Take Calculated Risks: Interview with Brian J. Gallagher, President and COO of ProtectedBy.AI

I recently went one on one with with Brian J. Gallagher. Brian is the President and COO of ProtectedBy.AI and a U.S. Secret Service veteran who served in the Technical Security Division under U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Brian: My parents lost their family business when I was five years old. We found ourselves homeless and had to relocate to a different state and live in my aunt’s basement. That had a huge impact on me.

I would go door-to-door offering lawn care for my neighbors and it wasn’t long before I figured out that I could make even more if I put what I earned towards air filters that I bought and resold on my route. I guess that’s where it really started. I was a twelve-year-old capitalist and aspiring entrepreneur. I grew up with this dual-drive to secure my own financial wellbeing on the one hand, and to also try to protect everyone else. I guess it’s probably no coincidence that my first real venture was a security company that I called Safe-Co. 

So, there I was, a twelve-year-old selling panic buttons and pepper spray - and that’s when I really heard the calling. I wanted to help keep people safe. My community, my family, and myself. When I was in High School, I volunteered with the local police department and when I turned eighteen I joined the fire department.

After September 11th (2001), I decided that I wanted to get involved at the National Security level, so I set my sights on the U.S. Secret Service. The selection process was brutal - they only selected less than one percent of the applicants - but I was determined that nothing was going to get between me and serving my country, and I made the cut. 

In the course of my service, I had the honor of serving in the Technical Security Division under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. While working in the White House, my responsibility was focused on new and emerging technologies, with a particular emphasis on Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive threats. 

After about a decade in national security, I became an international serial entrepreneur, leading teams across Asia and the Middle East. I have served as a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce National Security Task Force and currently serve as an advisor to several government committees and I’ve had the opportunity to lecture and lead workshops in 37 countries. In the course of my career, I have advised and protected Heads-of-State, Royalty, CEOs, scientists, and a few A-list celebrities. 

The one thing all these experiences have had in common has been the opportunity they have given me to grow, both professionally and personally. The most valuable thing for me, however, has been the opportunity to forge lifelong friendships with extraordinary people all over the world; friends who I admire, respect, and continue to learn from. I’ve long believed that trials and tribulations build the foundation of your character - but it is the people you meet and friendships you form that help you to flourish.

Adam: What are your best lessons from your time in the secret service?

Brian: The motto of the United States Secret Service is “Worthy of Trust and Confidence.” The mission is Zero Fail. It’s baked into you from Day One that we can only keep our protectees safe if they trust us - and the trust and confidence they have in us can never be compromised. 

I can tell you for a fact that the President of the United States puts his pants on one leg at a time. Royals make mistakes. Things sometimes go wrong, even if you’re the King or Queen. Under no circumstances, however, can they go wrong for those tasked with protecting their lives.

I took those lessons seriously - and it occurred to me right from the start that what’s true for the people we protected is just as true for everyone else. At the end of the day, people are people. Whether they are rich and powerful or just the guy next door. Trust and confidence. That’s the key to any professional or personal relationship. If you’re deemed to be someone people can trust you can have a greater impact on your community and your industry. You can build better relationships and achieve your missions more readily. And if you have trust and confidence in yourself and your strategy, others will do the same.

All that being said, the other vital lesson I learned from my time in the Secret Service? It always helps to have multiple backup plans!

Adam: What are your best tips on the topic of risk mitigation?

Brian: The key is what we refer to as concentric circles of protection. If you ever visit the ruins of a real medieval castle, you’ll see that Hollywood almost always gets it wrong. Sure, they show you the drawbridge, the moat, and the gate - but every time that front gate opens, you see right into the courtyard. In a real castle, when you came through that front door you ran right into a wall. That wall forced you to go left or right to get around it in order to slow intruders down. Modern approaches to security take the same approach. Why? Because any single layer of security can be breached. There is no such thing as impenetrable protection. All you can do is reduce risk.

With multiple layers of protection, however, you can interdict risks before they reach the castle keep or computer kernel. If you’re serious about minimizing risk, you need to ensure you have multiple redundancies and complementary safeguards to keep yourself protected. 

At ProtectedBy.AI we are often struck by the fact that, in keeping their companies safe, the majority of organizations focus exclusively on building firewalls to try to keep hackers out - but they do nothing to protect themselves once they get past the front gate. That was the motivation behind our invention of CodeLock - the first capability of its kind to protect computer code once the bad guys have made it across the moat. 

Adam: What are the most important trends in technology that leaders should be aware of and understand? What should they understand about them?

There’s this old saying that’s guided my life as an entrepreneur: It’s not what you make, but what you keep that counts.

Brian: We’re now living in a world where every company has become a data company - and the most profitable companies in the history of the world are those that are based entirely on digital assets. And yet, the approach we take to protecting the zeroes and ones that enrich our companies and drive the economy hasn’t appreciably evolved since the 1980s.

Can you imagine what the world would be like if companies paid as little attention to physical security as they do to cybersecurity? Mark my words: through legislation, litigation, and market forces stockholders, stakeholders, and customers are increasingly going to punish companies that don’t take their responsibilities as data fiduciaries seriously. Over the next few months and years, we’re going to see cybersecurity become a strategic differentiator and advantage to those companies that are doing it right.

Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?

Brian: As a leader, your job is to remove obstacles from the path of those you’re leading. You need to help other people do their jobs more efficiently and effectively by leading from the front - not the back.

This takes perseverance and the ability to think and act strategically. Trust your team and their abilities, but keep an eye on the horizon. If you run into the rocks, you need to be able to work through those issues and be there for others to help them work through theirs. You need to be able to take on the problems of those you're leading and resolve them in order for the organization to succeed. 

As a leader, it is your job to understand how everyone else does theirs. Never micromanage but thoroughly understand and study the role. Learn the lingo and the trends of the industry. Work to understand why the people you employ succeed and why they fail.

Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Brian: Never stop learning. Read voraciously. Seek out good mentors and study bad bosses. Take your ego out of it and look at your career from an objective perspective. Learn what it is about your mentors that inspires you to succeed. Learn what it is about your bad bosses that inspires you to take your talents elsewhere. 

For me, the mentors I hold most dear have all been excellent communicators, open, honest, and fair. They are people that I can turn to when I’ve made a mistake. I had one old boss who took the opposite approach and managed by fear. He would walk around the office with a scowl and a baseball bat; swinging it as a stress reliever. He was a bully and people hated him. Is he the guy you would go the extra mile for? No, he was the guy you would cross the street to avoid.

As much of a fan as I am of Teddy Roosevelt, his advice to “speak softly and carry a big stick” doesn’t hold up all that well anymore. If you want to be an effective leader today, speak openly, listen effectively - and save the bat for the company softball game.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?

Brian: Seek out rockstars and let them sing. There's a lot of talk about building, molding, shaping, training, inspiring, motivating, whatever-we-gotta-do-to-encourage-productivity-ing. When it comes to forming your team, however, your time is better spent finding those who are going to succeed; the hell-bent earners, learners, and doers who are passionate about what it is they do. 

It’s your job to keep that fire alive - not to build it. The world is full of people who haven’t found their passion. People who work a 9 to 5 just for the paycheck. I’ve been there and I get it. You need to accept that it’s not up to you to turn a penguin into an eagle. You have to accept that not everyone is meant for every role. The right thing to do when you find someone who is a wrong fit isn’t to try to change them or get them to conform. The kindest thing you can do is to liberate them to work for someone else. If they’re not passionate about what they do for you, the best thing you can do is to help them get on the path to finding their passion somewhere else.

My first rule is to only employ people who provide value. I’ve found that’s always best for the organization and for the employee. Most people aren’t happy doing something they’re just not good at or interested in. But in my experience, there’s someone out there who would love doing any job there is. Your first job as a leader is to find the right person for the role - then do everything you can to get things out of their way so they can succeed.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?

Brian: First: Take calculated risks. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Fortune favors the bold. Don’t be foolish - but don’t play it too safe either. No one ever got to the top by staying cozy and comfortable at the base. Will you sometimes have to pay a price? Absolutely. But hey, what fun is it if you never leave the nest?

Second: Don’t try to eat an apple in one bite. You need to have a large appetite, but when you don’t chew, you choke. Break up your long-term goals into manageable objectives. Stay focused on where you want to go - but don’t skip past the necessary steps along the way.

Third: See the value in your time. The most important thing in my life is my family. I have two young daughters - and as much as they love daddy, they couldn’t care less about what I do when I’m at work. Stress, headaches, complaints… Who cares? When I’m home all they want to know is if daddy can come out and play. And do you know what the correct answer is? Absolutely! Let’s go out and feed the chickens, watch a movie, play chess, or chat. Or maybe just sit together and do nothing at all. 

When they’re older and have families and lives of their own, knowing that I built a billion-dollar business won’t matter to them a whit. But you know what will? That I - and they - spent time together. That daddy made it to dance recitals and school events. That nothing - nothing - mattered more to me than them.  

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Brian: Two of my greatest mentors in life have been Admiral Jay Cohen and Dr. Gene Ray. One piece of advice they both gave me was, “Never end a meeting without an ask.”

It seems simple but it has been widely effective in my experience. It keeps the conversation alive. It signifies that there was a purpose for the meeting. It shows the other person you won't simply dismiss them once the two of you part ways. 

While this is the most effective piece of advice I’ve ever been given professionally, the best piece of personal advice comes from my father, who sat me down on my Wedding Day and gave me the secret to having a happy marriage. He said, “Son, think about what you’re going to say, and then don’t say it!”


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

Follow Adam on Instagram and Twitter at @adammendler and listen and subscribe to Thirty Minute Mentors on your favorite podcasting app.