The Workaround by Bob Gilbreath Podcast

You can have enormous success in life and still be unfulfilled. You can build tremendous personal wealth and still be unfulfilled. Successful, wealthy people can struggle—like the rest of us—when they fill up on just one thing: Their careers. This is a lesson from Devin Martin, an executive coach who helps hard-charging business leaders discover lifestyle integrity. I recently found his work throu...

Great leaders are like artists. They pay attention to details and aim to move people through inspiration. While the artist must spend countless hours mastering a craft, you, dear leader, need only practice the Golden Rule. Let’s talk about context. I might seem to be making a big deal out of a little thing. But details are the tells of a leader’s true character. If we fail our people here, we are...

Nearly four years ago, I resolved to share only “positive vibes” on social media. In this episode, I share how I’ve done. Many of us are re-evaluating our relationship with social media, and the big platforms continue to change their models and algorithms. Overall, social media is becoming, well, just media. I hope to bring this “positive vibe” mentality to all my real-life social interactions. Fr...

Last week, I wrote about time management and better managing one's mind. But I left out a whole bunch of stuff...including The SECOND Rule of Fight Club. (this is one we can actually talk about) Here in Part Two, I will share ways to improve your life by making better daily decisions about time, money, and freedom. I start with the basic, tactical choices and ladder up to big-picture strategy with...

If the “Time Management” meme were a stock, it would be neck and neck with Nvidia right now. Ironically, we have more free time than ever in recorded history, but it sure doesn’t feel that way. That’s because our minds still work with old programming that can’t compute the infinite options and infinitesimal threats. So, we’ve got to use better mind management for better time management. In this po...

CEO pay is in the news this week, and there's plenty of clickbait meant to shock you with the numbers. But no one talks about what it's like being a CEO negotiating compensation, especially in the startup world. So, I'm sharing my experience here. If you're a Founder/CEO, I hope my story can arm you to negotiate. And while you won't feel bad for public company CEOs pulling in millions, you might u...

Despite all the posts and books on Leadership, many companies are led by people who don't get it. Maybe we need to go back 2,000 years to the writings of Stoicm, Christianity, Buddhism, and Judaism. Or we can study how the concepts of leaders and followers emerged as a key to our success as a species. I believe we need to consider Leadership as something "Holy" and "Awesome" in both the amazing an...

The more I learn about myself and the world, the more I realize that most learning from repeatedly getting kicked in the a**. Even when we are on the verge of success, an X-factor can keep us glued to the silver medal platform. Today, I share a story of leading Business Development at a creative agency and learning that playing to our strengths was the biggest barrier to winning. “What’s it going...

Let’s be honest. No one “loves” to give feedback… However, the need for feedback is high in small, high-growth startups. Our roles constantly change, so traditional job descriptions and performance measures are mostly meaningless. With more employees, forging relationships becomes harder. Remote work makes getting to know each other more challenging. So, the question was posed to me: How can we ma...

“This voice in my head says I’m not good enough….” A friend told me this when we met for coffee last week. Her gut and heart were ready to make the leap, and she did the math to ensure her family finances weren’t at risk. Yet this little voice—inside her own head—decided to be a jerk. We all have these voices. They helped us stay alive in dangerous times, but today, they get in our way. So, I’m ge...

Last week, I attended a small conference in a beautiful setting. But I was THRILLED to spend most of the time in a small conference room. Thanks to Pip Coburn and his team, I had the opportunity to hang with fellow business and life geeks. Among many takeaways, it reminded me of the magic of being in person with people. I come away re-energized and just, well, happy. I’ll bet you feel the same. Th...

When discussing innovation, we quote Steve Jobs as much now as at his death 13 years ago. Unfortunately, his words are often misinterpreted—none more so than the idea that Jobs “didn’t believe in market research.” I wrote this post a few years ago after growing tired of hearing it from startup founders, investors, and corporate decision-makers. The post still gets thousands of visits yearly, mostl...

Zen Buddhism suggests that we practice Beginners Mind. Socrates said, “He who is wise admits he knows nothing.” Military generals remind themselves not to fight the last war—especially if they won. I’ve been reminding myself of this lesson as I get back into the digital marketing world with A2 Influence after 3 years out of the game. In order to practice what they preach, I did a personal experime...

Work is all about social cooperation. The problem is we can’t read each others’ minds. But that doesn’t stop us from making assumptions about why our work partner hasn’t finished that task they promised to. Sometimes we just need a better way to be transparent about what’s bugging us. And silly analogies can help. Let me introduce you to “The Mental Splinter.” It’s a silly but effective analogy th...

“Everybody wants to know how they can get into consulting.” So said my friend Rob, a few months after successfully starting his new business. We live in a time when the appeal of owning your own career through some form of consulting has never been higher. But to succeed on this path, you've got to start with knowledge of one big thing: How to build processes... In my weekly post I share the story...

It was exciting to go public with two new businesses last week, but not all news is good… Earlier this year, we shut down a separate software product I had spent much of my 2023 working on. It would have been the most meaningful product launch in my life, aimed at addressing one of the largest social challenges of our time. This would be my ultimate contribution to the world, bigger than anything...

This is an exciting post because I get to finally tell the stories of two new businesses my team and I have launched! First, our story of launching A2 Influence - the sequel to our last social+influencer success story. The difference now is that I'm the backer of a killer team and not the CEO. This model led us to see a massive opportunity in supporting service business leaders who need help getti...

Have you ever had to threaten to quit a job over something you strongly believed in? Some day, the time may come, so keep this post handy. After all, success can come down to your ability to get past "boss levels" that hold you back. Today, I share the story of my first time pulling this move. When done for the right reasons, it's always win-win. Or as my friend Robyn M. Bolton says: “If you haven...

Have you ever had to threaten to quit a job over something you strongly believed in? Some day, the time may come, so keep this post handy. After all, success can come down to your ability to get past "boss levels" that hold you back. Today, I share the story of my first time pulling this move. When done for the right reasons, it's always win-win. Or as my friend Robyn M. Bolton says: “If you haven...

When you serve clients, screw-ups are inevitable. But how you react can make it worse, or turn it positive. A few years ago, I came across an analogy that brought this lesson home perfectly. I call it the Coin of Complaint . There are two sides to this coin: “No Big Deal” and “Very Big Deal.” When a service issue occurs, the Customer or the Server picks one side of the coin, and the other party ge...

Don't let your assumptions about others' greatness kick you in the ass. My story of the Big Agency pitch and learning that everyone is making things up as they go along. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theworkaround.substack.com