The Uncommon Leader Podcast

Episode 201: The Kobe Standard- Quinn Harwood Reveals the Secret to Unwavering Leadership Confidence

• John Gallagher • Episode 201

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What if the missing piece in your leadership isn’t a new tactic but a new identity? Coach and author Quinn Harwood joins us to unpack the Power of You, a practical path for zillennial leaders who crave meaning, impact, and confidence that lasts. We dig into his coaching fable, Growth Time, where each stop on a life journey mirrors a growth zone leaders must face, from escaping Uville’s ego traps to choosing a weekly mindset that actually moves your mission.

Quinn doesn’t preach from the podium; he shares from the trenches. He opens up about the highs of pro basketball and the lows of losing a long-time role and walking through a painful divorce. Out of that life quake came structure, purpose, and a mantra he now coaches every week: mindset changes behavior. You’ll hear how Monday Movers, his free mindset ritual, helps leaders replace doom scrolling with deliberate focus, turn confidence into a practice, and show up for hard conversations with clarity and conviction.

We also explore how faith, service, and legacy shape uncommon leadership. Quinn carries his father’s charge—help others help others—into every chapter of his work, translating purpose into daily habits: early training sessions to prime the mind, simple commitments that stick, and consistent shots taken when the game gets tight. If you’re a mission-driven professional who wants more than metrics, this conversation offers a clear, doable roadmap to build real confidence, align ambition with values, and lead with impact.

Subscribe now, share this with a friend who needs Monday momentum, and leave a quick review so more mission movers can find the show. Then tell us: what mindset will you commit to this week?

🎁 Special Offer: Quinn is giving away signed/prayed-over books to the first 3 listeners who join his Monday Movers Mindset at mygrowthtime.com.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 Quinn Harwood:👇
➡️ 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧 (primary): https://www.linkedin.com/in/quinn-harwood-455517108/
➡️ 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐓𝐮𝐛𝐞: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZE_USSrrHNVpIcpEqkScnQ
➡️ 𝐖𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞:  https://coachqharwood.com/
➡️ 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Quinn-Harwood/author/B0F1G7BR2G?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

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SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, hard to be a great leader, an uncommon leader, unless you grow in life first. And life has these kind of growth zones, it's kind of the book puts forward. But that's the journey of it. And so that's where it starts. And then there's certain barriers to the get the power of you.

SPEAKER_00:

Hey Uncommon Leaders, welcome back. This is the Uncommon Leader Podcast. I'm your host, John Gallagher. I got a fabulous guest for you today. I've already had a lot of conversation with him. Probably should have had the record button on already. Some of the things we chatted about, I'll try to bring them back up again, but we're going to have a lot of fun. Gwyn Harwood is our guest today. We are excited to have him on here. He's a professional certified coach, leadership expert, and the number 15 player in Davidson College basketball history. And he's also played for the LA Clippers as well. So we may get a chance to talk about that. But what we're ultimately here to talk about from a leadership standpoint is he's an author of the new book, Growth Time, a coaching fable, the clear path to unlock your best life and leadership. And Quinn's on a mission ultimately to empower what he calls mission movers. So, Quinn, welcome to the Uncommon Leader Podcast. Great to have you on the show. How are you doing today, friend?

SPEAKER_01:

John, I am excited. I'm thrilled. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, absolutely. So I want to jump in on that mission mover right off the bat. What is a mission mover? Tell the listeners what a mission mover is in your perspective. It's really catered to the next generation.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, my heart and passion is bent for the next generation. And I call it the zillennial. You know, it's that person at the borderline of Gen Z and the millennial. And they are such a passionate generation, which I'm so enthused to help support. But mission movers, they want to do more, they have a bigger vision or purpose in mind. Some are very clear on it, some aren't, but they have a mission that they want to achieve or pursue. They're not content just to be average or status quo. Um, there's something in them that says I was created for more. I may be clear and I may not, but I want to move a mission forward. And it's interesting when you look at the culture of how much people in the professional setting want to be connected to a higher vision. They want to be connected to a company, visions, values. They want to make more of an impact. I mean, we're in the influencer generation, right? And people see that there's so much names and sediment out there. They're like, hey, I want to do something more. The average and just mundane is not okay for them. The do-your job mentality is gone. Like, that's my generation. Like, no, they want something more. And they're looking to move a mission at a farther, faster pace. And that's what I'm excited about. Um, how we get there is the journey. How you help someone move their mission forward. Well, that's where coaching comes in. But gosh, I'm passionate about it. Helping them move their mission, get clarity on their mission, nothing more impactful for them to reach their potential and everything God's purpose for their life. So I love it.

SPEAKER_00:

Love it as they go forward. Now, I love that word zelennial in terms of mixing that up. And that next generation, first of all, it is so important. You mentioned they are mission-driven. I mean, some of them are not as motivated, if you will, just by the simple money and that long term, they're not staying with companies for 30 or 40 years, like a generation or two generations before really did. And so it becomes very important for us as leaders to understand uh the mindset of that group as well. So I appreciate how you put that together. When I think about it, I know that your book, and we'll talk about that a little bit more growth time, is really about your story. Friend, a friend of mine, and uh maybe someone you have heard about Rory Vaden, would say that you know, we are most powerfully positioned to help the person that we once were. So let's talk about that as a traditional question first before we drop into the book. Tell me a story from your childhood, maybe that still impacts who you are today as a person or as a leader.

SPEAKER_01:

So when I was uh 15, I was a sophomore in high school. I was a 5'11 kid who couldn't jump over an iPhone. Now we didn't have iPhones then, but I couldn't jump over it. And I was on the sophomore team. The standard at the high school, South Lakes High School, was high. It's in Virginia. Uh Grand Hill was two classes above me. He's a Hall of Famer and great announcer now. But the standard was high. I had a lot of insecurities and uncertainties about me as a person, as a player. And in that, my JV coach at the time, Irv Green, God bless him, he saw something in me. And he actually moved me from a forward position to play point guard. And I'm playing against athletic people. I feel like I'm overwhelmed, but he just kept sewing belief into me that hey, you are good at as a point guard. You need this, the team needs you. And he kept sewing belief, even after turnover, after turnover, after mistake, and he just kept sewing belief into me. And that was just really life-changing for me at that time. I gained confidence, and that was something I struggled with immensely growing up was confidence. And I see that like in the zillennial group, the key thing I coach to a lot is confidence. How do you have an unwavering confidence? And that shows up in our communication and our relationships and our willingness to even take steps to move our mission. But in that, I learned that hey, if someone would believe in me and I could then maybe start to believe in myself, my confidence began to elevate. And in that, I started to play well. And we had a great JV year. We were 23 and 3. We won kind of our a little district, you know, JV competition. And it stuck with me. And it really set me up for success because in that I then kept growing. By the time I was a senior, I was 6'8. And by the time I got to college, I was six nine. But I had all those point guard guard skills that really transferred well to at that time my journey and quest of playing the NBA. So I would say that was a really defining story of leadership. And though I continued to struggle after that moment with confidence until I got more into my mid-20s and really understood how to break through these barriers of being a confident person in the way I approached life, it was game changer for me.

SPEAKER_00:

Love that. And I think you're spot on in terms of back to that zillennial and the need that they have for uh mentors who can pour into them, who can affirm uh who they are as individuals and ultimately recognizing their God-given potential that they have, but helping to build their confidence in the day and age that they are living in right now. You mentioned that social media uh and all of the negative things that can come out of that with regards to their doom scrolling and uh imposter syndrome and all the different things that they can start to compare themselves to. It's very important to have that person. So when you can recognize that you had that person in your life, very cool as well. I I want to ask a couple of questions off of your story, even at 15, uh, that I might align with just a little bit. So you said you couldn't jump over an iPhone. One of my nicknames in high school when I played basketball was dimes. And that's what my trainer said as I call him, he was the athletic trainer. So I call you dimes because when you jump, I don't think I can slide a dime underneath your feet. And I thought that was actually, well, it was pretty humiliating, was actually kind of funny. Um, but the time you get to 6'8, were you able to jump a little higher than an iPhone by then as well? You built your strength?

SPEAKER_01:

Thank goodness my athleticism increased as I grew, and I put a lot of work into it, but thank God I could eventually get over the iPhone.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Excellent, very cool. Well, I want to touch on because we we're gonna move a little bit back and forth with regards to the mission mover, but you've written this book and you called Growth Time. It's a fable. First of all, you wrote it in the form of a fable. Why did you choose to write it like that? And then the second question maybe coming out of that is uh who did you write it for? Sure.

SPEAKER_01:

So I wrote it as a fable based upon influence. You know, when I got into my uh early, you know, early 30s and I was working in the corporate culture in the corporate world, I began to become very invested in a mindset that leadership was my pathway. So results was one process in life, but leadership was the end. It wasn't a means to the end, it was the end. And as I grew in leadership, which I love this podcast, The Uncommon Leader, that's where more results came in my professional career, you know, in it. And so uh, you know, the journey of it, you know, when you think through it in terms of growth and the fable came from the influence of others. And so there was an author, I love them, his name was John Gordon, and he wrote, you know, leadership books and short-form fable. And they gravitate towards it. People remember stories, and so you'll probably remember a story out of this podcast, but you probably won't remember all the words you say. And so the stories is what caters to people and the story paint pictures. A storyteller is one of the most powerful forms of communication we have. And so I said, wow, you know what? I can just write what I've been through or what I think or what I know from the coaching space will help people grow and develop, or I could uh paint this as a story. So that was one layer of why I wrote as a story. You know, the second one's a little more personal. Uh, you know, I have three kids, and when I was growing, uh they were growing up, I used to tell them bedtime stories. And I used to make these characters up named Peter and Tommy. And then my daughter came along and I had to create a person named Ruby. And so if you read the book, you'll know that some of those names are actually in the book as far as the connection point, not my kids' names, but these characters. Um in that, as I told these stories, they always had a purpose, a fable, had some kind of growth lesson involved with them. And so when I began to be inclined and I got moved to get into life and leadership coaching in the COVID time period, I said, man, if I'm gonna write something, I want to do it in story form. And I know that's a place where stories remember people. And that's what I hear feedback about the book. Hey, this part of the story, hey, this journey, hey, it's written as a person actually traveling down the journey of life, and there's different stops they make along their journey, and there's different villages they visit. And each village is a really a symbolic portrait of where they need their growth to continue to move their mission forward, and so it's really kind of that parallel. So that's kind of you know why it came as a coaching fable. You know, in terms of the audience, man, John, it's that next generation. You know, I almost start to tear up because I think, you know, out of your pain, you find your purpose. And I think the journey of it is some of the painful lessons of my life and some of the fractures and just some brokenness and the challenges, and trying to find who I was and trying to find my confidence and getting past this enemy of self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and and just the stress and anxiety that comes from it in life. I I just was like, oh, I mean, I identify with it. And I know that in terms of my mission moving, if I can leave and impact the generation after me, this world's gonna move at a better place, and their lives will be better and they'll be more fulfilled and more energized about their life and their story, and they'll make more of an impact and that'll eventually filter down to their family and their home. So, you know, for me, it's like getting that zillennial, getting that person who's just getting through that journey in the corporate world. Maybe they got a job, maybe they got an entrepreneurial vision, but they're in that space where I'm kind of doubting certain things. I don't know if I can really do it. Uh, but hey, I've got confidence in some areas, but not here. And I just want more. I want to be a mission mover, I want something bigger for my life, and I'm just trying to climb and get there and figure it out. So I wrote it for them, man. I really wrote it for them. And it's uh it's just what my heart beats towards.

SPEAKER_00:

So and I I had fun. That's good. You changed the names to protect the innocent a little bit. But what I really want to know, and this is a fun question, was it really a T Top Camaro, or did you change the name of the car as well? No, man, it was a T Top Camaro, man. Yes, man, I'm so jealous, goodness gracious. I mean, my college car was the 81 citation. So I mean, I can't imagine the T Top Camaro and you know, pulling those, pulling that glass off of there, running around with that thing, man. That had to be time of your life, but I'm sure there are other stories that go along with it, no doubt.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, that Camaro, and it was my prize possession, man. I was holding on to something in life, and it's funny what you hold on to. If I own one thing, if I could put my anchor in something, and eventually I learned that and that those are kind of fleeting, but it took a graduated from college.

SPEAKER_00:

It was the Cavalier Z24 for me, and that was probably pretty close again in timing, but I think it's fun. My wife, when when I got married, I ended up trading that in for a four-door Pontiac Grand Am. Got rid of that aqua green cavalier Z24 for a sedan. Oh well, that's what it's like to be married sometimes, you know. And I love my wife, but she made me trade my car. Did you get back into a sports car? No, I haven't. Although I did become into a cruiser, like at the old guy cruiser. I had uh they used uh Lexus LS 400 that I got kind of later on in my career. Man, that was a cruiser. It was like being in you know the living room kind of when you're riding around. And both my sons drove that car through high school and they didn't think I took a picture of them when they were seven years old in front of it, and it was already old. And I said, You guys are gonna drive this car in high school. And they're like, No way, it's not gonna be around then. And sure enough, they ran into the ground. Anyway, sorry, this isn't about cars, right? This is about leadership growth and things like that. But that's part of our life in terms of those stories and those cars. Look, the other thing that I love how you told the story, and I assume it's yours in there, is that you know, each of these key points that you go through, uh, you kind of named them after these little cities, right? Uh, Uville, Exitville, Shawville, uh Peepsville, I love that. Grimesville, Clearville, these towns that kind of uh go along with that. And the first one really that hit me, the U-ville, is the power of you. Okay, so we're gonna dive a little bit into that book a little bit. I'm gonna kind of talk about you know barriers and things like that in your coaching, but what's the power of you when you start and you kick off the book like that?

SPEAKER_01:

The terms of even in leadership, like it's coming to wrestle with yourself, like it's coming to grips in terms with yourself. And I can remember getting out of college and I didn't get drafted in the NBA, but it was still my goal and my dream. Smaller school, trying to play as a small fish in a big pond. And I get an opportunity to play with the Los Angeles Lakers and their Summer Lake team. And they got this 18-year-old kid in the team at the time, just full of himself, full of confidence, full of security. And this guy's Kobe Bryant. And we're having fun at practice, we're doing shooting competitions. He's four years younger, high school kid telling me he's a better shooter than me. And I'm like, no, you're not. And but I knew something was different about Kobe because of his confidence. And he had this unwavering confidence, you know, specific probably to basketball and in himself and what he can achieve. And, you know, a mission mover. And at the core of it, I lacked that. It was wrestling with me. And I was still wrestling with the find out where who was I, you know, what made me good, where was I strong? What was my identity? And what can I put some anchors into? And there was a lot of things I was putting anchors into that kept moving, they were like moving targets. And I realized that, man, I don't have what he has as confidence. And the power you, when you're in that place of pain, and the problem is you're self-doubting and you're not really sure, you may portray a sense of confidence, which I could do very well, but it was a mask, it was just a clear mask to present that inside there was just restless nights and certainty, and just kind of like staring at screens and playing video games. And today it's like people that are scrolling or navigating through one TikTok after the other, and it's just like this restlessness. So, in that, in my journey, the power of you was about getting clarity on me, and the power of you is about you coming to clarity on who you are, what your purpose is, and then how you want to choose to live your life. And the clarity on that gives us power so that we then four have more confidence. And I missed that, right? And I didn't have it at the level of the places I needed it, and so I looked at it from two places in my early 20s. Uh, I really had a really radical conversion of Christianity to Jesus. And I kind of got challenged in certain ways and it didn't know answers, and it started this whole I call God improvement journey. What did that really look like for my life? Didn't have a really strong faith background. But in that, these call it self-improvement and God improvement. And so the journey of really getting clear on the power of you is understanding your purpose plan for as a human here, but also God's purpose plan. And when those combine together, there's just some anchors, there's just some confidence. So in the book, and you know, I won't kind of give all the details away for people that want to grab it, but the journey is getting clear on the purpose plan for you as a human functioning in this world and what that looks like. And then what is God's divine purpose plan and how does that work? And when they intersect, man, it was an explosion of my own personal journey. I still went through painful journeys. I still went through, I've got a host of a roller coaster in life, but that confidence is what then carries me through. So I can continue to move the mission I'm on in my life without being taken out, overwhelmed, you know, fatigued, drained, stressed. That's the power of you. And if you can help the journey, I know you're big on growing champions, John, which I love your website. That's where the growth really begins. And that sets you up for your personal growth, but also sets you up for your leadership growth. And that's the journey of it. You're hard to be a great leader, an uncommon leader, unless you grow in life first. And life has these kind of growth zones, it's kind of the book puts forward, but that's the journey of it. And so that's where it starts. And then there's certain barriers to get the to the power of you.

SPEAKER_00:

Come on, keep going. Tell me the barriers. What is the what are the barriers? That's what we really need to know, right?

SPEAKER_01:

The barrier, like the really entry point in the journey we're all on is humans, in which I was at that journey uh in my early 20s, just trapped in Newville. And it's just an interesting place of Uville where we get really self-focused. So as much as we want to move our mission forward, there's this self-focused journey that really just uh alienates, isolates, like it's within us. It's humanity. We're not gonna get rid of it. But it's that self-focused journey. And behind that, you know, there's a virus I call, you know, there's a virus that's inherent to us all, and it's called this pride ego virus. And so that virus is kind of like, and I wrote this during COVID, so I use the analogy like a virus. It's infected with us. And to some degree, that virus in some people has a lot of symptoms, and in some people maybe it doesn't have as much, but there's this kind of resistance we have to to change, and there's this resistance we have to growth, and there's a resistance at some level we have to accepting some truth. And so, you know, that becomes the barrier, you know, getting out of ourselves and put letting go of our walls. And that really happened to me in my like, you know, early mid-20s. Like I can distinctively remember um just feeling so disengaged and disconnected. And I still had to show up the next day, and I still had to show up to play sports and athletics. I was playing, you know, pro basketball. But my gosh, I can remember nights where you know I was sitting there playing a Sony PlayStation, you know, NBA, uh, you know, John Madden. And man, I'm just like, man, I'm just trying to numb out, right? There's a shot of Southern Comfort nearby. I'll just take a few and just kind of numb out. And man, it's just the the weight or the pressure of that is like, ooh, it becomes a barrier. And so to get past that self-focus, to not just with withdrawal and get within, you've got to start to explore. You got to break through that self-focus, you got to break through that self-focused vision. You got to say it's not about me. And we can't let our pride or ego get in the way. It's not about me, it's about something bigger than me. And I think in the journey of my life, you know, Christ Jesus was that pathway to say, okay, it isn't about you, Quinn. It isn't all about your mission. It isn't all about your dreams and your goals and what you want to achieve. There's something bigger elevated for you. And so that was a catalyst to say, okay, I might see a pathway to get past myself. I might see a pathway to move past who I am and be more and get some of the stuff that's inside me that's just like churning out that I want to make a difference in this world. I don't want to be insignificant. I that was a journey, John.

SPEAKER_00:

That's quite a journey. And you may have another because you touched on there were two of those for you, specifically as you're talking about your faith journey and how it impacts you. Because some of the things I was thinking about from those barriers and being inside our own head and you know, the distraction of the video games in our days before TikTok and all the doom scrolling that exists today, those are distractions. And that's the enemy, as we learn to you know understand that in spiritual warfare. Ultimately, it's that the evil one, the devil will uh, if he can't get us to Not believe and use our faith, then he'll distract us. So we won't be focused on it. And that's so important to be able to intentionally uh know that voice is always going to be there on both sides. You know, I mean, it's our society, okay, that you know, it exists inside of our society, but our way of getting out of it is being very intentional. So I'll step out of your book for just a second and something that you do on a regular basis to help people overcome those barriers. And that's your uh Monday Movers mindset message. Common leaders, hope you're enjoying the episode so far. 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 CoachJongGallagher.com slash BBG, as in brand builders group to schedule your free call and take the first step toward building a personal brand that gets you noticed for all the right reasons. That's coachjohngallagher.com slash BBG. Now, let's get back to the You encourage these folks to start their week off on purpose and with momentum. How what is the message behind that and how do you get them going?

SPEAKER_01:

It is, John, it's about intentionality. Um, and some of the solution, right? If we have this problem of self-doubt, if we have this problem within us where we're imposter syndrome, if we have this thought of I'm just not firmly believing in myself or I'm firmly believing in my mission, right? So when we walk through that, uh, we need some strength, you know, we need some direction and we need to be coached through those spaces. And the answer lies in this word commitment. So commitment is the pathway to navigate past that barrier. And the commitment really lies within our commitment to our personal growth and our professional development. And so Monday Movers is about intentionality, about your commitment. And at the point, I'll give you some background to it, my commitment to say, hey, I'm going to move this mission forward. And I can't move it without the right mindset. So the journey, you know, as a professional, you know, certified coach here now for a number of years, uh, what I've learned as far as mindset changes behavior. And those that are listening, write it down. Mindset changes behavior. If you think about any change you've made in your life, physically, relationally, business, career, financial, when you pause and reflect, it's really because your mindset changed, then your behaviors or actions change. Even how if you woke up today, if you woke up with a difficult moment or you had some bad news, or man, it's just a grind. You can't wait to get to the weekend. Nothing's going to change until your mindset changes. So mindset changes behavior. And the more we can grab and hold on to a mindset that serves well or serves us or serves our mission, the more powerful we are. And so Monday Mover's mindset really was burnt born out of my own painful journey. Once again, there you go. Once again, right? Once again. In that in COVID, I was a COVID casualty. And COVID casualty looks like, man, I had spent 17 years at this point working for 24-hour fitness in the fitness world in the fitness industry. I was a mid-senior level manager managing this area of Austin, all the gyms that were in the area. Uh, they go, you know, things shut down. It seems like so long ago, but it was five years ago, right? The COVID world shuts down, and it's just like wow, and furloughs, job holes frozen, and they went bankrupt and they reorganized and they eliminated and closed down my market. And so my job was eliminated. You know, but in that, the really painful to be transparent, John, undercurrent, was I went through at that point, the same time in conjunction, going through the most brutal period of my life. I was going through this unforeseen, unexpected, painful divorce that was breaking up what I what I love the most. And it still almost makes me well up, you know, trying to maintain some composure here, you know. Uh I was going through it. And what I valued most was being a father and the identity of family. And all of a sudden, it's just like, man, this is earthquake. You know, I call them life quakes. And a life quake is an event that usually we'll have maybe two to three in our lifetime where life just quakes and life quake then. But the beauty of it isn't that life quake. I worked with the coach, God, and we got a vision to go into life coaching and start this mission-moving growth time journey. But what happened is is when you're not in the structure of a day, it's hard to create structure. And it's hard to create the right mindset to move that structure. And so, in that, what happened was every Sunday night, I would reflect on what is my mindset heading into this week? What mindset is going to help me move this mission forward? What is the mindset that's going to take me that I just need to hold on to, not scroll like a TikTok, but intentionality be committed each day of the week to reflect on this mindset. And so as I grabbed onto that, I started writing about it. And I started writing Monday Mover's mindset. And then as the audience grew and this, you know, a thousand people that would come and you know, I would get it out to them. And they're like, I don't know what I'm doing, right? I'm not a writer, I was a biology major, John. It's not like I didn't think I'd be moving this mission. And so I'm writing and sharing it, and I'm like, oh, this is even making a difference. And people, this is unique. This is awesome. Absolutely continue doing this. And I started writing that really as a journey for me to navigate this life coaching, leadership coaching, growth time journey I was branding and moving forward. And then I just started sharing it. And then the feedback and the open rates of these emails, I'm like, wow, like it's really helping people's mindset. And even the concept of it is being committed to mindset that will move your mission, being committed to a mindset that moves your mission, not scroll it, not TikTok that sucker, not like just move on, not like, hey, I got that for 30 seconds, and I'm gone to the next one, the next thought. There's a sticky power. And that's really what's helped me. I know that's what the solution is, really. Like for the audience, the zillinion that's listening to, yeah, it's like leveling up that commitment. Leveling up that commitment is going to be a pathway to build your confidence, right? To move your mission, to find that fulfilled life, to impact with your leadership, to making the impact God's creating you to make. So that's a heck of a long answer, John. But I try to give as much space to hopefully help as much people as we can with the thought.

SPEAKER_00:

Spot on. Again, summarizing it in mindset changes behavior. So, you know, there's scripture that comes to mind for me as you say that Philippians 4.8 and 4-9. Whatever's true, whatever's noble, whatever's right, think on these things. Too many times we stop at Philippians 4.8. But Philippians 4.9 says, Whatever I've taught you, put it into practice. That's the behavior side that you're talking about. So coupling those two things together, mindset and behavior, can be really, really powerful in a story. You mentioned open rates and feedback. Do you have a favorite story of feedback that you've gotten that you can share that uh from your Monday mindset that folks have uh let you know?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I could tell you it's at the the tipping point. Anytime you're in the in the Zillenials identify with this, anytime you're trying something new, you're like throwing yourself out there and you're like, Yeah, does this working? Is it not working? What does it look like? Um, and there's two stories with it. But one was like, I don't even know if anyone's really paying attention. Like, is this message that I'm moving really making a difference? And getting a feedback from someone I didn't know. So it's not just like people that are friends and family, right? Someone emailing in and saying, Hey, this is so unique and brilliant. You've got to continue these. I didn't even know I was thinking about maybe stopping it. They had no perception that I was probably like, is this really a value add? You know, does it really make a difference? Does it really help anybody? And it wasn't long. And I noticed that some of the most impactful things are said in short bursts in life, short power words rather than long stories in that sense. That was it. And that was as powerful. And then one other story recently, I was at uh I also do quite a bit of business coaching for you know, young entrepreneurs and business owner operators, small business, you know. And in that, I was at a franchise business convention, and uh someone came up to me and they go, Hey, I read your Monday movers every Monday. Those kind of like are those little things that keep inspiring you along the journey. Uh mission moving is not easy. Life's a contact sport straight up, right? There's no argument like that. And those things continue to help you move, move your mission.

SPEAKER_00:

By the way, I had that life is a contact sport from your book that I wrote down that I wanted to chat with you about. So I appreciate you touching on that. It's like you read my mind in that. All those things inside of that. It's like some of our stories are almost too close aligned. It was about a year and a half ago. I sat down and wrote to my mentor, said, I think I'm gonna stop writing the my Friday champions brew. It's a Friday newsletter, it comes out every Friday. I'd done it for about four years straight since 2020. I hadn't missed a Friday, and I said, I think it's not having the impact. Like, no, no, no. You got to write more and you got to write different. And you know, when I really started to write from my heart, more than, you know, in essence, uh retelling what others were doing, it changed the impact of it dramatically. And I've really found uh power in that and some of that feedback that you're sharing is so cool. I think we have Monday and Friday covered, and then I got a really good friend who does the Wednesday wake-up call video on LinkedIn. So we got Monday, Wednesday, Friday. We need to find a Tuesday and Thursday partner, and we got this thing covered, man. No doubt about it. Plenty of people for Sunday. We got them to they got the pastors, they got all that taken care of already. We can rely on Craig Rochelle or Andy Stanley or somebody like that to tell that story. But I appreciate you sharing. Let's talk about you and how your Monday starts out. So, what's a unique habit or two that you have uh that gets you prepared for the week for the Monday?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm a fitness holic. You know, fitness, even I worked in the industry, but it's just been something part of me, you know. Um, you know, in in the third section of the book, which I get to, you know, it's about personal liberty and personal freedom. And it's the concept of us being three-dimensional, uh body, soul, spirit, and how you coach to that. Uh, but physically moving my body is how I start off Mondays. And so I'm your 5 a.m. club, you know, by 5:30, I'm at the the boot camp I go to. I'm boot camp. Great brand. Okay. Do a lot of coaching for them. It's awesome. Uh, but you know, I go there, uh, work out, come back. You know, that's my uh mindset. And it's about a 10-minute, 15-minute drive. So on that, I'm in reflection, I'm in thought, and I'm in prayer, or I'm just rock, I'm just killing it with some music. I'm just driving some music home. I've got something pumping in the bass, and I'm just going down the road on my own journey and just getting fired up and uh getting that self-talk going.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, this self talk is so good. Oh gosh. And now you're aging yourself, and I just I wanted to know how true it was. I wrote it down. The songs that you mentioned in the back, Fire and Rain, Little JT. So you're still listening to JT all the time. Little Don McClean, American Pie, Steppin' Wolf. You play you blaring that on Monday mornings as well. And then come on, MM. Now you're stepping outside my comfort zone when you got Eminem in there as well. I got the other guys covered. I might throw a little Garth Brooks in there instead of Eminem.

SPEAKER_01:

That's great. Yeah, I gotta say, those were songs or themes that kind of you know, kind of ran the gamut. You know, definitely the MM song, uh, you know, lose yourself was a powerful, and for those who are hearing, that's a little small theme that you get in the book when you grab the copy, which would be great. Uh but yeah, that's probably not it. The Born to Be Wild was born out of uh Davidson, Davidson Wildcats, and we used to come out and play to that. But my playlist has been updated, man. I think my playlist is in a different spot.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, what would your walk, what would your leadership walk-up song be now, then? It's a good one.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, my leadership walk-up, man. There's so many songs that just flash through my head, but I don't know that I can call them leadership walk-up songs. You know, I would still, you know, the one that's moved me, right? Uh is just is the one I lead sometimes in the story. It just has a different feel to it. Like the MM song Lose Yourself, right? You get one shot. I think there was such an edge in me as a young person. And even sometimes it wants to rear up a little bit. There's an edge I live life or play with. Uh but the thought of it is that you may get knocked down, you may miss a chance, but it's just about getting up and keep shooting, you know, keep shooting the ball, taking your shots. And I work a lot, you know, and that's a basketball metaphor. But in the coaching world and the journey of all the clients I coach, it may be taking that shot at having that savage conversation when you're a leader in a group. So you're actually having to learn how to take ownership. And you got to take the shot of what really ownership looks like in terms of the uncommon leadership podcast, right? When you're driving for grinding out for results, you have to continue to take that shot. And sometimes that's the hardest thing. But the journey of it is, and that's you might as well look at me as a confidence coach here. Like when people are playing in their confident mindset in a confident frame, and the growth time journey walks you through the growth that's needed to really live your best life and walk in powerful confidence. It's it's a game changer. Like it's a game changer. So you just got to keep shooting, got to keep shooting your shot.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Gwen, you heard me before we hit the record button. I talked about one of my favorite things to do is kind of move into the acknowledgments section of the books as well that leaders write and you know who's impacted them. Uh and there was a quote here that I want you to touch on that impacted. It said, Help others help others was the quote. Tell me about that quote uh that showed up in your book at the end. Yeah, John.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh yeah, it just brings uh it brings emotion. It brings up my emotion, uh, for sure. Uh, that's my dad. Uh my father passed away a couple years ago, but that's not why I'm well enough with it. He was a great story. Uh, I think it just dives deeper into the father, like the father-son relationship and the vision my dad got in his late 80s. Uh, and it just was like a symbolic path of our journey, him and my dad together. Uh, a lot of my fire and rage growing up was coming from a broken segment of home. And a lot of it was based on I felt like how that relationship with my dad was. Uh, and so in that, you know, in my early 20s, I made a decision to forgive my dad, choose to reach out and love him. Uh, eventually, you know, uh, my faith actually led him to Christ, and his world changed at the age of 59 and his whole vision changed. You know, a man that was self-focused and a corporate executive worked for Mary for 40 years. You're you're talking about a high performer, but was, you know, just enslaved and self-focused, right? And you know, in that story, uh his life changed. And there's a lot more toward my dad's story, but as he got older, he had this vision of man, my whole life is about helping others, helping others. And that became clear. And he actually, towards his later years, and he unfortunately went through a significant decline his last couple of years with uh like an Alzheimer's you know issue, right? But in that, he helped others. The first kind of seed he planted was uh you know, a gift, you know, to help me navigate growth time and helping others, his son, go help others. So it definitely brings up a lot, John. And I yeah, it brings up a lot. It brings up a lot of emotion when you bring the dad into the story here. Uh that's a great question, John. But yeah, it brings up a lot. And so the help others help others is something just uh you know, it's carrying on the mission that was kind of like the father's blessing of going forward and moving this mission of growth time to help that next generation, which he was a broken inner city kid from Baltimore, and his journey became in his 60s and 70s to how to help those disenfranchised kids, you know, how to help them and navigate them with his skills, you know. And so, I mean, it's all about the Zillenials, man. It's all about helping that next generation do more, be more, move their mission. And there's a lot of pathways to do it. And the journey of it is growth time helps them have a clear path. It's a clear path. It's one, two, three in life, it's one, two, three in leadership. Here's the key things where you need your growth. This is going to help you have strong convictions and walk with confidence.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's more preach mode right there, John. But that's where my heart was at the moment. No, I appreciate you sharing from your heart on that question. And thank you for allowing me to kind of ask and go through that. I do appreciate you sharing, and I can understand that we could probably talk about dad relationships for a long time. As I bring us kind of pretty close to a close here, we have a mutual contact in Bob Wheatley, who we've gotten to know. And when I had him on my podcast the first time for being an author, his first book that was out, he talked about the the book test. And so I'm gonna have you complete the book test for your book growth time. What do you want folks to feel? And what do you want them to do after they've read your book and they kind of set it up on a shelf, like you know, the one behind me for folks who are uh watching on YouTube, see my bookshelf behind me, and you know, they kind of see the backing. Six months later, they see the backing of that book. What do you want them to feel? And what do you want them to do uh when they're done reading your book?

SPEAKER_01:

I want them to feel a sense of empowerment, you know, that their life is about their choices. My life, your life is about our choices. And we choose what we're gonna believe, we choose our mindsets, and I want them to feel empowered, empowered to be confident, empowered to be confident to go out and attack this world, to make their mark, to make a difference, to be a mission mover, to basically have that empowerment that okay, this is a resource and this is tools because there's a lot of work in there in growth time. It's not just a fable. There's sections where you stop and you got to put in the work. It's not just this fluff book, you've got to put in some work and want them feel empowered and confident that God has called them, they've got a bigger purpose. They are a mission mover. And let's get clarity on that mission and let's get clarity on you and your leadership, and let's go make an impact that you want to make. Let's get to the end and be like, I did it.

SPEAKER_00:

I was a mission mover. Love that. Appreciate you sharing that. Just a couple more questions. One is, uh, and maybe I'll just give them and give you the last word here. Uh, how do you want folks to get in touch with you, learn more about you, maybe more about your book? And then, secondly, again, for those on YouTube, I'm very curious about the basketball that's over your shoulder and the autographs that are on it. Just trying to figure out what's there.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, man. I wish I could say, hey, that was a championship ball that I played with the Lakers. Uh, but no, the Lakers cut me. And I and I think Jerry West was a GM at the time. He probably still thinks he might have won one more championship if he still had Harwood, but that's just me saying, right? Uh now that ball is really, I coached club basketball for years. I coached my kids in sports, you know, for years came up. Uh, and that basketball was something they gave me, like with all their names and all the kids. So it's really about the, and they're really zillennials now as we speak. It's about their names and their symbolism. That's what's on the ball.

SPEAKER_00:

Excellent.

SPEAKER_01:

All right. How do we how do folks learn more about you, Gwen? Where they or you want them to get in touch with you? The best thing, and I could think that if you've listened this far and something's moved you, and you've had this inclination that, huh, there is something more to this growth time for me, right? There is something more for me as a person, and your faith is activated or your mindset's stirred, and you're like, Yeah, that's what I want for my life. I want to be a mission mover. I want to be that person who finds confidence and significance. I want to break through. If that's you, we're gonna have some fun here. Just want you to go to the website, okay? Just go to mygrowthtime.com. So mygrowthtime.com. Mygrowthtime.com and get connected to Monday Movers. Monday Movers Mindset. Just get connected to it. It's free coaching. Nothing more powerful for how coach to help you go further and faster in your journey. Just get connected to it. And I will say this for three people after this that go ahead and go to mygrowthtime.com and click on Monday Movers Mindset and subscribe. I'm gonna send you a copy of my and in that book. I'm going to sign it with a personalized encouragement note that I will even pray over that would hopefully speak life and empowerment into your story. So, first three people that go on mygrowth time.com, click on the Monday Movers Mindset. It's free. I'm gonna send you the book. Everyone else, because there'll probably be a lot, hopefully. I will go ahead and put you in a raffle and we'll throw another one or two out there for you too. We'll have fun. But I'll reach out with that. Pathway coaching. And I know John, but you've been a coach for years, right? Coaching and the power of coaching and the essence of coaching and how we can empower people is just the transformational stories. I wish I could share one after another with you while the clients are coaching. It's just it's mind blowing. So it's my gift to say get connected to free coaching.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it starts with that Monday it starts with that Monday morning newsletter. I mean I can sense that. Absolutely. So I will make sure to put a link to that in the show notes as well so that folks can get back to it really easy. Very gracious for you to offer books to the listeners as well, and certainly to uh sign and pray over those two things. Uh pray over those books as well is uh extremely grateful on your part. Look, I I think this is a great conversation. I know those who got this far and listened to it or have enjoyed it and found something out of it. Quinn, I appreciate it. I appreciate you and I appreciate the value that you've added to the listeners of the Uncommon Leader podcast, and I wish you the best going forward, okay? Thanks, uh appreciate it. Yeah, Uncommon Leaders just finished up a great conversation with Quinn Harwood, the author of the newly released book Growth Time. I think you're gonna love the conversation. I hope you jump over and take a listen to the full episode. If you listen through all the way to the end, you'll find out a way you can win a free autograph copy of his book as well. He'll send it over to you, to some of the listeners who sign up for his weekly newsletter, and it talks about his Monday mindset. That was really what the great conversation was about. How do we use mindset to continually improve our leadership and ultimately become the leader that God called us for? You're going to get a chance to listen to it. I hope you give us a five star review. Hope you'll share it with somebody else who needs to hear it as well. Until next time, go and grow champions.

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