Mark Tinsley on Toxic Leadership. Are You Toxic?

I appreciate Mark taking time to sit down with me via Zoom to discuss perhaps the biggest oxymoron and challenges in the business world today:

TOXIC LEADERSHIP

Mark shares his experiences with humor and wisdom as he invites his audiences to take the next steps toward living with purpose, courage, confidence, and conviction. 

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Dr. Mark Tinsley takes the term “Renaissance man” to a whole new level. A poet, pastor, musician, luthier, soldier, and professor, Mark’s diverse interests and accomplishments allow him to engage with people in all walks of life. Mark has lived into his own story, learning from his many varied experiences to live with purpose, courage, and conviction. He makes it a principal goal to share the steps he has taken toward victory in his own life to propel others to the same worthy ends.

Mark can address individuals at nearly any place on their journey because he has traversed so many different professional and personal spheres. Mark holds degrees and certifications in fields as disparate as geology, theology, poetry, electric guitar building, gemology, interrogation, and flight instruction. He can fly a plane to officiate a marriage that incorporates a diamond he certified—and provide the musical accompaniment. Despite this wide array of accomplishments, Mark’s audiences find him to be humble, kind, and understanding—focused on helping them navigate their own challenges rather than describing his own.

Mark brings his skills as a life-long teacher to his ministry. He has taught in a variety of venues, from planning and delivering training in a variety of capacities in the military to pastoring four churches to conducting workshops on marriage and family well-being to serving as a professor in both science and English classes at the university level. His ability to help individuals navigate the problems at hand, whether they have to do with comma usage, marriage, flying an airplane, or military life, grows from his well-honed teaching gift. ​

As a proven leader, Mark has seen what it takes to rise above common challenges. Mark has served as a platoon leader, executive officer, and chaplain in the Army; he currently holds the rank of Lt. Colonel and is the Chief of Studies at the United States Army Chaplain Center and School’s Fielded Force Integration Directorate. 

Mark pairs his gift for leadership with a pastor’s desire to develop others, having served as an Army Reserve Chaplain since 2005 and as a pastor in four churches. Currently, Mark is the senior pastor of Amelon United Methodist Church in Madison Heights, Virginia.

Mark’s public facing ministry extends beyond his professional roles, as he is a published poet, host of a weekly podcast, and gifted speaker who routinely leads workshops on topics ranging from military life to marriage and family. 

He is also—but certainly not least—a husband and father of five.