We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christine Galib a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Christine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

What is the key to success? I get asked this question a lot. Without hesitation, I respond, “Discipline.”

Discipline is the compounding, over time, of one small step done repeatedly to get you to your goal. You want to run farther, start running. Run one small step at a time, and do it again the next time, and the next time, adding a one small step each time. You want to become an author, start writing. Write one word at a time, and write another word the next time, and the next time. We all start somewhere, and it starts with one small step forward.

Being disciplined is being consumed by your craft—the details, the big picture, and everything in between. 10,000 hours is just the beginning and it is not enough. And 10,000 hours starts with the first second you make the intentional and consistent choice to take one small step towards your goal, every single moment you can.

After discipline, the rules by which you live matter. I have 100 rules to live by. Some are serious, some are silly. Some are formal, some are fun. All have shaped, and will continue to shape, how I choose to spend my moments on this side of the line. Here are the first 5 (the short versions of them at least. The long versions? And the rest of them? You’ll just have to stay tuned…because you know that book is forthcoming!)

1. 🙏 Have faith in the things that are worthy of your trust. We all have faith in something. The point is to have faith in the things that are true, infallible, and reliable.

2. ⭐️ Find your North Star. Never lose sight of it, and if you think it’s fading from your view, figure out how to see it again. It simultaneously grounds you and guides you so you can get through anything—no matter what stormy seas you might find yourself navigating.

3. 🏃🏻‍♀️ Sweat (at least) once every day. It’s not about the miles. It’s about the movement. When I first started running, I could barely finish a tenth of a mile. We all start somewhere, with one step, however small, forward.

4. 💖 Learn how to fall in love. Love is the strongest force on our planet—and in our universe. Love leads you to joy, and when you find it, my goodness, will joy surprise you (if you see what I did there, you are my people). Joy—eucatastrophic joy—is a profound experience that makes you yearn for a beauty that is from beyond the walls of this world and a goodness that is not merely the shadow of something greater, but the source of it.

5. ✨ Identify whom, and what, you would die for—and live for them. Live wildly, live joyfully, live extra, live big, live well, and live “all in” for them. Chase them, and don’t let anyone dull your sparkle as you do. When God created you (from the same stuff as stars), He didn’t play small. Neither should you.

Christine, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a systems thinker, educational leader, innovation ecosystem builder, founder, and author with a non-linear, 15+ year career in helping others discover their creative strengths and develop their entrepreneurial and investor mindsets. I am blessed beyond measure to serve as Senior Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Ion, Houston’s HQ for innovation, which is located in Houston’s Ion District. The Ion’s tagline is “Every better way needs a place to begin. Start here.” I firmly believe that about the Ion and Ion District. I lead programming that supports Houston’s entrepreneurs, startups, and investors. I also facilitate and teach workshops, lectures, and courses on storytelling, creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership, management, venture creation, and other topics, as well as serve as an adjunct professor at HCU.

I am also an author. My books are available on Amazon and wherever books are sold. In 2021, I published Parables from the Pandemic: Holding onto Hope in a Hurting World.  It is a collection of my short stories that help us explore our faith, and what it means to practice love, kindness, and compassion in a broken world.

In 2022, I published Etched in Stone, which is the first book in The Knights of the Dagger series. Etched in Stone is a Grail-quest, archaeological mystery, starring a female protagonist and promoting women empowerment themes. In June 2023, I’ll publish Eternae, the second book.

Etched in Stone is the story of Carly Stuart, who wants nothing more than to fill her late grandmother’s shoes. Carly’s late grandmother, like my late grandmother, was a trailblazer who chased adventure and lived her purpose with passion and perseverance, inspiring countless people with her elegance, wit, determination, and kindness. Unfazed by whatever life threw at her, she would look a challenge straight in the face and instead of backing down, say, “You’re going to have to do a whole lot better than your best to get the best of me.”

Carly admires this spirit, and her gran’s adventures, as she aspires to live up to her grandmother’s legacy. So it comes as no surprise that as a freshman at Nassauton College, she studies archaeology, following in the footsteps of her gran. Etched in Stone starts with Carly taking her very first steps around campus and ends with her walking around Stonehenge, with an artifact that has led her to more adventure—and put her in more danger—than she ever thought possible. Despite this danger, Carly, Blane, and her professors plow ahead with their Grail quest. With new artifacts in their possession and questions about Grealia Eternae, Carly and her team set out in search of answers. And that is exactly where Eternae picks up.

In what readers are calling an “immaculate and very distinctive plot,” Eternae, the second book in The Knights of the Dagger series, picks up right where Etched in Stone left off. The Fearless Foursome’s journey leads Carly, Blane, and her professors to GE Pharmaceuticals and its ambitious CEO, who dreams of developing a drug to cure cancer and offer immortality. As the Fearless Foursome digs deeper, Carly learns the lab will stop at nothing to obtain the source of the drug’s key ingredient—the Holy Grail itself. Carly must stay one step ahead of her enemies, because if she doesn’t, and they get the Grail, there will be catastrophic consequences for the world.

In Eternae, the stakes are higher, the characters more conniving, the science more complicated, the technology more magical, and the magic more real. Eternae explores the intersections of technology, medicine, science, magic—and what it means to be human. It challenges us as readers, citizens, leaders, innovators, and creators to ask deep, philosophical, and moral questions: “Just because we can do something, does that mean we should?” I cannot wait to share Eternae with you!

For special deals on Etched and Eternae, and to purchase presales copies, please check out my website and stay tuned on Instagram @christinegalibauthor  for fun giveaways! I also love speaking with K-12, college, and graduate classes, as well as giving seminars, workshops, and book readings (to schedule, please reach out on my website). I’ve been blessed to do quite a few, and the Q&A is one of my favorite parts. It is amazing when creatives have a chance to ask questions and find community through story.

Any advice for managing a team?

For managing a team and maintaining high morale, it is ALL about the people. Learn what makes each individual get out of bed in the morning, and learn what keeps them up at night. Empower them with everything in your power to affect change. Use your power to empower others, with the tools they need to build the processes, protocols, and programs that will change the world. Managing a team and maintaining high morale, like leadership, is ALL about the people—and putting yourself last so they can be first. High morale is generated when an individual’s inner purpose and passion are permitted to flourish externally “on stage,” to be celebrated and showcased, repeatedly. High morale comes as a result of creating an environment that enables individuals to identify, operate, and create in the “flow state”/”in the zone” where they don’t have to think twice about doing something because they are completely engrossed in and focused on the task at hand.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Oh goodness, what a great question. I have a ton. We’d be here all year. I’ll offer two books: Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs and Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future. I’ll also offer E. Paul Torrance’s Creative Manifesto which is an absolute must-read for kids and creatives, and anyone working with creatives.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://christinegalib.com
• Instagram: @christinegalibauthor
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristineGalibAuthor/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinegalib/