148: The Future of Leadership - 3 Steps That Will Define Success in 2025 | John Gallagher

Release Date: 

May 19, 2025

Release Date: Mar 27

Most leaders follow the rules. Hitting their targets, meeting expectations, and settling into a rhythm. But uncommon leaders refuse to stay comfortable. Leadership has very little to do with your title or authority. Instead it’s about creating influence, discipline, and the willingness to step outside of your comfort zone if you truly want to be a better leader.

In today’s episode, we’re joined by John Gallagher, an executive coach, performance consultant, and trusted advisor to some of the world’s most prestigious organizations.

What You’ll Learn:

  • Why intentional leadership is the key to long-term impact
  • The three-step framework to inspire real change in yourself and others
  • How to raise the average of the people you surround yourself with
  • Why discipline matters more than motivation
  • The 47-minute rule for peak productivity and focus
  • How to balance faith and leadership without preaching

In This Episode:

  • 00:01 – Introduction to John Gallagher and his leadership philosophy
  • 01:01 – The greatest story ever told: How leaders make an impact
  • 03:13 – What makes leadership uncommon?
  • 05:07 – The dangers of thinking you have it all figured out
  • 06:27 – Raising the average: Why your environment dictates your success
  • 08:14 – Getting out of your comfort zone to level up as a leader
  • 11:16 – How to hold yourself accountable and maintain discipline
  • 14:18 – Why some leaders struggle to change—and how to overcome it
  • 19:51 – The three-step framework for inspiring lasting change
  • 22:40 – Why most people struggle with consistency
  • 24:53 – The power of discipline and daily habits
  • 26:39 – How to improve your sleep for better performance
  • 30:51 – Practical advice for avoiding distractions and time-wasting
  • 33:16 – The myth of multitasking and how to reclaim your time
  • 37:27 – The 47-minute rule: A game-changer for productivity
  • 40:19 – Why treating every team member the same way is a mistake
  • 42:01 – The role of AI in leadership (and why soft skills matter more than ever)
  • 44:20 – How faith influences John’s leadership approach
  • 48:57 – How to ensure your name gets written on the list

Resources Referenced:

  • John Gallagher’s website: CoachJohnGallagher.com
  • The Uncommon Leader Podcast – Listen here
  • Book Recommendation: The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team – Amazon Link
  • John Gallagher on LinkedIn – Follow Here
  • Contact John for Coaching - Schedule a Call: https://coachjohngallagher.com/

Want to Learn More?:  

  • For more episodes on personal growth and success stories, subscribe to “The Learn-It-All Podcast.”
  • Share this episode to motivate others.
  • Visit learnit.com for additional resources and learning opportunities.

Podcast Contact Information:  

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0:00

i believe that my purpose ultimately is to become the leaderthat I was called to be discipline back to that word again

0:06

here we go again you know it's doing what you need to dowhen you need to do it even when you don't feel like doing

0:12

it what are you working on these days for me specificallymost leaders follow the

0:17

rules hitting their targets meeting expectations andsettling into a rhythm but uncommon leaders refuse to stay

0:24

comfortable leadership has very little to do with title orauthority instead it's about creating influence discipline

0:31

and the willingness to step out of your comfort zone welcometo the Learn It All Podcast the show for today's leaders who

0:37

want to get ahead and stay ahead because we believe greatleaders aren't born or made we're always in the making i'm your

0:44

host Damon Ley two-time bestselling author and CEO of LearnIt a live learning platform that has helped

0:49

upskill over 2 million people over the past three decades intoday's episode

0:54

we're joined by John Gallagher an executive coachperformance consultant and trusted adviser to some of the most

1:01

prestigious companies across the planet i'm going to beasking John to share with us why true leadership isn't about

1:07

titles but about impact his three-step framework to inspirelasting change the one rule to maximize focus and

1:14

productivity and the practical strategies to eliminatedistractions and reclaim your time most people you know

1:20

they forget who won the Super Bowl MVP last year but theynever forget the five

1:26

people who had the biggest impact on your life you know andyou call this the greatest story ever told why does that

1:32

matter and how do we go about a way in life that helps usput our name on somebody else's list damon I love

1:39

jumping right into this you know the greatest story evertold to me uh from a leader's perspective uh is really not

1:47

about the success when it comes to uh results in the area ofsales or profit or margin while those things are

1:53

important the greatest story ever told for me really becomesimpact you know the famous quote is people won't

1:59

remember what you said they won't remember what you did butthey'll remember how you how you made them feel

2:04

and in the case of the greatest story ever told there'sgoing to be times where individuals in your life are going to be asked aquestion by someone else

2:11

that who's had a positive impact on your life and whensomeone writes your name

2:16

on their list even though you may never know that to methat's the greatest story ever told as a leader and for that

2:23

to happen you know the the key word that I think about whatleaders have to do is intentionality they've got to be very

2:29

intentional at how they develop themselves as leaders tobecome the impactful leader that they want to be

2:35

but also in developing others just recently I you know Ireally started to uh write a little bit about how to equip

2:41

others and it's got to be that you've got to have a heart ofhumility to give and serve more than you do receive but

2:49

again when I think about that challenge of having somebodywrite my name on their list uh it's very important and I

2:56

can't make that happen if I'm not creating relationships ifI'm not investing in others to make that happen

3:02

and what I often finish that with when I present or when Italk with others is who's going to write your name on their

3:08

list and ultimately that's the that's the journey that we goon on lead as leaders is to have a positive impact on

3:15

the lives of others so you and I first met I was on yourshow The Uncommon Leader my episode just came out recently

3:21

so thank you John for having me i loved our conversation andfor our listeners go check out John's show and so when it

3:28

comes to uncommon leadership you talk about it's not reallyabout a title it's

3:33

about the impact like you just mentioned people have so howdoes that connect to your idea of uncommon leadership well

3:39

let's look at it this way in terms of you know just juststories i mean I think some of the challenges that that

3:45

leaders are facing today are the distractions that we havesome of the challenges that leaders face today are

3:52

complacency in themselves frankly you know the pain ofchange uh is not greater than the the uh the pain that

3:59

they're existing right now in the seat that they're in andonce once the people realize that complacency is holding them

4:05

back from making the impact that they want to have that'swhen the uncommon starts to come into play it's very

4:12

common for folks to feel successful in terms of results it'svery uncommon when they say "I have a healthy discontent

4:20

for the status quo a healthy discontent for where I am rightnow." And I know that I've been called for more and so I

4:28

I do realize that folks should celebrate when they havesuccesses and and recognize that but I believe they need

4:35

to realize more that they have to continuously grow a littlebit about you know your organization to uh the learn

4:41

it all podcast as we sit on here today that you know once wethink we know it all we really just begun and we got to

4:47

get started again so if folks can realize that regardless oftheir age regardless of where they are on their

4:53

leadership journey that they can continuously grow and havemore impact on others that's when we start to see

4:59

uncommon results people will take that extra step that theyneed to they'll uh take that i often refer to it as taking

5:06

the shock shopping cart back and putting it in the corralwhen somebody else leaves it there it'd be very easy just

5:12

to leave it there and let somebody else deal with it lateron but are you taking that extra step uh to put it back in

5:18

there to make a difference in somebody else's life who maybe coming down the road uh soon so what is the negative

5:25

consequence John for individuals and leaders who think theyhave it all figured out and aren't open to growing

5:31

and changing wow i mean when I think about this John Maxwellrefers to it often as the law of the lid a negative

5:37

consequence specifically in the leadership space where theybelieve they have it all figured out is that those

5:43

that they develop as leaders they can only rise as high asyou can rise in

5:48

terms of leadership and when your team members have a senseof personal growth and always wanting to grow there's

5:54

really two things that'll happen you'll turn them intocomplacency and they'll start to to get lazy or they'll continue

6:00

to grow and they'll leave your organization and go do itsomewhere else it's a conundrum that we face how much

6:06

do we train our team members uh with the risk that theymight leave the organization and what I often tell other

6:12

leaders is well the other risk is not to train them andthey'll stay with you uh and stay where they are and so you know

6:17

as a leader when you put an artificial lid on top of theleadership of your

6:23

team then the structures and processes that you put in placeare going to be limited as well and ultimately the

6:29

impact that you have whether that's profitability theresults uh they're not going to be sustainable they're going to

6:35

eb and flow uh with the way you feel rather than the growththat you can uh

6:40

have on a daily basis yeah and speaking of rise I reallylike what you talk about you know raising the average so

6:47

what does that mean to you and why again is that soimportant yeah let's use a specific story here I'll never forget

6:53

this is a story years ago i was listening to somebody talkabout and they ultimately said raise the average

6:59

inside the room so Jim Ran would say you're the you are theaverage of the five people uh that you hang around with

7:06

the most so raising the average has to do with the peoplethat you surround yourself with whether those are the

7:12

individuals that you meet with on a regular basis or franklythose individuals that you read uh about as

7:18

authors those individuals that you listen to on podcast justlike this one that if you're going to make a decision

7:23

to grow then ultimately when you walk in a room like thatwith individuals you want to hope that you raise the average

7:30

inside of that room and that folks look to you to make adifference if you're coming into a room and you're the

7:37

smartest person in the room you're probably in the wrongroom no doubt about it but if you can walk into a room

7:43

of leaders uh who may be a little bit higher than you andyou strive to be more like them you will raise the

7:49

average uh in leadership and what that does not just in thatroom but that

7:54

raises the impact that you have in your in your workplace inyour communities in your churches in your homes and

8:00

ultimately uh leads us to a place where we need to be withregards to encouraging inspiring and equipping

8:06

others to the greatness that they were called to be so ifI'm someone who let's say I am the smartest person in the room

8:12

right and you you realize that how do you go about findingother mentors or

8:18

coaches or whatever to help elevate your game and a lot oftimes John that means

8:24

getting out of your comfort zone because it's easy to be thesmartest person in the room because you're not going to be

8:30

challenged a lot but you need to get out of your comfortzone and find these other people how do you go about doing

8:35

that david what a great question when I think about theteaching that I have and the the first step in the journey for me

8:40

in terms of personal transformation uh and thattransformation to me is really that continuous growth journey that an

8:47

individual goes on we have to choose again I talked aboutthis in terms of the pain of change but you know not to

8:53

accept the displeasure if you will of remaining in the sameplace that we are

9:00

okay and just being okay at what we do but accepting thediscomfort your your

9:05

your point about getting outside your comfort zone of thechange itself for me to go into an area where uh I'm going to

9:13

look for smarter people to be around it does require me todo something that I've never done before it does require

9:20

me to seek out opportunities that I may not have tried yearsago you know I

9:25

think back on a story uh and that you're talking about witha regret the pain of regret and the pain of discipline uh but

9:32

ultimately uh a story when I was going through a leadershipuh let's call it uh

9:38

um you know you do your uh your walk uh that you're workingwith others that are

9:45

inspiring you and I had a chance to climb a rock wall and Iknew I was nervous uh I had doubt that was creeping

9:52

into my mind and there was a line of about 12 people that Iwas dealing with and I said to myself you know if I delay

10:00

long enough if I walk myself back in the line maybe they'llrun out of time before it gets to me and I won't have to

10:06

try and do that outside of my comfort zone and sure enough Igot exactly what I wanted at that point in time the line

10:14

uh got too long we didn't get enough and I didn't have tohave the opportunity to climb the wall and face that fear that I

10:20

have so as leaders when we talk about stepping outside ofour comfort zone it's being okay with fear and overcoming

10:28

that and taking action it's not the absence of fear insideof that space but it's actually recognizing that fear and

10:34

then overcoming it so for me this year uh I've had a newjourney of something

10:39

that's taken me right outside my comfort zone i signed upfor my first Spartan race and at my age I'm not exactly sure

10:45

as I've started watching the videos if I've encounteredmaybe the panic zone a little bit but it is going to require me

10:52

to get outside my comfort zone in some of my training andbecome stronger in areas that I'm just not reg ready for

10:57

that but I'm going to put myself with other leaders uh thatare going to be ahead of me in the physical fitness

11:04

journey and it's going to require me to get better what agreat thing for you to uh inspire to do so that that's awesome

11:10

what can someone do to ensure that they are constantlyraising the average of

11:15

the people around them as a leader well the actions theyneed to take absolutely once you've made the decision then it's

11:21

a matter of moving in the journey so it's setting goals okayand it's setting stretch goals that exist and we can talk

11:26

about goals i think that's really a basic thing but onceyou've set that goals it's actually then seeking out

11:34

those individuals that can hold you accountable to achievethose things i think that's one of the most powerful

11:39

things that exists the mentor relationship or theaccountability relationship for me we actually I

11:45

actually have a group called Raise the Average a group offive men that we get together on a regular basis and we

11:50

challenge ourselves in many different areas in our fitnessin our business and what we do as leaders in our faith and

11:56

what we're doing as well in our relationship with ourspouses and that's how you raise the average is when you

12:01

allow yourself the opportunity to be around individuals whoare going to challenge you but also they're going to

12:07

introduce you to people you may have never been uhintroduced to before again if I go back 30 years on my journey one

12:14

of the biggest problems that I ran into is I set a goal tomake a certain amount of money that I thought in my career

12:20

would get me to where I wanted to be and I got there by age26 i'm like "Okay what do I do now?" And it wasn't until I

12:26

was 28 years old when I had a a mentor give me a leadershipbook and talk about this personal development journey i'm

12:33

like leadership development i didn't know how to spell spellleadership at that point in time but I recognized that

12:39

that individual uh later on I recognized that he wasinvesting in me by investing

12:44

time to go through a book and it was positioning me forsuccess inside of the future and as I look at where I am

12:51

coaching today one of the statements that I think about isthat you are most powerfully positioned to help the person

12:57

that you used to be and so one of the things that I can doto help raise the average is look back on some of those

13:02

leaders and the challenges of complacency that they facedwhen they thought they were going to arrive someday and just stop andultimately

13:09

challenge them that anytime they've got breath left in theirlungs they've got an opportunity to make an impact and

13:14

grow so I think this whole theme of raising the average issomething that as

13:20

leaders we've got to continuously challenge ourselves to goto the next level and that flag out there in terms

13:27

of you know what the end is uh for me specifically it it hasa lot to do with my faith that I will hear eventually at

13:34

some point in time well done good and faithful servant butultimately it's when we sit on our deathbed at some

13:39

point in time say we've used it all up we haven't leftanything in the tank necessarily that we could have given to

13:45

make that happen so don't leave it on the table use it upcontinue to grow and

13:50

get better share with us something you know from behind thecurtains when you start to work with a new client who says

13:58

that they want to change typically are they able to makethat change or is it

14:04

more something they want to do but they have a hard timegetting across the goal line on with it yeah it's so funny i

14:10

think first of all by the time I get introduced to themthat's a good thing that at least they've made the first step in saying I'minterested in making

14:17

a change when I talk to them if they're really ready to makea change though uh I use something fun as a conversation

14:23

with them i said look making this change is really a lotlike ham and eggs okay the chicken was interested in making the

14:31

change when it comes to ham and eggs but the pig wascommitted to making the change there's no doubt about it and

14:36

contributing to the to the win and so I'm asking theseleaders to be pigs and not chickens and they they get a chuckle

14:43

out of that just like that but it really is and when youstep on this journey and allow me the opportunity as your coach

14:50

or as your consultant to kind of poke you in the chest andsay you're capable of doing more and so I try to get that

14:57

out on the on the front end that this is not a situationthat I'm here to uh

15:02

comfort the afflicted as I had a teacher tell me one time hesaid I'm here to afflict the comforted and ultimately if

15:09

they can have that mindset to allow me to afflict them withsome quote pain

15:15

whatever that is and some of that pain uh sits in askingthem to reflect on how they've done as a leader and some of

15:21

that pain might be on their fitness journey and learning toexercise more whatever that is making tough calls

15:26

inside of an organization i really ask them to think aboutwhat those things might be uh that are going to require

15:32

them to take that next level and have them make that choicenow they still may say that early on and I may get started

15:39

with them on the journey and it may take longer to get therebut if I can be persistent and can continue to chop an

15:45

axe down at the base of that tree you eventually I'll breakthat down and build them back up again and they'll

15:50

start to win a specific example uh with a leader and I'llsay this it took it

15:55

took them almost seven years on this journey uh anindividual in the health

16:01

care space that I coached and coached and coached and keptkept chopping at that tree and I'm not saying that it

16:07

should take anybody this long but I remember the phone callwhen she told me you know John you've been trying to tell

16:13

me this that I need to change for seven years and I think Ifinally understand

16:19

it came from a great book that I read the monk who sold hisFerrari that says when the student is ready the teacher

16:26

will arrive and I think we run into that and sometimes ithappens for folks 30 days in the journey sometimes three

16:32

months in the journey sometimes three years into the journeyi love the fact that they stuck with it for seven years

16:37

that shows a little grit and determination right there yeaha great intermination on my part as

16:43

well to uh I'd say so use the term tolerate but continue topush them through uh some of the changes they need

16:49

to make and have it stick eventually and it finally getthere but you you must have seen something in them to to want

16:55

to stick with them maybe there was incremental change or atleast they are putting forth the effort to do so i

17:01

think there was a change and from a tactical standpoint Ioften refer to it as the difference in doing change and

17:07

being change and there were steps that they were doing thechange they would do the homework assignments to get it done

17:13

this is what I was working with an organization so it wasn'tjust an individual but I continued to work with

17:19

this individual inside of an organization i was bothconsulting and coaching if id have been doing a

17:24

one-on-one I don't know if I'd have hung out for seven yearsuh ultimately but it

17:29

was some you know it took a breakthrough for them to see uhwhat was possible if

17:35

they let go of some of their own uh you know internalchallenges they had uh or

17:41

struggles that they had with making change again one of theone of the fun exercises to do and at those watching on video I just ask folksto fold their

17:47

arms and recognize which arm is on top and then I ask themto refold their arms with the other arm on top and see how

17:55

uncomfortable that is to make that happen and something assimple as that change and how uncomfortable it is you

18:00

can imagine how simple it is trying to you know take someonefrom being a a manager uh to a coach uh in their

18:07

leadership style it just takes it takes some time to getcomfortable there can you dive a little bit more into what is it what do youmean by being the change

18:14

verse doing yeah i had an executive one time it was funnyyou talked about he said you know you can teach techniques i

18:20

mean I've got a I've got a play card that I use forindividuals and you know they the plays that they have nick Sabin

18:25

would say you practice it uh until you can't get it wrongoften people say practice until you get it right he would

18:31

say practice until you until you can't get it wrong to methat's the difference practicing until you get it right is the

18:38

doing side hey I finally recognized that this one practicingit until you can't

18:44

get it wrong i had one CEO who said it becomes a reflex youjust bend your arm you don't think about bending your arm

18:50

okay you just bend it properly you pick up your coffee cupand bring it up and you take a drink whatever that is but

18:55

you don't have to think about it in the case of leadershipit's much like that at times many times they have to think

19:01

in their head what do I need to do at this point in time butthe being side becomes that reflex just like bending

19:07

your elbow and you don't even recognize it in the teachingspace they talk about going from unconscious incompetence all

19:14

the way around to uh unconsciously competent and goingthrough those four phases and helping them to recognize how

19:21

they get through each of the four phases from not knowingwhat they don't know to

19:26

knowing what they know and being really good at it walk usthrough your three-step framework to to inspire

19:33

change i love this and it was something I actually just umwrote about this morning again I talked about the

19:39

decision that has to go forward and I love having littleframeworks i know you use frameworks as well you use uncommon

19:46

leader podcast with one of the steps to overcome the uhimposttor syndrome which is really good but folks have so much

19:54

challenge defining why they need to change and anytime wecan put a framework in place to help them uh

20:00

simplify that I think it can be really good and for me thatframework really lies in these three steps so what now

20:08

what and so that the so what is the step of recognize sowhat is the opportunity

20:13

that I have before me or what is the challenge what is theproblem that I have before me and recognizing the now

20:20

what is okay I need to change I need to improve I need totransform I need to

20:26

become more disciplined it's the action they need to taketoo often folks stop

20:31

right there though after those first two steps of thejourney I recognize I have an opportunity I need to change that's

20:37

the definition of a New Year's resolution i know that I needto lose 20 pounds so I need to exercise more but we

20:44

run away from that when the motivation of those two stepswears off it's that

20:50

third step that so that okay is the why that they understandwhen I do these two

20:56

things I will become the leader that I was called to be if Ido that on a fitness journey I will live a longer

21:02

life and be able to play basketball with my grandchildren ifI live that so that

21:08

as a leader I will have the impact on the individuals sothat the the long-term success of the organization is

21:15

sustainable and when I'm not here it will continue to win sounderstanding that so that is so very important i read

21:22

uh a verse in scripture today out of Exodus that thatfollowed this framework and I think the Bible and especially

21:27

Paul inside the Bible has a great way of utilizing thisframework you know but it was in Exodus 2 24-25 that you know God

21:34

said he hears his people that was the opportunity they werecrying out to him okay so he made a change he delivered

21:41

them from Egypt he brought them out of Egypt uh into Israelin the promised land it wasn't perfect but the So that

21:47

was really important to them it was freedom from theoppression that they had it was freedom freedom from slavery

21:53

i hope that we don't have to write that type of uh frameworkfor ourselves in terms of the change that's required but

22:00

it really does talk about the impact that is possible insideof that framework so so what now what so that

22:07

three-step framework to helping you define why you need tochange and what's going to keep you going when the alarm

22:13

goes off in the morning you want to hit that snooze buttonagain nope it's going to be turn that alarm off get your feet

22:19

on the floor and get started because the so that is soimportant most leaders or I'd say just most people overall they

22:26

don't struggle with knowing what to do they really strugglewith doing it consistently right so what really

22:33

separates those who can sustain it and those who can sustainexcellence for a

22:38

long period of time is it just is knowing the so that Ithink the so that is there that's what gets them out

22:44

that's really that first step in the journey and then you'vegot to start walking through each time i I I refer to it in seven steps and Ithink the

22:50

seventh step is the most important one second step is toreally develop a scorecard so you know what's my target

22:56

and where am I today so can I keep score in terms of what'shappening that gives me the gap which is the third step then

23:02

I design solutions which is step four and then ultimately Iimplement that solution with disciplines daily weekly

23:08

and monthly disciplines to help me stay in place step fivestep six is reflect

23:14

how am I going what's going well what isn't going well and Irace through those six steps and I'm love to chap

23:19

dive into any one of those that you want to but to me it'sthat seventh step on the journey is do it again once you

23:25

think you're done you've just begun and when you get to thepoint where you achieve those targets okay what's the

23:31

next level of the so that that you can put in place andrecognize that you're not done okay so I think that's the most

23:39

important step is that always having something to look outfor that true north that that is often defined in in

23:45

terms of metric setting uh but again that uh to me thatvision statement that

23:50

you have you can see it on top of the hill and you roll theball up the hill uh you can put the wedge in place on

23:56

some of the new disciplines but it's recognizing that once Ihit that goal I'm not done for me it was losing 80

24:04

pounds over the course of three years which was a big goalso the next step for me uh just this past year was how

24:10

can I improve my uh health by improving my sleep and so it'ssomething I that

24:15

something else I had to shoot for to make a difference thereyeah in in my research on you I was uh I love that

24:21

sevenstep framework and um I also heard you say thatdiscipline was one of the

24:26

most important steps so could we talk a little bit moreabout that sure absolutely step six discipline you know

24:33

I would say I got it on a on a coffee cup we'd love to havethese things that are our our hats and our cups but I talk

24:39

about we we often have good intentions and that's so thatstatement can identify what the good intentions are

24:45

but good intentions without discipline leads to excuses okaygood discipline

24:50

with good intention leads to excellence and that's whatwe're shooting for and that discipline and understanding what

24:56

you must do on a daily weekly monthly quarterly annual basisto achieve that

25:02

so that is so important the discipline and consistency rightis what's there

25:08

for you when the motivation wears off when you start to feeluh like oh this

25:13

is just too hard but it's the discipline and consistent youhave in place i'm so used to doing it back again it's become

25:19

a reflex if I read every morning 10 pages as a disciplineand I miss that

25:26

and I don't stack that habit I start the day off incorrectlyso it's recognizing what are those some of those

25:31

foundational disciplines that get you started for the daythat make it a better day for you so I you know there's

25:38

no easy answer for what that discipline means but having acoach you do this through Learn It All having a coach to

25:45

help hold you accountable to help track those disciplinesfor you is very important trying to do it on your own

25:51

but it doesn't happen uh on your own it's very difficult todo it i'm not saying that everybody has to pay for a

25:56

coach but having someone that you can share that vision withand help hold you accountable to make that happen is very

26:03

important absolutely you said that um one thing you'reworking on is sleep

26:08

have you had any success or any tips you could share with uhwith us to improve

26:14

sleep sure well specifically with sleep uh there are acouple things so I again much like I said reach out to someone so

26:20

I read a book called The Power of Ownership so if you'rehaving trouble it's not a book on sleep it's a book on

26:25

health overall health uh but it has a section that's focusedreally on on how sleep can help you to feel better for me

26:33

I went back to that so that I was sick and tired of beingtired when I woke up in the mornings like I felt good when I

26:39

exercised i lost weight but I still fel felt tired all thetime and so I went through that journey of of uh buying a a

26:46

Whoop watch or a Fitbit to track my sleep and understandwhere I was create that dashboard but what I ultimately end

26:52

up doing is some of the disciplines and there's there's afew disciplines that have become very important for me very

26:58

simple one i was shocked i didn't think mouth tape uh hasbeen a lifesaver for

27:04

me uh and you know I'm not trying to sell any mouth tape iwas nervous about it but I'm a snore i'm an open mouth

27:11

sleeper and I'd wake myself up at night snoring so much andpeople say "You got to try mouth tape." So I tried the

27:16

little slip over my lips one time which was really good i'mlike "Okay that was a start." But to go full mouth tape I

27:22

got to admit I was nervous again back outside my comfortzone i was nervous how that was going to do for the last

27:27

three months I've had that and I've had dramatic increasesin sleep so that's one that's one habit or discipline

27:33

that's there but the things that have been uh reallyimpactful for me is this 321 methodology there you go another

27:39

framework 3 hours before I go to sleep at night I try tohave my last meal so no more food uh 3 hours before I go to

27:46

bed two hours before I go to sleep I try not to do any morework or make any big

27:52

decisions you know challenging my my mind ultimately andtrying to get my mind to slow down just a little bit and

27:58

then one hour before I go to sleep separating myself fromany screens that's probably the biggest challenge

28:03

for me because I love to sit around and and watch TV or youknow see what's going on on the sports world to make

28:09

that happen but if I can settle down you know at least thelast 30 minutes read a a book uh on a subject that I'm

28:16

interested in not a work subject but it might be on my faithor might be in prayer whatever that is uh to calm my

28:23

mind that that framework has been really important for meand then the last one is another discipline that I wouldn't

28:29

have thought ever for me as well is just a a cup of hotdecaffeinated tea about an hour before I go to sleep as well as

28:36

an impact i think those things uh have resulted in my sweepsleep quality improving in the neighborhood of 30 to

28:42

40% at least in terms of the score but ultimately waking upduring the day not feeling I need a nap uh during the day

28:50

and feeling refreshed when I wake up so I think that is soimportant i don't think some of us realize how critical

28:57

sleep is to success uh both personally and professionallyand with your health

29:03

i mean if you don't get enough sleep you could itcontributes to heart disease whatever you know so thank you for

29:09

sharing that back to this the whole framework is I wouldhave this thought

29:15

uh limiting belief in my mind that it's just what I had tolive with you know that was my genetics and that I was

29:22

going to be a poor sleeper and a snorer and I didn't youknow really research and study and understand uh where the

29:29

gaps were uh that were going to help me to improve so yourwife probably loves that i mean she was patient enough for

29:35

for the snoring right for 25 years absolutely good for herright

29:41

say you're working with a customer who has a hard timeprioritizing their

29:46

schedule you know they're they're always chasing the shinyobject instead of focusing on what they need to get done

29:52

what is some practical advice or what's like one of thefirst steps you take with them to get them really more laser

29:58

focused and disciplined on what they do sure absolutely imean once we go through the goal setting process and understand what theybelieve is

30:04

important to them you one of the first things I have them dois to review their calendar ultimately to write down those

30:10

things that they always do daily weekly and monthly look atthe past 30 days and really take a look and crossch checkck

30:17

those activities with those goals and try to determine whatpercentage of

30:22

those activities are truly impacting those goals in apositive way and I don't have any science behind it because

30:28

I you know I don't have the uh the data analytics that goesalong with it but I I would uh anecdotally say that they

30:35

would often find that 40 to 50% of their activities were notdirectly linked to their goals not to mention some of the

30:42

things that get in their way like not having focus time forworking on a project or focus time for working on

30:50

their vision of the business and trying to sneak that inamongst all of the visits so they didn't have time

30:56

scheduled in their calendar just to work on those thingsthat were important to them it was about what was important to

31:02

everybody else and here's what I know if you don't scheduleyour time somebody else will there's no doubt about it and

31:08

if you you've got to be intentional of making thoseappointments with yourself to make those happen and then the the

31:15

the last thing is really to talk to them about thedistractions that exist in their space and those distractions can

31:20

be as simple as these little devices that were supposed tomake us more productive this phone that I held up to

31:27

the camera uh the computer in our pocket so to speak andwhile they have made us productive in many ways they've

31:32

distracted us more than ever the text messages that popthrough the phone calls that pop up the social media uh

31:40

notifications that come through and let them know thatsomebody's just made a comment on their favorite sports team

31:45

and they have to check it out and it's in our email with theway in which we understand that I have to check that

31:51

email look if we don't find an opportunity to turn off thosedistractions including what might be the

31:58

most uh distracting uh that people are challenged with isthe knock on their

32:03

door if they work in an office environment say and somebodyasks you got a minute and their inability to say

32:09

no uh for the sake of relationship or being kind becausethat minute's never a

32:15

minute turns into 5 minutes 10 minutes 20 minutes and yourealize that you've just lost 50% of your hour um by talking

32:22

about what you did over the weekend scheduling thoseinteractions is so important as well but eliminating

32:29

distraction uh is so important diluted focus will lead todiluted results

32:35

there's no two ways about it and you've got to find a way uhto eliminate those distractions so first and foremost make

32:41

sure the activities that you have on your calendar areimpacting your goals second thing is once you have those

32:47

important things on your calendar when you need to work onthem eliminate the distractions multitasking is a myth it

32:53

doesn't exist the other part that I really really like andbuy into 100% is

32:58

time blocking you know and also I've seen this so many timesJohn over the

33:03

years with sales reps who are struggling maybe their uhpipeline is low and

33:10

they'll say "Well I don't know what it is i'm spendingall my time on business uh on sales related activities." And I'll say"Okay show us your calendar

33:16

show me your calendar." And then if you you add upthey're only spending 40 or 50% of their time on actual sales

33:23

related activities if that there everything else is eitherblank or spent on something that uh admin work you know

33:31

so just having the selfawareness and reflection to be ableto look on that is so important the other thing you said

33:37

which I think is is great is be intentional about schedulingtime for yourself but I want to take it one step

33:44

further not just schedule it but hold yourself accountableto it you know a

33:49

lot of time like if you're in a customer meeting and uhInstagram notice pops up

33:55

or somebody calls you you're not going to answer your phoneduring a customer meeting you need to keep that block of

34:01

time uh precious just like you would if you were in acustomer meeting right so

34:07

not just schedule that time but um you know keep itintentional and and execute

34:13

on it damon I call it the 47 most powerful minutes in aleader day and it's that time blocking uh terrible

34:18

there's nothing scientific about 47 other than here's what Iknow i did a 47-day transformation physical activity

34:25

uh and we underestimate what we can do in 47 days there's nodoubt about it we also underestimate what we can do in 47

34:33

minutes if we're focused so blocking off one hour of yourtime but setting a timer inside of that 1 hour for 47

34:41

minutes and just focus on activities turn your email offturn your phone on do not disturb close your door and put a

34:48

red dot on there and say "Do not knock on the doorunless the building is burning down so you can help me get out

34:53

and if you need to schedule time with me later I'll be doneleave me a note." Whatever that is but then focusing for

35:00

47 minutes until that timer goes off and the other side ofthat is once that timer goes off after 47 minutes stop

35:06

working take your break take that last 13 minutes of thathour to go ahead and check your emails or check those text

35:12

messages that came in or heaven forbid before the nextmeeting you actually go and take a bio break before you go into

35:19

the next meeting and allow yourself to be prepared for thatmentally as well look if as leaders especially if we are

35:26

not delegating if we are not developing our people if we arenot deferring activities where we can get 47 minutes

35:34

in a day that's not distracted and we feel we're soimportant that we need to be interrupted at any point in time then

35:40

we're not doing our job as leaders nobody is that importanti and you'll

35:45

find that in that 47 minutes if you can really do that iknow I find this if I own it if I focus for that 47 minutes I

35:53

get in such a zone that I want to keep going and theactivity really is to stop at that 47 minutes uh so that you know

36:01

how productive you can be in that time i think if folkscould just do that discipline at least once a week i

36:08

ideally I believe they do it once or twice a day but once aweek finding the opportunity to block 40 to block one

36:14

hour out just to focus on you and the task that you have toget done uh can be extremely powerful i want to switch

36:21

gears a little bit one of the analogies that I love that youtalk about I I want you to share is know your chickens

36:29

i'd love to I'd love to say we already talked about pigs andand chickens pigs and chickens already so and know your

36:35

chickens i mean yeah you'll notice that I have a lot of ismsmy clients would say many isms uh that they'll mention

36:41

one of them is know your chickens i'd love to say that's anoriginal my friend uh co-orker colleague uh Kim Cheney uh

36:49

was the one who taught me this know your chickens and whathe's really thinking about is that look especially if you

36:55

have a team you cannot treat every team member exactly thesame okay so there's

37:02

a big difference in being fair and being consistent okay idon't necessarily believe in fair but I can believe I can

37:10

believe in being consistent with how I treat individualsrecognize when they do good things coach them when they need to

37:16

be changed over and you have to have different motivationtechniques to get them going and so the idea behind

37:22

knowing your chickens is you got to know that each of themhave a different personality okay they have a different way in which theysucceed whether that's

37:28

through the dispersonality profile the MBTI you have tounderstand your people

37:33

so that when you go to try to motivate or inspire them youknow the correct way to do that you know um Gary Chapman

37:40

talks about the five love languages that exists in yourrelationships at home and at work as well know your chickens your

37:46

kids are different okay you wouldn't treat your kids exactlythe same and so but if you're consistently treating them

37:53

the way that they want to be treated to help them and youknow your chickens per

37:58

se I mean it comes ultimately that you know the farmers knewwhich chickens were most productive and which ones weren't which ones aretroublemakers and

38:05

they try to keep them separated and that's the same thingwith our kids and with our team members and I'm not trying

38:10

to downplay or overtrivialize that relationship i'm tryingto say that

38:15

people don't care how much you know until they know how muchyou care and when you know things like their child's

38:22

challenges that they're going through or the sports thattheir children play or the challenge they might be having with

38:28

a health uh issue with a spouse or family member they knowthat you care

38:33

that's knowing your chickens to a certain extent as a leaderthat helps them recognize that you care about them

38:39

what are some of the negative consequences let's say a newmanager who's just stepping into a leadership

38:44

role who tries to treat everybody the same because theythink "Oh I have to be fair." How can that negatively impact uh

38:51

an organization well wow i mean there's there's so manythings I I think about again probably fair is like a a podcast

38:59

in and of itself in terms of what that means between uhbeing fair and consistent life isn't going to be fair

39:04

for us life is going to happen to us some people have healthchallenges okay

39:10

and if you try to uh treat someone who's uh ultimately goingthrough cancer

39:16

treatments the same way you're treating someone who uh can'tget to work on time because they oversleep 3 days a week

39:22

it's not going to work for you and you ultimately are goingto have a situation that those individuals who are top

39:28

performers both from a result standpoint and from abehavioral standpoint are going to recognize that you often give

39:36

the attention and the recognition to those who haven'tearned it so to speak

39:42

i've had a a coach uh in the lean space talk to me about howyou treat

39:47

individuals and you know it's not fair that you gave this tosomebody else and you didn't give it to me and that's

39:52

absolutely right it's not fair but I'm being consistent andwhen you show me you're ready for an opportunity like

39:58

that then I will give you that same opportunity and here'sthe things you need to keep doing start doing and stop

40:04

doing to be prepared for that opportunity so if you have asystem a management system that you work with

40:09

individuals to give them regular feedback you ultimatelytake this fairness while it never goes away

40:15

completely because there's a human side to leadership that'swhy we can't replace leaders with AI in the future

40:21

while AI will be able to do many things to augment or helpthem do their jobs better it won't replace the empathetic

40:28

need of the leader to be the personal leader they need to beinside of that

40:33

space yeah I want to double down on that um I don't think AIis going to replace the leader but I'll tell you what it

40:40

will do is will enhance the leader um absolutely so I I I Ijust for everybody out there you know again please don't

40:47

stick your head in the sand learn AI and um I think it helpspeople

40:53

like you John and your business and at learn it where thisthe soft skills I don't like that term the human skills

40:59

creativity empathy communication collaboration those aregoing to be elevated and more important in the

41:06

future uh when it comes when it comes to uh leadership yeahI I love that because

41:11

again as you think about it you I use often instead ofartificial intelligence augmented intelligence or whatever that

41:16

means it's going to augment the leadership process it lookhealthcare it's going to augment the we just we've

41:23

heard this recently in some of the new things that going tobe uh coming through in the new administration with

41:28

regards to AI i worked for uh an organization that broughtuh AI for

41:33

health out 15 years ago i think they were a little early fortheir time in terms of how it was doing and being

41:39

accepted inside of that space but if I can take away some ofthose basic things

41:44

that need to be done how do I compile the structure of theemail that needs to

41:49

go out the structure of the note that goes out so that as aphysician or as a leader to your point I can focus on

41:55

those other skills or competencies like communication likeuh empathy uh like

42:03

um approachability that are going to allow you to be moresuccessful i I mean

42:09

you've you've again I I I appreciate how you say soft skillsare not the correct

42:15

word uh it even goes back to your question are leaders madeor lead leaders born and the answer is yes and I

42:21

love that answer and and the evolution of leaders with allthe stories they've

42:27

had with all the experiences that they've had the mistakesthey've made and the wins that they've had create the

42:34

value of the leader to grow others that's when knowledge AIknowledge turns

42:40

into wisdom stories experiences failures wins that we cantake folks through to

42:46

ultimately help them win uh at a faster pace faster pace howhas faith shaped

42:52

your leadership style and how do you balance leading withvalues without you

42:58

know necessarily preaching oh my goodness i mean I I when Ifigure this out completely I think I'm going to

43:04

really have something and I'm not necessarily saying I'mtrying to make that work ultimately I believe as leaders it's a

43:11

holistic approach to our leadership uh I talk about it insix domains and there's

43:16

the there's the workplace piece of that often I talk aboutsix Fs there's your future right that's the work where you

43:22

bear fruit you're paid for the work that you do vocationalfuture fruity t I

43:28

don't know i had to get an F in there somehow that was theonly one I struggled with but there's also your

43:33

finances your fitness your friendships what you do to havefun and I believe

43:38

faith regardless of where you are on your faith journey uhit might be spiritual it might be meditation

43:44

whatever that is but that faith is a very important part ofthat journey for me it impacts me in terms of who I am uh

43:52

I am I do uh I am a Christian uh and I've become moreunapologetic about that

43:59

in my conversations with others and one of the things Irecognize a story from a a few years ago uh because I don't bring

44:06

it out overtly uh with the work that I do but I try to livein a way that

44:11

models those values and I talked to someone I rememberwalking a shop floor

44:16

in a concrete facility and ultimately uh my answer was"Well my faith plays an

44:21

important part of how I answer that question." And hesaid to me he said "I

44:27

knew there was something different about you." And Iwas kind of taken back was I ready for that or not but it was

44:33

actually very favorable and it opened up a door from aconversation standpoint with me and that individual that allowed

44:40

me to share what the impact is so where's the balance uhthat exists inside of that space i'm actually still

44:46

learning what that balance is i mean again it's not a partof my coaching

44:53

structure if you will that uh for every point I have I'vegot a biblical verse

44:58

associated with it that you need to read uh but I will tellyou it's a very important part of my discipline to

45:04

personally grow in my faith every day so reading uh inscripture every day is a discipline that I have to uh

45:11

continuously um mold continuously um exercise just like Ihave to exercise

45:19

on a regular basis or eat less food i need to be in that uhword on a daily basis to grow in that space and and it

45:27

helps me or affords me the opportunity to mentor in the waythat I would want to whether that uh comes in the form of

45:34

uh Romans 12 and recognizing that I need to have my mindopen i need to be a good listener i need to have a positive

45:42

mindset toward others i need to think of things in apositive way or have a positive attitude none of those things

45:48

are faith-based uh in and of themselves but they are in theBible okay those

45:54

those uh teachings are in the Bible so they teach me how Ican behave on a

46:00

regular basis and often times it leads to me being able tohave a conversation with others about my faith and if it

46:06

leads to them ultimately having you know kingdom impact foreternity uh which is what I'm shooting for as an individual

46:13

then that's you know part of what I've been called to do uhas a leader again it's probably not an easy answer to say

46:21

I speak I open up every meeting in prayer i don't do that umsometimes I'll

46:26

work with organizations though that do uh if it's part oftheir values then we will do that on a regular basis but I'm

46:32

looking to open up conversations that I can have withindividuals uh and share that share that good book i use the term

46:39

greatest story ever told and as I've grown in my faithjourney I often want to change the name of it from the leadership perspectivebecause the to me

46:46

the Bible is the greatest story uh ever told uh and it's onethat you know for me talking about a discipline that is

46:52

something hard to do i'm working through it for the fourthtime the entire Bible this year that's not to say that for

46:58

pounding my chest or because I'm more uh holy than somebodyelse but it's a discipline that I've chosen to do to to

47:04

grow my faith and to be able to share with others so gettingback to greatest story ever told that was a question I

47:11

had for you how does that how does faith or your personalpurpose play a role in

47:16

helping shape your story well it has to be part of my storyright and when individuals see that and I've even for

47:22

me it's even become uh more overt on my social mediaprofiles and how I'm sharing with the writing that I that I

47:28

have i believe uh that my purpose is

47:34

bigger than just me uh I believe that my purpose ultimatelyuh is to become the

47:40

leader that I was called to be and again I don't have thisuh belief that I was told that I need to be a consultant or I

47:47

was told that I need to be a coach and God spoke to me andsaid that but what I believe is that those individuals that I

47:54

come in contact with including this conversation right herebecause of my faith because of my belief that you know

48:00

that God was uh a mediator to bring that uh to fruition ourconversation today uh

48:07

was something that he knew about a long time ago absolutelyand so when I get a chance to recognize that uh things like

48:16

excellence things like uh praiseworthy things like kindnessare all things that

48:23

come from the Bible yeah they can be read in other places aswell um but those show up I believe in the way that

48:28

I behave and I don't have to necessarily

48:34

um proclaim that in my coaching but I do track that i dotrack the number of times I have an interaction uh with

48:41

someone in terms of specifically spiritual faith on ajourney uh I do measure that because I believe that we

48:47

count those interactions because those interactions count uhI I believe that serving is very important as well so I

48:55

live that out through uh serving uh at church on Sundays asa leader of the

49:00

parking team and my wife and I are the leaders of a homegroup where we bring uh 15 to 20 people to our home every two

49:07

weeks and we go through a lesson uh on faith and how we canuh grow in our

49:12

journey so it's not just that that that's part of my workit's it's really a part of my life so if someone

49:17

listening wants to lead in a way that ensures that they geton somebody's list where should they start i think about

49:24

that as the decision the first step in that journey isalways that decision it's sitting down and using that

49:31

framework uh to make the choice ultimately that I'm sick andtired of

49:37

being sick and tired and that where they are today they knowis not where they're

49:43

supposed to be and that they want to grow so painting apicture of what it looks like in terms of that target of

49:50

who they want to be is very important i think writing thatdown is ultimately

49:55

very important but it it starts with a choice um I don'tknow any other way to

50:00

really say on on how you start once you get through thatpoint of the journey then you start to think about uh

50:06

identifying those areas those six Fs that I talked about andassessing where you are today in terms of what you want

50:13

if you want to be healthy in your fitness where are youtoday on a scale of 1 to 10 are you a four or are you a

50:18

five and where do you want to be it might not be a 10 i'mnot a um preacher

50:23

in the form of uh everything needs to be perfect uh I am achallenger in the form

50:29

of okay if you're today you're a four and you want to be aneight ultimately maybe in the next year what do we have

50:34

to do the disciplines okay daily weekly monthly uh to cutthat in half and go to

50:40

a six uh because it becomes a smart objective uh but itultimately identifies the things you need to do to

50:47

achieve what you want to achieve discipline back to thatword again here we go again you know it's doing what you

50:53

need to do when you need to do it even when you don't feellike doing it so that you can do what you want to do when

50:59

you want to do it with who you want to do it with it it isthat simple and it's

51:05

that difficult john you've been awesome what is next for youwhat are you

51:10

working on these days yeah thanks for asking and again Damonuh thanks for the opportunity uh certainly to share with

51:16

the listeners of your podcast i I hope that I've been ableto add value to them just a little bit today for me

51:22

specifically you know I've set my goals for 2025 as wellit's guesting on

51:27

podcasts like this is continuing to grow i also as youmentioned I host the uncommonle leader podcast and looking to

51:34

increase the influence and impact that that podcast has aswell so uh uncommonleerpodcast.com you can find it

51:41

and really start to follow there uh because my goal is toinspire encourage and equip uh the last thing that I'm

51:47

really looking for my mentor and I have really set a goal towrite a book in 2025 well you know we don't know exactly

51:54

what that means yet but we've dedicated the time and set thetime aside in uh Q3 and Q4 to start working on that that

52:01

ultimately outlines the journey uh of the Christian businessleader talking about developing themselves developing

52:08

their team what it takes to implement the structures andprocesses to do both those things ultimately leading to

52:16

consistent uh eternal impact of the work that you do uh andtelling that story as to how we've experienced it and that

52:22

we're not there yet uh per se but how we continue to growbut also how others can experience it as well well I'm sure the

52:29

book will come out in 2025 and I really hope you come backso we can share um

52:36

the book and and talk about it so John you've been awesomewe've talked about

52:42

quite a bit you know from the greatest story ever told howyou get on a list to raising the average you shared several

52:48

great frameworks we really honed in on discipline which Ithink is incredibly important and one key that also came out

52:54

of this was the 47 minutes of intentional time either dailyor a couple times a week i think that can

53:00

have a tremendous tremendous impact on our listeners uh andall of us and so

53:06

where can our audience connect with you at sure Damian loveto chat with them if they get a chance they can go to my website

53:12

coachgallagher.com uh if they had an opportunity they wantto chat with me there's a button on there where they can set up a a free callwhere we can chat

53:19

about what their goals are uh and how they might be movingforward and what you know conversations I might be able

53:24

to have you with you uh to to have an impact there uh andthere you can find the social media i'm active most on on

53:30

LinkedIn um but I also have a Instagram and a YouTubechannel uh that are starting to grow as well so be more than

53:37

happy to connect with individuals i want everybody to checkout John's show The Uncommon Leader hopefully my episode but

53:44

he's got a lot of other great episodes and I'd also like youto think about somebody or a couple people who could

53:50

benefit from this maybe somebody who's distracted or needsmore discipline or is working hard and they're just not

53:57

there yet share this episode with them i re would reallyappreciate it and until next time everybody stay curious keep

54:04

learning and have a great day that's I think the biggestthing is what is in your head and what do you what do you

54:10

already know what do you not know where can I help fill thegaps and where they matter to you

 

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