1909 – Strategies for Entrepreneurial Success with Leslie Galloway

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1:06With us right now, Leslie Galloway. Leslie, you are the founder and CEO of Interleap. You are found on the web at interleapgroup.com. Leslie, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me, Josh. Looking forward to it. Yes, absolutely. Well, please share with us the work that you do, who you serve, and kind of that impact that you have in the world. Yeah. So Interleague Brute, it's a leadership coaching firm, and we serve leaders in the C-suite down to, I'd say, middle management. But the big distinction for us is just a leader who has a high growth mindset and who is looking for transformation and a shift in either a role, a position, something that they're trying to create in their life.

1:56Yeah. Well, tell me more. What might that look like? I think that when a leader comes to me, they're stuck somewhere, right? They know that there's a next level for them and the level looks different. Like I said, it could be that they want a role transition, that they want to think differently, that they know, okay, I've gotten as far as I can get right here on my own. And I need someone to partner with me into that next level of growth. Yeah. Might their challenges be manifesting in certain ways? Like how would they know other than maybe they're not happy or they're burnt out or whatever it might be?

2:39Like how might it might be showing up within their organization, for example? Okay, that's such a great question. So I think part of it is, to your point, they have these internal, you know, there's a tension, right? There's friction. There's, I'm not fulfilled. You know, there are these indicators that you're naming. And also that I think that there's either this maybe lack of influence, like I'm feeling like I am maybe even unable to influence myself and the team around me. And it really comes down to, I really want someone to be able to mirror back to me. I'm able to see certain things in my sphere, but what am I missing?

3:22Right? Like what are the things that work really well for me as a leader? And what are those blind spots that keep getting in my way, but I cannot see them myself, right? And I don't feel safe enough to ask the people in my world, right? Because it's a charged relationship. Like it might be difficult to ask a boss potentially, or, you know, we hear things differently from a boss or certainly a peer. I think leadership is incredibly lonely. So it may not be that I want to go to a peer perhaps, or, you know, I certainly don't want to talk to people I'm managing about this. I really want to have a safe, neutral relationship that can really help me see clearly, number one, I think, self-awareness, vision, and where am I trying to go next and what's standing in my way.

4:21I was just thinking about leadership, and I think there are quite a few things. You're familiar with Dunning-Kruger, right? It's the concept that But, you know, it's like the more someone believes that, oh, I'm a master at this, I know all the answers, the more you could probably start to distrust. You know, and I was thinking about leadership. The greatest leaders I know or have had the opportunity to have conversations with stay in so much curiosity. Right. And I think it's just so rare that you would see any of them say, am I a leader? Oh, you're darn right. I'm a good leader. You know, you just don't say that.

4:55Right. But that said, where do most of us learn how to be great leaders? Yeah, I mean, I think your word curiosity, number one, it's one of my favorites. It's been such an interesting, the last couple of years, my team has spent so much time researching the concept of curiosity and how we are actually born with curiosity in spades. But over time and truly the 25-year-old mark is when we just don't think out of the box anymore unless we are actively practicing this, right, and understanding. And our culture really kind of teaches us, hey, I'm going to give you information. I want you to take it in and then spit it back out to me.

5:39Like that's success, right, versus really being in kind of this wonder mode. And to your point, I would even say, you know, the curiosity feeds the coachability. And this goes back to an ideal client. It's like, is someone coachable? Like, do they want more information? Are they curious about what's happening? Or to your point, do they think they already know and they're full, right? And I think across the board, those aren't people that any of us enjoy spending time with, whether it's a leader or a peer or a family member. We want people in our world who are willing to ask a lot of questions genuinely and that just they want to know, how do I get better?

6:26You know, what do you know that I don't? How can we all sort of collectively add to one another? Yeah, completely. So would you mind maybe just sharing some observations? I mean, this is what you do. You've got a team like you kind of obsess on this topic. What are some of the major trends that you have seen, say, over the past year or two that impact the lives of leaders that we might want to be aware of or we might want to check in regarding these topics because it's such an important consideration? It's such a great question. I think that capacity is such an issue right now. We've spent a lot of time recently talking about the concept of busy equaling productive and that busy has taken over as, you know, this we just we feel important when we're busy.

7:21And I think that we as leaders, people are struggling. And Josh, a lot of my clients are working moms. Right. So it's I think it's a different flavor than, you know, men tend to struggle with different things. But regardless, it's the fullness that we have this belief that we've got to be in every single meeting, every single initiative, that if we're not in socially, professionally, if we're not involved in it, then we're missing something. And I think it's the very thing that's causing us to miss something. Right. It's like we're not we're having such a leaders are having a difficult time going deep.

8:10They're so wide and touching all these different places, but it's like they've got 20 holes that they've dug and they're only like five inches deep. And we miss impact that way. Right. I mean, you know that if you're just in a bunch of different conversations and you feel like you have to be at every table, you're only getting a little bit of information or a little bit of depth in those conversations. And then leaders are walking, they're getting home at night and they're working another three hours and they're burned out. And it's pulling time and impact from not only their professional worlds, but their personal lives.

8:51Right. And then that's affecting the way that, you know, that that's got this ripple effect into everybody that we touch. Yeah. You know, I was just talking with another guest. We were talking about, you know, this unending list of things to do as certainly if you're going to start your own company or founder, CEO of a company. I mean, there's just the list is a mile long and that can get very overwhelming. Would you mind maybe sharing a little bit more about, say, task management, but just prioritization? Like, how do we know what to do? And how can, more importantly, I think, how can we get comfortable with not getting it all done?

9:27Yeah, I think that's such a great point. I definitely think that we still believe, we have this false belief that it's actually possible to get it all done. I mean, and I think that sounds silly when we say it, you know, well, of course that's not possible, especially when your list grows faster than, you know, the time you have to complete it. But I think we still believe it. And I think that, you know, so much of my coaching is around mindset and what I love Jim Quick calls, he calls lies, limitations I entertain, right? That's the acronym. And I think leaders think we operate based on a set of beliefs all the time.

10:13All of us do. And yet we don't really know that what belief is actually driving a behavior. So if you're talking about time management, and I'm thinking back to what you just asked me, you're saying if leaders, how do you keep up with the list? Repeat your question. uh yeah and being comfortable with the things that are just not going to make the cut right and i think that sometimes you know we we put so much pressure on ourselves i mean i hold an incredibly high standard for things that we do with our company because i i just don't want to i don't want to disappoint anybody you know certainly if anyone's entrusting me you know it's so uh you know that that does become quite a challenge for me if like let's say just something beyond our control gets in the way, Leslie.

10:59So yeah, just anything around being cool with things that either don't work out or we just don't have the bandwidth to accomplish. This is what I think is really difficult for leaders. Number one, I think slowing down is it feels so risky and scary, right? And the problem is you and I both know that if you don't set the vision, if you don't slow down and set the vision for your company, I don't slow down and set the vision of my company, that's nobody else's responsibility. And this goes back to your question about lists, because if I don't know what's important, which is always evolving, right?

11:41Like I've got to continually ask myself, are we still on the thing, right? Like we said, this was a goal as a team. Is this still the goal? But if I'm not continually asking that question, then, you know, that should always inform the list, right? Like what is important about what we're trying to do? What's important about what I'm trying to do as a leader for myself, for my team, for my organization? But most of us, I feel like our lists are out of control and we feel frustrated because a lot of the things on the list aren't funneling up into like the big impact, right? I mean, I think it's this constant audit is what is making my list?

12:28Is that really going to move the needle for me? And I don't think we ask that a lot because it requires slowing down and considering the question. And nobody likes to really do that in our culture. You know, it's countercultural, really. Yeah. What does it look like when you work with your clients? Like, how does Interleap work? Yeah. So there's a couple of different ways that the coaching manifests. Of course, it's one-to-one. So working with executives in a one-to-one capacity and how they want to transform in their next season. There's group coaching. So working with six to eight leaders from different companies, and that has been transformative because you're creating a community and a tribe for a group of leaders who are coming into a safe environment and they are able to talk about the things that are coming up for them in a safe, transparent, they get to listen to other people and not feel like they're alone because leadership can be incredibly lonely.

13:33And then we also work with teams. So, you know, somebody who is really trying to create a cultural shift in their company would bring Interleap in to, you know, work with them on specific group team dynamics that might be holding them back. Yeah. How might they know that they would benefit from a leadership coach? You know, what's interesting is I think that sometimes we don't know exactly. Clients don't know. And you mentioned this a minute ago, maybe exactly what it is, but they know. I don't think the immediate thought is I need a coach. I think that you know this. It's like if you're you want to get in better physical shape, well, you probably try to do it by yourself.

14:19Right. Well, maybe I need to do more setups. I need to run more. I need a plan. And then I think that there's a there's a little bit of a lag period where then you realize, oh, my gosh, I need a partner in this. And so I think that, you know, typically leaders see a lack of results. They see, I think an indicator on teams is when team members, there's some sort of toxic nature and a leader doesn't know how to solve for it. And they finally get so frustrated that they say, you know what, we need a neutral party. We need someone who's equipped and trained actually to facilitate conversations and to go deeper in a way that isn't possible with the group dynamic that exists.

15:09Now, your website, interleapgroup.com, to our friend that's been listening to our conversation, and they say, okay, I'd love to at least have a chat and see if there might be some opportunity for us. Leslie, what would you recommend they do after this conversation? I think that, I mean, booking a call is the best way to explore, you know, where the tension points might be, what a client is hoping to gain from coaching. And then through that conversation, we identify what the best pathway is. You know, it's interesting when you look at our name, Josh, because the inter is all about the partnership.

15:48It's the relationship between a client and coach. And that's what informs the leap. And that's what we do here. Yeah. So we go to interleapgroup.com and then what do they click on? There's a contact button and this website is also being updated. So we are a month out and I'm so excited for what's going to be there, but there will be multiple options for them to book a call, click to learn more. They'll know exactly what to do. Okay, good, good, good. And again, the website, interleapgroup.com. Leslie Galloway, you are the founder and CEO and leadership coaching consultant. Thank you so much, Leslie, for joining us.

16:28Thank you for having me, Josh. I appreciate it.

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