Beyond the Expat Adventure: Gary Brady on Defining Courage, Success, and the Power of Support

In this episode of the “Courageous by Crossroads Apologetics” podcast, host Jeff Johnson converses with Gary Brady, an Irish expatriate in Bahrain, who shares his journey of courage and personal growth. Gary discusses his decision to move to Bahrain eight years ago for better opportunities for his family, while highlighting the influence of his family values and supportive upbringing on his courageous choices. He defines courage as taking calculated risks for the greater good and underscores daily acts of perseverance over traditional notions of masculinity. Gary offers insightful advice on reframing courage, identifying personal success, and the significance of having a support network. The episode concludes with Jeff thanking Gary for his valuable insights and sharing information about the Crossroads Apologetics platform.

Gary is a highly experienced HR leader with a rich background across Ireland and the Middle East. He is deeply passionate about embedding the people agenda at the heart of business strategy. He dedicates his career to ensuring that organizational culture is a central pillar of performance rather than a peripheral concern. Gary’s expertise centers on navigating the intricate dynamics of workplace culture, creating environments where talent can flourish, and ensuring employee objectives are in harmony with overarching business goals. Beyond his professional endeavors, Gary is a dedicated husband and a proud father to three daughters, placing utmost importance on family. His leadership style, characterized by a holistic approach and underscored by a commitment to growth, inclusivity, and empathy, resonates both within and outside the professional sphere.

Thank you for listening! We hope you feel inspired and encouraged by our conversation today. If you did, be sure to share this episode with others.

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See you in the next episode! Be blessed!

Full Transcript

Intro:
Welcome to Courageous by Crossroads Apologetics, a look into what motivates us to step out in courage and the everyday bravery of men and women like you. In each episode, we hear a personal story of bravery centered around this question. What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? And now your host, founder of Crossroads Apologetics, Jeff Johnson. 

Jeff Johnson:
Hi, everybody. Welcome to the podcast. Do you have anybody in your life who’s taken a leap, who’s done something really bold that kind of leaves you scratching your head going, I wish I could do that. I do. And his name is Gary Brady, and he is a dear friend of mine, and he has got something powerful to say about courage. 

Gary Brady:
Yeah. I’m in Bahrain, the Kingdom of Bahrain, which is in the Middle east for any of you listeners. I didn’t know where it was before I moved here, so I wouldn’t be surprised if people were as confused as I was. And it’s a beautiful small country, very family oriented, very different than places like Dubai, which is only an hour away, and it’s somewhere now I’m happy to call home. And I have three daughters and two of them have been born here. So this is the life they know. 

Jeff Johnson:
We’re picking up on your very distinct Bahrain accent. 

Gary Brady:
I’m local. Local? No, no. My background as you can probably tell, I’m Irish. I’m from Dublin, Ireland. Very proud to be from Dublin. And yeah, I grew up in a, I suppose a traditional household, traditional Irish household, which means you don’t necessarily venture too far from home for a lot of your life. Ireland is will, is and always will be home for me. And it’s where my met my wonderful wife and it’s where country. We still spend a lot of time and try to get there, back there as much as possible. So, yeah, no, heralded from Ireland and now in the Middle east, still trying to get used to the weather. 

Jeff Johnson:
I want to back up and ask about your family before I do that, because we’re talking about Bahrain. So I’m talking from Iowa right now, and we’ve been bitter cold for the longest time. Actually. We got a warm spree here, so we’re going to be 60 degrees Fahrenheit today, which is abnormal for February, but it probably won’t last. But what’s your weather like in Bahrain? I, I, in my mind’s eye, it’s absolutely beautiful. 

Gary Brady:
Yeah, no, this is the time of the year I, I recruit people and for a living. And this is when I try to get them to start, because this is the time when you want to be in the Middle East. This is the time we want to be in Bahrain. So I’m not going to try and do Fahrenheit, but a Celsius is about 20 degrees Celsius at the moment, which for an Irish person is a nice summer’s day. It’s actually a very good summer’s day, but it just gives that opportunity to kind of, you know, have a bit of out time and experience the country in a very different way. Then I suppose during the summer periods you can get up to 50 degrees Celsius. And as you can probably tell from my protection, I don’t do too well in the extreme heat. 

Gary Brady:
So, yeah, it’s. It’s absolutely beautiful at the moment. 

Jeff Johnson:
Yeah, wonderful. So what got you to Bahrain? 

Gary Brady:
Yeah, that’s probably. It’s. It’s a journey that started. I joined a medical university in Ireland 15 years ago, and we actually had a university in Bahrain. And I remember when I joined, kind of had to look it up on a map in the sense of, you know, where’s this country? And found it really small. You can drive around Bahrain in two hours. And as part of that role, I was asked to go over and give some support to the Bahrain business or the Bahrain University. And really apprehensive the first time I came. Didn’t really know what to expect and came out and spent a couple of days here. I was just blown away by the warmth of the people, but a welcoming nature, by just the pace of life and a different outlook on kind of what was important and what worked. 

Gary Brady:
So really enjoyed that and spent another couple of years in the Dublin business. An opportunity came up in Bahrain. It was at a time when my first daughter had just been born and were contemplating, you know, what would family life look like for us. My wife wanted to spend some time with our baby. Financially would be very difficult to do that in Ireland at that time where one parent was working or one part of the partnership was working. So we took a bit of a leap of faith and said, okay, this opportunity has come up in Bahrain and I relocated with my wife, very interesting wife, and my 1 year old to a. To the Middle East. And we’ve been here ever since. 

Jeff Johnson:
That’s. That’s courageous in and of itself. I mean, wow. And that’s very impressive. So you and I, for the benefit of our listeners, you and I navigated an Oxford class together this past year. In 2023, and were, we had four modules. So I was over there four times for three or four days, four or five days at a jaunt, I guess, over there. And you were one of the first people that I met, Gary. And I’m to be very transparent. I’m a introvert. So I’m kind of a little bit nervous about talking to people the first time. And I remember the first time I met you had this effervescence and this confidence about you that was just very, it was just very warm and inviting, and it helped me kind of ease into that class. 

Jeff Johnson:
And then I learned after I got to know you for five minutes that you were in Bahrain. And I immediately thought, this is a courageous man. This is a gutsy guy. This is a guy I want to be like. Because how would you move from Ireland to Bahrain? I mean, that seems like a really, really big step. So, anyway, sorry about slobbering all over you in the podcast, but you’re an impressive guy. 

Gary Brady:
I know. I really appreciate that, Jeff. And I think, you know, you’re definitely one of the people that I gravitated towards in that very impressive group of, what, 58, 59 different leaders from all over the world. And, you know, I think I’d heard the term imposter syndrome before arriving at Oxford the first day, but never probably experienced it until I saw some of the companies and titles of our classmates. So, yeah, you know, I’m, I, I really enjoy people, I enjoy working with people. I, I think one of the benefits of living in Bahrain for the last eight years now is that opportunity to just get a sense of different cultures and get rid of preconceived perceptions that had probably been ingrained in me from, from early age and just take people on face value. 

Gary Brady:
And I’m a real advocate for, you know, just treating people with kindness, treating people with respect, and then building a relationship from there. And, you know, were really lucky, I think, in our class that everybody seemed open to that. And no, I, I, I’ve really enjoyed, I think we’ve had what people from America, from Mongolia, from Kazakhstan, from Ireland, from the UK So it’s been an amazingly enriching experience. 

Jeff Johnson:
I, I completely agree. It was just fantastic. And the way you put it about interfacing with different cultures, that was the biggest takeaway for me was just being able to empathize with people with where they’re at and learn how they perceive the world from their specific culture. It was just really rich. Okay, so speaking of culture. I have always made the assumption I might be dangerous ground here. I’ve always made the assumption that Irishmen have inherent courage. Is that true? 

Gary Brady:
I suppose I’ve really struggled with this for the last couple of days. I knew this. This chat was coming up, and we talk about courage, and I probably had this preconceived, probably immature perception of courage of, you know, the player that puts their body on the line on the football pitch or the person that is, you know, is in a role that is inherently dangerous or anything else like that. And I kind of. But, you know, when I sat back and I was actually discussing this with family and friends and different things, I think going back to the point you made, it’s. It’s the ability to take a calculated risk for the greater good. Right. So, you know, if I take myself, my wife, moving to Bahrain eight years ago, that was a very calculated risk. 

Gary Brady:
It was actually a big risk because were leaving family behind. We were choosing to raise our daughter in a culture and an environment which we had not been raised in, but ultimately it was about kind of going, okay. This is an opportunity for us to give her a lifestyle and opportunities and a start that was really important to us. So, you know, courage or bravery, I think can come in many different facets. And. And for me, it definitely wasn’t on the football pitch. It was, you know, it was about that kind of focus on family and, you know, how can I make an environment where I am being the best dad and the best husband that. That I can be? On the Irish. On the Irish. In relation to courage, I think we, you know, we. 

Gary Brady:
We have big voices, I think it would be fair to say, and are quite opinionated at times, and that probably comes across as a bit, but I don’t think it’s any different than any other. Any other culture. 

Jeff Johnson:
Don’t want to. Don’t want to mix overconfidence with courage or an alcohol. 

Gary Brady:
Yeah. 

Jeff Johnson:
Fair enough. Well, I love your definition of courage there, Gary. Do you think that everybody has courage? 

Gary Brady:
I think everybody has courage in a different way or has the potential for courage. I think it comes back to, what’s your anchor point? What. What is your. What is your ultimate motivator or goal? As I said, for me, it’s always been family. And I was. You know, for me, the anchor point is my own parents and my own childhood and kind of seeing the sacrifices now as an adult that were made to give me the best opportunities in life. And I don’t think. I think it’s Something you don’t appreciate until you have your kids yourself would be my perception of it. But it was a real strong motivator for me to kind of look at those calculated risks. 

Gary Brady:
I remember my mother used to talk about a book as were growing up, which was Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, you know, and it was kind of gone, you know, having that confidence and comfort that I always had, someone that had my back. So you can take risks, you know, calculated risks, not kind of, you know, super dangerous or anything else like that, but actually being encouraged to explore, try new things, adapt to different ways of life, and go outside of the norm and, you know, really find what gives your motivation and makes you happy. You know, I talk to a lot of people, talk to people a lot about their careers and what they like doing. And ultimately, you know, it comes down to, I spent eight to ten hours a day in work. 

Gary Brady:
If I don’t enjoy what I do, that’s a. That’s a really scary lifestyle for me, you know, so, yeah, I. I really feel for people that don’t. That don’t enjoy what they do. And I’ve been really lucky. I’ve been really lucky. The support mechanism around me, the mentors that I’ve had throughout my career and the people that I work with and have worked with that I’ve always enjoyed going to work. I’ve always enjoyed the challenge, and I’ve always surrounded myself with people that give me energy. 

Jeff Johnson:
I feel like I can notice courage in people, like their aura or something. I don’t know. Maybe it is a sense of confidence getting back to the Irish thing, maybe. But, you know, I think people that feel the fear and do it anyway carry themselves a little bit in a different way. That’s not bravado. It’s different than ego. It’s not that. It’s just. Yeah, I mean, it’s this confidence. Do you agree with that? Do you feel like you can see people that. That have embraced courage and have stepped out courageously and they walk differently? 

Gary Brady:
Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, I go back, I meant I was really lucky to go to an amazing school in Ireland. It was actually a Jesuit ethos school. And something that always resonates with me is that Jesuit ethos, you know, which is that kind of rounded, holistic approach to education that isn’t just looking for one specific type of person and is allowing people to grow in a manner which you focuses on their specific skill sets. You know, whether that’s spiritually, whether it’s academically, whether it’s through sports, whether it’s through empathy. But I believe that, you know, when you push people in the right direction or you point them in the right direction, everybody can do amazing things. You know, I had exactly the same childhood as my siblings, and we are so different. 

Gary Brady:
You know, we have different motivators, we have different skill sets, we have different strengths, we have different weaknesses. But I think what is all grounded in us is that kind of empathetic approach and kind of focus on, you know, one of the things I say in work a lot is, if my daughters were in every meeting with me, would they be proud or would they be ashamed? Right? And, you know, that’s a real key component to me, is how do I treat other people? Even when there’s difficult messages, even when I have to have difficult conversations, and they may not be the nicest conversations, Can I go home in the evening and say, you know what? If my daughters had been in that meeting with me, they wouldn’t have been disappointed in me. 

Gary Brady:
They wouldn’t have been, you know, wouldn’t have had a different view of their dad. And. And that comes back to, I think, your. Your value system and just, yeah, it’s. It’s kind of what anchors you in. 

Jeff Johnson:
Who you are, you know, who inspires you with courage. 

Gary Brady:
I’m. I’m really lucky. I’ve. I’ve got kind of. I’ve been. I’ve been surrounded by some amazing people in my life, and I like to take little nuggets from different people, you know, not try to replicate or. Or be anybody specifically. But I suppose my own father, and I think just to give a bit of background, because this. This probably. This requires a bit of a background. My father is. Was born and raised for. For most of his life in a place called Cavan in Ireland. Now, any of your listeners that have never heard of a cavern, I would encourage you to YouTube the accent. I’m trying to understand. There’s a very rural part of Ireland with a very rich history and traditional background, and he became a hairdresser, let’s say. 

Gary Brady:
That is not a stereotypical career pathway for a child in the 70s or kind of young adults in the late 70s is an understatement. And especially someone from rural Ireland. But he had a passion for art and creativity, and he chose his own path. And, you know, it was really clear to me growing up that he had been uber successful in a discipline which had not been charted before him. You know, there was no benchmark for him growing up. There was no Internet to kind of understand what it was. And, you know, when I looked at that level of bravery and kind of saying, okay, I’m not going to take the traditional path. I’m not going to sacrifice my happiness and energy and motivation and everything else, that’s something that’s always stuck with me. 

Gary Brady:
And he has run a business very successfully for the last 40 years, which has always been underpinned on the success of the people that work for him to the detrimental financial success at the times, to the detriment of, you know, coming up with a, you know, a very financially prominent business. He’s always had huge amount of loyalty and devotion to teaching and bringing through the next generation. And, you know, none of that’s inherent, none that was taught to me, but it just becomes part of your ethos growing up. And for me, that was always the person that I looked at and said, okay, that’s, you know, that’s how I want to be seen in whatever career pathway I go into that, you know, you’re fair, you’re equitable, and you enjoy what you do. 

Gary Brady:
And he’s enjoyed what he does every day of his career, and he’s still as energetic as I remember being as a 10 year old in what he does. So, yeah, that’s. That’s me is an example of courage. 

Jeff Johnson:
That’s a beautiful example, Gary. Becoming a hairdresser in rural Ireland, when you have no other template for that career path whatsoever, but you just, you’re following your passion and you want to, and so you step out in faith and you do it. That’s fantastic. 

Gary Brady:
Yeah, no, absolutely. 

Jeff Johnson:
Yeah. Okay, Gary, let me ask you the question. What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? 

Gary Brady:
Going back, probably moving to moving the Barrett and, you know, as I said, we’ve left grandparents at home, we’ve left family at home. And, you know, asking my wife to take that leap of faith with me as well, you know, and come to the other side of the world and embed into a different culture, take on a new challenge in an organization where I didn’t know anybody and throw ourselves into a lifestyle is probably the most obvious courageous thing that I can think of. Not being traditional, you know, in the sense of, as I said, my preconceived perceptions of bravery or courage, and then navigating the different hurdles that come along the way. You know, there’s times when everybody gets homesick. There’s times when you. You kind of. You miss. 

Gary Brady:
For me, it was food or kind of, you know, friends and different aspects but again just anchoring that in our family lifestyle and you know, how we could support our amazing daughters and you know, and focus on what was going to give them the best platform for the future and creating a pathway into world and should and when we, we want to do that. So yeah, that’s me is I suppose the first these upper comes that. 

Jeff Johnson:
A very courageous thing Gary. Very courageous thing. My opinion is that everybody has courage and in fact I think everybody. I could ask people what’s the most courageous thing that you’ve done today? And I think everybody would have answer to that question. But I do run into people frequently, sorry to say, where I’ll ask them that question about courage and they’ll say well I don’t, I haven’t done anything courageous. I’m not a courageous person. They’re very self effacing like that. What would you say as a way to encourage somebody, one of our listeners maybe who might be sitting there listening to this and going I can’t think of anything courageous that I’ve done. What would you say to them? 

Gary Brady:
Yeah, I think I go back to your point, you know, is narrowing it down. I think sometimes the terminology can be a bit off putting because whether it’s through social media, whether it’s through movies and tv, like when we think of courage as a young boy or is growing up, you know, courage is usually linked to bravery and a macho kind of perception of bravery or courage. But you know, the person who struggles to motivate themselves to go to work in the morning, makes a courageous decision of getting in their car and you know, struggling their way through and making the way through the day. So everything’s relative to your personal circumstances. 

Gary Brady:
I think anybody who has had a family member or friend who has been sick or who’s passed away has had to, you know, draw on extreme forms of courage to just get through the next stage and support people around them and just function on a day to day basis. So I think it’s just removing traditional labels from terminology and actually getting them. I think as you said, to recognize that it comes in all forms. And courage to me is very different. Encourage to you. You know, courage for my daughter is the ability to get up on stage and do a recycle at the end of the year or you know, try a new sporting activity. Whereas you know, courage for me is making sure that we are providing a home platform or family platform or whatever it is that Enables her to do that. 

Gary Brady:
So, yeah, I think it’s just removing labels. 

Jeff Johnson:
I think that’s great. Yeah, absolutely. When. Okay. So I’m thinking more about encouraging some of our listeners again as they get close to making that big decision. How would you encourage them or what kind of advice would you give to them to take that next step and to do that courageous thing and make that commitment? Because this moving to Bahrain, I mean, there had to have been a little bit of a process. I mean, I’m sure, well, maybe you just went home and said, honey, we’re boxing it up and we’re going to Bahrain. I hope you enjoy it. But I mean, how did you reconcile that decision and then go forward with that courageous act? 

Gary Brady:
Yeah, you’re talking about the reputation of Irish men for courage. If you know anything about Irish women, that’s definitely not a conversation that is ever going to happen is, you know, as direct as that. No, I think, you know, to take that into consideration. I think everything I. I’ve talked about calculated risks, right. I don’t mean doing things on a whim. I don’t think. Do you mean, you know, putting yourself at either physical or emotional or financial risk, which doesn’t outweigh the benefits or potential benefits. So, you know, the advice I give to everybody is, you know, what does success look like for you? What does. What does happiness look like? And as we’re backwards from there, right? And what steps could or can you take? And, you know, remove, as I said, preconceived perceptions. You know, I’ve never been to the Middle East. 

Gary Brady:
The only perception I had in the Middle east was through the news or Hollywood movies or, you know, different aspects and, you know, just creating a platform that you can take risks. And, you know, nothing ever great has happened by standing still, you know, and. And you have to keep trudging forward. And if it’s one step, if it’s 10 steps, if it’s a sprint, if it’s a marathon, every step going in the direction towards you being happier is a positive one, you know, and you’re going to hear hurdles. And I think what we learned in the course. No, no line is ever straight. You know, you’re going to have to go in different directions, and you’re gonna. You’re gonna have to kind of try different things and potentially many different things. 

Gary Brady:
But I think, you know, advice to anybody is, I’ll bring it back to my mother. You know, she. She used to talk about giving us wings. Okay. I never really understood what that was. And she saw her role as a parent in raising children who were confident, independent, and, you know, comfortable enough that she meant, given the wings, that they could fly, right? And then it was up to them to choose what direction they flew in, right? And if that meant staying at home, if that meant going to Bahrain, if that meant going to Australia, if that meant going down a career pathway which was in hairdressing or in HR or, you know, or just trying arts or something different, those wings were created for. For us to. To focus on what was going to make us happy. And listen for any. 

Gary Brady:
I think this might be the same with my own children. For any grandparent or parent to be happy with their children moving 3,000 miles away is always going to be a challenge, you know, but recognizing that our happiness or my happiness, my in laws were exactly the same always trumped kind of what the selfish or the kind of the immediate need was for them. So I speak small steps and calculated risks and having a support network around you and whether it’s family, whether it’s friends, whether that’s colleagues, but just. Just having the ability to talk and to kind of get advice or kind of focus in, and. And I’ve trusted people that you can. You can bounce ideas off and, you know, that’s. That. That to me has always been really important. 

Jeff Johnson:
There’s got to be a selfish reason, right, for me to start this podcast, and it’s because I get inspired by people. Gary. So, Gary Brady, I’ve only known you for, what, a year? And I know you to be a. A scholar and a gentleman and an extrovert and a good friend and an Irishman now that’s living in Bahrain and a. And a man of great courage. So thank you so much for being on the podcast today. Gary. 

Gary Brady:
Thank you, Jeff. And I’ve listened to a couple of the podcasts, and I just want to kind of reflect back on you. You know, it’s been an absolutely pleasure getting to know you over the last year. And, you know, you have an amazing ability to get things out of people and to get them comfortable enough to open up in a conversation like this. And I hope we’ll be friends for many years to come. And I wish you every single success to your own family. 

Outro:
Thank you for joining us today on Courageous. If you’d like to hear more about the work and ministry being done at Crossroads Apologetics, please visit our home on the web at crossroadsapologetics.org Would you or someone you know like to be featured on Courageous? Send us an email at info@crossroadsapologetics.com or info@crossroadsapologetics.org telling us about the most courageous thing you’ve ever done.