September 2, 2025 โข 28 mins
"๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค ๐๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ข๐ฌ๐: ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ & ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ข๐๐๐ง๐๐" ๐๏ธ
What keeps so many leaders stuck in mediocrity? Itโs not a lack of passion or careโitโs the distractions, the noise, and the missing disciplines that turn good intentions into real action.
In Episode 182, host John Gallagher shares his personal journey from engineering to leadership coaching and the lessons learned along the way. He unpacks why multitasking is the enemy of clarity, how intentionality drives impact, and why building systems is key to sustaining improvements.
๐ก Highlights:
๐ Why multitasking keeps leaders from true productivity
๐ The power of intentionality and focus
๐ Building disciplines to transform intentions into results
๐ Creating systems & processes that actually last
๐ Why personal growth is the foundation for confident leadership
If youโve ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or distracted in your leadership, this episode is your invitation to reset. Learn how to cut through the noise and step into the clarity and confidence you need to lead as an Uncommon Leader.
๐ง Listen now and reflect: Where in your life do you need to turn intention into action?
๐ Watch the FULL VIDEO HERE: https://youtu.be/Ey8M-6iz0KA
๐Like/Watch/Share Our Resources: https://linktr.ee/SpeakWithPeopleย
๐ Level up your leadership with John Gallagher:
๐ฏ Free 1:1 Strategy Call โ https://coachjohngallagher.com/freecall
๐ More Resources โ https://linktr.ee/coachjohngallagher
๐ Visit โ https://coachjohngallagher.com
#CoachJohnGallagher #TheUncommonLeaderPodcast #LeadershipDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching #UncommonLeader #Productivity #PersonalGrowth #MindsetShift #Clarity #Confidence
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Did you know that many of the things that I discuss on the Uncommon Leader Podcast are subjects that I coach other leaders and organizations ? If you would be interested in having me discuss 1:1 or group coaching with you, or know someone who is looking to move from Underperforming to Uncommon in their business or life, I would love to chat with you. Click this link to set up a FREE CALL to discuss how coaching might benefit you and your team)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And the first task.
I'll never forget this, likethe executive coaching me.
Okay, now he's going to help me, he's going to teach me how to
run a business.
We spent the first six monthsworking on me and I wrote my
life plan.
So that's you know.
Again that's 22 years agowriting my life plan for all the
important areas of my life, notjust my business, but my faith,
my finances, my family, myfriendships, my fitness and my
(00:22):
health and what those thingswere going on in my life.
And the first step in theprocess you want to talk about
something that's very humblingwas to write my own eulogy.
And what were people going tosay about me at your eulogy at
some point in the future?
And you're not beingintentional at speaking with
them, talking to them andbuilding those relationships
with them.
How are they ever going to dothat?
(00:45):
So that's when I got started onthat journey and, again, that's
where I started to reallyembrace at my eulogy one day.
But what really I want them tosay, which is really what that
was all about.
And again, if you want folks tosay things as an engineer, the
process side of that as well.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Welcome to the Speak With People podcast, where we
believe that healthycommunication is the key to
unlocking your leadershippotential.
We are the go-to resource forleaders looking to greatly
improve their communicationskills, whether it's one-on-one
interactions, team settings,public speaking or digital
communication.
By improving these skills,leaders can create stronger
connections and drive positivechange within their
(01:33):
organizations.
Each and every episode, we sitdown with experts from various
fields, from around the worldjust like you're grabbing a
coffee with them to dive intoreal, practical conversations.
Our goal is to help youtransform your communication
skills so you can lead moreeffectively, build stronger
relationships and make a lastingimpact.
So go, grab your favorite drink, settle in and let's learn
(01:55):
together.
Well, how do you finally stopspinning your wheels, start
living and leading with purposeBig question that we're going to
tackle on today's Speak WithPeople podcast?
Listen, we all have goodintentions, we all want to grow,
but the truth is a lot of ussometimes we get stuck in
mediocrity, not because we don'tcare, but because maybe we
haven't built the disciplinesthat turn intentions into
(02:17):
actions.
Well, my guest today is JohnGallagher.
He is a values-driven executivecoach, consultant, speaker,
founder of Growing Champions.
John has coached leaders atcompanies from IBM big companies
.
He's also passionate abouthelping people grow into the
uncommon leaders they werecreated to be.
I have followed him for a while.
I'm so looking forward to thisconversation because I know it's
(02:39):
just going to be great.
So if you're ready to breakthrough the noise, ditch the
overwhelm, lead with clarity andconfidence, this episode is for
you.
John, welcome to the Speak WithPeople podcast.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Jason, so glad to be here and thank you for that kind
introduction.
You summarized it so well.
I may have to just use that inmy own bio on my website.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Thank you very much.
I love it.
I sometimes guess, add if I cansend them a reel so they can
play it to their spouse or theirkids.
Exactly, there you go.
We always need that.
Well, before we hop into theconversation, wondered if you
could just share with us alittle bit of your story, let
our listeners know who you are,what you do, what's got you to
this place that you findyourself in now?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Sure, I appreciate that and, again, your
introduction was pretty well.
You think about ultimately whatled me into executive coaching
and consulting.
I won't bore you with theentire story, but as an engineer
coming out of college, I knewpretty quickly that I did not
want to be an engineer long-termand I found myself, frankly, in
operational leadership rolesthat I really enjoyed in terms
(03:36):
of working with people andmaking a difference there and,
as a result, the relationshipsthat I built and being able to
connect with people.
It got me early on in myjourney some leadership
opportunities that I built andbeing able to connect with
people.
It got me early on in myjourney some leadership
opportunities that I probablywasn't really ready for leading
200 people at a manufacturingfacility at 28 years old and
ultimately starting on thisjourney throughout in
manufacturing, learning theToyota production system, which
(03:59):
was later on in my journey.
But ultimately, those twothings wanting to make a
difference in the lives ofothers and wanting to make a
difference in people'sorganizations through business
process improvement that wasdone in a methodical way led me
to my many differentopportunities.
Real estate led me to differentlevels of leadership in
manufacturing home construction,different things that I did and
(04:20):
I found myself in 2009, likemany after the real estate fall,
looking to get back intooperations, and I had some
friends in the business whoultimately said, well, we got
these consulting things that wecould do in lean.
I'm like I still don't know ifI want to live that life of a
consultant and all that travel.
I had two young kids and thethird time they called me back
and said, hey, let's do this inhealthcare and hospitals and
clinics.
And ultimately, when theytalked about that and helping
(04:43):
hospitals and clinics improvethe flow of patients and
customer service, I was naiveenough to believe that I might
be able to make a difference.
I said, okay, let's do that fora couple of years and I'll get
back into operations.
Well, that was now almost 16years ago that I got started in
consulting, coaching and haven'tbeen able to work my way back
out of it.
I love it and just started myown five years ago.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Wow, that's incredible, just incredible.
When you talked about Toyota, Iwas thinking back.
I grew up outside of Detroit, Igrew up in the city and then
later years lived in the suburbsand so obviously the big three
are pretty important in Detroitfor GM.
My father-in-law lots of myin-laws worked at GM and at the
(05:23):
time I owned a Toyota and it was.
It was not a good deal to comeinto the family with a Toyota.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Thanksgiving dinner was pretty tough, wasn't it?
Like park that car down thestreet Don't be parking in front
of the house.
Yeah, I know that feelingAbsolutely.
My uncle worked with the V8engine plant in Flint, michigan.
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Oh yeah, but that Toyota always started.
I mean it could have beenJanuary and negative 10.
I mean it always started.
I mean it could have beenJanuary and negative 10.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I mean, it started right up.
Yeah, we're a four Toyotafamily now, so we've stuck with
them pretty closely.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I love it.
Well, you talk about going fromordinary to uncommon.
What does that transformationreally look like in a leader's
life?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, you touched on this a little bit in the intro,
which I find that pretty cool.
I mean, ultimately, when Ithink about that track to
uncommon from underperforming orordinary, it's really a choice
that leaders have to make.
Oftentimes I'll talk about thisin terms of change when I'm
coaching individuals or, frankly, in organizations that people
or organizations will changewhen the displeasure of
(06:18):
remaining the same where theyare today kind of status quo is
actually greater than thediscomfort of the change itself.
Anytime you go through thisjourney to uncommon and you want
to look to change, you want toimplement leadership development
, you want to make a change andhave a bigger impact on your
communities and on the world, itrequires you to really step out
(06:38):
, because you might beperforming pretty well and in
many cases that is just common.
I'm doing pretty good, there'sno real need to change.
But it's those who can recognizethat they were called to be
something even greater, andthat's when you start to think
about something that's uncommon.
It could be as simple as and Italk about this story returning
the shopping cart to theshopping cart corral rather than
(07:00):
leaving it in the parking lotto roll around and let it hit
somebody else's car and notsaying, well, it's not my job to
get it, but just picking it upon the way in Very uncommon.
When people say, what are youdoing that for Just?
I think it's something that youknow is the right thing to do
and I'm not worried about whosejob it was or who left it there.
Obviously, leadershipdifferences are very different,
(07:21):
but the metaphor of thatshopping cart in the parking lot
to me is outlining thedifference in common and
uncommon, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Wow, wow, wow, wow.
I love that.
When I first met my wife, oneof the things that took me back
from her is we were atBlockbuster Video way back in
the day and we decided not toget a video.
And young 20-year-old Jasonjust put it in the closest spot
I could find and she said that'snot where it goes.
And she walked to the back ofthe and I knew from that moment
(07:52):
on Okay, wow, all right she is.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
It wasn't like I didn't go into it as that's my
test or anything, but she Right,but back to intention, right, I
mean again, the intention wasnot a bad intention that you had
, but it was just thatdiscipline to really take that
step back over there and put itback to the place that you found
it.
Absolutely, I love that.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
So many leaders, you know they start to make those
decisions, to kind of have thatuncommon leadership, make those
kind of right calls and we'refaced with lies, we're faced
with negative thoughts, we'refaced with, you know, all of
these kind of destructivethoughts that you know kind of
try to convince us not to gothat route.
How do you think that happens?
(08:31):
How do you think we combat them?
How do you think we rise abovethem?
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Well, you know, as a man of faith, jason, I know it's
not about bringing that intothis episode, but I really have
read this book and it's behindmy shoulder over here on my
right.
It's called the 4-8 Principle,written by Tommy Newberry, and
it's based on Philippians 4-8.
And he talks about whatever'strue, whatever's noble,
whatever's right.
Think on these things.
The reason I believe thosenegative thoughts exist is that
(08:59):
evil exists in the world, andthose self-deprecating or those
thought limiting, limitingbeliefs that exist inside of us
are those that internal criticthat exists for you in terms of
your confidence.
But I do believe that it's evilthat exists that gets you to
think that way, to try to keepyou from reaching your full
potential.
Now I tend to look at it theother way, or another way,
(09:20):
another step, as Philippians 4.9says, and whatever I've taught
you, take action on it.
And so I think it's very easyfor us to think on positive
things not all the time or evennegative things that will
paralyze us.
But thinking on positive thingsdoesn't do anything for us
either if we don't take actionfrom it.
And so the part about thediscipline that is required good
(09:40):
intention with bad disciplineleads to excuses, but good
discipline, with good intention,will lead to excellence, and
that's the difference.
That's that uncommon that wehave to take action from those
thoughts either way, whetherthey're negative thoughts or
positive thoughts.
We have to overcome those withpositive thoughts and then take
action from them.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Wow, that is absolutely powerful.
I mean, it's just incrediblehow I think sometimes we
perceive nobody else struggleswith that you know, and we're
the only one walking aroundgoing how come I'm the only one?
And wherever they come from, Imean it's just amazing how
(10:24):
destructive they can be and howthey can just thwart everything
in our lives, Because if westart to believe them, it just
slows everything down.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I think, Jason, it oftentimes manifests itself in
things that happened to us as achild, that just kind of hung
with us for a long period oftime.
It says we're most powerfullypositioned to help the person
that we used to be.
And so if we know that wesuffer from some of those
limiting beliefs or thatimposter syndrome that many
people think about with regardsto being worthy of doing the
(10:54):
work that they do, if we canhelp others to overcome that,
that's the power of the coaching, that's the impact that we look
for to make a difference in thelives of others.
And when you can see that andwhen you hear that in others,
that's frankly the fruit thatI'm looking to bear in the lives
of others inspire, encourageothers ultimately to reach a
place they wouldn't go on theirown.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Wow, wow, wow.
So leaders, you know, prideourselves on being productive.
We've got stuff to do, we'vegot places to go.
You talk about the 47 mostproductive minutes of a leader's
day.
Why is this so powerful?
Why is this something we shouldgrab hold of?
I'm already so intrigued.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Well, it's quite a discipline.
You know, many times I'll hearfrom folks that say they are
great at multitasking.
Anyone who tells you they'rereally good at multitasking it's
a myth.
They may not know, they mayreally believe that they are
good at multitasking, but thescience shows that anytime we're
working on more than one itemespecially when it comes to
productivity in the workplacethat when we start to move from
(11:50):
one to the other, it takes ussome period of time 8 to 12
minutes to be able to take thefocus off of the one task we're
working on and to turn on thefocus Even some of those simple
tasks that you may repeat, orsome of those simple habits that
you repeat at times.
Look for me specifically.
I know that I used to be ableto listen to music and read at
the same time.
Now I know scientifically, asmy brain ages, I'm not able to
(12:13):
do that anymore.
I don't have that ability.
So the 47 powerful minutes, asmany times folks think I got to
be so busy.
I got to have my phone on allthe time in case I get that
important text message.
Or I got to have my computeropen with the email on because I
might get that important emailabout the deal that I was
working on and I got to be inthe mix or, heaven forbid, I
might miss a like on my socialmedia page that I can't respond
(12:36):
to right away and understand it.
But those 47 minutes there'snothing scientific behind the
number, but it is scientific interms of the going into airplane
mode.
Ultimately, as a leader Whetheryou try to do this one time a
week or one time today you set aone hour appointment with
yourself and then you set atimer in that one hour for 47
minutes and you just startworking on one task, whether
(13:00):
it's reading or a project thatyou wanted to work on, but you
turn all the other distractionsoff and if you're working in a
cubicle environment or officeenvironment I've coached others
you put a red stop sign on thatdoor that says I am not
available at this point in timeunless the uncommon leaders.
Hope you're enjoying theepisode so far.
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(13:21):
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(13:44):
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That's coachjohngallaghercomslash BBG.
Now let's get back to theepisode Turning down.
Please don't disturb me, but I'mtrying to create something and
I will tell you that most of thetime, if you allow that to
(14:05):
happen, it's hard to do.
In the first two or three timesyou try it, you still want to go
back and check things, but atthe end of that 47 minutes, when
that timer goes off, you arenot going to want to stop.
You're going to keep going, butI encourage you that, whatever
it is at that end of that 47minutes, stop the timer, come
back into that real world again,all those distractions that
existed, allow your email tocome back on, allow your text
messages to come back in at whatcame in in the last 47 minutes
(14:28):
and maybe even take a bio break,because we are such a society
even in the world of remotemeetings right now.
We go from meeting to meetingto meeting, hour by hour and
never stop to even take a breakto understand that I might need
to go to the restroom and getready for this and just take a
deep breath and get ready.
So those 47 minutes I found tobe the most productive and
(14:51):
powerful minutes in a leader'sday, if they're able to shut
that down because there's nodistraction, and I believe that
distractions that exist are thethings that keep us from being
productive in our businesses andin our daily lives all the time
.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Wow, that's powerful.
Do you think there's hope forleaders?
I mean busyness, such a badge.
I mean we just you know how areyou doing?
Oh, I'm busy, I'm busy, youknow.
Is there hope at some point?
Will a large majority of us getto that point where we go?
Speaker 1 (15:17):
okay, busyness is not a badge of honor.
That's a great question.
Look, I believe that there ishope, and I don't mean I mean
leaders are dealers in hope.
And I think those leaders againback to that decision they make
that they want to be betterit's got to flow through their
organization.
Ultimately, the leader has gotto make a decision that they're
going to grow, they're going todo personal development.
Only at that point can they saynow I'm going to develop my
(15:39):
team to be better.
The old analogy of when theoxygen mask comes down on the
airplane, put your own mask onfirst and then help someone.
It's real in terms of thatspace.
But as a leader, if you don'tdevelop yourself and you think
your team's going to develop bywatching your behaviors, it's
not going to happen.
John Maxwell refers to it asthe law of the lid.
You're going to put a lid onyour organization based on your
(16:01):
own personal development.
So the hope exists inside of theleadership, and I don't just
mean that by title, only I knowit takes those that are having
an influence inside of a group.
So whether you're leading aparking ministry team at church
or you're leading your home as aparent, those things that you
(16:21):
do are going to be seen, they'regoing to be caught and they're
going to be caught and thenthey're going to be taught again
if you're able to model thosebehaviors.
So the hope exists inleadership.
Absolutely, If you have aleader that's a constant driver
and believes that you should beon 24-7 and that you should be
available all the time,including on your vacation, it's
probably not an organizationthat I'm going to work with very
(16:43):
much, because they haven't madethe decision to know that
they're putting a lid on theirown organization's performance
and, frankly, they're just beingfools and disrespecting people
that work their organizations.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Wow, Well, kind of leading right into that, as
you've coached leaders from alldifferent organizations,
everywhere from lower impact tohigher impact.
What are some of the commontraits, the common patterns you
see especially in high impactleaders, leaders who are maybe
more on that uncommon side?
What are some of those traits,characteristics that you're
seeing?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Sure, let's say some of the barriers that exist in
terms of what happens.
Again, I would talk aboutdistraction as a big barrier
right there, whether it'smultitasking, or here's one of
the things that I see the mostinside of organizations.
They work really hard to solvea problem, whether that's a
sales problem that they have, orthey have an operations problem
or a customer service problem,whatever that is.
(17:34):
And I use a picture of a ballpushing that ball up the hill to
improve it and our performancegets better.
Okay, and the leaders arepushing and they're even working
really hard as a and they walkaway from that rock and they
haven't put the systems andprocesses in place to hold it
there, to ensure that it doesn'twalk backwards.
(17:56):
So if they don't put thosesystems and processes in place
as soon as they walk away fromit, that ball is going to roll
back down the hill.
And oftentimes that balldoesn't just stop at the bottom
where it started, but it goesback even further because people
say here we go again, we'reback on this wheel again of
problems.
We've seen this song.
It's just a different page inthe songbook in terms of what
(18:17):
we've seen.
And so leaders got to recognizeafter they develop their teams,
they work on these problems iswhat is the system and process
they're putting in place towedge underneath that rock that
will keep it in place when theywalk away?
Have they learned to delegateeffectively to others to keep
that improvement in place?
Have they developed themanagement system to govern the
(18:37):
change and recognize when it'sstarting to roll back down hill
a little bit as well?
So one of the things inside ofthe coaching we start with
developing self and developingothers.
But the third thing is to helpyou and your business is to take
a look at the systems andprocesses that you have in place
and standardize those processesso that you can understand how
to train others and know thatit's not going to roll backward
(18:59):
when you walk away.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Wow, I was thinking about your story, you know, kind
of going back.
You're 28, you're overseeing,you know, a good amount of
people.
What you know, what do youthink caused that?
What did the people above yousee, you know what kind of led
them to put such a young leader,you know, in that type of
leadership position?
I talk to, you know,millennials, especially now, and
(19:23):
maybe even Gen Zers, who don'twant to really put in the time
that maybe their parents did orother people that they see in
the organization did before theyget a promotion.
And so you know, just curiousfrom your own, your own, vantage
point, you know what?
What was your journey like?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Jason, I love you know.
The name of your podcast isSpeak With People.
Something I learned growing upand as one of the one of the
tips that my mom gave me in termwhen I was growing up is, you
know, killing people withkindness.
We could talk about thedifference in kindness and nice
as we go through, but that wasabout the time that Tom Peters
and his book was kind of comingaround, the managed by walking
around philosophy was reallygetting started and I just had.
(20:00):
I had an ability.
I may not have been asintentional as I wanted to being
young at that time, but I hadability to connect with people
in the space that they were, hadthe ability to meet them where
they were.
And I tell you in that in thatspecific time period, there was
a survey that was done throughthe organization.
They called it a blue slippingsurvey, where they had all the
employees inside the building.
(20:20):
The corporate office came downand said if you were going to
pick a leader for this business,who would you pick?
And oddly enough, my name endedup on a bunch of those blue
slips and they took a chance onme as a leader.
And I do believe that more thananything else because I was
able to connect with them from acommunication standpoint.
I didn't know how to spellleadership at that point in time
(20:40):
or know how important that was,but I certainly knew that it
was important to connect withpeople and treat them with
respect and listen to them, sogood.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Sometimes we think we're speaking with people and
we're actually just informingthem.
We're actually just dumpinginformation Sounds like you had
a good grounding when it came tohow to connect with other
people.
What have you learned over theyears, especially as a leader?
How to keep that connectionstrong, specifically through
(21:09):
your communication?
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I think the word that comes tomind immediately for that is
being intentional.
The word is intentional.
We can't delegate relationshipbuilding.
We've got to make that happen.
One of the frameworks I like touse in today's Anaclaire as I
teach folks to manage by walkingaround and they're like I
really don't know what to say.
Let's not worry about what tosay in terms of going and
(21:32):
walking around.
Let's start here.
3-2-1 is the methodology that Italk to folks about Three
coffees, two lunches and adinner each month as a leader.
Go out and have three coffeeswith three different people,
have lunch with two differentpeople and have dinner with one
of the people on your team or acustomer or whatever.
That is that's the start ofbeing intentional.
Put those things on yourcalendar to make that happen.
(21:54):
That's the now.
I have it on my calendar.
The discipline has got to bethere.
I actually have to make thathappen.
Then we can start to talk abouthey, what are the questions that
you're going to want to askwhen you sit down and get with
that person?
It's all depending on the themethat you want to have.
Is it a performance relatedcommunication that you want to
have?
Do you want to get to learnmore about their family, which
might be very important as well?
Or, in the case of a customer,what is it about the industry or
(22:17):
the challenges that they facethat you as a business owner
might be able to help them with,but until you get intentional
and schedule that time, somebodyelse is going to schedule your
time for you and you're notgoing to get to that.
Relationship building sointentional is one of the very
first things.
Love that.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
You kind of already kind of addressed some of this
as you kind of been walking usthrough it.
But speak to that leader rightnow who's just struggling.
You know they have foundthemselves in a hole.
Maybe it's through their ownhabits, maybe it's through their
not, maybe life's just you knowit's been a rough season of
life and so they're justdesperately trying to climb out.
What is some advice that youwould give them as they're
trying to get back to a healthyplace, a place of more uncommon
(22:58):
leadership?
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, I love that and one of the things I think about
is I love to tell that instories as I go through.
And the story that I love tostart with with leaders and how
my change came about is thisperformance review that I had
about 20 years ago and I'msitting in this conference room
getting my performance review.
I was the acting president of adivision of a manufacturing
company.
(23:19):
My boss comes in to do myperformance review and it's in
this fishbowl, it's all glassconference room.
So people are walking by, theyknow I'm getting my performance
review and they're wonderingwhat's being said because it's
confidential.
But beautiful chairs sittingacross this mahogany table from
my boss who had flown in on theprivate jet from Chicago to do
my performance review, and hesays I'm going to review you as
(23:41):
the president of theorganization, not as the acting
president.
He says I want to set that upup front.
I'm like cool, this is going tobe great.
We had a scale of one to fivein terms of our performance, one
being not good at all, fivebeing kind of perfect and
excelling and getting great, andmy performance review score
coming out of there when he wasdone talking to me was a 2.3.
Exactly so, like that deepbreath that occurs in silence.
(24:03):
And I'm sitting there.
This is I'm in my mid thirtiesin terms of going on.
I'm sitting there and justspeechless, not in a bad way,
but these two tears startrolling down my cheeks and he
asked me.
He says you know what's on yourmind right now?
I said I need help.
That's like what came out was Ineed help, and it was there
that I understood that I had toswallow the hubris of thinking I
could solve this problem on myown.
(24:24):
You know, 20 years ago the termexecutive coach wasn't really
that common in terms of whofolks were dealing with, but I
knew I couldn't rely on my boss,who was hundreds of miles away,
to be there in thatconversation all the time and,
frankly, there were things Ineeded to share that maybe I
didn't want to share with him,and I just learned about an
executive coaching organizationafter being in a leadership
retreat.
I said I'm interested in havingthis coaching and what I was
(24:47):
very grateful for were manythings about this boss that sat
across from me.
The first thing he did was hedelivered that message with
grace and truth, and those twothings together right now are
really powerful and missing inmany organizations.
And the second thing that hedid he says I'm willing to
invest in you in this and makethat happen.
And that started my journey.
(25:09):
Really, I think, is anaccelerator to get going.
So, in terms of giving adviceto that young leader who's
really struggling, the firstthing is don't be afraid to ask
for help and to actually thinkyou can do this on your own.
And if you can't necessarilyafford or get the investment to
work with an executive coach,while I might be able to provide
that or others, there are manyexecutive coaches that are out
(25:30):
there- there are so manyresources available to them to
become more intentional in theirpersonal development.
It's books like the book sittingbehind me that are written,
that exist.
Those are mentors inside thosepages who have had stories.
There are podcasts, just likethis Speak With People podcast
that exists, and so many moreout there that individuals can
(25:51):
listen into to learn about otherstories who are suffering from
the same thing that they'resuffering from, and so there are
others that have been throughwhat they're going through.
They are not unique and I don'tsay that out of again,
flippantly, it's.
There are people out there thatcan help you and that have been
through there, but you have tomake that decision as a leader
that you're ready to grow.
(26:12):
If you have that commitment,then I start with ultimately
creating your personal visionstatement that exists in your
mind, in your heart.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
That's so good and that's a common theme.
As we've interviewed a guest,you know coming back to that
personal mission statement is sopowerful.
What, what phase of life wereyou in when you've had first
written your own missionstatement?
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, great question Coming out of that, getting my
executive coach.
I was in that learning butmoving into the earning as that
acting president role and thefirst task I'll never forget
this like executive coaching.
Okay, now he's going to help me, he's going to teach me how to
run a business.
We spent the first six monthsworking on me and I wrote my
life plan.
So that's you know.
(26:53):
Again, that's 22 years agowriting my life plan for all the
important areas of my life, notjust my business, but my faith,
my finances, my family, myfriendships, my fitness and my
health and what those thingswere going on in my life.
And the first step in theprocess you want to talk about
something that's very humblingwas to write my own eulogy.
And what were people going tosay about me at my eulogy one
(27:16):
day?
But what really I want them tosay was really what that was all
about.
And again, if you want folks tosay things at your eulogy at
some point in the future andyou're not being intentional at
speaking with them, talking tothem and building those
relationships with them, how arethey ever going to do that?
So that's when I get started onthat journey and, again, that's
(27:37):
where I started to reallyembrace, as an engineer, the
process side of that as well.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Did you enjoy the conversation?
You can watch the full videoand speak with people podcast.
The link is in the descriptionbelow.
If you found it helpful orinspiring, don't forget to like,
subscribe and hit thenotification bell so you never
miss an update.
You can also follow me, johnGallagher, on my social media
channels to stay updated onleadership tips, coaching,
insights and more inspiringcontent.
(28:04):
Links are in the description.
Thanks for tuning in and let'skeep growing together.
And the first task.
I'll never forget this, likethe executive coaching me.
Okay, now he's going to help me, he's going to teach me how to
run a business.
We spent the first six monthsworking on me and I wrote my
life plan.
So that's you know.
Again that's 22 years agowriting my life plan for all the
important areas of my life, notjust my business, but my faith,
my finances, my family, myfriendships, my fitness and my
(00:22):
health and what those thingswere going on in my life.
And the first step in theprocess you want to talk about
something that's very humblingwas to write my own eulogy.
And what were people going tosay about me at your eulogy at
some point in the future?
And you're not beingintentional at speaking with
them, talking to them andbuilding those relationships
with them.
How are they ever going to dothat?
(00:45):
So that's when I got started onthat journey and, again, that's
where I started to reallyembrace at my eulogy one day.
But what really I want them tosay, which is really what that
was all about.
And again, if you want folks tosay things as an engineer, the
process side of that as well.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Welcome to the Speak With People podcast, where we
believe that healthycommunication is the key to
unlocking your leadershippotential.
We are the go-to resource forleaders looking to greatly
improve their communicationskills, whether it's one-on-one
interactions, team settings,public speaking or digital
communication.
By improving these skills,leaders can create stronger
connections and drive positivechange within their
(01:33):
organizations.
Each and every episode, we sitdown with experts from various
fields, from around the worldjust like you're grabbing a
coffee with them to dive intoreal, practical conversations.
Our goal is to help youtransform your communication
skills so you can lead moreeffectively, build stronger
relationships and make a lastingimpact.
So go, grab your favorite drink, settle in and let's learn
(01:55):
together.
Well, how do you finally stopspinning your wheels, start
living and leading with purposeBig question that we're going to
tackle on today's Speak WithPeople podcast?
Listen, we all have goodintentions, we all want to grow,
but the truth is a lot of ussometimes we get stuck in
mediocrity, not because we don'tcare, but because maybe we
haven't built the disciplinesthat turn intentions into
(02:17):
actions.
Well, my guest today is JohnGallagher.
He is a values-driven executivecoach, consultant, speaker,
founder of Growing Champions.
John has coached leaders atcompanies from IBM big companies
.
He's also passionate abouthelping people grow into the
uncommon leaders they werecreated to be.
I have followed him for a while.
I'm so looking forward to thisconversation because I know it's
(02:39):
just going to be great.
So if you're ready to breakthrough the noise, ditch the
overwhelm, lead with clarity andconfidence, this episode is for
you.
John, welcome to the Speak WithPeople podcast.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Jason, so glad to be here and thank you for that kind
introduction.
You summarized it so well.
I may have to just use that inmy own bio on my website.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Thank you very much.
I love it.
I sometimes guess, add if I cansend them a reel so they can
play it to their spouse or theirkids.
Exactly, there you go.
We always need that.
Well, before we hop into theconversation, wondered if you
could just share with us alittle bit of your story, let
our listeners know who you are,what you do, what's got you to
this place that you findyourself in now?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Sure, I appreciate that and, again, your
introduction was pretty well.
You think about ultimately whatled me into executive coaching
and consulting.
I won't bore you with theentire story, but as an engineer
coming out of college, I knewpretty quickly that I did not
want to be an engineer long-termand I found myself, frankly, in
operational leadership rolesthat I really enjoyed in terms
(03:36):
of working with people andmaking a difference there and,
as a result, the relationshipsthat I built and being able to
connect with people.
It got me early on in myjourney some leadership
opportunities that I built andbeing able to connect with
people.
It got me early on in myjourney some leadership
opportunities that I probablywasn't really ready for leading
200 people at a manufacturingfacility at 28 years old and
ultimately starting on thisjourney throughout in
manufacturing, learning theToyota production system, which
(03:59):
was later on in my journey.
But ultimately, those twothings wanting to make a
difference in the lives ofothers and wanting to make a
difference in people'sorganizations through business
process improvement that wasdone in a methodical way led me
to my many differentopportunities.
Real estate led me to differentlevels of leadership in
manufacturing home construction,different things that I did and
(04:20):
I found myself in 2009, likemany after the real estate fall,
looking to get back intooperations, and I had some
friends in the business whoultimately said, well, we got
these consulting things that wecould do in lean.
I'm like I still don't know ifI want to live that life of a
consultant and all that travel.
I had two young kids and thethird time they called me back
and said, hey, let's do this inhealthcare and hospitals and
clinics.
And ultimately, when theytalked about that and helping
(04:43):
hospitals and clinics improvethe flow of patients and
customer service, I was naiveenough to believe that I might
be able to make a difference.
I said, okay, let's do that fora couple of years and I'll get
back into operations.
Well, that was now almost 16years ago that I got started in
consulting, coaching and haven'tbeen able to work my way back
out of it.
I love it and just started myown five years ago.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Wow, that's incredible, just incredible.
When you talked about Toyota, Iwas thinking back.
I grew up outside of Detroit, Igrew up in the city and then
later years lived in the suburbsand so obviously the big three
are pretty important in Detroitfor GM.
My father-in-law lots of myin-laws worked at GM and at the
(05:23):
time I owned a Toyota and it was.
It was not a good deal to comeinto the family with a Toyota.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Thanksgiving dinner was pretty tough, wasn't it?
Like park that car down thestreet Don't be parking in front
of the house.
Yeah, I know that feelingAbsolutely.
My uncle worked with the V8engine plant in Flint, michigan.
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Oh yeah, but that Toyota always started.
I mean it could have beenJanuary and negative 10.
I mean it always started.
I mean it could have beenJanuary and negative 10.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I mean, it started right up.
Yeah, we're a four Toyotafamily now, so we've stuck with
them pretty closely.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I love it.
Well, you talk about going fromordinary to uncommon.
What does that transformationreally look like in a leader's
life?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, you touched on this a little bit in the intro,
which I find that pretty cool.
I mean, ultimately, when Ithink about that track to
uncommon from underperforming orordinary, it's really a choice
that leaders have to make.
Oftentimes I'll talk about thisin terms of change when I'm
coaching individuals or, frankly, in organizations that people
or organizations will changewhen the displeasure of
(06:18):
remaining the same where theyare today kind of status quo is
actually greater than thediscomfort of the change itself.
Anytime you go through thisjourney to uncommon and you want
to look to change, you want toimplement leadership development
, you want to make a change andhave a bigger impact on your
communities and on the world, itrequires you to really step out
(06:38):
, because you might beperforming pretty well and in
many cases that is just common.
I'm doing pretty good, there'sno real need to change.
But it's those who can recognizethat they were called to be
something even greater, andthat's when you start to think
about something that's uncommon.
It could be as simple as and Italk about this story returning
the shopping cart to theshopping cart corral rather than
(07:00):
leaving it in the parking lotto roll around and let it hit
somebody else's car and notsaying, well, it's not my job to
get it, but just picking it upon the way in Very uncommon.
When people say, what are youdoing that for Just?
I think it's something that youknow is the right thing to do
and I'm not worried about whosejob it was or who left it there.
Obviously, leadershipdifferences are very different,
(07:21):
but the metaphor of thatshopping cart in the parking lot
to me is outlining thedifference in common and
uncommon, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Wow, wow, wow, wow.
I love that.
When I first met my wife, oneof the things that took me back
from her is we were atBlockbuster Video way back in
the day and we decided not toget a video.
And young 20-year-old Jasonjust put it in the closest spot
I could find and she said that'snot where it goes.
And she walked to the back ofthe and I knew from that moment
(07:52):
on Okay, wow, all right she is.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
It wasn't like I didn't go into it as that's my
test or anything, but she Right,but back to intention, right, I
mean again, the intention wasnot a bad intention that you had
, but it was just thatdiscipline to really take that
step back over there and put itback to the place that you found
it.
Absolutely, I love that.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
So many leaders, you know they start to make those
decisions, to kind of have thatuncommon leadership, make those
kind of right calls and we'refaced with lies, we're faced
with negative thoughts, we'refaced with, you know, all of
these kind of destructivethoughts that you know kind of
try to convince us not to gothat route.
How do you think that happens?
(08:31):
How do you think we combat them?
How do you think we rise abovethem?
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Well, you know, as a man of faith, jason, I know it's
not about bringing that intothis episode, but I really have
read this book and it's behindmy shoulder over here on my
right.
It's called the 4-8 Principle,written by Tommy Newberry, and
it's based on Philippians 4-8.
And he talks about whatever'strue, whatever's noble,
whatever's right.
Think on these things.
The reason I believe thosenegative thoughts exist is that
(08:59):
evil exists in the world, andthose self-deprecating or those
thought limiting, limitingbeliefs that exist inside of us
are those that internal criticthat exists for you in terms of
your confidence.
But I do believe that it's evilthat exists that gets you to
think that way, to try to keepyou from reaching your full
potential.
Now I tend to look at it theother way, or another way,
(09:20):
another step, as Philippians 4.9says, and whatever I've taught
you, take action on it.
And so I think it's very easyfor us to think on positive
things not all the time or evennegative things that will
paralyze us.
But thinking on positive thingsdoesn't do anything for us
either if we don't take actionfrom it.
And so the part about thediscipline that is required good
(09:40):
intention with bad disciplineleads to excuses, but good
discipline, with good intention,will lead to excellence, and
that's the difference.
That's that uncommon that wehave to take action from those
thoughts either way, whetherthey're negative thoughts or
positive thoughts.
We have to overcome those withpositive thoughts and then take
action from them.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Wow, that is absolutely powerful.
I mean, it's just incrediblehow I think sometimes we
perceive nobody else struggleswith that you know, and we're
the only one walking aroundgoing how come I'm the only one?
And wherever they come from, Imean it's just amazing how
(10:24):
destructive they can be and howthey can just thwart everything
in our lives, Because if westart to believe them, it just
slows everything down.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I think, Jason, it oftentimes manifests itself in
things that happened to us as achild, that just kind of hung
with us for a long period oftime.
It says we're most powerfullypositioned to help the person
that we used to be.
And so if we know that wesuffer from some of those
limiting beliefs or thatimposter syndrome that many
people think about with regardsto being worthy of doing the
(10:54):
work that they do, if we canhelp others to overcome that,
that's the power of the coaching, that's the impact that we look
for to make a difference in thelives of others.
And when you can see that andwhen you hear that in others,
that's frankly the fruit thatI'm looking to bear in the lives
of others inspire, encourageothers ultimately to reach a
place they wouldn't go on theirown.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Wow, wow, wow.
So leaders, you know, prideourselves on being productive.
We've got stuff to do, we'vegot places to go.
You talk about the 47 mostproductive minutes of a leader's
day.
Why is this so powerful?
Why is this something we shouldgrab hold of?
I'm already so intrigued.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Well, it's quite a discipline.
You know, many times I'll hearfrom folks that say they are
great at multitasking.
Anyone who tells you they'rereally good at multitasking it's
a myth.
They may not know, they mayreally believe that they are
good at multitasking, but thescience shows that anytime we're
working on more than one itemespecially when it comes to
productivity in the workplacethat when we start to move from
(11:50):
one to the other, it takes ussome period of time 8 to 12
minutes to be able to take thefocus off of the one task we're
working on and to turn on thefocus Even some of those simple
tasks that you may repeat, orsome of those simple habits that
you repeat at times.
Look for me specifically.
I know that I used to be ableto listen to music and read at
the same time.
Now I know scientifically, asmy brain ages, I'm not able to
(12:13):
do that anymore.
I don't have that ability.
So the 47 powerful minutes, asmany times folks think I got to
be so busy.
I got to have my phone on allthe time in case I get that
important text message.
Or I got to have my computeropen with the email on because I
might get that important emailabout the deal that I was
working on and I got to be inthe mix or, heaven forbid, I
might miss a like on my socialmedia page that I can't respond
(12:36):
to right away and understand it.
But those 47 minutes there'snothing scientific behind the
number, but it is scientific interms of the going into airplane
mode.
Ultimately, as a leader Whetheryou try to do this one time a
week or one time today you set aone hour appointment with
yourself and then you set atimer in that one hour for 47
minutes and you just startworking on one task, whether
(13:00):
it's reading or a project thatyou wanted to work on, but you
turn all the other distractionsoff and if you're working in a
cubicle environment or officeenvironment I've coached others
you put a red stop sign on thatdoor that says I am not
available at this point in timeunless the uncommon leaders.
Hope you're enjoying theepisode so far.
I believe in doing business withpeople you like and trust and
(13:21):
not just a company name.
That's why a strong personalbrand is essential, whether
you're an entrepreneur or aleader within a company.
Brand Builders Group the folkswho have been helping me refine
my own personal brand areoffering a free consultation
call with one of their expertbrand strategists.
They'll help you identify youruniqueness, craft a compelling
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So head on over tocoachjohngallaghercom slash BBG
(13:44):
as in brand builders group toschedule your free call and take
the first step toward buildinga personal brand that gets you
noticed for all the rightreasons.
That's coachjohngallaghercomslash BBG.
Now let's get back to theepisode Turning down.
Please don't disturb me, but I'mtrying to create something and
I will tell you that most of thetime, if you allow that to
(14:05):
happen, it's hard to do.
In the first two or three timesyou try it, you still want to go
back and check things, but atthe end of that 47 minutes, when
that timer goes off, you arenot going to want to stop.
You're going to keep going, butI encourage you that, whatever
it is at that end of that 47minutes, stop the timer, come
back into that real world again,all those distractions that
existed, allow your email tocome back on, allow your text
messages to come back in at whatcame in in the last 47 minutes
(14:28):
and maybe even take a bio break,because we are such a society
even in the world of remotemeetings right now.
We go from meeting to meetingto meeting, hour by hour and
never stop to even take a breakto understand that I might need
to go to the restroom and getready for this and just take a
deep breath and get ready.
So those 47 minutes I found tobe the most productive and
(14:51):
powerful minutes in a leader'sday, if they're able to shut
that down because there's nodistraction, and I believe that
distractions that exist are thethings that keep us from being
productive in our businesses andin our daily lives all the time
.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Wow, that's powerful.
Do you think there's hope forleaders?
I mean busyness, such a badge.
I mean we just you know how areyou doing?
Oh, I'm busy, I'm busy, youknow.
Is there hope at some point?
Will a large majority of us getto that point where we go?
Speaker 1 (15:17):
okay, busyness is not a badge of honor.
That's a great question.
Look, I believe that there ishope, and I don't mean I mean
leaders are dealers in hope.
And I think those leaders againback to that decision they make
that they want to be betterit's got to flow through their
organization.
Ultimately, the leader has gotto make a decision that they're
going to grow, they're going todo personal development.
Only at that point can they saynow I'm going to develop my
(15:39):
team to be better.
The old analogy of when theoxygen mask comes down on the
airplane, put your own mask onfirst and then help someone.
It's real in terms of thatspace.
But as a leader, if you don'tdevelop yourself and you think
your team's going to develop bywatching your behaviors, it's
not going to happen.
John Maxwell refers to it asthe law of the lid.
You're going to put a lid onyour organization based on your
(16:01):
own personal development.
So the hope exists inside of theleadership, and I don't just
mean that by title, only I knowit takes those that are having
an influence inside of a group.
So whether you're leading aparking ministry team at church
or you're leading your home as aparent, those things that you
(16:21):
do are going to be seen, they'regoing to be caught and they're
going to be caught and thenthey're going to be taught again
if you're able to model thosebehaviors.
So the hope exists inleadership.
Absolutely, If you have aleader that's a constant driver
and believes that you should beon 24-7 and that you should be
available all the time,including on your vacation, it's
probably not an organizationthat I'm going to work with very
(16:43):
much, because they haven't madethe decision to know that
they're putting a lid on theirown organization's performance
and, frankly, they're just beingfools and disrespecting people
that work their organizations.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Wow, Well, kind of leading right into that, as
you've coached leaders from alldifferent organizations,
everywhere from lower impact tohigher impact.
What are some of the commontraits, the common patterns you
see especially in high impactleaders, leaders who are maybe
more on that uncommon side?
What are some of those traits,characteristics that you're
seeing?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Sure, let's say some of the barriers that exist in
terms of what happens.
Again, I would talk aboutdistraction as a big barrier
right there, whether it'smultitasking, or here's one of
the things that I see the mostinside of organizations.
They work really hard to solvea problem, whether that's a
sales problem that they have, orthey have an operations problem
or a customer service problem,whatever that is.
(17:34):
And I use a picture of a ballpushing that ball up the hill to
improve it and our performancegets better.
Okay, and the leaders arepushing and they're even working
really hard as a and they walkaway from that rock and they
haven't put the systems andprocesses in place to hold it
there, to ensure that it doesn'twalk backwards.
(17:56):
So if they don't put thosesystems and processes in place
as soon as they walk away fromit, that ball is going to roll
back down the hill.
And oftentimes that balldoesn't just stop at the bottom
where it started, but it goesback even further because people
say here we go again, we'reback on this wheel again of
problems.
We've seen this song.
It's just a different page inthe songbook in terms of what
(18:17):
we've seen.
And so leaders got to recognizeafter they develop their teams,
they work on these problems iswhat is the system and process
they're putting in place towedge underneath that rock that
will keep it in place when theywalk away?
Have they learned to delegateeffectively to others to keep
that improvement in place?
Have they developed themanagement system to govern the
(18:37):
change and recognize when it'sstarting to roll back down hill
a little bit as well?
So one of the things inside ofthe coaching we start with
developing self and developingothers.
But the third thing is to helpyou and your business is to take
a look at the systems andprocesses that you have in place
and standardize those processesso that you can understand how
to train others and know thatit's not going to roll backward
(18:59):
when you walk away.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Wow, I was thinking about your story, you know, kind
of going back.
You're 28, you're overseeing,you know, a good amount of
people.
What you know, what do youthink caused that?
What did the people above yousee, you know what kind of led
them to put such a young leader,you know, in that type of
leadership position?
I talk to, you know,millennials, especially now, and
(19:23):
maybe even Gen Zers, who don'twant to really put in the time
that maybe their parents did orother people that they see in
the organization did before theyget a promotion.
And so you know, just curiousfrom your own, your own, vantage
point, you know what?
What was your journey like?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Jason, I love you know.
The name of your podcast isSpeak With People.
Something I learned growing upand as one of the one of the
tips that my mom gave me in termwhen I was growing up is, you
know, killing people withkindness.
We could talk about thedifference in kindness and nice
as we go through, but that wasabout the time that Tom Peters
and his book was kind of comingaround, the managed by walking
around philosophy was reallygetting started and I just had.
(20:00):
I had an ability.
I may not have been asintentional as I wanted to being
young at that time, but I hadability to connect with people
in the space that they were, hadthe ability to meet them where
they were.
And I tell you in that in thatspecific time period, there was
a survey that was done throughthe organization.
They called it a blue slippingsurvey, where they had all the
employees inside the building.
(20:20):
The corporate office came downand said if you were going to
pick a leader for this business,who would you pick?
And oddly enough, my name endedup on a bunch of those blue
slips and they took a chance onme as a leader.
And I do believe that more thananything else because I was
able to connect with them from acommunication standpoint.
I didn't know how to spellleadership at that point in time
(20:40):
or know how important that was,but I certainly knew that it
was important to connect withpeople and treat them with
respect and listen to them, sogood.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Sometimes we think we're speaking with people and
we're actually just informingthem.
We're actually just dumpinginformation Sounds like you had
a good grounding when it came tohow to connect with other
people.
What have you learned over theyears, especially as a leader?
How to keep that connectionstrong, specifically through
(21:09):
your communication?
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I think the word that comes tomind immediately for that is
being intentional.
The word is intentional.
We can't delegate relationshipbuilding.
We've got to make that happen.
One of the frameworks I like touse in today's Anaclaire as I
teach folks to manage by walkingaround and they're like I
really don't know what to say.
Let's not worry about what tosay in terms of going and
(21:32):
walking around.
Let's start here.
3-2-1 is the methodology that Italk to folks about Three
coffees, two lunches and adinner each month as a leader.
Go out and have three coffeeswith three different people,
have lunch with two differentpeople and have dinner with one
of the people on your team or acustomer or whatever.
That is that's the start ofbeing intentional.
Put those things on yourcalendar to make that happen.
(21:54):
That's the now.
I have it on my calendar.
The discipline has got to bethere.
I actually have to make thathappen.
Then we can start to talk abouthey, what are the questions that
you're going to want to askwhen you sit down and get with
that person?
It's all depending on the themethat you want to have.
Is it a performance relatedcommunication that you want to
have?
Do you want to get to learnmore about their family, which
might be very important as well?
Or, in the case of a customer,what is it about the industry or
(22:17):
the challenges that they facethat you as a business owner
might be able to help them with,but until you get intentional
and schedule that time, somebodyelse is going to schedule your
time for you and you're notgoing to get to that.
Relationship building sointentional is one of the very
first things.
Love that.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
You kind of already kind of addressed some of this
as you kind of been walking usthrough it.
But speak to that leader rightnow who's just struggling.
You know they have foundthemselves in a hole.
Maybe it's through their ownhabits, maybe it's through their
not, maybe life's just you knowit's been a rough season of
life and so they're justdesperately trying to climb out.
What is some advice that youwould give them as they're
trying to get back to a healthyplace, a place of more uncommon
(22:58):
leadership?
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, I love that and one of the things I think about
is I love to tell that instories as I go through.
And the story that I love tostart with with leaders and how
my change came about is thisperformance review that I had
about 20 years ago and I'msitting in this conference room
getting my performance review.
I was the acting president of adivision of a manufacturing
company.
(23:19):
My boss comes in to do myperformance review and it's in
this fishbowl, it's all glassconference room.
So people are walking by, theyknow I'm getting my performance
review and they're wonderingwhat's being said because it's
confidential.
But beautiful chairs sittingacross this mahogany table from
my boss who had flown in on theprivate jet from Chicago to do
my performance review, and hesays I'm going to review you as
(23:41):
the president of theorganization, not as the acting
president.
He says I want to set that upup front.
I'm like cool, this is going tobe great.
We had a scale of one to fivein terms of our performance, one
being not good at all, fivebeing kind of perfect and
excelling and getting great, andmy performance review score
coming out of there when he wasdone talking to me was a 2.3.
Exactly so, like that deepbreath that occurs in silence.
(24:03):
And I'm sitting there.
This is I'm in my mid thirtiesin terms of going on.
I'm sitting there and justspeechless, not in a bad way,
but these two tears startrolling down my cheeks and he
asked me.
He says you know what's on yourmind right now?
I said I need help.
That's like what came out was Ineed help, and it was there
that I understood that I had toswallow the hubris of thinking I
could solve this problem on myown.
(24:24):
You know, 20 years ago the termexecutive coach wasn't really
that common in terms of whofolks were dealing with, but I
knew I couldn't rely on my boss,who was hundreds of miles away,
to be there in thatconversation all the time and,
frankly, there were things Ineeded to share that maybe I
didn't want to share with him,and I just learned about an
executive coaching organizationafter being in a leadership
retreat.
I said I'm interested in havingthis coaching and what I was
(24:47):
very grateful for were manythings about this boss that sat
across from me.
The first thing he did was hedelivered that message with
grace and truth, and those twothings together right now are
really powerful and missing inmany organizations.
And the second thing that hedid he says I'm willing to
invest in you in this and makethat happen.
And that started my journey.
(25:09):
Really, I think, is anaccelerator to get going.
So, in terms of giving adviceto that young leader who's
really struggling, the firstthing is don't be afraid to ask
for help and to actually thinkyou can do this on your own.
And if you can't necessarilyafford or get the investment to
work with an executive coach,while I might be able to provide
that or others, there are manyexecutive coaches that are out
(25:30):
there- there are so manyresources available to them to
become more intentional in theirpersonal development.
It's books like the book sittingbehind me that are written,
that exist.
Those are mentors inside thosepages who have had stories.
There are podcasts, just likethis Speak With People podcast
that exists, and so many moreout there that individuals can
(25:51):
listen into to learn about otherstories who are suffering from
the same thing that they'resuffering from, and so there are
others that have been throughwhat they're going through.
They are not unique and I don'tsay that out of again,
flippantly, it's.
There are people out there thatcan help you and that have been
through there, but you have tomake that decision as a leader
that you're ready to grow.
(26:12):
If you have that commitment,then I start with ultimately
creating your personal visionstatement that exists in your
mind, in your heart.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
That's so good and that's a common theme.
As we've interviewed a guest,you know coming back to that
personal mission statement is sopowerful.
What, what phase of life wereyou in when you've had first
written your own missionstatement?
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, great question Coming out of that, getting my
executive coach.
I was in that learning butmoving into the earning as that
acting president role and thefirst task I'll never forget
this like executive coaching.
Okay, now he's going to help me, he's going to teach me how to
run a business.
We spent the first six monthsworking on me and I wrote my
life plan.
So that's you know.
(26:53):
Again, that's 22 years agowriting my life plan for all the
important areas of my life, notjust my business, but my faith,
my finances, my family, myfriendships, my fitness and my
health and what those thingswere going on in my life.
And the first step in theprocess you want to talk about
something that's very humblingwas to write my own eulogy.
And what were people going tosay about me at my eulogy one
(27:16):
day?
But what really I want them tosay was really what that was all
about.
And again, if you want folks tosay things at your eulogy at
some point in the future andyou're not being intentional at
speaking with them, talking tothem and building those
relationships with them, how arethey ever going to do that?
So that's when I get started onthat journey and, again, that's
(27:37):
where I started to reallyembrace, as an engineer, the
process side of that as well.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Did you enjoy the conversation?
You can watch the full videoand speak with people podcast.
The link is in the descriptionbelow.
If you found it helpful orinspiring, don't forget to like,
subscribe and hit thenotification bell so you never
miss an update.
You can also follow me, johnGallagher, on my social media
channels to stay updated onleadership tips, coaching,
insights and more inspiringcontent.
(28:04):
Links are in the description.
Thanks for tuning in and let'skeep growing together.
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