Shifting the Paradigm from Manager to Coach, with Ed Molitor

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 back to another episode of the Athletics of Business podcast. I am your host and CEO of the Molotor Group, Ed Molotour. And man, am I fired up to be back in the saddle for another solo cast. Because we are going to pick up where we left off in episode 52, which is talking about the cornerstone of the foundation of the coaching relationship. Again, remember, we've been talking about shifting that mindset, that paradigm, that thought from a management mindset to a coaching mindset. And when you establish that trust inside of the coaching relationships, there's three significant things it allows you to do and A, it allows you to establish, excuse me, expectations, okay? B, it allows you to continually coach your people. And then C, it allows you to not only establish accountability, but to establish accountability at a very high level.

And here's what trust allows you to do, okay? It allows you to have or maximize the impact that you are able to have on the people you lead. I firmly believe that the greatest honor that comes with being a leader is that opportunity to impact the lives of the people you're leading. Impacting them in such a way that your positive influences touches every area of their life. Okay? Now, it increases the value they add in their professional career, to their teammates, to the customers. It increases the value they add to the relationships at home, in their community. And what else it does, it provides an example for the power of paying it forward. Okay? Now what do I mean by that? Well, I think you would be hard pressed to look into the background of any successful leader.

And I don't care what industry you go into. I don't care if it's the business world, I don't care if it's the medical industry, I don't care if it's the athletic industry. Okay? But I think you'd be hard pressed to. To look into the background of any successful leader and not find at least one person who made a positive impact in their life. Someone who believed in them, and we hear this all the time, someone who believed in them more than they believed in themselves at times. In someone who genuinely cared about them as a person. Okay? Someone who genuinely cared about them as a person and was also comfortable with holding them accountable. And why were they comfortable with holding them accountable? Because they genuinely cared about them as a person. Now, we're going to go back to my point of reference, right?

That's the athletics of business. And for many of us, that person in our life that was able to do those things I just mentioned were in fact an athletic coach, whether it be basketball, football, soccer, rugby, tennis, track and field, cross country, regardless, swimming, regardless of the sport, okay? The great coaches have a way to get to their people. What do I mean by getting to their people? I mean they have the ability touch their minds and their hearts to get them to accomplish things they might not have thought they were capable of accomplishing. Now, the great ones, they don't pound themselves on the chest to tell you how great they are because they're too busy picking people up as they realize it is all about what you give, not the attention you get.

Now, we all know successful coaches in the athletic world, right? We all know successful leaders in the business world. And if you don't know that they're great, and if you don't know that they're successful, give them five minutes because they'll tell you about it, right? They're gonna pound themselves on the chest. But the great ones, the ones that maximize the impact they can have, they're too busy picking people up because they realize it is all about what you give, not the attention you get. Great coaches want to develop the complete person in, not just the athlete, not just a worker, because they care about the growth as much about. Excuse me. They care about as much about the growth as of the person sitting at the end of their bench as they do for their superstar.

And that's something we talked about in episode 52. I mean, really think about it. When you care about that person at the end of the bench and you lift them up, okay? And you make an impact on them and you get them to do things that they possibly don't think they're capable of doing, get them to give an effort that they've never been pushed or pulled or forced to do. And all of a sudden they start realizing some success and they get better. And they get better. They work harder, they work smarter, they work longer. All that's going to do is lift up the rest of your team. That's going to push your team up. You know, the great ones, they teach you.

And I sort of said this just now, but they teach you that if you work hard enough, long enough and smart enough, good things will happen. We always talk about going from good to great. When you're great, what do you go to? The great go to elite. And elite coaches do all the above. Obviously. And they also do things the right way for the right reasons and at the right time. Now, I was blessed to play for a couple of coaches that fit into this category, but one of the men that I played for, my high school basketball coach, also happened to be my father. Okay? And it's funny because for years we talked about we got to have a golf outing and get the band back together, get the crew back together, and let's just have a real good time.

And it only took us 11 years, okay, after his retirement, but we finally put together a golf outing. And it wasn't to honor him, because he wouldn't have it that way, even though in our minds, obviously, we can never do enough to honor him for all he did for us, but rather what it was, what the intention was. And this came from him. And again, this is what. One of the things that makes him or made him an elite leader, it was rather just to get the guys back together to catch up and have a few laughs. I can have a few thousand laughs. And we even name. We even named the golf outing after one of the most brutal drills he ever ran, the alley drill.

Now, I'm not going to sit here and expound upon the alley drill, but if you are a basketball player or a basketball coach, somewhere along the line in life, okay, and you did the alley drill, similar to what we call it's very simple. You guard someone one one, full court, some do it on the half. And if you can picture this, you go from the baseline, corner, sideline, and you guard him from sideline to lane line to sideline to lane line. And you're constantly beating them to a spot and trying to turn them. There's a different set of expectations set on you, a lot of it depending on what my dad was trying to accomplish that day.

And unfortunately for the seniors, at some point of your career, and this is really why we named the golf outing the alley drill, because it's a feather in your cap. If you made it to your senior year in high school in the Palatine basketball program. My dad. More my. My dad was a head coach for 32 years. If you made it to your senior year and you made you. You grew through his program for four years, you were going to have one day your senior year, most likely, at least I should say, where you were stuck in the alley drill. And that was not going to be a good day for you. There was a very good. There was a very good chance you were going to throw up. Okay? If not throw up, you're gonna feel poor.

So, anyways, let's get back to the golf outing. So we named the golf outing the first annual Alley Drill Golf Outing. And it was fantastic. Guys came from both coasts, from the west coast, from the East Coast. Guys had to get up at the crack of dawn to fly standby to make it in off of a business trip. Guys drove in several hours. You know, Central Illinois from Southern Illinois. It was, it was just. The turnout was. Was unbelievable. And again, that was a testament to their experience, right? It was a testament to. A testament to their experience and the impact that. I'm going to refer to him, and this is funny, I'm gonna refer to my dad as coach now from here and out, okay? But it was a testament to the impact Coach had on them. Okay? In.

In the group that was there, think about this. A former commanding officer and executive officer for the Naval Air Station Oceana, alright? Very successful high school girls basketball coach. There were executive recruiters, financial planners, business owners, and an array of other successful professionals. Now, these guys, like I said, they're all very successful. And they still, each one of them still carried with them the edge that was required for them to play in the Palatine basketball program for as long as they did. Now, what was that edge? It was confident. Not cocky, selfless. All right? They're all comedians, great senses of humor, and just an abundance of positive energy. And I'm not talking rah energy. I'm talking just positive energy, just a vibe and a genuine caring for each other. And it wasn't. I always say this. It wasn't like. Like were family.

We were family. And it was. It was guys you hadn't seen in a while, but you picked up right where you left off. However many years it's been since you last hung out. Each one of them, to a man, spoke about the impact that Coach had and still has on them as they went on to share stories about things he did for them during times of success and during times of struggle. Now, it's funny because we're all very close and many of us are very close, and I obviously am very close with Coach being my dad. There are some stories that this is the first time I've ever heard him. And still to this day, there are gentlemen that are very successful. The first thing that will come to mind is what would Coach do in this situation? But it impacted him.

Not just, you know, not just in their job, but being a father and being a part of the community. So the night goes on, and it Was. It was great. It was great to see everybody. And as things were winding down, I hugged a former teammate who's an extremely successful businessman. And he asked me, what was the key to coach being able to have such an impact on so many people's lives for such a long period of time. And you think about that. 32 years at one school is unheard of these days. Okay, well, my answer was really simple. And I told him, what allowed him to be so successful. My friend, I said, what allows you to be so successful and to impact the people in your business is the very same driver of impact that coach had on his players. And it's.

It's one word, and it's love. But this is something I talk about to my clients about often. It's love for what you do, it's love for who you do it with, and it's love for who you do it for. Now think about that. For what you do. Love for what you do, for who you do it with, and for who you do it for. Now, let's take love for what you do. Okay? The leaders who have the greatest impact on their people have an absolute passion for what they do. Now, that doesn't mean by any stretch of the imagination that they love everything about their job. Not even close. Okay? And I think sometimes that's a whole misunderstanding. I thought I was passionate about this. I thought, I really love this, but I'm miserable. No, you're struggling is what you are, okay?

You got to remove that cranial rectal inversion. You're not miserable. You're struggling. And by the way, you need to struggle to grow. So, anyhow, best example I can give you, when I was coaching college basketball, I love developing relationships with the players, with their family, with their coaches, with the folks in their inner circle. All right? But I didn't always like the recruiting process, okay? There was things that went on inside of the recruiting process, especially when I was at a higher level, that I just wasn't. I just didn't like. I didn't appreciate. But that didn't take away from my love for getting to know the players, whether we signed them or not. Okay?

So one of the things I think as leaders, we need to do is recognize the opportunity that you have each day to help your people grow and achieve things that maybe they thought they were not capable of. And I'm going to say it over and over because that's so. That's so important, and that's inspiring your people and appreciate the fact that they're going to Lean into you for leadership. You think about it. When you love what you do, you are purpose driven. When you're purpose driven, you have that ability to create the compelling vision. You have the power to drive the culture that attracts. Attracts top talent, retains your best talent, okay? And it creates an environment where those people might, that might be underperforming or might not be meeting those expectations. And you're holding accountable, but you're continually coaching, okay?

They want to develop. Okay? They're all in. They want to develop. They want to stay. They want. Stay. Excuse me. And they want to improve because they want to be a part of what you're building. And when they do that again, they're going to raise the level of everybody else around. Then when you go back to the business world, you're talking about loving the service you provide and see the big picture. What is the impact your product and service is having on your customers, their lives and the lives of those around them. And just flat out, I mean, when you talk about love, what. Love for what you do? Just flat out love the positive difference you are making now. Love who you do it with. Who are you in the trenches with? Okay? Who are you in the trenches with?

And who in the trenches will you refuse to let fail? And who in the trenches will refuse to let you fail? Be intentional about identifying everyone who's on your team. And I mean absolutely everyone. The receptionist, the support staff, your executive assistant, your admin assistant, your team, your family, everyone. This is, this is where I really get going. I mean, you think about the teams you've been a part of that were truly special, right? You get that special feeling in your gut, okay? You kind of. I say you get your juices flowing. And that's not just a coincidence, you know, Think about the teams that you knew were better for being a part that you were. You were better. Excuse me?

Think about the teams that you knew you were better for being a part of and that feeling that you had for each other. This doesn't mean that you always got along. Hell, some of the biggest fights I had were with my teammates in practice, away from practice. I can tell you I. I got someone I did business with right here who I'll. I will love to the day I die. And he and I used to bang heads with when I was in recruiting industry. And he's one of the greatest men I knew, okay? But I absolutely would go to battle for him. I absolutely loved who I was in the fight with. All right, at the end of the day, you just. You. You. You love these people that you're working together with, and you genuinely care about each other.

And when you lead with love, it is impossible not to create that safe environment for people to grow, individually and collectively. Those people that you are leading, the people that you are doing it with, love who you do it for. This is where it really. This is where the impact really grows. This is where you really see the exponential impact. And this is what was cool about the golf out. Sitting there and listening to the stories, you know, when someone would say, you know, coach is funny. I remember one day you pulled me in your office. You could tell I was struggling. It really wasn't a big deal, but it was enough to affect me.

And I was kind of, you know, I was off, and I was off athletically and I was off socially, and you sat me down and you asked a lot of questions, and we finally figured out, well, it's funny because I just had that problem with my son or I just had that situation with my son last week, and I thought back to when that happened to me in 1983. 1983. Okay? Now, loving who you do it for is going to get you through some. Some challenging times, through some demanding times, through adversity. But it's also. Think about this. It's also going to help you stay aligned with your values and mission. Not just in the tough times, but when things are going extremely well. Because that's when the blind spots creep up, right?

I mean, when you're struggling, when you have adversity, things are just exposed. It's hard not to see things. But there's a tendency. When you get that flywheel going and you've got momentum and things are turning, it's real easy to have those blind spots creep up on you. It's easy to miss something, and that does not make you any less of a leader. Okay? But when you love who you do it for, you're way more aware of protecting what you have. Now, earlier I mentioned that I love building the relationships with the players and their parents. Now, there were days I had to walk kids to class to make sure they went all right. Now, it would help their odds of staying eligible.

You know, I always use the line, when the things I looked at, when I changed the way I look at things, the things I looked at began to change. So this is going to be an example, okay? And this is why loving who you do it for and really thinking about it and being intentional about it is so significant. Okay? So there were days I had no desire. I had enough of this kid. I had enough of having to walk through the snow to get him to walk in the class. And I wanted nothing to do with it. And that is when I had to change my thinking. See, I wasn't just walking this kid to class to be eligible. Now that would give us a better chance of winning.

And when you're at a certain level, that is absolutely what it's about to administrators and to boosters and to fans. I get that, okay, I get that. But I was walking this kid to class because I promised his mother I would see to it that he received a great education and poured his energy into his degree. So that day when I didn't feel like doing it, I walked into class, shut the door, made sure he sat down on his desk. That day I wasn't just doing it for him, I was doing it for his mother. And you think about, you could go down the line of how many people that impacted and where he's at today in this world, alright? So really be intentional about thinking who you do it for.

Because you're not only impacting your employees, your team and your customers, you're impacting their families, their friends, their inner circles, their mentees, their mentors. The list can go on and on. All right, now as we wrap up here, I want to point out a couple things. When you lead with love, you do things the right way for the right reasons. In you try like heck to do it at the right time. We know that's not always easy doing it like this. Okay. Doing this in such a way does all sorts of great things. It allows you as a leader to make decisions quicker with more confidence. It helps you develop the ability to make yourself vulnerable. More vulnerable. You develop a self confidence that is contagious. You operate with a positive energy, right, that your team can feel.

I mean, it's something they can feel. Not only feel, but they can feed off of, they can replicate, they can carry it forward with the folks that they're leading and the folks that they're in impacting. You lead authentically. When you love what you do, when you love who you do it with and you love who you do it for, you have the ability to master growing through adversity, learn from failure. And like we talk about sustained success and doing things this way helps you drive the culture. That is a foundation of a resilient organization. Resilient organization, excuse me, which obviously resiliency is so key right now. I mean, we can go on and on about the pace and range of change that we deal with. And things are so volatile right now. There's so much technology and things constantly changing around us.

And that's why doing things the right way, for the right reason, at the right time, that's why having a foundation of trust, that's why operating with love, driving the way you lead, that's why it allows you to maximize the impact that you have on people. And at the end of the day, isn't that what it's all about? We think about our legacy. And I've had some great conversations over the years with folks and guys that have won a ton of games or guys that have made a lot of money, men and women, I should say, excuse me, at the end of the day, the trophies on the shelf, the plaques on the wall, the number in the win column, the number after the dollar sign, you're not taking that stuff with you.

And that's that, that those material things, those things aren't really going to do a whole lot for the people that you leave behind. It's your legacy, right? How did you pay it forward? What's the impact you have? And I think, you know, you think about our workforce today, and this is why I'm so excited. Everyone talks about how millennials, this, Gen X, Gen Y, everyone talks about all this stuff, you know, all they want a job that has meaning. They want to know that they're valued, and they want a leader that embraces the opportunity to help them grow. I don't think that's such matter of fact. I think it's great because when you get intentional about coaching your people, you're going to multiply the impact that you have. And there's so many opportunities out there.

And what does that do in hindsight when you really think of it? And this isn't a selfish standpoint. This is a real standpoint, a reality standpoint. What that does is that makes your job more fun, right? That allows you to be more resilient as a leader because there's a purpose behind it. Okay? You know that you're having an impact on your people. And the fact that you know that's what they want, it allows you to truly hold them accountable. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. I love talking about shifting the management mindset to the coaching mindset, but I love really diving into what coaching is, what coaching does. And I know today we just talked about something which seems so simple. Love, right?

Just love what you do, love who you do it with, and love who you know, who you do it for. I think if you can focus. Matter of fact, I don't think if you focus on those three things, the power that adds to the impact you will provide, the impact that you will have on those lives of the people you lead and the people that they lead and that they touch. It's infinite. It truly. It truly is. Hey, thanks again for listening to this episode of the Athletics of Business podcast. I hope you enjoyed listening as much as I enjoy talking about trust and love and loving what you do, loving who you do it with, loving who you do it for. Okay.

And I would appreciate it if you would go to itunes and rate and review our podcast because the more of those ratings we have, the greater reach that provides us. And speaking of reach, we are in over 24 countries right now, but I would love to see that number grow. For previous episodes of the Athletics of Business podcast, you can go to itunes, you can go to Stitcher, you can go to Google Play, and you can go to the athletics of business.com and to learn more about what we do at the Molotor Group, you can go to themolatorgroup.com that's T H E molotour group dot com. Feel free to reach out to me personally at my email, which is ed the molotorgroup.com I love any comments. I love any.

Hey, wish you could get this person on or I thought this was great or stop talking about this. Whatever. I love it. I think I've responded and replied to all the emails that I have received. If I haven't, please resend me one. I apologize about that and I will be sure to get back to you as soon as I possibly can. Keep doing great things.

Thank you for listening to the Athletics of Business. Be sure to give us a rating and review so we know how we're doing. For more information about the show, visit theathleticsofbusiness.com now. Now get out there. Think, act and execute at the highest level to unleash your greatness.