The Uncommon Leader Podcast
Are you ready to break free from mediocrity and lead an extraordinary life? Join us on The Uncommon Leadership Podcast as we explore the power of intentionality in personal and professional growth. Our podcast features insightful interviews with inspiring leaders from all walks of life, sharing their stories of overcoming challenges and achieving greatness.
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- Think positively and cultivate a growth mindset
- Live a healthy and balanced lifestyle
- Build your faith and find inner strength
- Read more and expand your knowledge
- Stay strong in the face of adversity
- Work hard with purpose and passion
- Network effectively to build meaningful relationships
- Worry less and focus on what matters
- Love always and make a positive impact
In each episode, we'll dive into relevant leadership topics, share inspiring stories, and provide actionable steps you can take to elevate your life. Whether you're a seasoned leader or just starting your journey, The Uncommon Leadership Podcast offers valuable insights and practical guidance to help you achieve your goals and live your best life.
The Uncommon Leader Podcast
Episode 185: John Gallagher: Leaders LIVING Their Values - Overcoming Limiting Beliefs for Success |Mitchell Levy
Join host Mitchell Levy and guest John Gallagher in an exploration of what it truly means for leaders to live their values. This episode dives into the profound journey of transforming pain into power, a critical step for any executive leader or CEO striving for authentic growth.
John shares a deeply personal insight: his biggest regret was allowing limiting beliefs, stemming from past hurts, to hold him back. Discover how overcoming these deeply ingrained beliefs is essential to unlock genuine success, holistic health, and a strong sense of purpose.
We discuss how challenging your own beliefs, guided by insights from mentors, not only fosters personal growth but also significantly enhances your credibility. This episode emphasizes that true impact comes from understanding yourself and bravely evolving. It's about helping "who we used to be" to become the leader we are meant to be. Essential listening for those pursuing lean leadership and a meaningful career.
Key Takeaways:
✅ The profound connection between living your values and overcoming personal obstacles.
✅ Strategies for identifying and confronting limiting beliefs.
✅ The role of mentorship in challenging self-imposed boundaries.
✅ How authenticity and self-awareness drive leadership growth and influence.
🎥 Watch the full inspiring conversation here:
👉 https://youtu.be/c3Bq8i3lDrk
Connect with John Gallagher: 👉 https://www.youtube.com/@coachjohngallagher
Connect with Mitchell Levy: 👉 https://www.youtube.com/@CredibilityNation
Follow us for more insights: 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachjohngallagher/
📞 Book your FREE leadership clarity call with me today → https://coachjohngallagher.com/freecall/
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And once you go to a mentor and explain your situation, they've probably been through that one way or the other.
Speaker 2:The question is describe what you think the difference because you use the word mentor between a mentor and a coach in terms of recognizing you have limiting beliefs. Who do you turn to and how would a mentor do it differently than a coach?
Speaker 1:Well, I like the question. I don't know that there's always an easy answer, but what I go to is experience, because the mentor has been there before. The coach may or may not have been in the seat that you were in specifically, but that mentor has experienced, and once you go to a mentor and explain your situation, they've probably been through that one way or the other. It doesn't mean they have to be older than you. Frankly, it doesn't even mean that you have to know that person.
Speaker 1:For me, these books that are on the shelf behind me represent mentors who have stories inside of those books that they've overcome, and I start to hear their voice, but I also start to see my story in their story that helped me to overcome it the experiences that they've overcome. So I think the difference in a mentor and coach oftentimes is the experience that goes along with it. The coach has the ability to inspire. The coach has the ability to motivate, has tools that they can teach you, whether it's you know. You use a the analogy of a sports coach. It's got the play card that exists in front of them and they're calling the plays to run, but the mentor is one who's experienced.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Mitchell Levy Presents, where I dive into the essential elements of clarity and credibility. Hosted by global credibility expert Mitchell Levy, today's episode offers invaluable insights to make you think and act more credibly. Join us as we explore living your values, boosting your credibility and leading purposefully. Hi, mitchell Levy, global credibility expert, and welcome to. I'm going to say this is one of a couple of times during the week that I love. I gave three sets of clarity sessions in the last couple of days and, man, that is so powerful and what I love right now I get to speak to a leader about their values. So this is a fun part for me and I'm looking forward to getting your feedback and your responses. And let me introduce John Gallagher Hi, you can join me.
Speaker 1:Mitchell, so happy to be here. Thank you for the opportunity. I'm looking forward to our conversation today as well. Let's do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, me as well. So my standard question is who are you?
Speaker 1:Well, mitchell, I appreciate the opportunity. I mean I think the bio comes in that says I'm an executive consultant and a performance coach for organizations. But I think about this and I think about the topic of our conversation today in terms of who am I? I am a father as well. I'm a husband. I've been married to my wife now for over 30 years, a friend to many, and I appreciate the opportunity to really share some of the stories that I've experienced over the last 25 or 30 years on my leadership growth journey that I hope that really inspire, encourage and equip others to continuously grow as well. So that's kind of who I am from that standpoint. You know we could I can't wait to talk talk a little bit more about what that means from a value standpoint, as you said, but it really is an opportunity for me to give back. I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 2:So you're telling me about how many years 30 ish?
Speaker 1:you said 30 plus but how many years married? 30, 30 years married, and now that I'm alive, I don't want to mess that up. So we'll be 31 next May as we get going, but that was 30 years and I have two sons, one's 27, soon to be 28, and one 24. So I'm a father of two grown sons as well. But, yeah, 30 years the old 25 years is how many years even I've been on a personal growth, because I didn't know prior to that, as I got started on my journey, some of the challenges that I had and the maturity that was there what it really meant to grow as a leader.
Speaker 2:Tell me a little bit about your sons. Who are they?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so who are they? I mean, what I love about both my sons is that they are both like their father, but they're better looking like their mother, so that really works. What I also like from a value standpoint as we go forward is that they're totally different. So my youngest is a youth minister. A 24-year-old is a youth minister. He works for Young Life in Boulder, colorado.
Speaker 1:Ultimately has committed his journey, his walk, if you will, to helping teenagers in middle schools, ultimately, with the challenges that are middle school teenage opportunities. I mean it doesn't take a whole lot to see on TV today which I try not to watch what's happening a whole lot with that but he's become very structured and very committed to what he wants to do. My older son, I would say they are totally different. He's a fitness enthusiast. I got a picture up on my wall here.
Speaker 1:He was a cheerleader at Liberty University in Lynchburg, virginia, for the football, basketball and volleyball teams. He has really become someone that is focused on helping himself grow from a fitness and health standpoint, on helping himself grow from a fitness and health standpoint, but also helping others. He's a personal trainer and he's a stretcher at a place that he helps. Actually it's not physical therapy, but it certainly helps. Those who are getting up into age, like me maybe learn that mobility is very important as we continue to age in our lives, and so he's learned to help others and he appreciates some of that as well, what is one of the biggest lessons you learned from either of your kids?
Speaker 1:When I think about my youngest son, joseph, and he has absolutely been one where he's flipped the script on me in terms of adding value to me as well. So you know, his degree is in youth ministry but his passion is in helping others along their faith journey. And he challenged me this year really, and what I love is that he had known that I had read the Bible a couple times. It's something I hadn't ever done and over the past few years I had done that twice. And he said, dad, it's time to go deep in that journey when I had been a mile wide and an inch deep. He said it's time to go deep.
Speaker 1:He says, this year, what I want you to do is just pick two books of the Bible and go deep and start to memorize scripture. And I tell you it's been transformational for me. But he recognized that I needed to be more in depth with what I was learning as well, that I could truly understand what that story was inside of the Bible, that it was Jesus and who he was. And I appreciate that from him. And I tell you he challenges me on a regular basis with my habits and with my disciplines. He lets us know and is not afraid to let us know either. Nice.
Speaker 2:Okay. For many people it's easy to go very wide and not deep enough, so it's good for your son to challenge you. How about the other one? How?
Speaker 1:about the fitness. Well, the fitness guy. He's going to be the one and again, I love looking at this. Excellence only happens on purpose. He's got a mindset that once he sets his mind on something very specific, he's going to do everything he has to. To me, is it, you know? Is the juice worth the squeeze, you know? So he had an opportunity where fitness is there. He said I'm going to have the discipline to convert myself to 7% body fat and make the work happen. And that's what he did, and he then models that and shows me some of those things that are going on in his life, and it helped inspire me on my fitness journey. Just a few years back, back in 2017, when he went there, I went there as well, lost 80 pounds. He taught me through that journey, so he's been able to inspire me and recognize how important it is to take care of self.
Speaker 1:I would say that as they grew up as kids so funny on my time hop today, I had one pop-up of my. It was 20 years ago, so my youngest is 25 and they would have been five years old, and he's sitting there with a bowl of frosted flakes and a bowl of milk and watching toy story on the TV and I can remember that moment like it was yesterday, 20 years ago. But I also know that we probably shouldn't have given them so much sugary cereal when they were growing up as kids, you know. So what are we going to do? I don't know if I could change it now, but they had to learn some way.
Speaker 2:That was interesting, so I did see on your LinkedIn profile. We didn't talk about that in the pre-interview, but I did see in the LinkedIn profile the men's health article where you did lose 80 pounds and so that was. Was that your son's inspiration or your inspiration? Where'd that come from?
Speaker 1:Well, I think it was inspiration from him. I tell you that it's very specific, though it was a health scare that resulted in that happening. So I had, frankly, as I grew up, was a health scare that resulted in that happening. So I had, frankly, as I grew up and this goes back into core values I mean I had almost accepted mediocrity when it came to my health and that was things like I would eat whatever I wanted to exercise was optional, things like that. And I've had people, friends in my life, that are also telling me at the time hey, you're not fat, you don't need to worry about that, you just have big bones, john, you're just a big guy and you carry it really well.
Speaker 1:But it was the health scare that really got me to the point that I said I need to make a change and I literally walked into a trainer's. My son was still in college at the time, but he was taking care of himself and I knew that he was working really hard at it. But I walked into a gym that I had passed probably a thousand times, driving back and forth to work each day. I went in and found a trainer who invested in me. I said I need help. It was the first trainer that I came to and, oddly enough, I was 47 years old when I got started and she said that it was about 10 years prior to that. She had lost her dad at 45 years old to a heart attack about 10 years earlier and she was pretty committed to making my life miserable over the next couple of years to ensure that that didn't happen. So I appreciated that she invested in me and others invested in me to allow that to happen.
Speaker 1:And then for me, I tell you that's been a personal transformation to watch my son stay in that journey to keep healthy. So we talk about different supplements all the time. We talk about different workouts. He'll share a workout with me, although I wouldn't even try to try and lift the same amount of weight that he has, but he's put things in place for me that have helped me to keep that men's health journey success I had over the last five years Because I got there when I had that article back in 2019, and I've been able to instill the discipline that's kept me there Again. Another one of those became a core value of mine that I had to be healthy so that I could be the grandfather I wanted to be one day as well and be able to get down on the floor and play with my kids and things like that. I had to start thinking about those things.
Speaker 2:What do you think of all the people you coached? What do you think the top one, two or three regrets were that they had.
Speaker 1:Regrets. I mean, I think they got to go. This is where you know for me. We talked a little bit about social media beforehand and we even touched on it here. I've heard this saying that you know Facebook's for the people you used to know and Twitter's for the people that you want to know and LinkedIn is for the people that you need to know, whatever that means in terms of Facebook.
Speaker 1:What I think about when I think about Facebook and some of these things is that the pain that people have experienced in life they've allowed it to create limiting beliefs. Whether that was through disappointment in promotions that they didn't get early in their career, whether that was through bullying that they received as a child when they were growing up, or whether it was in a household that they lived in, they didn't get the attention that they wanted. But they allowed those pains at the time to frame who they were and it kept them from being as successful as they wanted to. And here's what I know that we are most powerfully positioned to help that person that we used to be. I mean, I look at that on my point in the journey and I couldn't help somebody on the health journey or on the fitness journey. Glad you could join me, mitchell, so happy to be here. Thank you for the opportunity. I'm looking forward to our conversation today as well. Let's do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, me as well. So my standard question is who are you?
Speaker 1:Well, Mitchell, I appreciate the opportunity. I mean, I think the bio comes in that says I'm an executive consultant and a performance coach for organizations. But I think about this and I think about the topic of our conversation today in terms of who am I? I am a father as well. I'm a husband. I've been married to my wife now for over 30 years, friend to many, and I appreciate the opportunity to really share some of the stories that I've experienced over the last 25 or 30 years on my leadership growth journey that I hope that really inspire, encourage and equip others to continuously grow as well. So that's kind of who I am from that standpoint. Hey, Uncommon Leaders, Hope you're enjoying the episode so far.
Speaker 1:I believe in doing business with people you like and trust and not just a company name. That's why a strong personal brand is essential, whether you're an entrepreneur or a leader within a company. Brand Builders Group the folks who have been helping me refine my own personal brand are offering a free consultation call with one of their expert brand strategists. They'll help you identify your uniqueness, craft a compelling story and develop a step-by-step plan to elevate your impact. So head on over to coachjohngallaghercom slash BBG, as in Brand Builders Group to schedule your free call and take the first step toward building, for me, that I've been able to inspire some folks to go on those fitness journeys, to go on those success journeys in their work and believe that they could change and make a difference in the workplace they were in.
Speaker 2:So you're saying then, if I hear you right, that the biggest regret that people have is the fact they have limiting beliefs.
Speaker 1:How many pain that has caused them to have limiting beliefs and not overcome those?
Speaker 2:They've had thoughts when you think about it Not being able to overcome their limiting beliefs? Yes, do they even know they have the limiting beliefs?
Speaker 1:I think sometimes they don't. I mean to think about that and understand. I believe they don't know that they are limiting beliefs. I'll use an example of something that I know that I've done in my own life and I have to always be aware of it. It's as simple as the line at the bank, and nobody goes to a bank anymore, but there'll be two cars in one line, two cars in another. Maybe it's at the gas station now, at the Costco gas station, and you're like I'm going to pick this one because that's going to be the one I'm going to get to quick and sure enough, the other line will move.
Speaker 1:And a nice limiting belief, they're always there. See, that's how my life was just designed to be. I always pick the wrong line versus saying what opportunity do I have in that space, when I'm there, to have a conversation with someone else while I am waiting? And so I think a lot of folks just say things like that that they don't even realize are limiting beliefs. That's where accountability comes into play.
Speaker 1:I do have a small men's accountability group that we check each other on, and we actually have called our group raise the average because we know that when we hear someone else talking with a limiting belief that we need to call it out and let them know that that's just something that you've made up. You know I'll always have to live in this house, right here, because I won't be able to afford moving into another. Well, that's a limiting belief that you have, and if you do believe that and you let yourself go there, then that's what's going to happen. Helping folks, whether it's as a coach, as a friend, being kind with someone and not just nice and helping them expose those limiting beliefs, are very important. You're right, I think, as you asked that question and I think about it, a lot of them don't even know that they're limiting beliefs.
Speaker 2:I was thinking about two paths. First, I want to mention my friend, katrin Becker. She thinks with people who have regrets they turn those into pre-grats, so things they don't do because they have those limiting beliefs. They have regrets of that. But I liked your addition of the word limiting beliefs. The question I had, which was really interesting so there are 10 values of credibility. Is it possible that when somebody's credibility gets violated, when something bad happens to them, it's violated? That's when something bad happens to them it's because credibility was done in the wrong way. They relied to somebody who wasn't coachable. I don't know if this is a question that's an easy answer.
Speaker 1:Well, it may not be an easy answer. I mean, as I thought about a little bit as you started, you know regrets and pregrats and thinking about that credibility. Let's share a very specific story for me. So I was in with a group of other leaders and we were at what was an outside experience. You do some rope walking and you get the ropes with the bucket and you try to move it as a group. But there was one experience for me and it was on a rock wall that I was running through.
Speaker 1:You talk about if I had a regret and what's the pre-grant.
Speaker 1:But that rock wall had put so much fear in me because I was an adult at this point in time, I was in my early thirties.
Speaker 1:But I remember as a kid that I would fail and ultimately kind of be laughed at as a kid and that limiting belief that I had, that I thought it was going to happen again, resulted in me walking to the back of that line, hoping that the exercise would be over before I had to try and climb the wall and, sure enough, that's what happened. So that limiting belief, actually, that ended up coming true for me. But the regret was that I was there and I didn't have the at the time, didn't have the self-awareness to see that. Maybe that's where that credibility comes into play is self-awareness. I don't know how you discover it unless you have a mentor in your life that's always calling you forward, that's always calling your greatness forward and is investing in you. That if you have to rely on yourself to do that, that can be a challenge in those limiting belief space. So who is it that you might be helping to overcome one of those limiting beliefs and you don't even know it?
Speaker 2:So that makes for an interesting question. Question is describe what you think the difference because you use the word mentor between a mentor and a coach in terms of if you're recognizing you have limiting beliefs, who do you turn to and how would a mentor do it differently than a coach?
Speaker 1:Well, I like the question. I don't know that there's always an easy answer, but what I go to is experience. The mentor has been there before. The coach may or may not have been in the seat that you were in specifically, but that mentor has experienced, and once you go to a mentor and explain your situation, they've probably been through that one way or the other. Doesn't mean they have to be older than you. Frankly, it doesn't even mean that you have to know that person.
Speaker 1:For me, these books that are on the shelf behind me represent mentors who have stories inside of those books that they've overcome, and I start to hear their voice. But I also start to see my story in their story that helped me to overcome it, the experiences that they've overcome. So I think the difference in a mentor and coach oftentimes is the experience that goes along with it. Look, the coach has the ability to inspire. The coach oftentimes is the experience that goes along with it. Look, the coach has the ability to inspire. The coach has the ability to motivate, has tools that they can teach you, whether it's you know. You use the analogy of a sports coach has got the play card that exists in front of him and they're calling the plays to run, but the mentor is one who's experienced it. That's interesting, okay.
Speaker 2:So that's an interesting word, interesting. Oh, it's one of my favorite and actually interesting and fascinating.
Speaker 2:A two-word I often use a lot. That's fascinating. It's when I'm thinking about what you just said, so I'm going to pull out something you pulled from. You said in the books behind you are a number of mentors, so people who have had experiences. They document in the books and you're learning from them. Tell me what, if you're thinking about the books behind you, not the books of people you know, right, so not the John Maxwell books or the books of people you've met, but people who you've not met, who you might actually call a mentor because you read their book. What was it about what they wrote that captured your attention?
Speaker 1:Again, love the question.
Speaker 1:So for me the favorite parts and this is as I've matured as a reader, I think, when I get a new book and I have the opportunity to interview many authors on my podcast as well but I love the read to introduction and the conclusion kind of the epilogue, where they have the acknowledgement and things like that, both ends of the story, because the introduction tends to tell the story of the pain they've gone through.
Speaker 1:So there's a specific book that I've read recently called Overcome and Lead. It really talks about overcoming that pain and it was a painful story by Auntie Ann Beiler, the CEO or former CEO of Auntie Ann's Pretzels and some of the pain that she had overcome through tragedy in her life and how she was still able to overcome that and be successful in the business that she ran, both as a leader and as an entrepreneur as she grew. But I think that's the piece introductions and seeing their stories and again that's what makes some of those books highly sold is because of the bigness of those stories. But again, for some of us overcoming things can be as simple as those limiting beliefs that say I will not be able to get into that school because I don't have enough education, or I don't have enough time to fill out the application properly, kind of thing. I mean, there's just so many things, but I think that's what I marvel, recently especially, is the stories of the pain, the stories of the thing they've overcome.
Speaker 2:How different are those stories than those people you coach.
Speaker 1:Oh, not very much different. That's what I love about it, right, is that there's so many tools for me as a coach inside of those books that I can share. So I'll be talking to an individual that I coach and one of the stories from those books will come to mind and I'll share that book with them. I'll send them that book and say, let me tell you something somebody similar has gone through on this journey. I'd love to share books. I mean, that's part of that journey.
Speaker 1:One of the favorite books that I give away is Andy Andrews' book that I've given it to college students for graduations and I thought I'm looking at the name here the Traveler's Gift and I love the way he tells stories inside of that and the choices and decisions we make in life. Whether his was overcoming, but it's hearing some of those stories and recognizing when somebody else tells like I know that story, I've heard that one before. Part of that is you know what's really beautiful about it. Whether it's an individual transforming or a business, they're not unique. Okay, everybody has something they've got to overcome. Sometimes that's as simple as mediocrity and being okay with where you are, and sometimes it's as significant as death or cancer and some other things that you have to go through. But I believe that everybody's got a story to tell and again, that's what I love about that quote from Rory Baden where he says you're really powerfully positioned to help that person you used to be. I've got my own stories that I can tell of things that I've overcome.
Speaker 2:Well, I love the fact that one of the values of credibility is just spreading cred dust. It's sharing the ideas, thoughts and actions of others, and there's nothing more powerful than to actually quote somebody when you're sharing their story and then send their book to your client. I absolutely applaud you for that.
Speaker 1:Thank you, I'm a leader. Thanks for listening to my conversation With Mitchell Levy. What a great episode on his podcast For the leaders living their values in Credibility Nation. Hear this message and go ahead. And social media we're sharing tips all the time for how you can grow your leadership and how you can focus that energy on continuous improvement on a daily basis, and certainly we get a chance to share some of our favorite mistakes with you on those platforms that you'll get a chance to learn from as well. Interesting hearing more conversations with great leaders like this. Check the show notes for a link to the Uncommon Leader podcast. I encourage you to subscribe so you'll get a notification in your email each week when a new episode comes out. Until next time, go and grow champions.
