VICTORY Defined, with Ed Molitor

Ed Molitor

Episode 124:

In the last 26 years, Ed Molitor has developed his leadership skills in both athletics and business. From working as an NCAA Basketball coach at Texas A&M to becoming the Vice President of a national recruiting firm, Ed has taught countless athletes, coaches, and business leaders how to THINK, ACT, and EXECUTE at an elite level. Ed has a unique set of skills to deliver leaders across the country a purposeful, positive, energetic, and refreshing experience to unlock their true potential.

In 2016, Ed launched his company, The Molitor Group, in order to reach and add value to a larger sphere of ambitious individuals and help them achieve their goals every day. Through The Molitor Group, Ed has guided all types of leaders to achieve success. From entrepreneurs and executives to teams and companies, The Molitor Group specializes in empowering individuals and groups to achieve at the next level. Through Leadership Performance training, coaching, and speaking, Ed’s goal is to supply people and organizations with the necessary tools to move forward from where they are now to where they want to be.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

What Giannis Antetokounmpo’s perfect answer was to a question about how he keeps his ego in check
What lesson you can learn from Bryson DeChambeau’s response to his struggles off the tee during The Open
What we can learn from the current state of college athletics as it pertains to success being measured differently by individuals in the same organization
Why it is so important for you to clearly define what VICTORY means to you
What the seven pillars of VICTORY are and what each one means
What the five fundamentals of a high-impact coaching are and how they go hand-in-hand with VICTORY
Why VICTORY undefined is VICTORY unfulfilled

Additional resources:

Email:ed@themolitorgroup.com
The Molitor Group
Ed Molitor
Download a FREE copy of my new eBook, ‘Growing Through Crisis’ and learn why vulnerability can be a powerful leadership asset.

Podcast transcript

[00:03] 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.

[00:19] Welcome back to another episode of the Athletics of Business podcast.

[00:23] I am your host and CEO of the Molitor group, Ed Molitor.

[00:27] And do forgive me, please, if I.

[00:29] Sound a little bit fatigued, because, well, I am.

[00:31] But that doesn't mean I'm not excited. I am so excited to be here with you today. It is going to be a solo cast and we're going to talk about.

[00:38] A lot of great stuff, but here's why I'm tired. Now, disclaimer for a brief minute here.

[00:42] I'm going to talk a little bit about myself, and I'm not a fan.

[00:44] Of doing that, as you probably have gotten to know me through the podcast and through all the content that we put out.

[00:52] But the reason I'm tired, I am training for my first ever half Ironman, a 70.3, which is up in Frankfurt, Michigan, just north of Traverse city, which means it's going to be hilly, which also means the swim is going to be Lake Michigan, which that can go, sideways in a real hurry.

[01:07] But training has been a bear. And I'll let you in on a little secret, okay, a little secret I'm.

[01:12] Telling folks in 45 countries where this.

[01:14] Podcast has been downloaded. So not so much of a secret.

[01:17] But what is it they say? Telegram, telephone, and tell an Irishman.

[01:21] Well, I'm an irishman, so there's that secret.

[01:23] I am worn out by training because.

[01:25] I have been training for this since January into January, early February of 2020, because last year's race was canceled for.

[01:34] Obvious reasons with the COVID pandemic. But I never stopped training swimming. We couldn't get in the pool, but I did dry land swimming, which was basically just stretch bands around poles in my basement. It was about as fun as poking yourself in the eye with a steak knife, for that matter.

[01:47] But anyways, so today was one of.

[01:49] Those days that was just a bear, which was ironic because I had a phenomenal weekend.

[01:53] I did a twelve mile run, a.

[01:55] Pretty good clip on Saturday, was really thrilled with it.

[01:59] And then yesterday I did a 56 miles bike ride, which is the distance.

[02:03] Of the half fireman. So the half fireman itself is a 1.2 miles swim, 56 miles bike, and then a half marathon and 13.1 mile.

[02:10] And I felt really good when I got off the bike and then today, true to what my man John.

[02:16] Has said, during the NBA Finals series, when someone posed a great question to.

[02:20] Him, they asked him at such a.

[02:22] Young age, how did he learn to keep his ego in check? And so many folks don't figure that out until later in their career. We're going to talk into this in the business world in a second because.

[02:30] That'S something we see a lot. It's very relevant.

[02:33] Young folks trying to make their name known and their ego can get away from a little bit and they figure it out later in their career when they start to gravitate towards, move towards.

[02:41] Earn leadership positions that they might not be ready for.

[02:43] But anyways, he said, when I, you.

[02:45] Know, I learned one of the things, like, if I talk about, like I did this in game five, I had, I forget the exact numbers about to say 30, 20 and ten, which, because he did it, matter of fact, it.

[02:54] Might have been 4018 and ten in, you know, I had this unbelievable black shot.

[02:59] I I, I, what usually happens the.

[03:01] Next day is you suck.

[03:04] And that is one of the reasons, like, his answer was, what's taught me about eagle. Life has taught me about Eagle, and that was one of the lessons he learned.

[03:10] When you focus on I and your.

[03:11] Great performances in the past, the next day is going to suck.

[03:14] Well, my run today absolutely sucked, okay?

[03:17] And I don't know if I should.

[03:18] Be saying that word that much, forgive me, but it was brutal.

[03:22] So I'm at that stage of the.

[03:23] Game in training and, you know, talking about Giannis and talking about that press conference, I want to bring up a couple points he made that were mind blowing to me because they were made.

[03:33] In the press conference after a big win, after an incredible performance.

[03:37] And he said this, okay, in response.

[03:40] To the question, how do you keep your ego in check? What taught you about that? And he said, what taught me was.

[03:46] And he paused and he said, life.

[03:49] And then he went on to say.

[03:50] Focusing on the past, three things.

[03:51] First thing, focusing on the past is ego.

[03:54] Focusing on the past is ego.

[03:56] The second thing, focusing on the future is pride. And the third thing, focusing on the present is humility. Let me repeat those first, focusing on.

[04:06] The past is ego. Focusing on the future is pride.

[04:10] And focusing on the present is humility. Now, what is he saying there?

[04:15] When you focus on the moment, thats all that matters. The here and now, the execution of every single thing that youre doing for.

[04:23] Me today on the run, honestly, it.

[04:25] Was putting 1ft in front of the.

[04:27] Other at some point. It was not pretty. You know, I think hes also saying.

[04:30] Whatever happened in the past, it does not matter when it happens in the future. You cant really control.

[04:36] Like you can have a vision, you.

[04:37] Can visualize a great performance, you can sit there, put all the pieces together and set your goals, but what happens.

[04:42] In the future just don't have control over. So it doesn't really matter that much.

[04:47] I want you to think about that.

[04:48] In your old world.

[04:49] How much of the day do we.

[04:50] Spend focusing on the past, focusing on.

[04:53] The future, as opposed to focusing on the here and now and really reflecting.

[04:56] On what's going on in our world and what lies ahead of us in the immediate moment.

[05:01] Now I want to compare that to.

[05:04] The brilliant comments by PGA golfer Bryson Shambo. And if you're not golfer fan, Bryson D. Shambeau, excuse me, Bryson D. He can hit the golf ball off the tee about 3000 yards. I'm not kidding. Maybe it's only 2000.

[05:17] But anyways, he really, really struggled in the open. Really struggled.

[05:22] And he's got a club in his bag, the Cobra driver. And they have, and their stories are endless. And I've heard this from some golf friends of mine that are in the industry, the golf club industry, and.

[05:33] They have worked tirelessly to try and appease Bryson DeChambeau to get him the.

[05:39] Perfect club face on the driver so he can crush 400 yard drives, which.

[05:43] Is mind blowing when you really think about it. And if you've ever seen him warm.

[05:46] Up in the driving range, it's a bit impressive. But he just says and does some.

[05:50] Really, how do I want to say this?

[05:52] Some really, he just uses some poor judgment. He just says some really off things.

[05:57] And he doesn't exercise emotional intelligence sometimes.

[06:00] Unlike my main Janice who paused before answering an incredible question. And his answer was even more phenomenal. He paused.

[06:09] So after one of the rounds in.

[06:10] The open, here was his quote, if I can hit it down the middle.

[06:14] Of the fairway, that's great. But with the driver right now, meaning literally the driver in his bag right.

[06:19] Now that Cobra has worked tirelessly on.

[06:22] But with the driver right now, the driver sucks.

[06:26] Not me, not my mindset, not I'm.

[06:28] Being a mental midget out on the course, not I've got a lot of things going on off the course, not I'm not executing.

[06:33] I mean, yeah, they spent years and.

[06:34] Years trying to create the perfect club.

[06:36] Face for me, but it's the club, it's not me. Right? He goes on to say it's not.

[06:40] A good face for me. And we're still trying to figure out.

[06:43] How to make it good on the mishits.

[06:46] Well, hey, how about this?

[06:48] Make fewer miss hits. I'm living on the razor's edge.

[06:52] Like I've told people for a long.

[06:54] Time, if I'm a PGA golfer and I'm in a sudden death playoff with.

[06:59] Bryson DeChambeau, I feel pretty good about my odds. Okay, so, you compare those two comments and great lessons to take from both.

[07:07] You know, if golf were a team.

[07:08] Game, which obviously it is in the.

[07:09] Ryder cup and some other things, I.

[07:11] Would not want Bryson as my team. And he throws everybody under the bus except himself. Except taking accountability. Sure, he tried to walk back his comments. God knows how many handlers told him to walk back his comments.

[07:21] But the bottom line is this.

[07:23] He would not be a good teammate.

[07:24] Giannis, I would run through a wall from. Okay, I run through five walls for him, but.

[07:29] And he would be a great teammate.

[07:30] Now, why am I telling you this?

[07:32] What does this have to do with today's podcast, victory defined? It has everything to do with it.

[07:37] Because all of us have a different definition of victory.

[07:40] All of us have a different definition.

[07:42] Of what winning means to us and.

[07:45] What success looks like to us and.

[07:47] What success defined means to us.

[07:50] I guarantee you that Janus and Bryson have two completely different definitions, and Giannis.

[07:55] Definition most likely has to do with.

[07:59] We, whereas Bryson's most likely is focused on me. Hey, I get it. I get it's an individual sport, right? I guess golf is a very individual sport. But he has a caddy on his.

[08:08] Bag, right, that he's helping support. He has his family.

[08:11] He has his sponsors.

[08:12] He has the makers of his golf club.

[08:15] He has the tournament folks. There's a lot of people. It's bigger. It's still bigger. Even though it's an individual sport, it's.

[08:21] Still bigger than him.

[08:22] It's still bigger than Bryson DeChambeau.

[08:24] His world.

[08:25] As I was sitting here today, laying.

[08:26] Out the podcast for you and the content and trying to really identify the.

[08:32] Difference, you know, how different victory can.

[08:34] Be to certain people.

[08:36] Something popped in my head because right.

[08:38] Now, in front of us, the landscape.

[08:40] Of college sports is changing exponentially.

[08:44] And we will never, ever see.

[08:47] The NCAA like it was before. We won't see it like it was a month ago.

[08:50] We won't see it like it's two.

[08:52] It was two months ago.

[08:53] And it's really interesting. And, yes, obviously, there's the nil, right?

[08:57] And there's athletes making money off of that.

[09:00] There's the president of the NCAA Emirate coming out and finally saying it's time.

[09:06] For the NCAA to be deregulated, when what he really should say is we deregulated it a long time ago. And instead of acting like it wasn't the wild west, we're just going to embrace it for being the wild west.

[09:18] Now, I'm not saying right, wrong, indifferent.

[09:21] What my opinion is, this is not about, this is the athletics of Business podcast. Not the business of Athletics podcast. But speaking of which, we're going to.

[09:28] Have a great guest here a few.

[09:29] Episodes from now, maybe four episodes from now. Gabe Bach.

[09:32] And Gabe is just incredible.

[09:34] He's launched a podcast that is just about, that is about the business of athletics.

[09:39] And Gabe was the host Texas radio for years.

[09:42] He is a legend down in Texas A and M. He's been a good.

[09:45] Friend, was very kind to me when I had my big event down there and have enjoyed getting to know him.

[09:50] Again over the years. He was down there when were.

[09:52] Coaching A and M. But again, this.

[09:55] Episode is the athletics of business. So I'm not going to start giving.

[09:57] My opinion, but here's the deal.

[09:59] Recently, okay, there was a story that.

[10:02] Was broke by a Houston Chronicle writer that Texas and Oklahoma were looking to.

[10:07] Leave the big twelve and join the SEC. Now, theres so many different layers to that. And what is wrong with that right now? Everything always has been this way, but money is absolutely driving college sports at that level, okay?

[10:18] And we know this, but money is driving college sports.

[10:22] But I started to think about this in the sense of victory defined. And what did that mean?

[10:26] Now, let me back up that writer, okay.

[10:28] That broke that story in the Houston Chronicle.

[10:30] Good friend of mine, Brent Zorniman. Okay, Brent was a.

[10:33] And I don't want to call you Brent, I don't want to say you were a beat writer, but he was.

[10:36] He was a writer, was our beat.

[10:37] Writer for Texas A and M men's basketball. I was really fortunate to get to know him, get to spend some time with them. And three years ago, it's hard to believe.

[10:45] Sorry, going to be three years this coming April. So two and a half years ago, I was down there for getting ready.

[10:49] For one of my events that I was hosting at Texas A and M at Kyle Field.

[10:53] And went to breakfast.

[10:54] It was awesome.

[10:54] He brought his son, went out to breakfast, and he sits down at breakfast and he hands me this book.

[10:59] I got no idea.

[11:00] It's more tales from Aggie Land by Brent Sernan.

[11:04] Right forward by dat win.

[11:05] One of the greatest aggies of all time.

[11:07] Dat.

[11:07] I know you're a fan of the show.

[11:08] Just so much respect for you. He hands me a book.

[11:11] He says, page 55.

[11:12] Page 55, what are you talking about?

[11:15] So I open up to page 55.

[11:16] And there's a quote from Eddie Maltor.

[11:19] That's me.

[11:20] You know me as Ed Malter, but.

[11:21] And the quote was from back in.

[11:22] 1998 when we got let go of Texas A and M. When people talk.

[11:26] About the pride of Aggie land, they're legitimate.

[11:28] I'll brag about living here until they put me in a grave.

[11:31] We lived and died with every single bounce of the ball.

[11:34] Unfortunately, we died with it.

[11:36] So I don't know if were sitting at the tap when I gave him that comment or where were at. I think we might've been on the phone actually.

[11:42] But my point being is winning means.

[11:45] Something different to everybody. And Brent broke this amazing story.

[11:48] And all of a sudden it became.

[11:49] Very apparent when you started to see the comments from all the other universities and athletic departments and A and M.

[11:55] I thought kind of faux pad a.

[11:56] Little bit when they said, well do everything we can to protect Texas A and M, because it came off as we now theres an agreement in place that they would be the only school in the state of Texas in the SEC, which is brilliant, which I commend them for.

[12:08] Its the way it should be.

[12:09] But the comments kind of came off as we dont want Texas playing in our backyard. Not that were scared of them, not that they make us nervous, but theres.

[12:16] Just some negative overtone which they corrected their position on it in a very.

[12:20] Strong way, in a very powerful way. But again, money is driving this. And this is something we'll talk about in four episodes.

[12:26] So I started to think about it though.

[12:27] You think about victory defined at the college level and you think at the highest level, right?

[12:31] The tv rights, the tv money, it's.

[12:34] Hundreds and hundreds and millions of dollars, billions of dollars in the incident tournament, okay?

[12:40] Driving a sport that kids aspire to.

[12:43] Play at the college level from the.

[12:44] Time they're 4567 years old, that their parents spend countless hours and money in.

[12:52] Just resources trying to get their kids to that level.

[12:55] The tv people, the upper administration of.

[12:58] Universities, okay, the power five schools of.

[13:01] The mid majors, right, division one, they've.

[13:02] Got an agenda in their agenda to drive revenue, to market the university, to drive enrollment, right, to bring dollars into the college town, to bring dollars into the school to get tv contracts.

[13:13] I get that. But let's get to the root of that.

[13:16] You think about that in a corporate environment, right? That's the big corporation. That's the massive corporation I deal. Majority of my work is in three industries, okay? And that's the financial industry. Whether it be financial planning, whether it be investment, whether it be the mortgage.

[13:29] Industry, the banking industry, the recruiting industry, and quite a bit of work in.

[13:34] The health science industry, the medical industry, pharma, biomedical devices, biomedical sales.

[13:39] That's where a lot of my work is.

[13:40] Okay, so you have some smaller corporations, you have some mid sized, and you have the large ones, right?

[13:45] But then you start to peel away at it and you look at what.

[13:47] Victory means to other people. Victory means to the athletic director, something similar that it means to upper administration.

[13:53] Now you move down to athletic director.

[13:56] Support staff, and that means being a part of something bigger than themselves, doing.

[14:00] What they can to help all the.

[14:02] Athletic programs, whether it be lacrosse, whether it be football, whether it be basketball.

[14:06] Baseball, softball, track and field, water pull, whatever it may be. And then you get to the coaches and its really interesting there.

[14:13] And you get to the coaches and you get to the coaches of the revenue sports, and especially at the highest level.

[14:18] And theyre driven by a handful of different things.

[14:21] Some are pure money, some love their contracts, and some want to see a certain dollar figure in the bank account before they retire. Okay, I dont necessarily agree with that. Some thrive on building an incredible culture and having an incredible program and making an impact on their players lives, on their coaching staff's lives, and the managers, the support staff in the community.

[14:40] Someone really leave a legacy at the.

[14:42] School they're at later in their career.

[14:44] Others are upstart coaches. They want to, they want to win for two, three years, and they want to bounce, they want to move, they want to get somewhere.

[14:49] They want to climb that ladder. Sounds like the corporate world, doesn't it?

[14:52] Okay, the assistant coaches, what is, what does winning mean to them? What is, what does victory mean to them?

[14:56] Now think about this.

[14:57] Academic advisors. What does winning mean to academic advisors? Now you may have chuckled.

[15:02] I'll tell you what.

[15:02] I've been in the throes of major college basketball. Academic advisors care, and those kids go to class. Not in every school, not every kid.

[15:10] But I'll tell you this right now.

[15:11] Those kids want an education.

[15:12] And now we're talking about the nil. And these kids getting paid for their.

[15:17] Their image and get paid for their names, right?

[15:19] And getting licensing. Hey, I'll tell you this right now. They deserve it.

[15:23] Think about this.

[15:23] I was a walk on and crate a walk on.

[15:25] I was an okay.

[15:26] I was a pretty good student in high school. I got an academic scholarship, which I.

[15:29] Was not allowed to accept because it would go towards our scholarship money, our count. Our scholarship count, okay?

[15:37] I couldn't get a job during the school year, even though I wasn't on a scholarship, even though I wasn't getting room and board, even though I was.

[15:42] Not getting my dorm paid for, okay? Room and board. I could not get a job because I was an athlete. These kids bring in millions and billions.

[15:50] Of dollars to the university.

[15:52] But you know what? Those men and women, young men and.

[15:55] Women want to win. They want to excel and succeed at the highest level. Now, it's getting really bad. I mean, you got the transfer portal, you got all this nonsense.

[16:02] And if you're not a fan of college athletics, forgive me, but what the.

[16:06] Transfer portal is, it means you literally throw your name in a portal.

[16:08] Everybody gets to see it. And it's almost like a recruiter reaching out to you.

[16:12] You know, you identify with recruiter or.

[16:14] Some of those, the services, and you can transfer, no strings attached, transfer and be eligible.

[16:21] And it's just.

[16:23] It's getting bad. But those athletes, they want to win. The majority of athletes want to get degrees.

[16:27] Now, what they're learning through the name.

[16:29] And image licensing is they're learning how to be entrepreneurs.

[16:33] There's definitely going to be an advantage.

[16:34] For the power five.

[16:35] There's definitely be an advantage for bigger universities, but they're learning how to be an entrepreneur.

[16:41] But every single one of them want.

[16:42] To win and what they do, and.

[16:44] It means something to them, but it means something different to them. So my question to you is, what does winning mean to you? What does victory mean to you?

[16:51] See victory defined for us here at.

[16:53] The monitor group, victory defined is a program that is the foundation of the athletics of business operating system.

[16:59] And one of the first things we.

[17:01] Do when we work with clients, whether.

[17:03] It'S executive coaching clients, corporate clients, whether doing some training, is we try to.

[17:10] Figure out what success means to them, what winning means to them, what victory.

[17:13] Looks like to them.

[17:14] And we start with the values, okay? Because victory.

[17:16] Now, think about this.

[17:17] Victory undefined, is victory unfulfilled. Victory undefined, is victory unfulfilled. Unless you know what you're trying to.

[17:25] Achieve, how do you know if you're really winning?

[17:27] I'm going to walk you through. I'm going to give you kind of the 30,000 foot view of what victory? How we break that down. And I'll share a couple of questions that we asked for clients.

[17:34] But here's the bottom line.

[17:36] The more precise you can be in.

[17:38] Defining what victory means to you, and.

[17:40] The more clearly you can articulate that, the better the odds are that you'll.

[17:45] Achieve victory, that you'll win, that you'll be successful.

[17:48] And again, it's okay for winning to mean something different to you, but I wake up every single day, and I.

[17:53] Want to win every single day. I want to win. Not win at all costs.

[17:57] I want to win the relationships with my children. What does that mean? That means I'm a, you know, a servant mindset, dad. That means I continue to teach life lessons, no matter how hard it is. And it can be brutal at times.

[18:08] I want to win. And being a husband, I want to win.

[18:11] Being a CEO and an executive coach and a keynote speaker and a leadership consultant.

[18:15] Hey.

[18:16] Tell you this right now, I want to win. In my training.

[18:18] I never want to have another run like I had today.

[18:21] But my point being is you need.

[18:23] To figure out what it means to you, because when you do that, you become more committed.

[18:27] You're not just interested in winning, you become more committed.

[18:30] And we talked a few solo casts ago about being, you know, the difference between committed and being interested.

[18:37] So think about that first.

[18:38] I mean, honestly, if I were to pick up the phone right now, pick.

[18:39] Up my cell phone right now and.

[18:41] Call you and say, hey, what does.

[18:43] Winning mean to you? Could you articulate it? Could you tell me what it means? Could you tell me what winning means to you? Could you tell me how you define victory? I think we all define it differently.

[18:51] You know, I think you have to.

[18:53] Be able to measure it.

[18:54] We have an incredible program where you talk about how you measure victory and how you can quantify it. And there's absolutely ways to do it, some incredible ways to do, powerful ways to do it. But could you articulate that right now? Let me ask you, do you want to win?

[19:08] Are you willing to endure what you need to endure? Are you willing to sacrifice what you need to sacrifice?

[19:12] Do you have a burning desire to win?

[19:15] And I believe I talked about this on a solo cast.

[19:17] Matter of fact, I know I did, and I talk about this in a.

[19:19] Lot of my presentations.

[19:20] But picture you. You are a loved one, is laying on the or table, and you're having.

[19:26] A life saving procedure. Not life threatening, a life saving procedure.

[19:30] The doctor walks in and you can.

[19:32] Completely tell by his body language or.

[19:34] Her body language, that they are disinterested.

[19:38] That they are going through the motions.

[19:40] That they are checking a box, that they really arent that prepared.

[19:45] How do you feel about your chances? Dont you want a doctor that worked.

[19:48] Their lips off in med school, that.

[19:50] Shows up at the or every single.

[19:53] Day knowing maybe in this procedure, our.

[19:55] Backs are against the wall, but dang.

[19:56] It, we are going to do our best to save this person's life.

[20:00] Isn't that the kind of doctor you want? Well, why wouldn't that be good enough for you? Why is just going through the motions every single day and checking boxes and.

[20:07] Doing what you're supposed to do? Why is that?

[20:10] What keeps you from winning? If you've had some tough losses this past quarter, this past month, why? What's keeping you from winning?

[20:18] And why does winning mean so much to you? And I'm going to tell you this a little secret. Winning is going to mean more to you when you take the time to really define what victory means.

[20:25] Victory will mean more to you when you take the time to define what it means. And here is one of the keys.

[20:31] Im going to jump into this real quick here.

[20:33] What are the fundamentals that drive your success?

[20:35] So the way that I work my.

[20:37] Clients on victory define is, we take the word victory. And even if youre not a fan of acronyms, stay with me because youll like this.

[20:44] Theres a lot here for you.

[20:46] The first letter is v, and that represents values.

[20:49] Thats a clear appreciation of what drives your team, and your organization.

[20:53] Now, we talk about standards a lot.

[20:55] The standards that guide not only action.

[20:58] But also judgment, choice, attitude and effort. What I love about values, when you.

[21:03] Really are intentional about it, when you really take the time to work at.

[21:06] It and you're committed to it, values help build the unshakable foundation of authentic.

[21:12] Leadership, which builds what?

[21:14] What does it build?

[21:15] It builds trust with your team. It builds trust with your peers. It builds trust with your customers, with.

[21:21] Your clients, with folks in your industry. Guess what else it builds.

[21:25] Builds trust with yourself. You have self trust.

[21:28] Now, I'm gonna keep going here, right? We take the eye intangibles, clarity, in.

[21:32] Control of the details, right.

[21:34] And other factors.

[21:35] What other factors? Let's, let's go down a list.

[21:37] Grit, work ethic, passion, enthusiasm, mental toughness, positive energy. You can go on.

[21:44] That elevate champions.

[21:45] How you do what you do creates the difference between winning and losing.

[21:51] Do you do the little things?

[21:52] I call them separators. Call them game changers. I call them separators.

[21:56] What separates you today from who you were yesterday? What separates you from your competitor?

[22:02] With the clients, with the customer. What separates you from your peer?

[22:07] Who's going for the same leadership position that you are?

[22:10] The same promotion that you are?

[22:12] Think about that.

[22:13] What are the little things? Do you understand what the little things.

[22:15] Are that you do?

[22:17] Next we go to the c. And the c. Creativity.

[22:20] The ability to out think your opponents.

[22:24] Who are your opponents?

[22:26] And how do you out thinking you? Reframing, improving, and executing novel solutions.

[22:31] Developing the ability developing the ability to deliberately create ideas that add value for.

[22:39] An organization and its stakeholders.

[22:42] How many times do you hear in a week? If you're a leader out there, okay. If you're a business leader, or even from your team members, if you're an aspiring leader, it's not my job.

[22:51] Thinking of new, innovative things is not my job. I call b's on that.

[22:55] It is your job.

[22:56] It is your job.

[22:57] You're either expanding or contracting as a human being. And if you're not getting outside your comfort zone, if you're not stretching and.

[23:03] Expanding, then you're shrinking. So you're darn right being creative is your job. And by the way, give yourself some credit. You should want to be creative.

[23:13] Being creative is fun.

[23:14] Now, hey, I would like to think.

[23:16] I'm a creative person.

[23:17] I've got some people in my orbit who are amazingly creative people.

[23:22] I pale in comparison to these folks.

[23:24] But I love trying, and I love.

[23:26] Coming up with new ideas.

[23:27] I'd love to show you my whiteboard right here and all this stuff from just today.

[23:30] And that'll be.

[23:31] I'll take a picture of that. I'll put it in my file on my computer.

[23:33] Take a picture of that email to myself.

[23:35] Right. Save it.

[23:36] And there'll be more stuff up there tomorrow. So, creativity. The t is 14.

[23:41] So far, we've had values, intangibles, creativity. Now, team is the team that's inspired and coordinated effort of leaders and team members.

[23:50] So coaches and performers. Now, before I keep going, let's.

[23:54] Let me remind you today's workforce wants three things. And I believe this is multi generational. I think it goes back years.

[24:00] It's the same thing that I wanted.

[24:01] When I was a college do athlete, a high school to athlete.

[24:03] It's the same thing I wanted when I was in the mortgage business, when.

[24:06] I was in the recruiting business.

[24:07] It's the same thing.

[24:08] You know, the people that work for us wanted, and they want three things they want to know that the work they do is important, that it has meaning.

[24:16] They want to know number two, that.

[24:17] They are valued and number three, they want to be coached.

[24:21] So inspired and coordinated effort of leaders.

[24:24] Coaches and team members to accomplish challenges beyond their singular capability.

[24:30] Defining roles and refining defining roles and.

[24:34] Refining specific skills to enhance teams overall capability and success.

[24:41] Obviously together we do more. But what are we doing as a team? How do we define victory as a team? What does that look like to us?

[24:48] Singleness of purpose.

[24:49] Singleness of purpose.

[24:51] Then you always objectives and we really.

[24:53] Start getting into the execution of stuff here. The objectives is the motivating vision and.

[24:56] Mission of a different and better tomorrow. So clear articulation and not just saying what we're going to do, but clear articulation and execution of goals, projects, tasks.

[25:09] Processes and systems right now how are you keeping score? What are your metrics? How are you measuring whether or not you're winning? That doesn't mean you're hitting your numbers every single time. That doesn't mean you're closing every sale, right?

[25:21] That doesn't mean you retain every single employee.

[25:23] All that is great.

[25:24] Are you living in a vacuum if.

[25:25] You think that's going to happen?

[25:26] But how are you measuring success?

[25:28] What are the feedback loops that you're running and looking back and saying, okay.

[25:31] We did move from here to there.

[25:33] And you know what?

[25:34] We did knock out these revenue generating activities.

[25:37] What is your scorecard? And then our is rules of the game. And rules of the game might be a little bit different than you're thinking. It's not just, it has something to.

[25:46] Do with the constraints, but it's realizing the physical and mental frameworks that limit your potential success. Physical and mental frameworks that limit your potential success.

[25:56] Challenging orthodoxy. And I love challenging orthodoxy to.

[26:01] Evolve and revolutionize performance.

[26:03] Think about it.

[26:04] You know, from my world, I dont.

[26:06] Want to date myself, but im going.

[26:07] To my junior year in high school.

[26:08] We did not have a three point line.

[26:10] Im not that old.

[26:11] Im 51. But my junior year in high school.

[26:12] We did not have a three point line.

[26:14] What if they never came up with the three point line? The game of basketball will be completely different. No shot clock. I mean, think about all the different.

[26:22] Things, all the different ways games have.

[26:24] Changed, all the different things that have.

[26:26] Evolved over time because they challenge orthodoxy.

[26:28] You look at the Super bowl this year with the female official, amazing.

[26:31] She didn't accept the way things were, right. She kept challenging orthodoxy. Rules of the game.

[26:36] And finally, why is you at the.

[26:39] End of the day, the most important person we're coaching every single day is ourselves, right? And it's a never ending commitment to a strong body.

[26:45] Are you taking care of yourself?

[26:46] Sleep, eat, rest.

[26:47] Right? A strong body and mind. One.

[26:49] Focus on self improvement and commitment to.

[26:51] Winning the game of life.

[26:53] Discipline, work. Focused on becoming the best leader and team member possible. Are you being your best?

[26:59] Not about being the best, it's about being your best, right. Every single day. And have you yet developed the ability. We talked about this several podcasts ago.

[27:07] Have you developed the ability to do your best even when you're not?

[27:10] At your best? Right.

[27:12] Knowing the role one plays in the.

[27:14] Respective success and taking responsibility for it.

[27:16] Now, that is the core foundation pillars, the drills of victory defined for us. And we layer that against the five fundamentals of being a high impact.

[27:27] Coach, of being an elite coach. And this is something I developed over.

[27:31] Many, many, many years of coaching.

[27:33] The athletic world and in the business world. And those five fundamentals are this.

[27:38] Preparation, communication, execution, reflection, and adaption. First, one's preparation.

[27:45] Second one is communication.

[27:47] Third one is execution.

[27:49] Fourth is reflection, running that feedback loop.

[27:51] And fifth is adaption.

[27:53] Which is what?

[27:54] It's an adjustment.

[27:55] It's making the necessary changes.

[27:57] Those are the five fundamentals of being.

[27:58] A high impact coach. And when you put those with victory defined, you really start getting and digging.

[28:04] Into not only what victory means to you, but how do you achieve it. But before we go, I'll give you an example of the type of questions I would ask a client.

[28:13] Okay, let's just say were talking.

[28:14] About values in communication.

[28:17] I would ask a client, okay, let's rate this on a scale of one to five. You read this question to yourself and you rank yourself, one being low, five being strongly agree.

[28:26] One being strongly disagree, five being strongly agree. My values propel me to be an impactful communicator.

[28:32] I listen to, understand, ask powerful follow up, open ended and purposeful questions.

[28:38] And I have the ability to connect.

[28:40] With people where they are at their level.

[28:43] Okay, that's just an example, okay. Of values.

[28:46] I'll give you a couple more intangibles. Let's do preparation for intangibles.

[28:50] I am meticulous in my preparation. Again, scale of one to five. One being strongly disagree that this statement is true. Five strongly agree that you could say.

[28:57] The statement is true.

[28:59] I am meticulous in my preparation. Prioritize my daily activities as they relate to my goals, projects, and tasks.

[29:05] Ask a lot of questions, believe successes in the details and look to gain a competitive advantage by learning as much.

[29:12] As I can about my role, product.

[29:14] Line, customers, clients, and competition.

[29:18] Let's go.

[29:18] Creativity, because that's very unique when you start talking about all these things.

[29:21] And really, when I was coaching college basketball, creativity.

[29:24] I love doing scouting reports. I love studying other teams.

[29:27] I love making tweaks to the game plan.

[29:30] All right.

[29:30] Creativity. Execution. When things are not going as planned.

[29:34] Or desired, I will think outside the.

[29:36] Box, try something new, and maybe even do something unconventional. I will take risk. So that gives you kind of an idea of how we insert the five.

[29:48] Fundamentals layering against the seven drills, if you will, a victory. Define the seven pillars.

[29:53] Values. Again, values. Intangibles. Creativity.

[29:57] Objective, rules of the game. And finally you. And speaking of you, if you have.

[30:01] Interest in finding out more about that, feel free to please reach out to.

[30:05] Me, ed at the Molitor group.

[30:07] And it is all spelled out, themolitor group.com.

[30:14] And send me an email, inquire about it.

[30:15] We have some great programs wrapped around that. But, and the other thing, I love receiving emails when folks share stories and share things that are going on in their world and how it pertains to them.

[30:24] And they may have a comment about.

[30:26] For instance, the Giannis quotes, or Bryson might be some huge Bryson DeChambos fans out there. God love you. Hope you can hit 5000 yards down the middle, too.

[30:34] Well, not so much down the middle, but it's been a blast. I love this.

[30:38] I really could talk all day. All right, I've kept you quite a while for a solo cast, but love, love feedback. Find out more about what we do at the Molitor group. At the Molitor group.com.

[30:47] Admonitor on Instagram, you got my personal.

[30:50] Facebook page, which is at Molitor, you have the Business Facebook page, which is.

[30:55] The Molitor group, and would love.

[30:57] Check me out on LinkedIn. Love LinkedIn. I think it's an incredible platform. If you're one of those folks that just keep soliciting business from me, please stop, okay? Please stop.

[31:04] I have an incredible team here at the Molitor group.

[31:06] Love the way we do things. Love some of the stuff we have coming out.

[31:10] It's gonna be a lot of fun.

[31:11] Here in the not so distant future with all the stuff we've got coming up. But hope you continue to have a great day, continue to have a great week.

[31:18] And if there's anything we can do here, if I can do personally.

[31:22] Please let me know. Again.

[31:24] Ed at the molitor group.com dot okay.

[31:27] And don't forget to ask yourself the.

[31:28] Question, am I doing the best I can with what I have to become.

[31:33] The best I am capable of becoming?

[31:36] 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 get out there. Think, act and execute at the highest.