Embracing the Power of Discipline: Year 2 Highlights from The Uncommon Leader Podcast

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, uncommon Leaders, welcome back. This is the Uncommon Leader Podcast and I'm your host, john Gallagher. As someone who defines discipline as doing what you need to do when you need to do it, even when you don't feel like it, I believe it is the key to achieving what you truly desire. Reflecting on the second full year of the Uncommon Leader Podcast, the theme of discipline emerged as a powerful thread running through many of our most downloaded episodes. We see to become an Uncommon Leader, we must consistently embrace ordinary actions that yield extraordinary results, a path chosen by only a few. In this special episode, I dive into the most popular episodes of the year. Drawing from the wisdom shared by many of my guests, I'll explore the disciplines they've incorporated into their daily routines to think positively, exercise daily, eat healthy, work hard, build faith, read more and worry less. It's a compilation that promises to inspire and encourage. I had the privilege of speaking with exceptional individuals who exemplify discipline in action. Year two of the Uncommon Leader Podcast has been a resounding success, thanks to our incredible guests and the unwavering support of listeners like you. Your feedback has been invaluable and I'm truly grateful for your loyalty. As I embark on year three, I'm committed to doubling the impact, continuously earning your time and delivering episodes that bring value to your leadership journey. Thank you for joining me on this remarkable adventure. Get ready to be inspired, encouraged and equipped by the disciplines and stories we'll explore together. Let's get started. Craig Genie, chief Transformation Officer for Collins Electrical Company in Stockton, california, passively shared his inspiring journey. Maria Francis-Goni, chief of Nursing and Director of Health Promotion and Education at Harvard University Health Services in Cambridge, massachusetts, shared her insights on fostering well-being. What are some of those disciplines you've had to put in place to make that work? Because the listeners are like how did she do that and what did you do to really make that work? So what are the things that you do?

Speaker 2: 2:06

Great question, john. I think in some of it I'll credit you my conversations with you through the years as well, to say that I think you've really helped me think about some very pragmatic ways in which I can incorporate new disciplines. I think one of the first things that I did was recognize that I needed a way to remind myself to ask more questions rather than have more answers and I guess I should apologize to your listeners out there who are cat lovers because you're not talking to a cat lover, though I do have two cats, because my son, who's 10, loves his two cats, but they've never been my favorite animal in the world. And I was searching for some way in which I could have a visual reminder to myself in meetings to ask more questions, and my son had received posted notepads in the shape of a cat, so anyway. So I decided that the best way for me to remember and I, in fact, I still carry these post-its everywhere with me and tape it to my laptop as I'm meeting the shape of a cat and you know, curiosity killed the cat and so it is a good visual cue for me continues to be that I will say that I think I don't rely on it quite as much as I did when I was first doing it. It has become sort of almost just like a sticker on my computer these days, instead of exactly what it started off to be, but I do think it was a helpful visual trigger for me to really remember that in order to ask good questions, you need to have some silence and you need to be able to bring out answers in other people rather than actually have answers to myself, so that was something that was really effective for me. I also found that having some kind of measurement, some kind of KPI, if you will that was about my own health and well-being helped to keep me in the right mindset through some of the leadership challenges that I experienced. So and I know that you'll have listeners who will debate about the value of a Peloton- but, I purchased a Peloton about a year and a half ago not quite in the craze of the Peloton, but certainly as part of the Peloton addiction and I committed to a level of working out that I hadn't done previously as a way to manage how I felt on a day-to-day basis, because I think we can all agree that in order to be a good leader and to be effective, you have to take care of your own well-being first.

Speaker 1: 5:16

I think we can agree with that. What if we can debate Peloton?

Speaker 2: 5:19

We can debate Peloton definitely Calories in calories out.

Speaker 1: 5:22

That's what I usually talk about in terms of that, and if that's the way you get that fix, if you will you feel better. Absolutely Go at it right away, yeah.

Speaker 2: 5:32

So I have a. I still use it every day and initially, when I was trying to redefine myself as a leader, that became a simple way for me to get used to setting a goal, keeping track of it, being able to see something visually, and it just spurred on a number of other changes in how I was leading and how I was managing even my time.

Speaker 1: 6:06

Kellyanne Thayer, director of Primary Care Access Operations at HHS Health, shed light on effective leadership strategies. So what's been a good habit for you, or good behavior for you, and what's been a bad habit or a bad behavior that you had to give up on as well?

Speaker 5: 6:24

So I think the easier one to call right out is probably the harder of the two. I think that as you grow as a leader and work to develop others, I've had to give up more control, which is a hard thing to do, and again it gets to the you're trusting others to take on the work and still get to where need to go, even if they do in a slightly different way than what you would have done, and, within that, recognizing that part of their growth is there might be some missteps or mistakes and how far to let them go so that they don't go off the tracks and that you still give them a learning opportunity to course correct. So I think that's been one thing that I've had to learn. That's been a little harder to do. And then I would say one thing that I've been pretty good at and this is just foundational and at the same time interesting, because I didn't really learn this until later in my leadership career and it's really the rigor around prepping for any sort of meetings, and that's from start to finish what's the focus, what's the purpose, who needs to be there, how long do you need to complete the task. And then the details on the backend? Who owns it? When are they gonna have it done? Are there summary notes? And that has been extremely successful in a variety of things. One, you've got a great reference point to circle back on when decisions have been made. Accountability, when you have discussions, and, I also think, replication. I think that's one thing when I think about some of the leaders that I have underneath me and the structure and you and I use the government structure of how your system or how your team works, and I think that that's one thing that has been a very consistent presence that has helped us stay on the tracks.

Speaker 1: 8:50

Yeah, it's Dr David K Butler, a physician, technology executive and founder of Kalex Partners, offered his expertise in leveraging technology for healthcare advancements In terms of intentional personal growth. What do you do to stay up on what's going?

Speaker 6: 9:07

on, Absolutely. So yeah, John, I have a thing I've been doing for quite a while. I usually pick about one day a month, eight hours. Everything's blocked. I call it curd mode on my phone. It's like close the curtain, curd mode, no distractions, where I track couple of things each month I want to know a little bit more about, and that's that day I just retool, right, and that's what I've been doing with chat, GPT, things like that. I'm like, okay, what is this? I'll do a deep dive, That'll be my retool this week, month, whatever. Or I'll tag a couple of YouTube videos or tweets or something that I want to go back to, and that's that day where I do that. I just do a deep dive. I get to get a general understanding. I think that you know I'm a naturally curious person. So I just don't feel like I don't like choosing lanes sometimes, right, but in business you have to. So my lane and business position, EHR optimization, engagement, anything, all things digital that touch front lines. You call Dave Butler, you know Whether you're a vendor, you know healthcare, whatever you're trying to do, if it touched front lines I can kind of probably help you understand how best to make that frictionless and slip into the workflow, so it's a win-win.

Speaker 1: 10:14

Mark Jewel, the CEO of Thrive Today and a life coach, brought his wealth of knowledge on personal growth and success.

Speaker 7: 10:21

We describe this as an intentional certainty is knowing that I know that I know that I can follow through, that I can make this happen, that I can execute on this and do a very simple measurement with people. So, if it, you know, let's say it comes to delivering, you know some tough feedback. What's the level of certainty that a manager has to be able to lead that conversation effectively? Right, if that score is too low, then we probably should do a little role-play, we should do a little training, a little skill training. Right, go watch some YouTube videos about how to do that better. Because what happens is when you take that extra 10 minutes to go watch something on YouTube, like you come away you're a little bit more certain going into that conversation and you lead that person better. So, taking the pause and like investing a little bit of time into some skill development, and it immediately increases the certainty. Okay, but another way and this is we break this down really in depth in our training programs Are you familiar with, like, the Kaizen principle, manufacturing, right, that's been my life for 25 years.

Speaker 1: 11:26

That's why the production system and lean Absolutely.

Speaker 7: 11:29

Yeah. So we sort of take that same concept, like we define. I think this is pretty close to the actual definition, but small, seemingly insignificant. Never ending improvement. Small, seemingly insignificant, just getting a little bit better doing things almost nobody would notice every single day. So what we do is we actually help people break down their goals, whatever the thing is. Okay, let's say it's I want to be a better team, team manager, team leader, and you're at that level, kind of a mid level manager role. So what are the? What are the little tiny things that almost nobody would notice that you need to do every day to be good at the job? So if you work, you know you can just take a yellow notepad right now or take your notes on your phone and start breaking down like, what are the little tiny things that almost nobody sees that you do every day that are essential to making that job work? And those become our daily protocols, our intentional protocols that we do every day. Okay, absolutely. And so I've got a series of those that are like my sales, my daily sales protocols, and the list is kind of long, but what I've timed myself and I got it down where I can do it in about 45 minutes to an hour Now, when I do these little, little tiny things that nobody, you know, almost nobody, would notice if I didn't do them today or tomorrow.

Speaker 1: 12:48

My conversation with Dr John Jenkins, medical director for school based care at Cone Health, was both insightful and enjoyable. John, you're a leader who's focused on continuous improvement. You always have been, and I wonder what do you do today as a discipline to stay up on all this change that's going on in healthcare and position leadership and all those things?

Speaker 3: 13:09

So I have been known as Dr Google, and so there is a certain part of reading that is required of any professional to keep up to date. I continue with my board certification, even though I'm not an active direct patient care at this time. So I take my tests and I'm actually in a continuous MOC maintenance of my board certification and then I participate in learning opportunities, which are key. Learning never stops. When learning stops, you become stagnant, and one of the things that I've learned is that my knowledge base right now is that much. The knowledge base I have access to is that much, and the knowledge base that I have no idea exists is that much. And so being open to the fact that I need to continuously learn and that I'm going to learn some things that challenge and disturb me and really kind of shake what I thought I believed, but then I'm going to have to really look at that and say, hey, what is this, what? Why am I feeling uncomfortable with this and what do I need to change to accept it or what do I need to identify in it that is dangerous? And these sorts of processes are the process of critical thinking, and that's what you know, to quote still magnolias. That's what separates us from the animals.

Speaker 1: 14:46

I had the pleasure of hosting Matt Scaletti, an author, motivational speaker and Guinness World Record holder, whose energy left a lasting impact. What is it that you use in mindset today that? What disciplines do you use to maintain that positive mindset?

Speaker 9: 15:01

Yeah, that's a really good question and I think to the point about the book and I appreciate you sharing that. I talk about maximizing the book ends of your day a lot and I'm sure you're very similar and I think the first time I read about that was the compound effect. I think Darren Hardy I think he talks about it a little bit Just owning the night before and then owning the morning, and I think owning the morning starts with. For me it started with being sober. I had to not wake up hungover because I was already behind and then I was a big snoozer so I would snooze three, four, five times. By the time I had the last snooze went off, it was I was already running late for work and I'm already stressed, but it was. It was on me. I had the ability to change that. So I think a big part of my mindset has to do with the routine. The morning routine is a huge deal for me. So I'm a 430 am guy, like between 430 and 730 in the morning. That's my favorite part of the day and I think it's because it's just me and it's on me to maximize that. But then, as we said, it carries over into the rest of the day. I was just talking to a friend about this yesterday. I'm a totally different person. If I had just woken up a half an hour before this podcast and I stayed up late last night watching Netflix I would probably not bring the same energy and enthusiasm and confidence as I have right now. I'm a big believer in owning the morning routine and then the night routine to just crush in that which is the rest of the day.

Speaker 1: 16:50

What are some of the things that are in your morning routine right now, matt? What do you do? I mean, I kind of know someone because I follow you on social media and I'm going to put your social media links in there and I like them but share with the listeners some of the unique things you do, from getting ready to get ready for your day.

Speaker 9: 17:03

Yeah, so the first thing I do and this actually happened during COVID, because I'm sure, like a lot of people listening or maybe not, hopefully not but I know a lot of us went through difficult time and I was waking up at 5 am and it was just kind of like, oh, just doing the same thing over again because there's nothing to do. So I started doing a little. I started waking up to good music and what happened was I would start dancing when I hear good music, and so the first thing I do for a couple of years, basically since March of 2020, is for sometimes it's five seconds, sometimes it's the whole song, but I will wake up to a song I love and just start moving my body and start dancing. A lot of times it's extremely silly. I record some of them, as I'm sure you've seen, but it just puts me in a good mood. I can't help but smile when I'm dancing to a good song right after I get up, and then I always do a quick prayer right after that, and then, typically, I'll drink a glass of lemon water, do a little meditation and then I filled ice in my cold plunge. I have this, as I know, you know this cold plunge on my balcony. I dump a bunch of ice in it before I go work out so that when I come back it is freezing and ready for me to jump in. But then I'm off to the gym or a run or some sort of physical workout and then as soon as I come back, every time without hesitation, I take my shoes and socks off, take my shirt off and jump into this cold plunge for five minutes. And it's horrible. Every time I do it when I leave the gym and I'm walking upstairs back to my apartment, I'm always thinking, oh my goodness, I got to do this again. But that's just part of the discipline. It's like I don't care if it's 20 degrees out, whatever the temperature is. I'm in this thing and it really been a game changer, not only just for the inflammation and the physical benefits. I think the mentality and the mindset has been the biggest benefit that I've had. And then, after that, healthy breakfast and do some reading and then getting ready to crush the day.

Speaker 1: 19:19

Craig Genie, Chief Transformation Officer for Collins Electrical Company in Stockton, California, passively shared his inspiring journey. What are some of the disciplines that you've had to put in place for your own development to make you a better leader? We refer to it sometimes as the leader standard work, but what are some of the daily or weekly disciplines that you're working to do to become more successful at growing others?

Speaker 4: 19:49

Well, I used to watch my brother do this, and you have a phrase that you've coined and I always used to say be a thief. But you told me a different one, which is swipe, to steal with integrity practically everything. I watched my brother do something and I called it butterflying, walking around everybody. Hey, how are you doing? How are you doing Making touches? And so when I moved here, it was very important for me to make touches with everybody two to three times, four times a week, and it's them understanding that there are some owners that are very untouchable. We're not like that. We don't want that in any way shape form. I want to know the people that I work with. When I go to them, I make it a point to look them in the eyes and we do a little fist bump. That's my thing. I do a fist bump, but it's looking in the eyes. You can do a fist bump and then walk away, but when you look somebody in the eye and you touch, there's an energy that's transferred. So that's one of the things that I do. I try to do, at least here in our corporate office, and when we go to some of our other branches, I go to see everybody in the office. It's always non-negotiable. You need to say hello to everybody, find out how they're doing so. That's one thing.

Speaker 1: 21:07

I love that, the butterfly Love that Chris Granger, the founder of the Lion Within us, brought an encouraging perspective to our discussions. To grow in our faith, it takes discipline. To grow in our maturity, it takes discipline to grow in our work life as well. How do you intentionally grow who you are today, both in your faith and in your work, and in your life as a husband as well and father?

Speaker 8: 21:37

We don't like that word, discipline as man, that's right. Oh, I mean, that's just something we don't like. But I mean, really to be an effective leader, you have to. You have to step up and say, all right, I'm committing to this, I'm going to make it happen. Prime example from a health standpoint my oldest daughter. She's 12 now. She'll be 13 this year. When she was born I was 330 pounds and right now sitting around 200. Do I have some more to lose? Sure, there's always a few more pounds to lose, but I mean, that's still. That's a pretty good. I've lost a person. Basically, right, absolutely so. Was that easy? No, it's just, it's basic. It is discipline. You know you have to get up every day. You have to eat right, you have to get. You know, get that exercise in, and now I've learned to wear it's like that's the thing that fuels me, is that time we're doing the workouts and stuff like that. But it's that applies everywhere in life. You know, if you from, it's easy to make that connection from a man standpoint, from a gym and working out, but just tie it to your, to your spiritual life. You know how disciplined are you on spending time in the world? Because so many times we expect, as Christians, that we just want to go, a typical Christian man while I go to church. All right, brother, what are you doing between that's, that one hour on Sunday, and when you go back the next Sunday? Well, I mean, I go to church, Chris. I'm like, yeah, okay. Well, how about this big boy? How about you only eat for that one hour on Sunday and you tell me when you're gonna be hungry? You can be hungry before you go back next Sunday. Well, yeah, that doesn't make any sense. My brother, it's the same thing. It's we. We had to feed ourselves spiritually because we in America, we got this idea where you know what, it's the pastor's job to teach my kids. It's the pastor's job to show me, to feed me. We show up at these churches, we're all baby Christians feeding me, feeding me, feeding me. I'm like, no, bro, that ain't it like. We're here to learn and to serve. And that one hour, that's it. For me, that's just like a little vitamin. I mean, that is not my meal. You know I'm getting. I'm feeding myself. And people tell me all the time Well, you know, reading a word, I don't know where to start. I'm like, look, just start anywhere, just get in the word I may. I definitely have places I recommend guys to start if they want, if we want to talk about that. But I'm like, look, just be obedient to being in a word and well, I don't get anything from it. I'm like, what ain't about you? I mean, what do you mean about me? Because it's not about you, is about Worshiping and serving him. So why don't you just be obedient to start with, be disciplined, like you're talking about, and then see what the Holy Spirit does to you? Maybe just start with the proverb a day. You know, that's a lesson, easy way. I usually start with guys right, just start a proverb a day and then, next thing, you know, see how you can actually apply that proverb a day. And we read it, read the word, ask yourself three questions what happened, so what? And now what? And get to the now what? Because we got to get there, all right. Now, what are we gonna do with this and how can we actually apply this to our life? And when you start reading the Bible that way, it's truly spending some time in the word, not just doing a little you version thing or something like that, which all that stuff's cool. I'm talking about really trying to grow man. You're gonna be surprised what he shows you. You know, and it's very first thing, I ask a lot guys, a lot of times just how much are you spending in the word? How much time are you because you're expecting to just get that one little Multivitamin from your pastor and to be growing? As you know, you wouldn't expect that, right, you would. You would never just eat one meal and Expect to be full throughout the week. So for me, that discipline, it applies in all these areas and we try to tattoo to Bible Help guys. Okay, how do we take this and apply it to our life?

Speaker 1: 25:07

Well, that's all for today's episode of the uncommon leader podcast. Thanks for listening in. Please take just a minute to share this podcast with that someone you know that you thought of when you heard this episode. One of the most valuable things you can do is to rate the podcast and leave a review. You can do that on Apple podcast or you can rate the podcast on Spotify or any other platform you listen. Did you know that many of the things that I discussed on the uncommon leader podcast are subjects that I coach other leaders and organizations on? If you would be interested in having me discuss one-on-one or group coaching with you, or know someone who is looking to move from Underperforming to uncommon in their business or life, I would love to chat with you. Click the link in the show knows to set up a free call to discuss how coaching might benefit you and your team. Until next time, go and grow, champions you.