Leadership | John Gallagher

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What is your personal hourly rate?

February 1st, 2012 by John Gallagher No Comments

As I type this blog post, I am on hold with a large computer company(I won’t say the name, but the initials are HP!!) debating whether or not they will replace a faulty printer cartridge that I recently purchased. (Even with the receipt, I was unable to return to the original supplier for a replacement since I did not have the original packaging, but that is a story for another day!)

Photo from cartoonstock.com

I am often frustrated by the value that I don’t get returned for the time I invest. Sometimes it may cost more than it is worth.

Do you know your hourly rate for your personal time? It’s easy to calculate:

Target annual personal income / 2,080 (approx work hours in a year) = Hourly rate for your time

You can use this calculation to see if you are wasting more time on something than it is worth! That project you are working on so you don’t have to call the contractor…. How many hours do you have in it???? What is it costing you? Of course, sometimes cost is not the only variable that is important with your time. There is family time that is priceless. There is personal development time that increases your personal value.

But, sometimes, the time it takes to do a task is simply not worth it. I have now been on the phone for 25 minutes. This ‘free’ replacement cartridge is costing me a lot of money!!!!

So, what is your hourly rate???? What do you need to STOP doing that costs more than the time invested?

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2012 Reading stack

January 4th, 2012 by John Gallagher No Comments

In the spirit of lifelong learning, I am taking on this reading stack in 2012:

Each of these books in one way or the other should impact my life plan in a positive way, whether it be parenting, speaking, leading, or being a better husband.

What’s on your list to read in 2012?

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5K Leadership Lesson – “Go slower to go faster”

August 22nd, 2011 by John Gallagher No Comments

Last Sunday I completed my second 5K. While I am still not ready to run a marathon, I DID improve my time to under 30:00 (29:37 to be exact!). I have learned personal leadership ‘tips’ as a result of this new journey I have been on. After my first 5K, I wrote to “Never Say Never”

For this 5K, my lesson learned is that sometimes you have to “go slower to go faster”. My ‘running coach’, Adam Ward, said this to me one day when I was telling him about my training. He said I was running too fast during my training runs and had to go slower so that I could go faster. I was skeptical, but he is training for an Ironman, so who better to listen to. Sure enough, I was able to reduce my time by nearly 7% in just a 5-week span by…you guessed it…running slower!

Often as leaders, we get impatient. We want to get to the answer/solution FASTER, and we sometimes forget that the learning process of getting there is even more valuable. When we go too fast, we often get somewhere fast, but find that we are unable to sustain the results we achieved.

As leaders, we need to be aware of when this is happening and slow down…so that we can go faster…and, as a result, be more ‘fit’ as a leader.

Do you remember a time you went too fast to a solution…only to find out that your results were not sustainable? Share it with me below.

Posted in Continuous Improvement, Discipline, Leadership, Leadership metaphors | No Comments »

Leadership Lessons from the Airport

June 11th, 2011 by John Gallagher 2 Comments

I get to spend a good bit of time inside of an airport. If I am paying attention, there are leadership lessons to be learned throughout the confines of the miles of concourses, moving sidewalks, and ultra-uncomfortable waiting areas:

For the past couple months, I have been experiencing a sore shoulder. Could be dragging the suitcase around for miles, could be the too-soft pillows in the hotels, but it has been a real ‘pain’. I found myself with a few extra minutes this week after the red-eye and decided to take advantage of the spa treatment services in the airport. When I go to the counter, I see a choice of “Swedish” or “Deep Tissue”. In so many words, the girl at the front desk told me that meant “wimpy”, or “something that will hurt but you will actually feel better later”. She was also challenging me in so many words, so I chose the ‘deep tissue’ shoulder massage. That really was 10 minutes of ‘dis-comfort’. However, today I awoke without the shoulder pain I have been experiencing over the past couple months. So, what is the leadership lesson?

Too often, in leadership we are presented with 2 options – 1) the easy way – “swedish massage”, or 2) the right way – “deep tissue massage”. Choose the easy way and you will feel better for a little bit, but likely, your problem will be even bigger in the future. My friend, Kim Chaney, has referred to this as ‘peeing in a wet suit’. Or, we can choose the arduous path. The one that is more painful in the beginning, but likely solves the problem so it doesn’t happen again.

I know that I sometimes choose the easy way and, as a result, feel ‘chafed’ with the solution. Yesterday, I chose the “something that will hurt but you will actually feel better later”, and, as a result, feel better today.

How do you manage this selection process in your life?

Posted in Discipline, Leadership, Leadership metaphors | 2 Comments »

4 ways to stay out of the weeds when team problem solving

May 1st, 2011 by John Gallagher No Comments

You know the story. You are in a meeting working on a problem as a team. You start the meeting and before you know it, you are debating for an hour and you check in and forget why you were having the meeting(“in the weeds”). Here is what it looks like: