No Vision, No Problem: How Aaron Golub Redefined Possible

Aaron Golub: 0:00

There's a lot of people that want to play but don't make it. It's not that they don't make it. They didn't try hard enough, they didn't figure out a way or figure out a position that worked for them. I knew I couldn't be a quarterback at the division one level. I wasn't big enough to be a lineman. But I in sophomore year of high school, I went from being a third string athlete to saying,

Harsh Thakkar: 0:15

What's up everybody? This is Harsh from qualtivate.com. And you're listening to the life sciences 360 podcast. On this show, I chat with industry experts and thought leaders to learn about their stories, ideas and insights, and how their role helps bring new therapies to patients. Thanks for joining us. Let's dive in. All right, welcome to another episode, and my guest today is Aaron Golub. He is a consultant speaker and who helps organizations implement leadership strategies and overcoming adversity. He has an amazing story and amazing background. And we're gonna dive into that today. Welcome to the show, Aaron.

Aaron Golub: 0:52

Thanks for having me.

Harsh Thakkar: 0:53

I want to start off by asking you, I've gone through your profile, I've I have a lot of admiration for what you've been through, and the audience is going to hear about your story today. But I want to start off by asking you, when did you find out that you were I know that from your story, you were legally blind, and you played as a division one athlete, you're also an ex NFL free agent. But I want to start by asking you when was the first moment that you found out that this is something you would have to live with?

Aaron Golub: 1:26

Yeah, so I was born legally blind. And so I've known nothing different my whole life. And for me, what that means is that no vision all my right eye, very limited in my left eye see through a tiny hole in that small hole, is my field of vision out of my left eye.

Harsh Thakkar: 1:41

And for people who are listening in because this was an interesting discovery for me when I was searching the term legally blind, and there's lots of definitions. And can you just give the audience like a two line difference between legally blind and totally blind? Because they're sort of confused.

Aaron Golub: 2:00

I mean, totally blind would be be no vision, I have a little bit of vision. It's not like it's very good vision, but my right eye is totally blind. And my left eye is, you know, legally blind because there's no like I said, I see through a tiny hole. And so that's my field of vision.

Harsh Thakkar: 2:14

Right? And it was like, I read something, it was like, normal vision is 20/20. And legally blind is 20/200 or something like that.

Aaron Golub: 2:22

Yeah. So out of that hole. My vision is like about 20/200 or 20/300. Yeah.

Harsh Thakkar: 2:28

Okay. So walk me through this, right, there is tons of, you know, athletes who have different, you know, circumstances and some athletes, they try out their entire, you know, while they're in school while they're in college, and due to whatever reasons due to health or you know, they have some kind of you know, they're not good at the sport or whatever challenges they have, they don't end up getting into sports, even though that they're passionate about, but in your case, despite of you know, being legally blind, and the first if I'm correct, the first athlete who played in the, you know, Division One athletes, So walk me through how your experience playing that sport, translated into everything else that you're doing in your life.

Aaron Golub: 3:18

Yeah, so, you know, for me, I started off in high school, I was a third stream junior varsity athlete, my sophomore year of high school, I was never playing never touching the field. And I just was sick of it. I also don't believe that, you know, just because you said before, there's a lot of people that you know, want to play, but don't make it. It's not that they don't make it it's that they didn't try hard enough. They didn't try, they didn't figure out a way, or figure out a position that worked for them. You know, I knew I couldn't be a quarterback at the division one level, I wasn't big enough to be a lineman. But I in sophomore year of high school, I went from being a third string athlete to saying I'm going to find a way to play at a high level, I found the position long snapping, I realized, if I got really good at it, there might be a shot. And so every day for the rest high school, I would wake up at 5am Go practice long snapping, I would go to school, go to practice with my team and lift weights every single evening. And you know, I did the things that nobody else is willing to do. And if you're doing the things that nobody else is willing to do, you'll get results no one else was able to get. But that was how I was able to get a spot at Tulane and eventually, you know become like you said the first legally blind division one athletes playing a game.

Harsh Thakkar: 4:23

Yeah, and so that's that's more of you know, your work ethic. Let's just put it that way, which you said you know, some people it's not that they didn't try hard. They just didn't have the work ethic. But walk me through the mental preparation that goes in right because you're going into a game or you're playing the sport and you know you have this adversity that you're you're playing with it right So walk me through mentally How did you shut that out from your brain saying this is not a weakness? I'm still going to play strong and I'm going to still play just like a normal person.

Aaron Golub: 4:58

Yeah, look, you can control what you can control, you can't control what you can't control, I can never control the fact that I'm blind, what I can control is how I show up and what I do every single day. And so I understood early on that there was nothing I could do about my vision, what I could do is control how I played every single down how I played every single rep. And so that was about putting in 100% effort. Despite the limitations that have I understood, I had to work differently than other people, I had to work harder than other people, I'd work smarter than other people, I had to do things that other people weren't doing, because I had to compensate for my limitation. And so I understood on a daily basis that for me, I couldn't show up, you know, 50%, to a workout or to a practice ever, because, you know, I was already behind, I had to show up better than everybody else every single day if I want to be able to compete.

Harsh Thakkar: 5:46

Yeah, it's, it's again, you know, I can't really, I have never played sports at that level. So I'm not able to comprehend what actually goes in. But, you know, it's a great opportunity to talk to somebody like you that can, you know, take us behind the scenes. So then you transition from sports into a career in finance. So how did how did that happen?

Aaron Golub: 6:10

Yeah, so I studied finance in school. And so when I graduated college, I wanted to go into all of finance. And so that's, you know, what I did at the same time, I was also doing speaking, I'd always been asked to do a bunch when I was in school, from my coaches, and whenever we had certain events or things like that, and so when I graduated with both of the findings, and you know, started speaking as more of a business and doing for low C type engagements right off the bat, I was doing both of those side by side for a while. And as my speaking grew, my interest in finance kind of declined. And so eventually, I got to the point where, you know, I was able to be making enough for my speaking, it was growing and being a significant part that I left finance. And then when I did that, speaking, exploded, and then today, I do that it's I run two businesses now. And so the one business is, I do speaking consulting with companies, with teams with, you know, conferences, schools all over the world. So they're ready to bring me into your speaking engagement for an event, do more workshops, do longer term consulting. And then I also run another business where, you know, me and my team help grow and scale speaking businesses, for other speakers. So do the same exact marketing Legion sales that we did for myself, and implement those systems and to other businesses. So those are the two businesses I run today. And it's a lot of fun.

Harsh Thakkar: 7:26

That's a great story. So it sounds like you were you got your job into finance after you graduated. Because that's what you, you know, you went to school you studied for, but then you found this passion for speaking, found this passion for sharing your story, your life journey, and possibly inspiring, you know, different, like you said, you know, different types of people starting from schools and kids and to organizations and businesses. So that's, that's amazing, right? Because they're not that many people who live the life that you live, so it's a great thing you're doing sharing your, your journey and possibly inspiring others in different ways, that I'm sure people have told you that, you know, after your events, so do you do you remember a memorable thing that somebody told you after one of your speaking events that really like, you know, touched or hit the right spot for you?

Aaron Golub: 8:19

I wouldn't necessarily say one specific thing, I think it's, you know, there's always different people come up to me after and talk, you know, they related to it for some reason, maybe they have some sort of disability themselves. Maybe their child does, maybe their friend does and, and they just relate to it, it gives them a whole different perspective. And so that happens all the time. I mean, most times when I speak, someone comes up to me, because, you know, most people, whether it's themselves family member friend, like, they know someone with some sort of disability, you know, somehow related to them. And so most times people do come up to me and comment on that and say, you know, what, what that's made them think about or what that's made them perceive now. And so it happens all the time. And so those are always, you know, really cool and rewarding conversation. So

Harsh Thakkar: 9:07

yeah, it's, again, you know, like, it's an amazing thing that you're doing that I want to switch gears and go into your consulting expertise and what you're doing with company so I can imagine you're working with different companies leadership level, and you know, helping them.

Aaron Golub: 9:24

So a lot of times the speaking engagements or workshops that a company brings me or my team into, who will then turn into longer term agreements with them. And so they might bring me in to talk on something like overcoming adversity or leadership or, you know, the disability side of things. And that's great and we work with them, but then it can turning to helping them build out their leadership development, strategies and program for the organization or turned into, you know, how they can actually work and, and, and allow people with different disabilities to succeed and change their different practices, how they can think differently about Disability and things of that nature within the organization as a whole. And so, a lot of times not every time because it depends on the type of organization I work with. But a handful times it turns into what starts as a speech or workshop turns into a longer term arrangement and work with these companies or these organizations for longer term basis.

Harsh Thakkar: 10:19

And that's, you know, that's kind of pretty much like a lot of the consulting, Pat's, like, you're you're doing the speaking engagements. So that's basically like a snapshot of your story and what you can offer and then and, you know, as you mentioned, clients are reaching out to you for longer term engagements. The thing with working, you know, in an organization is there's so many factors that come into play, right? Like, even if you're a single, like leader, or a small leadership team of three to five people. And you know, depending on the size of the company, where you're located, what market, there's a lot of factors that are out of your control. So I want to ask you, when you are coaching leaders, or working with them on a long term basis, what are some of the qualities that you want to, you know, after you're done working with them, you want to have that leader, you want to have them those qualities? Can you come up with two or three that you want to leave them with?

Aaron Golub: 11:17

So before I answer that, we'll kind of take a step back and say, like, whatever, like you said, Every organization is different. And so the first step, when I work with a company and adding capacity, whether it be a longer term engagement, whether it be just a speech or workshop, I do, and my team does what we call a needs assessment. And more that is sitting down having conversation with them, and learning about what is the culture look like? What's the environment? What are the challenges they had going on? What are the goals that they have, and really get a deep understanding, because I'm a strong believer that, as a speaker, as a consultant, whoever, yeah, you can do the same speech or the same thing with companies. And it'll help but it won't make a true impact or difference, unless you really understand the ins and outs of the organization. And so doing that's really important. And so, obviously, some of those traits, and some of those things can change from time to time. But for example, on like, I'll stick to the leadership side, because you, you were focusing on that, but I think some of the commonalities are, how they can navigate difficulty, such difficult situations, how they can be more empathetic, how they can communicate, and in a better level, on the disability side, oftentimes, it's you know, how they can help and work with people with different disabilities, so they can allow them to succeed, how they can adjust their, you know, hiring practices, or how they can, you know, find and source different talents. And so there's different things depending on what those kinds of needs assessments tell us. But it's all there are definitely commonalities.

Harsh Thakkar: 12:42

And have you worked with, have you worked, so all the examples you gave are great, but I think 90% of them are focused to what's happening within the organization. And I just wanted to ask you or know from you, have you worked with any leader or company where some leader was going through adversity in their personal life, right? Because work is is one part, but you know, we're all humans. We have personal lives, you know, kids, spouses, parents, whatnot. Have you ever worked with a leader that was going through adversity in their personal life, but it was impacting their work? And how did you how did you help them cope up with that?

Aaron Golub: 13:23

Yeah, I mean, there's two sides to it, because on the first side, Look, we all go through different adversities. So making sure that you can understand and you have those skill sets to get through them on a day to day level, whether it's in the business or outside business, are really important. Make sure that you can treat those clear plans to get through any challenges that come your way, making sure that you have the communication skills, and to work through them. And just really listening and understanding those situations to help them come up with those unique plans. At the same time, I'm a strong believer of, and I say this in a nice way, I don't want this to get taken out of context. But nobody cares what's happening in your life, at the end of the day business is business. And it's the same thing with my business every day. Nobody cares. No one in the world cares if I had a crappy day yesterday, or crappy morning today, the only thing that people care about is do I do what I promised I would do. And at the end of the day, if I don't show up and do what I said I was going to do, I get fired by clients, people get mad at me, that type of stuff. And so at the end of the day, you might have challenging situations and we can work through that I can help you with those same things, the end of the day, like you need to show up and do what you said you were going to do regardless of the situations in your life. And that's what makes a leader successful is if they can block out those things that are going on and get done what needs to get done.

Harsh Thakkar: 14:42

Yeah, that's that's a great point because

Aaron Golub: 14:42

Oftentimes, the messages are the same or regardless of whether you're you're working in a company or you're self employed or you have other responsibilities in life, similar, but it's the way that you deliver it, it's the way the you don't get you don't get a break right you you can take Your break, but life goes on. So you've quickly got to flip flip the page, whether it's like I said, whether it's your job or a business, or whatever it is. Everyone goes through that. And it's hard. It's hard. Because it, it sounds easy for me to say or for you to say, but obviously, whoever's going through that, you know, they're probably going to be rubbed off the wrong way and say, oh, yeah, it's easy for you to tell me activities that you do throughout the way that you that, but you haven't gone through the same. So what I get your point, you know, at some point, you have to flip the page structure things, the tones that you use the words and verbiage and understand that it wasn't in your control. But you have to that you they use. So there are differences, but there's move on. And when, so, what what advice do you want to live? The, when you're talking to people you're talking to? You said, you're talking to kids in schools and other? So do you often tailor your advice based on like, Okay, today, you're talking to a 500 person company, but next week, you might be talking at a school. So I want to understand like, do you tailor your message? How do you go about that? Like, what advice would you give to like a 10 year old versus a CEO of a company? different themes, you know, oftentimes, and this is, I feel like one of one of the biggest ones is, look, it's about finding gratitude within the situation you're in, you know, too many people think that things happen to them and not for them. And I say all the time, I'm so thankful, grateful. Because it's, it's allowed me to be the person I am today create the businesses that I run and capture relationships that I have. And so because of that, I'm grateful. And it might be hard to find gratitude within the challenges you face. But if you can find a little bit of gratitude, your life becomes better, you become more successful. You're healthier.

Harsh Thakkar: 17:00

Yeah. 100%. Yeah, it's there's nothing much you can do about you know, being limited by circumstances or facing adversity, but looking at it from a positive angle. Yeah, that's, that's definitely a great response. Yeah, it's been amazing, you know, talking to you, I'm, I'm so glad that you decided to come on the show. Before we we wrap this up? What's your what's your goal for the future? What do you what do you want? You know, obviously, you're inspiring and leading companies and helping leaders in companies and sharing your story, both with the, you know, kids in schools, sports and whatnot. But what do you want people to remember you once, you know, once you stopped doing it?

Aaron Golub: 17:50

Yeah, I mean, I think just just being able to get everything out of every day, I think I want people to think of me, as you know, I went out there and laid everything on the line. And have zero regrets, you know, whether it be in my speaking, whether it be in the consulting, whether it be in the other business that I run, you know, it's doing everything I can every day to help others, you know, do better wish in their lives and different across companies across things that we do. But it's being able to really just focus and help other people succeed.

Harsh Thakkar: 18:19

And before we before we drop off, do you want to share how people can get in touch with you if they want to work with you or invite you as a speaker?

Aaron Golub: 18:29

Yes, so my website is aarongolub.com. And my email is aaron@aarongolub.com. Feel free to reach out I'm always happy to chat.

Harsh Thakkar: 18:37

Alright, thank you, Aaron. I was really pleasure talking to you and wish you success. Yep. With all your project.

Aaron Golub: 18:43

Thank you. Thanks, you too.

Harsh Thakkar: 18:46

Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Check out the show notes in the description for a full episode summary with all the important links. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.