Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher

Do you wish you could get people more engaged? Bill has heard it time and time again. Effective leaders are always looking for ways to get their team more engaged.   Engagement is commitment. Someone has said yes to something and they are acting to make it happen. You know when people are engaged because they are putting their hearts and minds and all of their effort into their work. Engaged peopl...

Whether or not you consider yourself a risk taker, life requires taking risks every single day. From relationships and parenting to the financial and careers we pursue, we all take risks, bet big, and hopefully win often. We are surrounded by risk, and how we look at it, relate to it, and leverage it makes all the difference.   Angie Witkowski is the NY Times best-selling author of the business bo...

Inspiration is all about breathing life into something. When people are excited about things, you don’t have to persuade them. Inspiring leaders are great at getting others to be excited about something, especially when it pertains to the future. They get people to a positive emotional state again and again by being intentional with their own emotional state, by sharing their vision for the compan...

Do you ever wish leadership came more naturally to you? Or maybe you are a great natural leader, but you recognize that effective leadership still takes work and effort. On this Tuesday Tip Bill is sharing four secrets that create effortless leadership. These four skills, when you do them again and again, can make a profound difference in your life as a leader.   First, inspire and encourage excit...

Do you ever feel like you’re working too hard? Working too hard makes us feel stressed and tired, impacts our personal relationships, and even results in weak teams and weak companies. And oftentimes, the harder you work, the more you are keeping your team from leveling up.   Bill once coached a large company with a Superman CEO that was setting a horrible example for his team with long working ho...

What would it look like if you brought your effective leader ideas into your life? Flow state is the way to make it happen.   Years ago, Bill was focused solely on work and had a premium membership at the gym that he only occasionally used. When he admitted that he was not paying attention to his health, he knew that change needed to happen. A triathlon sounded like a good BHAG, so he went for it....

The Leadership Flywheel is designed to level up your leadership, and within it, one thing leads to another. First by inspiring others and engaging them and then by taking action; the key is to help them see the opportunities that are available to them.   The third piece of the flywheel is all about planning. What is the end goal and what are you doing now to get there? The final piece addresses wa...

Are you creating followers or leaders? If you have a huge following, you’re probably still working too hard as a leader. If you’re creating leaders (who create leaders who create leaders), then your leadership skills can transform the planet.   Bill considered himself an effective leader, but he still struggled to leave the office for even a week. He wanted to create more leaders, but that wasn’t...

Deeper listening makes a powerful difference when you are dealing with upsets. There are fundamental values and concerns behind every upset, and when you stop to listen to those concerns, you can get to the root of the problem more effectively.   Bill and his wife used to argue about whether there should be a TV in their bedroom. As soon as he put himself in her shoes, he realized what the upset m...

How do you keep people in the game? It’s all about coaching. This is where you can remind people about the inspiration and action that brought them to where they are today.   Powerful coaching is rooted in powerful listening. Bill once coached a man who was overly rigid in his approach to his team. As he got more curious and set aside what he thought he already knew about his team, he realized tha...

Are you a know-it-all, a learn-it-all, or a little bit of both? Whichever way you tend to lean reveals plenty about the kind of leader you are and the level of success you can achieve.   Damon Lembi is the CEO of Learnit, a global leader in corporate training solutions that has upskilled more than 1.8 million professionals in the past twenty-seven years. After dedicating the initial 22 years of hi...

What is stakeholder capitalism and why should you care about it? If the work that you’re doing doesn’t help you sleep better at night, there just might be some room for improvement in your efforts in stakeholder capitalism.   Kent Gregoire is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder of Stakeholder Business. He is on a mission to help entrepreneurs transform their companies for maximum impact. In h...

Great execution has a great rhythm. It’s all about proactive talking, planning, and making things happen.   Years ago, Bill had to create annual plans and quarterly reviews on a corporate job that worked beautifully. With his own business, he would often forget his annual plans and so added in a mid-year check-in. Even then, they still forgot about the plans. A quarterly review combined with weekl...

We all view ourselves and the world around us in either optimistic or pessimistic ways, but really, we need both views to get a clear picture of reality.   Planning for what is most likely to go wrong has great benefits because things are going to go wrong. Focusing on what might go wrong doesn’t guarantee that thing will happen, it just gives you the opportunity to prepare for that possibility. B...

Where is the best place to look to do great planning? Too often businesses look only at the here and now of the problems and issues they’re facing.   Bill worked with a contractor a few years ago who had a well-developed cadence of weekly “issue discussion” meetings. While they were solving a lot of short-term issues, they made little progress on their bigger, strategic goals. If you only focus on...

What happens when you hear “no’”? How do you handle that rejection?   Bill once coached a woman named Debbie who was in conflict with her business partner. She wasn’t handling the rejection very well, and it was clear that she hadn’t considered what her business partner possibly thought about her. When she was able to think more openly about the other side of the conflict, she realized that she wa...

Real connections win out over canned messages every single time, but wow can you amplify your brand narrative through organic content that makes those meaningful connections?   Morgan Ingram is the founder behind Ascencion Media Productions (AMP). He’s a sales educator and content creator and has been named one of the Top 50 Sales Leaders to Follow by LinkedIn, a Top 25 Sales Development Thought L...

Something always seems to get in the way of a perfect pitch. What you are worried about is tripping you up more than what’s going on with the other party. What gets in the way of a perfect pitch is YOU.   Bill coached Nick through setting his worries aside so that he could more effectively focus on his pitch. He was able to pause his worries, the board loved his pitch, and the company was improved...

What makes great marketing? Marketing that is efficient, cost-effective, and memorable isn’t easy to come by, but it can make all the difference in growing your business.   Brandon is CEO of Win BIG Media, and formerly, as the COO, Brandon is a leader in the marketing world. He is SPHR Certified and is an experienced operations professional who has worked with various teams to improve processes, a...

How can you hear more “yes”? Be more engaging. When someone is engaged with you, they will then commit to action.   Hearing “yes” in action has less to do with how effective your pitch is and much more to do with how effectively you are listening for what matters to the other person. If you really pay attention to what they are saying, it will be much easier to find a way in your proposal to meet...

What can we learn from sports about making the right calls? Sally Jenkins has been a Washington Post columnist and feature writer for nearly 30 years. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2019 and the winner of the Associated Press Red Smith Award for Outstanding Contributions to Sports Journalism in 2021.   For sports fans, business leaders, and anyone who wants to elevate their game — wh...

Just as professional pilots, doctors, and golfers regularly return to the fundamentals, it is just as essential in the business world to continually return to the basics of the performance platform. Going back to the basics is far more effective than constantly seeking new techniques.   This week, Bill talks with Verne Harnish, a world-leading expert, speaker, author, and entrepreneur in the field...

Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. As a child, Bill lived on the north shore of Oahu and was invited to surf Waimea Bay. He was brave enough to paddle out but then talked himself out of every wave as it came along. He was lit up by the bold audacity of being able to say he had surfed these famous waves, even though he never actually caught a wave.   Being bold can also mean being frighte...

Do you have a range of emotional expressions? We’re often taught to keep our emotions in check and not be expressive, but there is power in sharing your emotions. Even if you’re having a bad day, you can express yourself as a leader and leave people with an inspiring thought about your stand on an issue.   Bill had an experience with a man named Alex who was ready to quit his job as a CEO. He deci...

Inspiring leaders are the best kind of leaders to be around, and all of us have room to be more inspiring. What inspires you? And what will inspire other people? Ask yourself what you care about, and the answers will come easily.   Bill heard a captivating story from an inspiring leader who did a beautiful job of articulating his future vision. The formula here is simple — share what your story is...