About Sean Gallagher
Although my work life has not followed a traditional path, it has been a journey packed with exciting experiences of exploration and self-discovery.
Diverse and varied, my career has taken me from the worlds of agriculture and youth work to politics and most importantly, business.
The transition between these areas was seldom planned and often the result of circumstances outside my control. However, through the ups and the downs, I have remained anchored by a deep commitment to life-long learning and to maintaining a positive and growth mindset.
Like seeds, we grow where we are planted
My career certainly did not start out in a boardroom. It started, instead, in a small rural village in the north-east of Ireland – Ballyhaise, in County Cavan. A friendly and down-to-earth community, it was also full of the usual mix of shopkeepers, publicans, construction workers and farmers. They never called themselves entrepreneurs, but that’s what they were and from a young age I found myself inspired by their strong work ethic and enterprising spirit.
I learned too from a young age about the value of having a part-time job – something that I have since learned is common to many would-be entrepreneurs. From the age of ten, I worked in the bar next door to where we lived stacking shelves until I was tall enough to reach the beer taps. The brothers, Hugh and Pat Brady, who ran the bar, never went to business school but their nurturing helped instil in me an interest in business at a young age.
Unemployment changed me forever.
After finishing agricultural college, I took up a job working in the local agricultural co-op by day and in the bar at weekends. Life looked promising. My father and I had also bought a small farm which I stocked by painting sheds for local farmers, who paid me in young calves instead of cash. But in 1984, I got my first taste of what it felt like to be unemployed following a car accident that left me unable to work for most of the following year. Once recovered, I found myself out of work and struggling to get my life back on track.
Walking out my frustration on the roads around the village, I soon came to realise that when you are ‘out of work’ you don’t just lose your job, you lose your status and your income. You also become withdrawn from the very network that will most likely provide your next opportunity. But worse still, you lose your self-confidence and your self-esteem. You become gripped by the fear, real or otherwise, that you might never work again; that this might be as good as it gets. That you might never get to become the kind of person you know you are capable of becoming.
Instead of crushing me, I resolved that I would carve out a future where I was in charge of my own destiny however long that might take me. This was a lesson I would have to learn again.
Entrepreneurship
Around that time, I began to study successful entrepreneurs. Visionaries, they see the future and then work to create it. They are the dreamers and the trailblazers, the ones drawing their own maps and making their own rules. Their only limits being their own imagination.
From the founders of exciting start-ups to the leaders of global businesses, I became inspired by the power of entrepreneurs to literally change the world for the better. They create jobs, transform communities, drive economic growth and tackle global challenges. They understand too, that real success in business as in life, is not only about doing well but also about doing good. That it is not just about making money - but about making a difference.
I resolved that I would one day become an entrepreneur. However, I had a few unexpected detours before I would get there.
Youth Work and what education didn’t teach me
My next foray after agriculture was into the world of youth work. Having helped set up a Foroige youth club in our community and having served as it’s Chair, I was taken by the organisation’s mission. Their philosophy of personal development, self-determination and self-empowerment immediately resonated with me. Looking back now, I realise that much of what I learned that helped me in life, did not come from the formal education system but from Foróige.
An invitation to address a local youth group in my home town changed the future direction of my life. Made up of fifteen and sixteen-year-olds, these young people were early school leavers who had fallen through the cracks in the formal educational system and most were from homes where their parents were long term unemployed.
Inspired by these young people I returned to full-time education to become a professional youth and community worker at the National University of Ireland in Maynooth. The more I studied, the more convinced I became that the only solution to long-term disadvantage was a combination of access to education and meaningful employment.
Having graduated as a youth worker, the next few years were spent working with the National Youth Council of Ireland and the Health Promotion Unit of the Department of Health where, together with the support of many committed volunteers, I had the honour of writing Ireland’s first national alcohol education programme for young people. DAY (Drink Awareness for Young People) was a comprehensive life-skills-based training programme that provided information and training to youth leaders and educators working to address the abuse or misuse of alcohol among the teenage population.
The World of Politics
Earlier in my twenties, my ambition to promote better access to services for young people had led me to become active in politics and to join the local branch of Ogra – the youth wing of Fianna Fail, Ireland’s largest political party at the time. Within less than two years, I found myself head of Ogra at national level and one of four youth representatives on the party’s national executive.
Following the launch of the alcohol education programme, the then Minister for Health, Dr. Rory O’Hanlon T.D. invited me to be become his full time political secretary - I was 28 years old. While being at the centre of national politics was as exciting as it was interesting, it didn’t last. Two years later, the then Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Charles Haughey was ousted and his replacement, Albert Reynolds, immediately proceeded to dismiss most of the existing Government Ministers and with them their secretaries – me included. I found myself once again out of work. Determined never to be in this position again, I resolved that I was definitely going to work for myself. However, I didn’t realise it at the time that I wasn’t fully finished with Politics.
Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur?
To bridge the gap from where I was to where I wanted to be, I took a job as Enterprise Officer with a Dublin-based community partnership project. Drawing on my own experiences, my role was to develop training interventions for those who were long-term unemployed. As things often do, this led to an offer of another role, as Deputy CEO with a local government enterprise agency in Louth. Here, I developed an aptitude for delivering ‘Start Your Own Business’ training and mentoring to emerging entrepreneurs. During the next five years, I read everything I could about business, interviewed every successful entrepreneur I could and returned again to University- this time at night - to complete a Masters of Business Administration (MBA).
All I was missing now was an idea. And that came next.
Smarthomes- Launching Ireland’s largest home technology company
In 1999, along with friend and business partner, Derek Roddy, I founded Smarthomes. It was a time when house building was on the rise and technology was becoming part of our everyday lives. Both Derek and I had recently bought new houses and, appalled at the lack of provision for emerging technology, we resolved to change the way houses were constructed. Pioneering for its time, Smarthomes grew to become Ireland’s largest home technology company, scooped multiple awards for innovation and was selected in 2006 as a finalist in the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.
Derek and I experienced some great highs during those years, such as winning the contract to install our technology in thousands of new homes in Adamstown, Ireland’s largest housing development at the time. But we also experienced crushing lows, such as when the crash of 2008 left many developers and contractors unable or unwilling to pay us. While difficult, we dug deep, emptied our reserves and managed to survive.
With a ninety per cent fall off in the number of new homes being built, we pivoted the business and began focusing instead on developing technology solutions that would help home owners better manage their home heating costs. When I later exited the business prior to running for public office, Derek and his new partner went on to create Climote, another award winning venture that continues to gain traction in the home energy market.
Changing the Law
Disgusted by the appalling treatment of thousands of sub-contractors like ourselves by some developers and construction firms which resulted in the closing of hundreds of business and the loss of thousands of jobs, I resolved to do whatever I could to prevent this ever happening again. The only real solution was to change the law to protect sub contractors. Having launched a campaign calling for new legislation to be introduced, the late Senator Feargal Quinn was the first to respond and courageously championed new legislation through parliament. After six years of campaigning and with the backing of the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) and others, we eventually succeeded in changing the law with the introduction of the Construction Contracts Act 2013 which now provides enhanced statutory payment protection for sub contractors.
Signing the Act into Law in 2016 with Sen. Feargal Quinn, Tom Parlon, Director General CIF, Minister for Business and Employment, Ged Nash T.D, Sean Downey, CIF
Dragons’ Den (Shark Tank in the US)
The success of Smarthomes led to an invitation to become an investor on the popular TV show Dragons’ Den where promising entrepreneurs pitch their idea to a panel of seasoned entrepreneurs who invest their own money in exchange for equity in these new business ventures. Apart from the success of the show in entertainment terms, for me what really mattered was that it encouraged a whole generation to look at entrepreneurship as a viable option for themselves. I took particular delight in being invited to schools and colleges across the country to judge school versions of Dragon’s Den as part of their junior entrepreneur programmes and to help committed teachers sow the seeds of entrepreneurship in the minds of a new generation of future business leaders.
Pictured on the set with fellow Dragons Gavin Duffy, Sarah Newman, Bobby Kerr and Niall O’Farrell
Appointment to State Boards
In the late 2000’s, I was honoured, at the invitation of the Irish Government, to serve as a director of a number of Irish State Boards including:
IntertradeIreland – the trade and business development body set up under the Good Friday Agreement to promote trade links and co-operation across the island. I was pleased too to serve as Chair of IntertradeIreland’s Equity Network Initiative, helping to promote Venture Capital and Business Angel Investment in early stage businesses.
The National Training and Employment Agency (FAS): with an annual budget of more than €1 billion at the time, this agency played an important role in developing training and employment opportunities across Ireland.
Drogheda Port Company: I was also honoured to serve as Chair of board of Drogheda Port – one of Ireland’s premier State ports.
Jack Canfield and International Mentoring
It was during this time that I first met Jack Canfield, the New York Times best - selling author of the ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ book series, ‘The Success Principles’ and star of the book and the movie ‘The Secret’ and regarded by many as America’s No. 1 Success Coach.
I first met Jack Canfield at a seminar in the Mansion House in Dublin in 2008 when he came to Ireland to promote his latest book, ‘The Success Principles’. At the time, Ireland was still in the throws of a deep recession and was largely paralysed by fear. I found Jack’s message authentic and refreshingly positive. In the years that followed, Jack became an important mentor to me and I was honoured to be invited by him and Patty Aubrey, the president of Jack’s company, to mentor and co-facilitate on their private retreats in the US and Europe.
A believer in the power of positive stories and inspired by Jack’s writings, I resolved to one day write a collection of stories celebrating successful entrepreneurs and the lessons they could teach others eager to follow in their footsteps. In 2018, things came full circle when in the same Mansion House where I had first met Jack, I launched my first book ‘Secrets to Success- Inspiring Stories of Leading Entrepreneurs’ – the forward to which had been written by Jack!
Public Office – Standing for Election for the office of President of Ireland
The decision to run for president was the toughest decision of my life. I had never stood for election of any type but looking at the change that previous incumbents had brought to the role and given the economic challenges Ireland faced post the crash, I felt that it was time for someone from the world of business to become president. Apart from the significance of this at home, I felt it would help project a positive image of Ireland abroad as a country that was modern, dynamic and open for business. My message was simple and grounded in my own life experiences; get Ireland back to work, stem the flow of emigration and offer a better future to our young people. A truly community based, grass roots campaign, my efforts were underpinned by the support of an army of committed volunteers and by my wife Trish who seldom left my side.
With only days to go to voting, I was leading in the polls when I suffered a serious setback. A fake tweet, that was later discovered to be from a bogus twitter account, was put to me live on air in the middle of the final televised Presidential debate without having been verified. This fake tweet and my reaction to it became the headline in all the newspapers and media outlets the following day. And with only forty hours before an election moratorium on media coverage, there was insufficient time to recover from the fallout.
Ultimately, I went on to receive over a half-a-million first preference votes, putting me in second place out of a field of seven candidates. It was an incredible result and while our campaign of 2011 has been credited by many as being one of the most dynamic and effective election campaigns in Irish political history, it would not have been possible without the help of so many people who supported and canvassed for me in every part of the country. I remain as humbled as I am proud of what we achieved and I will be forever grateful to these supporters and to the hundreds of thousands of people who voted for me.
However, running for public office brought its own challenges.
The fallout from the Presidential Election of 2011
It took me quite some time to reconcile myself to the outcome of the election. Not because I hadn’t won but because of the nature of the ending. The impact of the fake tweet and the myriad of other failings in the planning and production of the TV programme did not sit well with me. However, it was the TV broadscaster’s (RTÉ) total unwillingness to accept that the programme had been unfair, that ultimately led to my decision to take a legal case against them.
I did so out of the same sense of injustice that had caused me to want to change the construction law following the abuse of construction firms during the crash of 2008. Just like then, I resolved to do whatever I could to ensure that what had happened to me would never be allowed happen to anyone else who would be courageous enough to stand for election.
A lengthy legal battle with the national broadcaster ensued and on 19 December 2017, RTE read out an apology in the High Court accepting that the programme had indeed been unfair. They also agreed a financial settlement. Of far more importance though was their decision to introduce a significant number of changes in policies, procedures and protocols that would ensure fairness, objectivity and impartiality in all future election debate – something essential to the integrity of our democratic system.
Pictured with founder Jack Teeling on my visit to Teelings Whiskey Distillery
Back to Business
Before running in the election, I had stepped away from all my business interests. I had also invested a lot of money, time and energy into the campaign, but now it was time to move on. I found myself having to draw on everything I had learned throughout my life in order to start afresh. My phone hardly rang for the next eighteen months, except for close friends and family. There were no business opportunities and no invitations to speak. I had fallen into no man’s land – somewhere between the world of business and the world of politics.
Writer – Sunday Independent Newspaper
The one exception was the Sunday Independent who, with a readership of almost 1 million people per week, was Ireland’s largest selling newspaper. The editors were looking for a way to connect with the business community and knowing my passion for promoting entrepreneurship, invited me to write a weekly column profiling successful entrepreneurs.
Every week for the next six years I travelled across Ireland interviewing entrepreneurs and founders and writing their inspiring stories – over 300 in all. Honest and insightful, their stories were packed full of great advice and real-life insights, shared by the entrepreneurs themselves, about their experience from start-up to success, what shaped them, how they came up with their killer business ideas, as well as the many challenges that confronted them along the way.
Best Selling Author
Inspired by the courage of these hard working entrepreneurs, I wrote my first book in 2018. ‘SECRETS TO SUCCESS – INSPIRING STORIES FROM LEADING ENTREPRENEURS’ was a compilation of 50 of the best stories published over the previous six years.
My mission in writing this book was twofold (1) to help inform and inspire the next generation of business leaders and (2) to demonstrate that regardless of age, gender, financial or educational background, we all have within us the ability to achieve whatever we set our minds to. I was delighted too when the book became a best seller.
With Richard Branson
Clyde Real Estate and the Business of Property
My next goal was to set up a new business. I looked at the challenges and opportunities in Ireland at the time and in 2015, along with long-time friend and successful telecoms entrepreneur, Colm Piercy, I founded Clyde Real Estate, a commercial property development and investment company. Having identified the need for suitable workspace outside of Dublin city, driven predominantly by rising work space costs in the capital and the lack of affordable residential accommodation, we focused our attention on the suburbs of Dublin and the larger regional population centres where job creation was badly needed.
Since then we have invested almost €100m in office, production and date centre facilities across the country. Focused on a mix of indigenous, corporate and multinational tenants including names such as Nokia, Intel, Citibank and Digital Realty and with over 1m sq. ft. of space already acquired, we are continuing to raise capital and acquire assets both inside and outside of Ireland.
Other business interests
In addition to Clyde Real Estate, I became a director and shareholder in a number of businesses in the biotech and pharma engineering sectors both in Ireland and the US.
Outside of Business
Family
My greatest achievements in life however, are neither work-related nor connected to money or material possessions. They are instead, my family. My wife Trish and our two wonderful children, Bobby and Lucy. I feel grateful and truly blessed for their presence, love and support. They remind me every day what real success looks like.
Gym Instructor
Having developed a lifelong interest in fitness, exercise and wellness, I qualified in the mid 1990’s as a NCEFI Gym and Fitness Instructor from the National College of Physical Education at Thomond College (now the University of Limerick) and for many years ran circuit and conditioning classes across Dublin and Kildare in my spare time.
Martial Arts
With a keen interest in martial arts, I achieved a black belt in Judo and later a black belt in Shotokan Karate.
With training partner and friend Malachy Hevehan
With fellow contestants Alan Shortt and Rob Ross
Boxing
In 2009, I was invited to participate in a reality TV series called ‘Charity Lords of the Rings’. The show was presented by former world champion boxer Barry Mc Guigan and included trainers such as former world heavyweight champion, Tim Witherspoon and Pete Taylor and his daughter Katie Taylor (now world professional female boxing champion). This white collar boxing competition, filmed over a number of weeks, saw 12 well known personalities drawn from the fields of TV, entertainment and sport fight it out in the ring to raise over €100,000 for our chosen charities.
I was delighted to emerge as the overall winner of the series at the youthful age of 47. More importantly I was delighted to raise much needed funds for my chosen charity, the National Council for the Blind.
Massage Therapist
Following my injuries in the early 80’s, I developed a long standing interest in physical therapy and massage and later qualified with a number of diplomas in massage therapy and anatomy and physiology through ITEC & CIBTAC.
The power of Mediation
An avid believer in the power of mindfulness, I have practiced Zen mediation for the past 30 years.
Picture on retreat in Plum Village with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in France in 2014 – a community of engaged Buddhism who practice the art of mindful living.
With Gay Byrne - The Meaning of Life - 2012
The Meaning of Life
I also had the pleasure of being interviewed by the late great Gay Byrne for his TV series ‘The Meaning of Life’ where we discussed my thoughts on everything from work and family to spirituality.
The Restaurant
It was also a fun experience to be invited as the ‘hidden’ guest chef on the TV series ‘The Restaurant’ on Virgin Media TV where known personalities put on the Head Chef’s uniform and take on the challenge of cooking for a restaurant full of diners and celebrity judges. An exciting and fun filled experience, I gained a whole new level of respect for chefs!
On set with Maitre'D John Healy