to lead the staff.
Rather than directing every action, the commander created an environment where Buzz could practice leadership, learn the organization, and develop his judgment.
Buzz then extended that opportunity to others. He deliberately developed the company executive officers so they could better support their commanders and create more space for developing people throughout the organization.
Leadership was no longer concentrated in one headquarters. It was multiplying through other leaders.
The importance of that investment became especially clear during his second deployment. After preparing to deploy as a company, his organization was divided into five smaller police mentor teams.
He could not be physically present with every team. The leaders operating away from him needed the confidence and capability to make decisions and care for their soldiers.
Buzz was grateful that he and his leadership team had invested in their development before the separation occurred. He described one platoon sergeant who challenged a proposed mission plan because he believed it placed soldiers at unnecessary risk. That leader understood that his experience mattered and that protecting his people was part of his responsibility.
When reflecting on bringing everyone home from both deployments, Buzz gave credit to the people around him—their competence, confidence, and willingness to do their part.
His story raises an important question for any leader: are you developing people who can act without you, or building a team that depends on your presence?
Create Space Before Choosing Your Next Mission
Leaving the military gave Buzz something he had rarely experienced during his career: space to examine what he actually wanted.
Initially, he explored business consulting, a franchise opportunity, and other employment options. Those paths seemed logical. He had leadership experience, organizational skills, and examples of other veterans pursuing similar work.
But he eventually recognized that his expectations were influenced by what he had watched other people do.
The question became less about what a retired officer was supposed to do and more about what work aligned with the person he was becoming.
Through substitute teaching, church service, volunteer leadership, and youth sports coaching, he began to notice where he felt most engaged. Coaching and helping others develop energized him in ways that pursuing consulting work did not.
Buzz described the distinction as his “zone of excellence” versus his “zone of genius.” He believed he could perform business consulting well, but being capable of doing something did not automatically make it the most fulfilling direction for his life.
That awareness required him to slow down.
His experience is not a prescription for everyone to leave a job or follow the same retirement path. His challenge is to create enough space to recognize what your own experience is teaching you.
Without that pause, it is easy to keep pursuing the next opportunity without examining whether it serves the life you are trying to build.
Formation Starts at Home
For Buzz and his wife, Des, faith and family are central to that life.
He openly credits Des with helping shape his spiritual growth. When he felt unwilling or ill-equipped to take greater responsibility for faith in their household, she continued to model it and encourage him.
Their family practices did not begin with a complicated system. They began with small, consistent decisions: prayer at dinner, worship music in the home, conversations about faith, and shared family values.
As their children grew, Buzz and Des involved them in defining what those values meant for their household.
They also created a regular Saturday gathering. Originally called the “Saturday Show,” it later became the “Deep Dive.” The family listens to a worship song, discusses its meaning, shares blessings and prayer requests, and talks about what is happening in their lives.
Importantly, it is also a place where the children can raise concerns.
When a child questions a household rule, the conversation does not have to end with a command. Buzz asks for a recommendation. That creates an opportunity to practice communicating, considering alternatives, and taking responsibility for an idea.
The family still has expectations. But within those expectations, the children have room to develop their voices and judgment.
Buzz was clear that none of this means he has parenting or faith completely figured out. His encouragement was simpler: start somewhere, then remain intentional over time.
More Is Caught Than Taught
One of the most meaningful moments in the conversation came when Buzz described his relationship with his son, Kai.
After recognizing that directly coaching his strong-willed son created friction, Buzz began exploring a different approach: coaching together.
When Kai accompanied him to football practice in a helping role, the dynamic changed. He picked up equipment, engaged with coaches, asked questions, and offered observations based on his own experience as a player.
Instead of receiving another set of instructions from his father, he had an opportunity to contribute alongside him.
On the drive home, they discussed their favorite parts of practice. When Kai asked his father what he enjoyed most, Buzz eventually explained that he loved creating an environment where the coaches could succeed.
Kai responded:
“Yeah, Dad, you just love making people better.”
For Buzz, that moment was deeply emotional. His son had recognized something important about his character—not because Buzz had delivered a speech about leadership, but because Kai had watched him practice it.
It brought the entire conversation back to a phrase Buzz values: more is caught than taught.
In the episode’s After Action Review, Joshua connected that idea to the example leaders set every day. Children and teammates observe our words, our decisions, and the standards we accept. The habits we model help shape what they come to believe is normal.
Formation is happening even when we are not giving a lesson. The question is what our example is teaching.
Final Thoughts
Jason “Buzz” Lewis’s story offers a different way to think about leadership development. The goal is not to become indispensable to every decision. It is to help other people become more capable of making good decisions themselves.
That requires listening before assuming, connecting responsibility to strengths, maintaining accountability, and allowing people room to practice.
It also requires the awareness to examine your own life. Buzz’s transition helped him recognize that leadership did not end when his military career ended. It continued through the environments he was creating—in youth sports, in his community, and in his home.
Formation-based leadership asks us to look beyond immediate performance and consider who people are becoming.
Less about me. More about we.
Key Takeaways
Create the conditions for growth. Leadership includes shaping the environment, not just directing the person.
Learn the story behind the performance. Understanding someone’s circumstances and strengths helps you lead with greater clarity.
Develop capability beyond yourself. Give people meaningful responsibility, prepare them to use it, and hold them accountable.
Create space for awareness. Being good at something does not automatically mean it aligns with the life you want to build.
Model what you want multiplied. Your team and family learn from your everyday example, not only your intentional lessons.
After Action Review (AAR)
Reflect on these questions to apply the leadership lessons from this episode:
What are your daily words and actions teaching the people who watch you most closely?
What can you stop doing this week to create space for reflection and more intentional decisions?
Whose strengths are being overlooked, and what meaningful responsibility could help that person—and your team—grow?
Tales of Leadership Mission: To develop Purposeful Accountable Leaders (PAL)
by arming you with the tools required to lead with purpose, integrity, and accountability.
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Jason “Buzz” Lewis is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, coach, mentor, and leadership practitioner with more than 26 years of experience developing people and leading organizations. Today, he serves through youth sports, faith-based leadership development, and business consulting while co-founding Home Team Standard alongside his wife, Des. His passion is helping strengthen the homes, teams, and relationships that shape future leaders.