Being Invaluable, Without Being ‘Most Valuable’, with Ed Molitor

Welcome to the Athletics of Business podcast. This is episode 29.

Welcome to the Athletics of Business, a podcast about how the traits and behaviors of elite athletes and remarkable business leaders frequently intersect. The real stories and hard lessons to help you level up your leadership and performance. Now, your host, Ed Molitor.

Welcome to the Athletics of Business podcast. And I am your host, Ed Molitour, CEO of the Molitor Group. Recently there was a story in college basketball. I think it's one of the best stories in college basketball this season. Sort of flew under the radar. Was just another press conference after a big win for a ranked team. But Marquette went on the road and beat Xavier. Okay. And anytime you can beat Xavier at Xavier is a big deal. But it's who played the most significant role, who made probably the biggest play of the game that caught my attention. And not just that, but how. Head coach Steve Ojahowski. Okay. Talked about this individual in his press conference. And Matt held. The player has started in his career. He's a senior now. He started in the first three years of his career at Marquette.

He started 39 games, and that's a huge deal. Marquette's in the Big East. Started 39 games, had a prominent role. In his senior year, he was asked to step back, take on a different role. Some days of practice he was on the scout team. Some days he was with the guys that were in the rotation, whatever the case may be. And on Saturday, they were struggling in the second half. I believe they're down 11. That set the table. They're down 11 in the second half and their big guy got foul trouble. That plays in front of Matt. And Matt got about 20 minutes in late in the game, he got an offensive rebound, huge offensive rebound. And he kicked it out to his teammate who buried a three, which put Marquette ahead for good.

And this was a huge play, but it was not a surprise to any of his teammates. And I'll read some comments about, you know, from his teammates about. About Matt. But the press conference, and I'm going to include a link in the show notes to Coach Wojahowski's press conference. He was moved to tears when someone asked him about Matt. There is no BS about it. This is very real. It speaks to who Wojo is. It speaks to the impact manage had on his team, the type of leader he is, his level of selflessness. And my friend Don Yeager always talks about being invaluable without being most valuable. And I think that's something that's lost in the business world every single day. How can you find a way to be invaluable? How do you make yourself indispensable?

How do you make it so your team can't live without you that day? Or you know you're going to be there to respond when the situation calls for it? And so anyways, let me back up a little bit so you think about this whole situation. Here's Matt, who prominent role in the spotlight, a starter in the Big east and you know, they ask him to take a lesser role. Now Wojo talks in his press conference about his job. His responsibility is to make the tough decisions. And every decision he makes is in the best interest of the team. And though it is right, it doesn't make, it always, doesn't always make the decisions easy. Especially when you care about the person the decision is going to impact in a challenging way.

As much as he cares about Matt Helt and he doesn't care about Matt because of numbers, he doesn't care about him because of points or because of rebounds. He cares about him because of who he is, what's he, what he stands for and what he brings to the culture of Marquette basketball. And you know, let me read some of the comments about Matt. Coach Wojahowski said what Matt Help did today was one of the more beautiful things I've seen happen. Now let's put some context to this. Wojo was an assistant coach to Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, okay, for 15 years. And that was after he got done playing for Coach K for four.

And I'm not sure how many Final Fours he went to, but if you play it Duke for four years, you had an amazing run regardless if or how many Final Fours you go to. Okay, so he's seen a lot of great things is my point. But he says what Matt Helt did today was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen happen coming into this game. Matt Helt was on the scout team. So what does that mean? Okay, that means during practice he is simulating what the other team's players are going to be doing. He's not doing what Matt Help does. He's doing what his team needs him to do to get them ready to play. All right? The next comment he made, he is Matt.

That is, he is in terms of selflessness and a pure heart in an all in mentality for our program, as good as it gets. We don't win without him. He even went on to say that was a Hall of Fame performance in his approach to the Game is a Hall of Fame approach. Again, huge statement from Steve Wojahowski. Now here's something that's really cool. Let's take a comment or two from Matt's teammates. It doesn't matter to him. He's going to bring everything he has every single day. Not every single game, but every single day. He's one of the best teammates I've ever played with. And you could really unpack that statement. He's one of the best teammates I've ever played with. In other words, he's selfless. He's there for me. He's there for us. He cares about us before he cares about himself.

And here's the next comment that I love. It was huge for Matt to get in. Now, he started 39 games. It was huge for Matt to get in and do what he did. You knew it was going to happen. He prepares so well. It was awesome, you know. And the last one, Matt's all about Marquette. He's all about Marquette basketball. Some days he's on a scout team, some days he's with us, meaning the rotation players. That was one of his. His teammates. That's. That's in the rotation. So he embraces the process. He understood that he has step out of the spotlight, step into a different role. He. And he embraced that role. He said, whatever it is I need to do to make us successful, I'm going to do again. That's missed not just in athletics, but that's missed in the business world.

I have a few questions. I have a few things that come from this whole story. Number one, do you have a Met health on your team? All right. Do you have a men health on your team? Now take a second and think about that. And if you do, as a leader, do you recognize him in such a way to the rest of the team? That should be done. Okay, think about this. Do you. Do you recognize your Matt help as much as you possibly can in an authentic and real way? And when you do that, first of all, it's going to reward his work ethic, his or her work ethic, their loyalty. Okay? You're going to let them know that they matter. How important is that nowadays? I mean, it's important. It's the right thing to do. But how?

Like right now, that's one of the big things. That's one of the hot things in business. People want to know, and rightfully so. They want to know that they matter. Now, not only is this going to inspire your mat health to go to work every day and to embrace the process and do what it is that needs to be done, okay? It's going to inspire your mat health's teammates as well. In doing this, you're going to stay with me here. You're going to increase the level of trust your team has in you because they trust that you care about them. They trust that you're being authentic, you're being honest, you're executing integrity. Okay? You're going to raise your level of authenticity in their eyes. You're going to increase the influence you have with your team at the office.

And when you increase your influence, it makes you a stronger leader, it strengthens your culture, it is going to impact positively your bottom line. And in the long run, in the huge picture, in the big picture, it's going to help you attract the best talent in your industry. It's going to help you recruit the best talent, the best people that fit your culture, that are going to help you take things to the next level. Now, my second question for you is this. Are you Matt Health's teammate? In other words, do you have someone on your team that is in a similar situation as Matt Health? And if you do you let that person know that you've got their back, that you appreciate their situation, that you appreciate what they do on a daily basis? Do you let them know that.

That you care for them and that you let them know that you love them? Okay, now that's not. That's not touchy feely. That's. That's the real deal right there. You think about it, and I'll get into this here in a little bit with the personal story that I have that speaks right to this situation? Do you let them know that you care and love them? And you let that teammate know, regardless of how limited their role has become, how far away from the spotlight they have been removed? Do you let that teammate know that you need them? This is. This is going to show a high level of EQ on your part, okay? This is going to strengthen the relationship that you have with that teammate. This is going to make you a better teammate.

And the third question I have for you is, are you mad help? Is this you? Is this the situation that you are in? Have you gone from a starter in the office to limited minutes? Okay? In other words, you are removed from the spotlight. You're getting a little bit less glory. But do you have the opportunity here to make yourself invaluable without being most valuable? Do you go to work every day with a purpose? Okay? And that purpose is not to get all the glory, any glory, any success you realize is you going to work every single day doing things the right way, doing things for the right reason again, embracing your role so you know that when you're called on, you're going to be ready. Because it's going to happen unexpectedly.

Like, Matt didn't wake up the day of this game and say, you know what? I'm going to go make the biggest play of the game and I'm going to get the biggest offense, rebound, kick it out for a three, and we're going to win our seventh game in a row in the Big east and we're going to keep rolling and keep this season going. No, but what he did was a byproduct of doing things the right way every single day. Not every single game day, but every single. Every single day. Okay? If you, if you are a manhelp and you do these things, okay, your teammates are going to embrace you, they're going to appreciate you, they're going to lean on you because they know that. They know that you have their back. They. They know that you'll get into a foxhole with them.

They know then that you care about the greater good of the team far more than you care about your accolades. And truth be told, this will move way beyond the office. Now, my freshman year at Creighton, we had a player by the name of James Farr. And ironically, James was my favorite player when I was in, I want to say, if James was three years, it was like fifth or sixth grade James. Mount Carmel team won the Illinois state championship. Michael Boyd, sophomore, hit a shot 10 foot jumper. I believe it was from the right corner. I'll never forget it in assembly hall. It was one of my favorite moments of going downstate with my dad. And I first met James on my recruiting visit to Creighton.

And I couldn't believe that I was going to have an opportunity to be on the same team as James Farr. This was a big deal to me. Now, you need to understand, I grew up a coach's son who had many ties to the Catholic League. I appreciated the players, I appreciated the level of competition. And here I was, my. One of my. One of the people that I looked up to, one of the players that I looked up to, you know, as a point guard, as a person, as a winner, as a competitor. I was going to have the opportunity every single day to go to war with them, to go to battle with them. All right.

Then my freshman year, right before the season started, we would lift Monday, Tuesday Thursday, Friday mornings, and I can't remember the exact time, but I know it was early for us. And we get down to the old gym at about 6am and Wednesday was our day off. So on Tuesday nights we may have had a tendency to go out after our study hall, but this particular Tuesday I remember were getting close to the season and to the best of our knowledge nobody went out. So when our phones rang somewhere between 5 and 5:30 in the morning and were told to get down to the old gym, into the locker room, Coach wanted to meet us in the lounge, he needed to talk to us. That wasn't good. That meant something was going on, that was a negative.

So we're walking down to the gym, the old gym, and we're trying to figure out what possibly could have happened, who could have done what, etc. And long story short, we get there, we're sitting in the lounge and Coach Brony walks in and you can see right away, right from the get go, something is off. And he cuts right to the chase, doesn't mince any words, tells us that we've been put on NCAA probation and we are not eligible for the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. Nor are we eligible, which obviously we are not eligible for the NCAA tournament. Has nothing to do with us. It had to do with another sport. But that's the hand we've been dealt. Now were just recently picked to finish second to last in the Missouri Valley that year.

So I believe we had about five or six days until the season started. So the vibe wasn't really that good. Now, now if you back up to that summer leading into that school year, we as a team spent the entire summer in Omaha together. You were either going to summer school, working and then everybody would lift and play. And truth be told, we didn't have much of a social life. But man, let me tell you something. We grew really close as a team. Some teams are like family. We were a family. Okay, so now fast forward, let's go back to this day. So here we are. Well, there was a rule in place at that time. James could have transferred. James Farr, my person I looked up to, I could not wait to play with and go to practice with every day.

He could have transferred immediately and been eligible at any school of his choice. And were walking on pins and needles. And it was one of those deals where like, God, you don't know what to say to James. We get it'd be better for him it's his senior year. You know, he wants to play in the tournament. There's probably some folks out there that really want him that he'll help put over the hump. Long story short, James told coach, these are my guys. This is my team. Love them. I'm staying with them. So about halfway through the season, we are taken off NCAA probation after a special meeting with the ncaa, and we're taking off NCAA probation. We won the regular season, picked to finish second to last. We won the regular season, we won Missouri Valley tournament, and went to the NCAA tournament.

Now, James, I can't tell you how many games James won for us. And. And truth be told, I can't remember if he was our most valuable player, but he was our most invaluable player. He was our quiet leader, our quiet assassin. He didn't make mistakes. He played about 38 minutes a game. I'll never forget the Southern Illinois game. I believe it was triple overtime. We were down seven with about 50 seconds to go, and we go into two or three overtimes. And James basically says, in the overtime, I get on my back, I'm going to. I'm going to. I'm going to win this game for us.

And he hits a shot, and at the end of the game, now, his selflessness and the fact that he bought into the whole team and that he cared about us and what we had been through together, that impacted. Here I am at the age of 48, doing a podcast about selflessness of being invaluable without being most valuable. And I'm still, to this day, almost 30 years later, talking about James fire decision to stay at Creighton. Okay? Just like these guys at Marquette. They'll talk about that Xavier game with Matt help. They'll talk about the fact that what he did brought their coach to tears in his press conference. Again, the link to the press conference is in the show notes. I encourage you. Go watch it. All right? Go watch it. So let's go through those three as we wrap it up.

Let's go through those three questions again. Do you have Matt Help on your team? And if you do, what are you doing? What are you intentionally doing? As much as possible to recognize that person. Okay. Every single day or as much as possible in front of their teammates. All right? Number two, are you Matt Health's teammate? And if you are, does that individual know that you support them, that you got their back, that you appreciate them, that you care and love for them, and that. That your team needs them? All right? And finally, are your team's Matt Hell. Okay? And if you are you doing what needs to be done every single day inside the process to be ready when your number's called unexpectedly? And all of this, it's going to be the whole.

The whole concept of just creating this culture that's worth fighting for. And this is. This is what. This is what I love. This is where you see the parallels of athletics and business, and this is something that you can do every single day. You know, we talk all the time about controlling the controllables. This is something that is so controllable, it's a core intangible. It's something that's going to separate you from the rest. It's something that's going to move you from good to great. So, again, do the little things. Do the little things. Recognize your mat health. Recognize your mat health if you're a leader, Recognize your mat health if you're a teammate. And if you are your team's mat health, get after it every single day. Okay?

So this has been a lot of fun, spending time with you, talking about being invaluable without being most valuable, because it's something that every single one of us can do on a daily basis. Okay? So I hope you enjoyed this podcast as much as I did. Talking about being invaluable without being most valuable, something that we can do every single day. We can all be invaluable without being most valuable. We can all embrace the process. We can all recognize those people that are invaluable on our team on a daily basis, and we can all do what needs to be done. So we're ready when our number is called unexpectedly. I hope you had as much fun with this podcast as I did. Again, this has been a fun episode.

I hope you enjoyed listening to this podcast as much as I have enjoyed talking with you and sharing this story or those stories. Share this podcast with a friend. Share this podcast with the teammate, with a colleague, with the peer, with the family member. And if you could be so kind, if you like our podcast, if you love our podcast, for goodness sakes, go to itunes. Leave us a review. It's very important to us. It's very important to me. Be honest, be authentic. We want to know how we're doing so we can get better, so we can keep doing the things that you like. And we want to get the word of the athletics of business podcast out there. And I encourage you and I challenge you to jump into your process every single day.

Control the things that you can control and keep doing great things.

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