Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / The Eight Common Practices of Uncommon Leaders with John Gallagher

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The Eight Common Practices of Uncommon Leaders with John Gallagher · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - understand what it takes to lead a health
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  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
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  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
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  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
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  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
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  - And it's why the most effective c suite
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  - leaders are deliberate about where they go to
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  - pressure test their thinking.
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  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
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  - brings together more than 1,500
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  - executive level attendees
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  - and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
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  - around growth, financial sustainability,
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  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
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  - have easy answers.
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  - Join us November second through the fifth in
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  - Chicago.
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  - For the agenda and event details,
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  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare
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  - Podcast.
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  - Thrilled today to be joined by a brilliant
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  - leader. We're joined today by John Gallagher.
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  - John's gonna talk about what he does, how
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  - he ended up doing what he does. Also,
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  - he's got a new book coming out and
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  - talking about that as well.
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  - John, can you take a moment and introduce
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  - yourself and and tell us about what you
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  - do?
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  - Absolutely, Scott. Thank you so much for the
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  - opportunity to, chat with you today. Looking forward
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  - to our conversation.
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  - I am an executive coach and a performance
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  - consultant. I'm the founder and CEO of Growing
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  - Champions,
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  - consulting company. And I've been working with executives
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  - in,
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  - mid market companies myself for the last six
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  - years in coaching consulting.
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  - Prior to that, I spent ten years,
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  - with one of the big five in in
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  - consulting,
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  - in both health care and operations and then
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  - twenty five years in manufacturing.
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  - But, ultimately, what I'm focused on with executive
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  - leaders today,
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  - is helping them to close the gap, you
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  - know, very generally between where they are,
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  - and where they wanna be,
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  - whether that's in their personal leadership transformation or
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  - in their organization as well.
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  - And and take a moment on what that
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  - looks like, and how much of that is
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  - done with health system leaders
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  - versus nonhealth system leaders?
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  - Yeah. I think the with regards specifically health
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  - system, I mean, I might when I got
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  - into consulting, it was quite a story. I've
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  - been in manufacturing, and I was being recruited
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  - by this consulting company. And they said, you
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  - know, hey. We want you to do this.
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  - I'm like, I have no desire to be
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  - in
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  - consulting. And the third time they called me,
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  - they said, what if we put you inside
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  - of health care and did this? Now I
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  - was trained in the Toyota production system and
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  - manufacturing background, but I found that quite fascinating.
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  - I was actually naive enough to believe
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  - that I could make a difference in health
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  - care using some of these tools as well.
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  - And I said, yeah. I can do that
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  - for a couple years and see how that
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  - goes. And I ended up doing it for
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  - ten years,
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  - again with this large consulting company. And then
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  - when COVID hit, it changed a lot of
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  - people's lives, including myself,
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  - and I made that change on my own.
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  - But I continue to work. Right now, for
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  - me, probably about a third of my,
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  - business is in that health care space, working
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  - with executive leaders
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  - in, clinics,
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  - in hospitals
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  - and helping them again to improve their leadership
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  - and also the processes of patients throwing flowing
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  - through their businesses.
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  - Take a moment. I understand that you've recently
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  - authored a new book.
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  - Tell us a little bit about that.
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  - Yeah. I love this story, and this is
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  - something that where I had to take some
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  - of my own medicine, Scott, with regards to
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  - my executive coaching. For years, I've been saying
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  - I need to write a book. I want
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  - to write a book. One of these days,
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  - someday, I'm gonna write a book. I was
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  - at a conference in November 2025. It was
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  - actually called a Book Thinkers Conference
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  - with a group of podcast hosts. So I
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  - also host up my own, podcast, which you've
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  - been a guest on before, Scott, which was
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  - great,
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  - and also podcast or, authors that were there.
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  - And, the facilitator of the conference stepped up
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  - right off the bat, and he said, I
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  - wanna challenge you all when you listen to
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  - the speakers today
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  - to write a book about what you hear.
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  - And I thought it was interesting. There was
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  - something inside of me who said that now
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  - is the time
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  - to write that book. So I listened to
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  - those speakers over the course of about two
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  - days
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  - and created an outline,
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  - for a book as I listened to them
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  - and ultimately took their stories,
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  - and mapped them out to my story.
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  - And it's one of these books that, the
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  - title is Eight Common Practices of Uncommon Leaders.
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  - And what that really says is that there's
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  - nothing new inside of that book,
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  - that's been written.
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  - But with regards to the uncommon component and
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  - the successful leaders that are out there, I
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  - believe those uncommon leaders practice these things such
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  - as do hard stuff or,
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  - collect awesome people in their life,
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  - more intentionally and more disciplined
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  - than those who just get mediocre or poor
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  - results.
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  - And that if leaders,
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  - ultimately can be more consistent
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  - over time and more intentional with the behaviors
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  - and actions that they have, that they actually
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  - will see,
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  - bigger and better results inside their business that'll
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  - be lasting,
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  - ultimately leading to them being able to leave
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  - a legacy
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  - as a leader.
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  - And and talk a little bit about this
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  - concept of collecting people in your lives that
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  - you have close relations with, close connections with,
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  - and sort of the intentionality in doing that.
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  - Any thoughts or ideas on that? Because I
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  - I love that concept. And for you that
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  - don't know you well, yes. I had a
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  - chance to visit with you on your podcast,
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  - and it was an uncommonly
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  - wonderful experience
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  - visiting with you. So so I could imagine
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  - that being coached by you is also a
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  - wonderful experience. But but talk about one of
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  - those concepts from the book. I and I
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  - love that concept. We could get you to
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  - tee off on that one, which is this
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  - concept of collecting uncommon peep or people that
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  - you're really close with or whatever it might
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  - be or something else. So talk about one
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  - of those and just dig a little bit
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  - deeper into that.
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  - So many different ways to to think about
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  - this. But in that collecting awesome people, I
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  - had a a mentor of mine over twenty
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  - years ago.
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  - He was a pastor as well, and he
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  - said something to me. He said, life is
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  - relationships. The rest is just details.
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  - And what I take from that really is
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  - that, you know, ultimately, as leaders and, you
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  - know, another,
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  - whether it's a cheesy cliche or not, we're
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  - either
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  - going into a crisis, in the middle of
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  - a crisis, or coming out of a crisis.
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  - In those times that we're either in the
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  - crisis or going into it, that's not the
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  - time to build the relationships that you need
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  - to have you help people go through that.
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  - Look, I believe that we are most powerfully
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  - positioned to help the person
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  - that we once were. And if we put
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  - ourselves
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  - in a position
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  - where we are building relationships with people in
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  - our lives that do things better than we
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  - do, We're challenging ourselves with coaches
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  - or mentors
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  - or teachers that do things that are better
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  - than us or even, you know, business leaders
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  - who are in the same business that we
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  - are that we're trying to learn from.
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  - If we build relationships with them now, when
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  - we actually need help,
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  - we don't have to worry about if it's
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  - two o'clock in the morning, who do I
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  - call to make that happen? It's really too
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  - late to build that relationship
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  - once you get that done. So by being
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  - intentional
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  - with your relationships that you build, you have
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  - a better chance ultimately of of living a
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  - successful life if you recognize and be humble
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  - enough to ask for that help. One of
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  - the one of the methodologies that I teach
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  - and that I try to use myself, I
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  - call it the three two one framework. It's
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  - three coffees, two lunches, and a dinner.
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  - Each month, and you're building these relationships, take
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  - the opportunity to even if it's in a
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  - remote world,
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  - to dial somebody up and have a coffee
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  - with them, just to check-in with them, somebody
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  - you've known from your past, or two lunches.
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  - Get together with someone. Really ask them how
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  - their life is going,
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  - or one dinner. Go deep with someone once
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  - a month where you're trying to learn from
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  - and get to know them better and, you
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  - know, add value to their lives. Not just
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  - pull value from them, but when you're building
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  - that relationship, you're also adding value to their
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  - lives as well.
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  - Love that. And talk a little bit about
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  - you've got the book coming out. Talk a
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  - little bit about, John, what are you most
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  - focused on and excited about as you move
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  - forward into the rest of this year and
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  - into the next year?
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  - Yeah. I think,
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  - specifically, for me on a focus, I mean,
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  - you know, it feels like AI can be
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  - that topic that's that's there all the time.
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  - With the with the executives that I work
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  - with generally, especially in, smaller companies that may
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  - be servicing these health care groups,
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  - is that they're they're recognizing
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  - that
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  - leadership is is really hard.
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  - And, you know, one of my favorite authors
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  - in the leadership space, John Maxwell, he says
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  - everything rises and falls
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  - on leadership.
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  - So my focus is on this, framework that
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  - I'm working on with them that's talked about
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  - a little bit inside the book, but not
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  - deeply,
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  - is that we first have to realize we
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  - make a choice. We gotta develop ourselves as
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  - leaders. We have to recognize that we've not
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  - arrived where we are, that we're not good
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  - enough, that we have something that's better in
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  - us on a daily basis.
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  - Once we realize that with ourselves, we develop
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  - our teams as well and and realize that
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  - we can't develop them any more than we
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  - develop ourselves. We can't, in essence, pour from
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  - an empty cup. And so we're pouring into
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  - our team members. And then the third piece
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  - are what are the structures and processes that
• 8:57
  - need to be in place in your business,
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  - whether it's in your standard operations practices inside
• 9:02
  - your clinics or hospitals in the health care
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  - space, or it's in your accounting practices as
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  - to how you handle,
• 9:08
  - and collect the the invoice and the money
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  - that you are doing. Or on the customer
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  - service side at the end, how are you
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  - connecting
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  - with those customers? And, again, specifically health care
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  - with your patients to make sure that you
• 9:20
  - understand what's happening in those space. And, ultimately,
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  - if we can recognize that we need to
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  - develop ourselves as leaders, take humility to say
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  - that, we need to develop our teams and
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  - delegate to our teams,
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  - we need to develop the structures and processes
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  - to monitor and understand how we're performing. Those
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  - three things together will lead to the success
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  - that I believe
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  - can be on a climbing scale for years
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  - to come, and we can eliminate some of
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  - those ups and downs that are happening inside
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  - of our performance on a regular basis when
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  - we become more intentional.
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  - Thank you.
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  - One other question I have for you is
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  - talk about sort of when people come to
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  - you for coaching,
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  - what's the most common
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  - issue they might come to you for? Or
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  - or give us maybe the top two or
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  - three that people say, like, I really need
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  - help with this,
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  - or or I really want help with that.
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  - And I know everybody's different, but there must
• 10:13
  - be some commonalities about
• 10:15
  - what most people really look for in a
• 10:17
  - in a great executive coach.
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  - No. I love that question, and it's one
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  - that you're always there because I look. I
• 10:23
  - go back to twenty five years ago when
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  - I asked for my first executive coach.
• 10:28
  - I was in a performance review with my
• 10:29
  - boss in a fishbowl room. He gave me
• 10:32
  - that, and there wasn't anything that he said
• 10:33
  - that wasn't truthful about that performance review. On
• 10:36
  - a scale of one to five, I got
• 10:37
  - a 2.3.
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  - That means needs improvement,
• 10:40
  - and I wasn't there. I'm a I'm a
• 10:42
  - 33 year old, young, and in an executive
• 10:45
  - position in manufacturing.
• 10:47
  - And I'm sitting across from my boss, and
• 10:49
  - these tears roll down my cheeks.
• 10:51
  - And I'm like, well, I don't know why
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  - this is happening.
• 10:54
  - But all I can remember saying
• 10:56
  - across the across the the table from him
• 10:59
  - is I need help.
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  - And I had never heard of what an
• 11:02
  - executive coach was before, but I had just,
• 11:04
  - had a CD
• 11:06
  - about a company that did this thing called
• 11:08
  - life coaching and executive coaching. I slid the
• 11:10
  - CD across to him and asked him to
• 11:12
  - help me. And that was really where my
• 11:14
  - passion for coaching came into play and recognizing
• 11:17
  - there were two people that I wanted to
• 11:18
  - help. That individual that I was at that
• 11:21
  - point in time receiving that feedback and saying,
• 11:23
  - I need to get better, that I wasn't
• 11:25
  - where I needed to be. And secondly is
• 11:27
  - I wanted to help that leader that was
• 11:28
  - giving the feedback. He could do in such
• 11:30
  - a way that he was presenting that in
• 11:32
  - terms of truth and in terms of grace.
• 11:35
  - Those two things outline the biggest problems that
• 11:37
  - I see today. Sometimes leaders, if they don't
• 11:40
  - hear what they need to hear,
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  - they don't even know that they have the
• 11:43
  - blind spots or performance challenges that they have.
• 11:45
  - They're not sure what they're looking for, and
• 11:48
  - they've just been told they're good, so they're
• 11:49
  - good enough.
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  - My job as an executive coach to help
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  - them see those blind spots so they can
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  - recognize that good enough, frankly, isn't enough, that
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  - they were called to something much higher.
• 11:59
  - But the other side of that is I'm
• 12:00
  - teaching them to develop their team by learning
• 12:04
  - to give feedback. And that's the other thing.
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  - I don't know how to give my team
• 12:07
  - or develop my team and give them feedback
• 12:09
  - on their performance.
• 12:10
  - I end up just being nice to them,
• 12:13
  - because, you know, they they work for me,
• 12:14
  - and I've liked them for a long time,
• 12:16
  - and they used to be good in their
• 12:17
  - role. But I don't see them developing, and
• 12:19
  - they're not performing, and I can't seem to
• 12:21
  - get them inspired and motivated.
• 12:23
  - So my job I see both those things.
• 12:25
  - I see the one who has a gap
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  - in terms of where they are. They think
• 12:28
  - they're good enough, but they just need to
• 12:30
  - get better. And the second, in the especially
• 12:32
  - in the executive space is how do I
• 12:34
  - develop my team so that I don't have
• 12:37
  - to
• 12:37
  - do so much of the work in the
• 12:39
  - business on a regular basis and I can
• 12:41
  - focus more on the strategy?
• 12:44
  - Thank you. And and talk about from your
• 12:46
  - own
• 12:47
  - coaching
• 12:48
  - being coached,
• 12:49
  - what were one or two key lessons that
• 12:51
  - you learned there?
• 12:53
  - Well, one of the things I went right
• 12:55
  - into is I thought he was gonna teach
• 12:56
  - me how to do all the things that
• 12:57
  - I need to do from a management standpoint
• 12:59
  - and teach me the how to read, the
• 13:01
  - stock market and everything else. And what I
• 13:03
  - learned is he wanted to talk to me
• 13:05
  - about what my daily habits were and what
• 13:08
  - my weekly habits were. And so I'm looking
• 13:10
  - to them to say, first, tell me what's
• 13:12
  - most important to you.
• 13:13
  - Okay? And that was for me as well.
• 13:15
  - What's most important to you? That usually comes
• 13:17
  - in the in the form of business. But,
• 13:19
  - also, to be a holistic leader, it comes
• 13:21
  - in the fourth of your fitness or your
• 13:23
  - health and your finances and how you're doing
• 13:25
  - there and your family and those relationships that
• 13:28
  - are very important to you. And for me
• 13:29
  - as a man of faith, my faith as
• 13:31
  - well. And so when I told him those
• 13:33
  - were the important things in my life,
• 13:35
  - he asked me to show him in my
• 13:37
  - calendar
• 13:38
  - where I was doing those activities.
• 13:40
  - And I found that it was way out
• 13:42
  - of balance in that space and that the
• 13:44
  - things that I said were most important to
• 13:46
  - me were not the things that were on
• 13:48
  - my calendar on a daily basis. And I
• 13:50
  - had to make adjustment to those daily habits
• 13:53
  - and disciplines
• 13:54
  - to move me in that direction, and it
• 13:56
  - really started with myself. It was less about
• 13:58
  - me working with my team and more about
• 14:00
  - me working on myself. You know, the old
• 14:02
  - airplane analogy is true. You gotta put your
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  - mask on before you can help somebody else.
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  - So he was pointing things out to me
• 14:09
  - that I needed to do in my disciplines
• 14:11
  - and habits before I was gonna be able
• 14:13
  - to help my team members or my organization
• 14:15
  - move forward in that. And that really helped
• 14:18
  - me, frankly,
• 14:19
  - learn
• 14:20
  - that to teach the the folks who reported
• 14:22
  - to me to be very focused on their
• 14:24
  - business, but also in the form of business
• 14:26
  - specifically,
• 14:27
  - is that we can do anything we want.
• 14:29
  - We just can't do everything we want. How
• 14:31
  - do we identify the key
• 14:33
  - important aspects of our daily things we need
• 14:36
  - to do on a daily, weekly, monthly, and
• 14:38
  - annual basis
• 14:39
  - to be successful? And when we're doing things
• 14:41
  - that we don't outline,
• 14:43
  - how do we become rigorous with saying no
• 14:45
  - to those things?
• 14:47
  - And I find I love that because I
• 14:49
  - find my biggest challenge is is
• 14:52
  - constantly figuring out where should I focus my
• 14:55
  - energy, you know, between multiple different priorities. I
• 14:58
  - find, particularly as I get older and it
• 15:00
  - becomes more a portfolio of life than a
• 15:02
  - single purpose,
• 15:03
  - it it's trying to constantly figure out where
• 15:05
  - do I focus my energies
• 15:07
  - and what's the biggest priority and then making
• 15:09
  - sure my actual time
• 15:11
  - and what I spend time on,
• 15:14
  - you know, lines up with those priorities. I
• 15:16
  - I just I quite frankly love that.
• 15:18
  - Amen. And when we measure I mean, if
• 15:20
  - I really push I just to measure that
• 15:22
  - too. Like, you what do you want me
• 15:23
  - to do? You you want me to say,
• 15:24
  - I'm gonna meet with my team members two
• 15:26
  - times a week. That's eight times a month.
• 15:27
  - You want me to track that on a
• 15:29
  - on a scorecard? I'm like, yeah. I do.
• 15:31
  - I want you to because if we don't
• 15:32
  - if we don't measure it, how do we
• 15:34
  - manage it? And, I know that what we
• 15:36
  - what we measure, we can control. So it's
• 15:38
  - really teaching
• 15:40
  - a new muscle to say, I want you
• 15:41
  - to see visually if you're hitting those things.
• 15:43
  - But you're right, Scott. Show them your calendar,
• 15:45
  - and I'll tell you what is most important
• 15:46
  - to you. Absolutely.
• 15:48
  - Thank you. John, it's a pleasure to visit
• 15:50
  - with you. Where can people learn more about
• 15:52
  - you and what you do?
• 15:54
  - And then, also, where will they be able
• 15:56
  - to find the book and give us the
• 15:57
  - exact title of the book again if you
• 15:59
  - don't mind?
• 16:00
  - Yeah. Absolutely. So, again, Scott, I appreciate the
• 16:03
  - time. I hope that we've added value to
• 16:04
  - the listeners of of your podcast here. My
• 16:07
  - website is coachjohngallagher.com.
• 16:09
  - That's got links to my podcast, the Uncommon
• 16:11
  - Leader Podcast. Folks can find your conversation with
• 16:14
  - me in there. I also have a weekly
• 16:16
  - newsletter that I put out called the Champions
• 16:17
  - Brew that they can subscribe to on that
• 16:19
  - page. Specifically for the book, I'm pretty jazzed
• 16:22
  - up about. 8commonpracticesbook.com
• 16:25
  - is where they're gonna be able to learn
• 16:26
  - more. Of course, they can go to Amazon
• 16:28
  - and get that book as well. I'm gonna
• 16:29
  - self publish that book, but the title is
• 16:31
  - The Eight Common Practices
• 16:33
  - of Uncommon Leaders. I hope they enjoy it.
• 16:37
  - Thank you so much.
• 16:39
  - John, we appreciate you joining us so much.
• 16:41
  - What a pleasure to visit with you. Just
• 16:43
  - a fantastic leader and a person. Thank you
• 16:45
  - so much. Thank you, Scott.