Ep. 53: John Foley on Why Debriefs Are Critical To Improving Performance

In this episode, David sits down with John “Gucci” Foley, former lead solo pilot of the Blue Angels, Entrepreneur, Leadership Expert, Speaker, and Gratitude Guru, to discuss the importance of creating a culture of gratitude, and why debriefs are critical to improving performance.

Buy David’s NEWEST Book: https://www.trustedleaderbook.com/

John’s Bio:
John Foley is a former lead solo pilot of the Blue Angels, Sloan Fellow at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, leadership expert, speaker and Gratitude Guru. As a thought leader on high performance, John created the “Glad To Be Here” Mindset Methodology and the Diamond Performance Framework.

As a Blue Angel, John consistently performed in an extreme, high-stakes environment, flying an F-18 at speeds of more than 500 miles per hour and in formations as close as 18 inches apart. To survive in those circumstances, he relied on a culture of high trust and leadership that turned inherently unforgiving flight into extraordinary experiences. His presentations inspire individuals, teams and organizations around the world to reach their highest potential while sustaining excellence under dynamic change.

For decades, John has shared his exciting, rare journey with audiences around the world, becoming one of the most in-demand leadership and performance experts. John has spoken on 5 continents, 20 countries and over 1000 events working with some of the world’s top organizations.

John graduated from the US Naval Academy with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and was a defensive back for the Midshipmen. He was chosen as “Top Ten Carrier Pilot” six times before becoming an F/A-18 Instructor Pilot.

He holds three master’s degrees: MA in National Security & Strategic Studies from the Naval War College, Stanford Master of Science in Management, as a Sloan fellow from Stanford Graduate School of Business and MA in International Policy Studies from Stanford University. John was also a Fellow at Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation and was awarded an honorary PhD from UNAM, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

As the founder of the Glad To Be Here Foundation, he and his wife Carol have donated over 1.9 million dollars to over 347 charities worldwide and sponsor children in 47 countries.

John’s Links:
Website: https://www.johnfoleyinc.com/
“Fearless Success” by John Foley: https://amzn.to/3pu6smu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnGucciFoley/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnguccifoley
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnfoleyinc/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnguccifoley/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfynkNlSOFPOCQLLoTPXUIg

Key Quotes:
1. “You want people that are committed and bought in.”
2. “The key to execution is trust.”
3. “You need an own it and fix it mentality.”
4. “You need a culture of gratitude.”
5. “It always starts inwards.”
6. “Today’s not normal. Today’s magical.”
7. “Every day has the opportunity to be magical.”
8. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help.”
9. “You need to have structure and trust.”

Links Mentioned In The Episode:
“Fearless Success” by John Foley: https://amzn.to/3pu6smu

Buy David’s NEWEST book Trusted Leader: https://www.trustedleaderbook.com/

David’s Links:
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Show Transcript

David Horsager: Welcome to the trusted leader show it’s David Horsager I have a very special friend and guest with me today.


David Horsager: He has become a friend, he was the lead solo pilot of the blue angels he’s a fellow at Stanford university’s graduate school sloan.


David Horsager: School he is you know he he went to the war college naval war college the Academy, but i’m telling you 18 inches apart flying those F 18 that’s unbelievable, among other things, welcome to the show john foley.


johnfoley: David, I am deeply glad to be here and, as you know that message means something very special to me, and I hope, by the end of the show everybody knows what that means, but i’m grateful to be on your show you are amazing person you’re reaching so many people i’m very honored.


David Horsager: Well i’ll tell you what if if anybody on this show over last however many interviews aligns with trust it’s you and you and I even say it.


David Horsager: In our business, we want to, we want to know people that are the same offstage as they are, are on stage and you’re amazing on stage but you’re even more amazing offstage.


David Horsager: He also is the author of fearless success we’re going to talk about that, just a little bit.


David Horsager: And some other things, he said clients from Mercedes to IBM, and you know john let’s get into it a little bit I mean i’ve gotta jump to first of all, he.


David Horsager: amazing story family life, and all this, but what is it like you’re at what mock point you know six five and you’re 18 inches away from the you know the other airplane what was that, like leading the blue angels.


johnfoley: Well, first off I wasn’t the LEADER I was the lead solo pilot, but when you’re flying that close to another jet, let me tell you, David, you can see the cracks in the pain.


johnfoley: Of the aircraft next year, can you imagine this I mean how many of us have driven even close enough to a car to see the cracks that have paid.


johnfoley: Doing this 500 miles per hour like you said, point six five mark right and and i’ll tell you what number one it’s.


johnfoley: Because i’m just reliving it the little hairs are standing up on the back of my neck they hairs on my arm, you can see that they’re starting to tingle because I realized what it felt like to be that close and you know the whole key is what you talk about it’s all about trust.


David Horsager: How do you do it, how do you build trust i’m fascinated by men things you do everything from debriefing to you know to how you build trust, from the beginning, but how do you you’ve got how many planes in the air generally.


johnfoley: at once there’s six of us.


David Horsager: six of us, and of course you’ve had all this experience ahead of that, but this is kind of the toward the end of your career right you’re.


David Horsager: you’re a DEMO angel solo lead pilot tell us what that was like to even you jump on and give us a little two minute story here of that process to building trust before your then flying 18 inches inches apart at 500 miles an hour.


johnfoley: yeah great Let me give you a quick background for everybody, so.


johnfoley: You know, as a naval fighter pilot flew off aircraft carriers was in the movie top gun, you know, by the way, top guns coming out again right, but so my buddies did all the.


johnfoley: The new fly, but I did the old flying, then you become an instructor pilot and that’s where we get our blue angels from usually the instructor ranks something like top gun they call it the fleet replacement squad and these other areas right because we want somebody.


johnfoley: who’s not only highly skilled and gifted at what they do that’s just a given right.


johnfoley: We need people who are going to fit the chemistry has to be right, the purpose has to be right, why are they there I call it a purpose largest self it’s not even about the flying.


johnfoley: We it’s really about inspiring greatness and other individuals, you know, when I look at a see the little kids eyes when I go to the crowd line afterwards that’s my real job I just happened to be doing airplanes to inspire somebody so anyhow.


johnfoley: The idea of the selection processes, we want the right people in the right seats, the right team right and go.


David Horsager: away yeah, how do you figure out chemistry like this is something like if people are listening right leaders are listening like.


David Horsager: Man i’ve hired I thought that sales person is the right person I thought that CEO is right and what do we find I just read something recently that.


David Horsager: people get hiring wrong about with with and without assessments and all these other things right they they try all these so you got a hiring decision you got this and yet people get hiring wrong about 50% of the time.


johnfoley: yeah well.


David Horsager: How do you figure out chemistry for something like this.


johnfoley: yeah and i’m in the same boat in my company here, you know i’ve done some great hires and some that didn’t work out and so here’s the key right and what we did on the blues.


johnfoley: Is we we hired slow right and I you’ve heard that a lot right hire slow fire fast whatever, but the point is here is that it’s about a year long process, so we were always looking ahead.


johnfoley: right if you were going to replace one of our one of the six pilots, by the way we replaced three of them every year, so how would you like this challenge leaders out there, half of your leadership team half years, your key people.


johnfoley: You have to replace every year because it’s not that they’re leaving or you’re firing them that’s what we call the rotation in the navy every three years, you get a new job in the blue angels every two years, so we’re constantly bringing in.


johnfoley: New people into the dynamics of the organization that’s why your training is so important, see.


johnfoley: The way you do this is you build a culture, and you have this culture of excellence and and and it sustains any individual but back to your training question real quick is.


johnfoley: We do the standard stuff right we actually asked for people to come to us, we don’t ask we don’t go out to them so that’s an interesting difference right.


johnfoley: The blue angels have a have a have a brand so people want to be there, so they’re they’re coming to us right.


johnfoley: Then we do the typical application process three letters of recommendation from your commanding officers.


johnfoley: What you’re really looking for, though, is that’s just getting in the door right do they have the the background, what we really selected on.


johnfoley: Was we actually invited people to come to our show, these are the applicants they actually get to sit in on the briefs not the debriefs Okay, we can talk about that why that’s different all right.


johnfoley: And there were trying to show them, this is what you’re signing up for.


johnfoley: Okay, this is the real deal behind the scenes right, and then we get to observe them and what i’m trying to observe is of course they’re going to treat me well, or any of the other pilots, I want to know how are they treating the crowd line.


johnfoley: How are they treating the kids How are they treating my troops and so we’re observing them at the end of the day, what we do, David is we.


johnfoley: We brings finalists in the pensacola we have a week long formal interview process where we get to know them they get to know us.


johnfoley: And then, at the end of the day we vote okay and you’re voting on your your heart, not just your head, of course, you know if we have what we call a no way, which means if somebody.


johnfoley: Just doesn’t connect they can call a no way on somebody and then they’re not going to be on the team, but that’s very rare because you don’t want to do that to somebody so what you’re really looking for is what’s in their heart.


johnfoley: Not just what’s in their head, are they aligned with our core values and and the answer your question is it takes a little time and you got to get to know them I hire on intuition more than on on surveys, or that other stuff.


David Horsager: Right well here’s the problem we have today, we could talk all day and everybody would be on the edge of their seat listening to you and all the wisdom, you have it all the amazing experiences, you have.


David Horsager: So we’re going to have to have you back i’ve never brought anybody back when i’m making a commitment today.


David Horsager: yeah you.


David Horsager: got to have commander fully back hey let’s jump because you touched on, I wasn’t going to go there, but everybody get get the book.


David Horsager: fearless success john fully here, it is, but let’s go to page 20 really quick this quick just just a teaser overview.


David Horsager: Of this four step process, because you bet you’ve continued now in your company’s you speak all over the world, you train all over the world.


David Horsager: You know, five continents and 20 countries or more whatever.


David Horsager: you’ve got this process of belief brief trust and debrief just you know we can’t go into the whole book, but I was fascinated by this process because you know when we have the right frameworks, we start to.


David Horsager: build trust we start to be able to be more consistent, give us a little this you call it the diamond performance framework that was inspired in part by what you did at the blue angels tell us.


johnfoley: yeah absolutely you know, we had the rare privilege David to speak over 1500 organizations now you know, over a million people.


johnfoley: have been inspired by this and that book is basically my experience as a Blue Angel but after I went to Stanford Business School.


johnfoley: And after I worked with a bunch of companies, probably over 1000 of them I said what’s the connection.


johnfoley: What worked in this very elite high performance organization and how do you transfer that at back into the real world right so we’re really came from David was I remember being in strategic management theory at Stanford.


johnfoley: And the Professor was talking about the the vision plan execute the.


johnfoley: Feedback loop vision plan execute feedback right and I said Okay, I get that right, but I realized that in the in the highest performing teams and organizations.


johnfoley: We actually do a little bit more than that that’s the fundamentals right, and so what that but that framework is that you showed everybody.


johnfoley: Is is the next level right and what it is, instead of about vision, I like to talk about beliefs.


johnfoley: You know how do you get commitment and buy in to a vision, because that’s what we want, as leaders.


johnfoley: You want people committed and bought in so where our belief, sometimes we skip that step, then the next one to brief what I call it a cadence of execution, which is this brief debrief process right.


johnfoley: Are you but really the brief is not about planning it’s about preparation and focus So how do you bring your a game every single day.


johnfoley: How do you get teams aligned to the Center point concept, how do you you, you get yourself and i’ve been talking a lot about lately personal mastery.


johnfoley: Because you know we’ve been through a lot of challenges, all of us all right, how do you wake up every morning what’s the rituals you do, how do you get.


johnfoley: You know yourself completely focused like I did on the blue angels, but then the key is and what you talk about some well.


johnfoley: And by the way, I learned from you every single day I love what you’re doing.


johnfoley: is the key to execution is trust you know that, and I know that and so that’s the part of the of the framework where you go from the.


johnfoley: being focused and and and and then into execution through high trust contracts, by the way, I call them high trust contracts or covenants.


johnfoley: What I found at the highest level for high trust it’s not the written ones it’s not the esop it’s not all that kind of stuff it’s verbal and nonverbal agreements i’ll give you one real quick David your people will be blown away.


johnfoley: Lead so quiet thumper and myself i’m the lead thumpers my opposing we come at each other at 1000 miles per hour closer cross within a wingspan if we’re one second off we’re going to miss by two football fields.


johnfoley: And you know how we did that was with verbal trust agreements, yes, we had an esop yes we practice, yes, we trained, but at the end of the day.


johnfoley: I told thumper every day, every day, I looked him in the eye or we got on the phone you know if there’s virtual now.


johnfoley: I said dumper, you can count on me i’m going to count on you so i’ll be on the flight line I won’t be you know five foot left or five foot right the flight line, by the way, is not the runway is the onboard edge.


johnfoley: i’ll make the timing corrections i’ll give you the command execute a full stick deflection roll you my teammate have one job miss me that’s it.


johnfoley: You know biggest game of chicken you ever play, but it wasn’t David because we had this discipline and focus and that’s why what you’re teaching and what we can do out there is, how do you create high trust.


johnfoley: environments, how do you create high trust companies and then, once you have that trust and you’re executing the fourth facet of that framework is the debrief which I think is the most important part because that’s the learning loop.


johnfoley: that’s where we go back in the room, and we talked about not only what went well, but what we could do better, and we re established beliefs and trust and it’s a spiraling up process.


David Horsager: By the way, I want to touch on this debrief process because i’m so.


David Horsager: i’m so impressed by it, because it seems like you know there’s such a humility in this, you know you look at top gun it’s like the high ego where the top guns blah blah, but you come in.


David Horsager: There there’s a humility of saying hey I did this wrong, I admit my mistakes, we need to do this differently, and I think I just also read something in the midst of the pandemic, where a doctors are going to.


David Horsager: Or at least in some institution going to learning from this process.


David Horsager: yeah because.


David Horsager: You know a lot of doctors they’re afraid of lawsuits right.


David Horsager: So what do they do, they don’t admit mistakes, how come, you know you sold that person up with an extra scalpel in well i’m not going to admit that now i’m going to get you know.


David Horsager: Insurance whatever so an insurance claim So how do we make safe places so when people debrief they can admit, so that, for the good of all so people actually learn from mistakes, instead of keep sewing another scalpel and someone after they have heart surgery right.


johnfoley: Now, with you, David you actually were working a lot in the healthcare space, these days, the good news is it’s not as bad as what you just mentioned Okay, but but, but the key is because you know that’s kind of.


David Horsager: Obvious right right and, of course.


johnfoley: And that stuff happens, but what you’re mentioning is really is really critical and it’s, not only in healthcare.


johnfoley: But in every organization, so what I like to say is there’s five dynamics that you need to have in order to have an effective debrief Okay, which is your learning loop, which is going to make you.


johnfoley: The best company, you can be right in your best people, the first is, and you mentioned it, you need a safe environment.


johnfoley: And when I mean it’s safe environment i’m not just talking to physically safe environment heck you and I know there’s all kinds of PPP and all that the pee pee and all the protection that we’re doing i’m talking more about a psychologically safe environment.


johnfoley: So that’s built on respect So my first pillar is respect okay on the on the on the safe environment, the second one is what you mentioned.


johnfoley: And it’s humility, but I like to call it check your ego at the door Okay, because what we said on the blue angels, and in any high performance organization is a course you good we wouldn’t hire you right.


johnfoley: it’s not about you it’s about we all right, so I don’t care who’s right or wrong, I just want.


johnfoley: I want the the best result for in this case the patient or the organization so humility is key that’s one of our hiring, by the way, qualities we’re looking for that all right.


johnfoley: This the third one is openness and honesty and so I call that lay it on the table.


johnfoley: So I want an environment where you can have these open and honest communications where you’re not fear based and afraid the fourth one is the is the accountability piece.


johnfoley: But I like to move that to personal responsibility, and I say you need to own IT and fix it mentality.


johnfoley: And and that’s the ownership mount mentality that says i’m not just going to work in my silo i’m going to own the outcome.


johnfoley: And that means I have to integrate with everybody, but but David So those are the first four and and that’s great, but the fifth one is is the most critical one.


johnfoley: And that’s glad to be here, by the way, you need a culture of gratitude, that is what changes this from which sometimes can be a negative process, you know, because you are looking at.


johnfoley: What could we do better, you are identifying small things before they come big things.


johnfoley: But when you do this within what I call glad to be here, which is this gratefulness this appreciation, then it becomes a really positive experience and and and David that glad to be here debrief.


johnfoley: That is going to change the world and that’s my passion, I want to get this out to every organization, we can because that’s what’s going to change the dial and that’s what’s going to impact people and make it a spiraling up process.


David Horsager: How do you do that, how do you cultivate we can talk about this on anything accountability responsibilities but.


David Horsager: yeah, how do you help, how do you help create a glad to be here I mean I feel like a.


David Horsager: You know it’s it’s almost hiring right there too, because some people don’t don’t seem to be glad to be anywhere i’m grateful, we have a relatively new employee and she yes to just singing i’m glad to be or something like that.


David Horsager: You know, but, but he brings this positive like hey I like to be here i’m i’m bringing positive.


David Horsager: This fifth point that you have the most important you say it’s like that people feel like they’re they want to be there, but how do you cultivate that, how do you how do you.


David Horsager: You know, is there is there, something you can do, or we can do, or is it just on the hiring people that are going to be glad to be there.


johnfoley: Now that it’s both I think it’s three things first Gandhi said it best right be the change, you want to see in the world, so number one any leader out there that we’re talking to.


johnfoley: it’s not about out there, you know it’s about into here right, am I glad to be here do I exude that every day, do I wake up, I wake up, but I have a morning routine I do a gratitude wake up every single morning okay.


johnfoley: Do I exude that I love my job i’m making a difference in people’s lives so number one it starts always starts inward right.


johnfoley: And and number two, though, is then you have to build the culture, so that the answer is always culture right and that is what is the culture of your organization and anytime you bring new people in and we’re bringing two new people in just like you did.


johnfoley: there’s the standard, you know I remember at Stanford again with this everyone knows, this is the forming storming Norman performing thing right.


johnfoley: Okay, and so yeah so we’re reforming there’s going to be some storming because people are reselling in what do we do it, I want that new energy okay.


johnfoley: yeah we’re going to start to norm, this is not only how we do and that’s on the blue angels is critical is I show that there’s there’s a way to do this it’s not you know hypothetical and then you get into the performing thing.


johnfoley: So I guess what I like to say, David and what we do and we work with with our clients first thing I gotta do is paint the picture.


johnfoley: You know you got to paint the picture of what this looks like what is a high performance.


johnfoley: Excellent trusting culture look like and fortunately i’ve got video from when I was on the team and we’re not only talking about flying but we go into these briefs we go into the debriefs and you get to see those words.


johnfoley: come to life and now people go wait a minute.


johnfoley: These are these you know top gun Blue Angel pilots, you know and and will cut humble, they are look at that guy just admitted that mistake that Why would Why would he do that, why would she do that.


johnfoley: And so you paint the picture, then we got to activate it within every organization because there’s always that bridge.


johnfoley: You know how can you make it real to them and then here’s the fun part, then, then you sustain it and it’s a growing learning organization, just like you teach every single time.


David Horsager: You tell me about this, you mentioned your gratitude wake up.


David Horsager: what’s that like.


johnfoley: Oh, for me, it’s simple okay so i’ll just give you this morning right so very first thing i’ve done is i’ve trained my brain to wake up happy, I mean how cool is that.


johnfoley: Right, I mean how cool is that that you I wake up happy every single day and the right, you can do this, you can actually train your brain, we know that there’s neuro you know plasticity and all these kinds of things so it’s very simple three steps first thing I do is.


johnfoley: very first thing I do when I wake up is I say what am I grateful for, in the present moment So for me today i’m home i’m in Sun valley i’m actually right after this.


johnfoley: is done taping i’m jumping on an airplane and go into a client event i’m glad the live events are are really kicking off now but i’m just number one i’m home with my wife.


johnfoley: We got a new dog we just by the way we just rescued a new rhodesian ridgeback and she’s awesome right so i’m just what I do is I check into my own heart and say what am I grateful for, in the present moment.


johnfoley: And sometimes that’s just being alive, you know, then when they do is I go back here’s here’s a really kind of cool technique I go back 24 hours.


johnfoley: And I say what happened yesterday that I have something to be grateful for, and I actually review my day in my head right now i’m doing this, while i’m while i’m laying down or in the shower you can do this anytime right and very quickly, I say.


johnfoley: Oh, you know well yesterday hey we just brought on russ our new team Member, we had a great call with him and the onboarding is going well, had this great call with this client, you know about how we’re going to actually implement.


johnfoley: Our teachings and then I thought more about you know, but I went I went outside we paddleboard I took my wife, it was her birthday yesterday.


johnfoley: And, two days ago, and so we went up to this lake and paddleboard but here’s the deal i’m actually reliving the feeling in my heart right.


johnfoley: i’m trying to relive that experience and we had this beautiful dinner with some friends last night and it’s more about giving them receiving right.


johnfoley: So then, then the third step, very quickly, David is go forward in your day and think about others not just yourself, so I thought about you, I said, you know I said.


johnfoley: In about Neil five hours i’m going to be have the rare privilege and, by the way, I think it’s a privilege to be with you and your audience.


johnfoley: to share that with people, I just want to show up with my best self and then I got to do a fun thing I.


johnfoley: You know I got to sign 120 books here right before our call because i’ve got an event and every time I sign a book I say thank you to myself in my head.


johnfoley: You know that i’m just grateful, thank you to this person and and that’s it I do, that every single morning usually takes me about four or five minutes, but I call it my glad to be here wake up and.


johnfoley: You know it changes it just watch don’t, believe me, anyone who’s out there just try it and you watch how it changes your life.


David Horsager: glad to be here wake up, I love it speaking of that you know I see, I mean this is a That was a key example of what i’m going to ask next but i’m just thinking about the great leaders i’m around they tend to have routines like this, like that routine, they tend to have.


David Horsager: great consistency.


David Horsager: you’re leading a lot of others you’re an example to many, many, many others, what do you what other things do you do as a routine to stay healthy physically mentally emotionally mentally you know what what are some other routines you have, in the midst of your crazy schedule.


johnfoley: yeah i’m glad you brought that up because it’s not just that wake up That takes me four or five minutes.


johnfoley: I I hit my knees I pray you know that’s The next thing I jump out of bed i’m always get up out of bed at my left foot, first because it tells me that to remind myself today’s not normal today’s magical right every day, I believe, has the opportunity to be magical.


johnfoley: Then I go outside, so the very first thing I do, I put on the tea pot, you know and and then while it’s boiling I go outside and I do a physical routine and it’s it’s very quick it takes me about five to seven minutes.


johnfoley: And it’s a it’s a routine that i’m happy to show your your people someday but it’s involves a navy seal workout with this yoga.


johnfoley: And stretching routine right, and so I do this routine and and I can knock it out in seven minutes so there’s no excuse not to do it right, I can actually knock it out in four minutes so there’s no excuse not to do it.


johnfoley: right but it gets my energy so there’s the mind and the body that i’m trying to connect here right and then like you said.


johnfoley: You know, I have a lot of routines I do through day I check in with my team, we have Monday morning briefings and that’s the.


johnfoley: about an hour meeting where we’re where we’re aligning we’re getting priority set.


johnfoley: Every day we have a very quick stand up meeting a check in Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and then Friday is our debrief and that’s the most powerful day we take about 90 minutes but it’s the most joyful because we’re celebrating our victories.


johnfoley: we’re also addressing challenges that it came up and we’re getting ready for the next week so that’s a very structured routine that works incredibly well with any organization and you can adapt it right.


johnfoley: And, and then, when it comes to my spirituality and personal life, you know, David I was just doing a webinar.


johnfoley: With this organization, you know we’re talking we’ve done 63 weeks in a row with them now we’re just continuing it’s on a weekly basis and we just talked about don’t be afraid to ask for help.


johnfoley: Because there’s a lot of stress going on out there, right now, there’s a lot, not just with the coven and the pandemic, but all these things, and you know that CEO has 13.


johnfoley: therapists and counselors available for their people for the next five weeks, they get five weeks of.


johnfoley: therapy if they want it and it’s not just therapy at someone to talk to.


johnfoley: And you know what I do that too, I actually have a personal not only coach but almost like a therapist who I talked to I work with my wife and I.


johnfoley: We go to a marriage counselor, not because we have a bad marriage, we have a good marriage, but I want a great marriage so i’m out there, looking you know always seeking experts who can help me get better and then i’d like to pass that on to others.


David Horsager: You know that is that is humility that blocks so many people saying hey i’ve got something good I want a great I I take feedback here, I have a marriage counselor or therapist have a coach it, I mean an act of humility that hey we know we don’t know it all we need to keep getting better.


David Horsager: yeah do you one question on your on your process here.


David Horsager: Do you you’re traveling a fair bit like I am often at least What do you do with these stand up meetings, and you know debriefs in that when you can’t do be there, someone else lead them, how do you do it.


johnfoley: yeah absolutely because I don’t want to be the linchpin actually I want my team to lead those meetings, and you know to be straight with you it’s an evolving process right we’re learning from each other.


johnfoley: I like to be there on the morning and Fridays these meetings are highly important you don’t miss Okay, we schedule around them okay.


johnfoley: And you know so i’m on those and, by the way, it’s a great check in it’s not just information that’s exchange your it’s a leadership moment you’re connecting with your people right but Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday yeah let I let my team do that.


David Horsager: And they just check in so what how many minute 10 minute check in five minutes I can here’s the top goal today how you’re doing.


johnfoley: yeah yeah it should be as short as possible that’s why, like in some companies call them stand up meetings so something you can do in the stand up, so you know five to 10 minutes depends what’s going on that day, but it’s just an alignment process yep.


Great.


David Horsager: Alright well wow a lot covered in a short time which I knew what happened lots more we get asked there’s a I think anything, what are you learning right now, you know we got a lot of people will learn stuff in the past, well anything top of mind right now that you’re keeping learning.


johnfoley: Well, you know what’s really cool is i’ve got a bunch of now that I say or or some core values I wake up every morning I say.


johnfoley: Learn grow and give and then I realized, I had the actual order wrong David it starts with giving so you go give learn and grow, so I am absolutely in this pursuit of how do I.


johnfoley: Give first and to me that’s this give back right now just being on your show you and I share so much time together we give to each other and we’re giving to the people who are listening to this, so I want to give first all right.


johnfoley: Then I want to learn i’ve learned from you.


johnfoley: Especially in our call before this as we’re talking about how things are going right and i’m sharing right, and then I want to grow.


johnfoley: And I want to grow in any way I can so what we’re learning and growing the most with right now is just what we talked about how do you build a high performance team.


johnfoley: Right and how do you take that team, which is not just the recruiting and the hiring process, how do you take that team to the next level.


johnfoley: And that involves what we’ve been talking about but i’m learning from other people every day I learned from my clients every day that’s why I love.


johnfoley: To work with organizations, because every time like i’m leaving on the airplane like I said in a in a few minutes and.


johnfoley: This group it’s a consulting group and they use the the the entrepreneurial operating system eos.


johnfoley: And i’ve heard about that, before and I said oh really tell me about that and it’s a lot of it is this structural piece that we’re talking about here, because I think you need to have some structure.


johnfoley: And then trust right, you need both, and when you have that.


johnfoley: You get breakthrough performance and that’s why what you do and I keep saying it because i’m not just pumping you up I believe what you’re doing is changing organizations and you’re changing people’s lives and that’s what we all want to do.


David Horsager: that’s absolutely that’s our hope right the mission develop trusted leaders and organizations around the world well that’s a taste of john fully before I give you the final question john tell us where can we find more about you, also known as Gucci.


David Horsager: Gucci I didn’t.


johnfoley: Stop if you want, you know depth of stuff just go to my website john foley Inc COM fully.


johnfoley: I nc calm, you know we just launched a new website it’s only been up for like a week and a half, so a lot of cool videos on there, a lot of cool stuff the very first thing you could do is sign up for our content right and we put out not not just a weekly connection.


johnfoley: But actually I put out these really cool impact videos once a week only about a minute minute half but they’re constantly on these themes and so there’s lots of that’s the number one way just be part of our Community.


johnfoley: Because, just like you, we got constantly new information we’re sharing, but then there’s social right I got a whole social media team marketing team, you can find me under john Gucci.


johnfoley: By the way, gucci’s my call sign fully and on the Net, when you have any back, we can, maybe talk about how you how I got that which I can tell you I didn’t pick and I didn’t.


johnfoley: Like it that’s why it’s stuck right.


johnfoley: Okay, of course, but but john Gucci foley you know of course linkedin and we’re doing really cool stuff on instagram you know Facebook Twitter we’re actually on all the platforms and it’s very unique so just coming become engaged, you know.


johnfoley: best way yeah any of that.


David Horsager: john Gucci foley here we go hey last question, my friend, we both have something we’ve got to be at but we’ve got to finish this way because it’s a trusted leader show who is a leader you trust and why.


johnfoley: Well it’s simple and i’ve heard you tell you this story too it’s my dad you know I mean whenever I hear that factor emotional because.


johnfoley: You know you made me think of him, and you know he’s passed away and that’s Okay, because we really he gave me everything.


johnfoley: A child would want you know, he was the example of integrity, you know I didn’t need to have a definition.


johnfoley: Just looked at my dad you know, he was the example of love with my mom they had you know together it wisdom, you know if I ever went to wisdom.


johnfoley: heck just go talk to my dad you know was really cool and so.


johnfoley: it’s so simple and.


johnfoley: And I always can fall back on that and I had the rare privilege to be with him when he passed, you know with cancer and some stuff.


johnfoley: And that was a real privilege to really get to know him, both when he was strong and when he was challenged and he was a leader in both those situations so yeah that’s the that’s the go to my dad love.


David Horsager: Nothing else to add to that hey, thank you for being on today, thank you for sharing with our trusted leader audience thank even more for being my friend that’s the trusted leader show today until next time stay trusted.

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