Enduring A$$hole Colleagues and Dark Moments

Once, while I was presenting at a strategy retreat, a man I worked for heckled me: “Gallagher, you know what your f**king problem is? You don't know how to sell anymore!”?

I was shocked. I instantly wanted to cry. Being humiliated like that in front of my colleagues was my worst nightmare. And the heckler didn’t stop—he kept swearing at me and belittling me.?

I thought to myself: I have to get through this. He cannot see me cry. I am not going to cry in front of him. Not today, you motherf**ker.?

I persevered through my presentation. Later at lunch, my peers said to me things such as: “Dude, that was odd.” And: “We felt bad for you.”

I said to them: “Yeah, but you didn't say anything. You didn’t interrupt him. You did nothing.”?

It was a double whammy. First, the a$$hole taunting and demeaning me. Second, realizing that my colleagues didn’t have my back.?

Mindset Matters: Pushing Through the Difficult Moments of Entrepreneurship

There are occasionally massive moments in an entrepreneur’s journey that suck. Those moments break us down and we think they’re never going to end. From time to time, though, if we just have the right mindset, we can endure them.?

I wrote the word “endure” very purposefully. There are some broken and nasty things in our careers that we can’t fix or fire, that we can’t simply make disappear. We can either endure them. Or quit.?

There’s often nothing wrong with quitting, but if you don’t want to quit, then when those sh!tty moments happen, you have to find the strength to keep going and not give up. It's not easy, but it's necessary. The most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who weather the storms and push through dark moments.?

All of this links with our mindset, which brings me to a profound chat I recently had with Guy Kawasaki, a guest on my podcast, “Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher.”?

Guy knows a thing or two about mindsets. No, scratch that. He knows thousands of things about mindsets. As just one example, during his time working with Steve Jobs at Apple, Guy was instrumental in marketing the Macintosh computer. His job was to create a cult-like following for the Macintosh among developers and consumers, which he achieved, thanks to how he leveraged different mindsets to connect with people on deeper levels.??

How You Handle Adversity

A related idea that I discussed with Guy is my view that it’s not necessarily adversity that makes someone remarkable, but rather how they handle adversity.?

When I was being heckled, instead of being too chicken to respond (as were my colleagues), I could have “handled” that situation in numerous ways. For instance, I could have confronted the a$$hole head-on with confidence, using humor to defuse the tension. But I didn’t. Instead, I “handled” it by staying quiet and finishing my presentation.?

Also, come to think of it, I actually “handled” it another way—by learning that I can survive horrible moments. Oh, and by the way, not to boast—ok, I’m boasting a little bit—but before I was even 30 years old, I grew that business to over $550 million.?

And that heckler? He’s still an a$$hole.?

Making A Difference With Your Mindset

I’d like to thank Guy Kawasaki for coming on my show and for inspiring me to write this article. Here’s our conversation:?