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The Best You - A Coaching Podcast: Personal Growth Through Real Conversations · Gary Gillan

From Death's Door to Life's Purpose with Bill Goodwin

·50 min·4 clips
He grabbed the nebulizer knowing something was terribly wrong - then everything went dark
Bill Goodwin's story begins in a groomers shop. A severe asthma attack turns an ordinary errand into a scramble for a rescue inhaler, a drive home, and a desperate prayer for help. He blacks out soon after reaching his family room. What follows is a near-death sequence: his life passes before him, he believes he is going to die, and later he is in the ER after coding and being resuscitated. Gary Gillen stays with the weight of that moment, then lets the conversation move toward what changed after it. Goodwin says the experience sharpened his sense of priority living and made him more intentional about how he uses his attention. He keeps coming back to listening. In his leadership work, he now tries to speak less, ask more, and slow down long enough to understand what a person or business actually needs before offering a tool. He ties that habit to John Maxwell's influence. Goodwin describes Maxwell as a model of generous, question-led leadership, and points to the idea that good leaders ask great questions. The episode also lingers on a line Goodwin has carried for years: everything worthwhile is uphill. He uses it to frame growth as effortful by nature rather than accidentally difficult. That leads him to another blunt observation. People often have uphill hopes and downhill daily habits, and the gap between them is where change either happens or stalls. He does not sell shortcuts. Instead, he argues for mentors who have already climbed the ground you want to cross and can keep you moving when the slope gets steep. The tone stays warm and conversational throughout. Gary responds as a reflective interviewer, giving Goodwin room to move from personal crisis into leadership principle. The conversation stays practical without becoming mechanical, and personal without tipping into spectacle. It leaves the listener with a simple but demanding invitation: notice what matters, listen better, and climb with better company.

As heard by us

A severe asthma scare leads into listening, questions, and climbing with mentors.

Bill Goodwin's severe asthma attack gives the conversation its emotional center, and the episode moves from that crisis into what he learned afterward: speaking less, listening more, asking better questions, and climbing with mentors instead of trying to force his way through…

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Why you'd press play

If you want a survival story that becomes a lesson in listening and mentorship, start here.

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