How to Show Up in Extraordinary Ways 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 Molitor tour group, Ed Molitor. I hope you are having an amazing day. I hope you are making the effort to be extraordinary. And speaking of which, it kind of segues into what I want to talk to you about today. This is going to be short, this is going to be sweet. But I really think the points that I'm going to make are pretty impactful when we internalize them and we're intentional about actually trying to put them to use. We're at that stage of the game as parents. Maddie's ten, EJ's eight. We're at that stage of the game where youth sports seem to consume our lives and our calendar. I know that sounds od with kids ten and eight.

Truth be told, I wish when I was that age, I had this many games and this many practices. A couple of weeks ago, many had a basketball tournament. Saturday, EJ had a baseball game. And I wasn't able to make Maddie's basketball games because I help out DJ's baseball team. And they had a great one day shootout. Won the first game, lost the second game in a barn burn. And then at night, at 07:00 she looks at me, she goes, daddy, I don't want to play soccer tomorrow. I want to play basketball. It was just very matter of fact. She all of a sudden is calling the shots in our family, as ten year old girls tend to do. And I said, that's great. I love the fact you love the game.

I said, but you told the girls on your soccer team, and you told your coach that you're coming, you're committed. And she's like, yeah, whatever. She sort of blew me off. We were at her cousin's birthday party, so the whole way home kept pestering me. I want to play basketball. I want to play basketball. I want to play basketball. So then at night, it was kind of back and forth between her and her mother, her and I, then the three of us, then my wife and I, just trying to figure it all out.

And truth be told, I had to figure it out in my head the entire time she was going to soccer, which for me, obviously, I would love to sit in a gym where it is warm, at least warmer than it is outside when it's 32 degrees, 09:00 on a Sunday morning and watch her play basketball. But that's not what that was about. So that night, I attempted to have a civil conversation and talk her through commitment and trust and being what your teammates expect of you. And she really pushed back on. And I get it. She was exhausted. She's only ten. She just wants to have fun and play. And I respected that. And I thought, if I get her to go to sleep, she'll sleep it off. Well, I wake her up at 645. We had about an hour drive to her game.

And she didn't sleep it off. Started right away with, like, I'm ready to get ready for basketball. I said, no, honey, here's the deal. And went down again. Finally, she pushed me just a little bit too far. And I said in not the exact words. I said, get your soccer gear on, because that's where we're going. So we get EJ up, we pour him into the truck. He's sound asleep. My wife jumps in the truck. And Maddie is just staring daggers at me. I could just feel the heat coming from the backseat. And we get there. But the minute we get there, she pops out. And I swear, with her getting her there is half the battle. She pops out of the truck and she takes off. Runs, does whatever, fist bumps, high fives her teammates, laughs, they do their drills. They warm up.

Game starts, and she goes, she runs. And she. Thank God she has her mother's athletic ability and good looks. And she competes like crazy. So she is having a decent game for the first five, six, seven minutes, and really getting after it. And I mean, when I say it's cold, it's like boogers freezing on your face cold. Okay? And I only say that because it happened to my son, EJ, here in the game. But anyways, they take her out, they sub her out to rest. And when she comes back in, I see a completely different person. She's trying, she's competing somewhat, but she's not going full speed on the 50 ball. She's not talking as much, she's not communicating as much. She doesn't have that edge. That kind of helps her being undersized, that helps her compete successfully at that level.

So after the game, she comes up in a truck. I'm like, hey, let's get you warmed up. How you doing? What you think? Fun game. Close. They end up losing one nothing. And I really wasn't going to say anything about what I noticed. And when I watch our kids athletic events, even their practices, I usually bring note cards in my pocket, or I'll use the notes app on my phone to track things that I think of. I'm constantly thinking of creative things for the business, some things to write, things to put into the book, and I want to capture those and not forget them. You start getting to be my age, you have a tendency to forget things.

So her coach walks by in, not the exact words, but sort of said, maddie, great job, but you didn't play like, you know, he and I made eye contact, and she's mumbled something. And then we small talked. He went on his way. We started driving away, and out of the blue, she unsolicited said to me, she goes, well, at least I showed up. And I said, fair enough. I said, it was a battle getting you here. I said, but that's not what your teammates expected, and that's not what your teammates are counting on from you. I said, it's not enough to just show up. And we talked a little bit, and everything was fine. Everything was great. And it was funny because during the game, that's exactly what I was putting in my notes on my phone about us being high impact coaching leaders.

It's not enough for us just to show up. And I want you to think about this, okay? It's not about convenience. It's not about when we're in the mood. It's not when everybody else is doing the things that they're supposed to do. We constantly, as high impact coaching leaders, we're constantly working on change, okay? We're embracing the change that's happening in our industry, embracing the change that's happening internally in our organization. And we ourselves are trying to transform as leaders so we can impact and inspire our team members to change for the better and transform the way they do things and the way they think and the way they act. Right? So I want you to think about this. Like, how, when things aren't convenient for you, when you're not in the mood, how do you show up? What's your energy level?

What's your body language? What's your level of effort? Do you have the ability to be your best? Even when you're not at your best? How do you communicate? Are you still asking questions? Are you using phrases? God, if you would only do this. Oh, if you could have done it this way, you should have done it this way. What were you thinking? Why can't you stop doing? Or why don't you start? Or you take time to try to really understand, meet them where they are and you focus on being extraordinary every day. Either my wife, Nancy, or I writes notes and puts them in our kids lunchboxes. And lately, I've been writing the words be extraordinary on their little note cards that we put in there. And Maddie said, well, be extraordinary. What, do you want me to just be the best?

So, I know I want you to be your best, but here's what I mean by be extraordinary. Be extraordinarily kind. Be extraordinarily know. She's at that age now where girls turn into beasts. In middle school, the stories I've heard make me want to digress and actually put her back in, like, third grade to protect my baby girl. But be extraordinary in how you push your people, how you put them in position to be successful, how you get them outside their comfort zone, but then the amount of support give them extraordinary support. And what that does is that creates this psychologically safe culture and environment. And what about being extraordinary in the trust that you drive, regardless. Now, let's go back to how this all started.

Regardless of the mood you're in or how things are going, your team members, your peers, your teammates, they all have come to expect something from you. What are the intangibles that set you apart? What are the things that you have done so well over the course of time that they're a given. But you know what? You might not be in the mood today for them to be a given, but it's your responsibility. It's your opportunity. It's your honor. As a coaching leader, someone strives to make an impact, to achieve incredible success. You need to show up that way every single day. And it doesn't mean it's always going to work. It doesn't always mean that you're going to connect. But you have to make the effort. And your team members need to know that you make the effort.

Not by you telling them, we all have those bosses, right? That tell you how much they do. They tell you how much they care. Here's what I want. I just want someone who shows up with the right frame of mind, with the right heart, and tries to do things the right way. That's where you get trust. That's where you get people that will run through walls for you. That's where you get people where even when you're not doing well, they'll step up and they'll cover for you. They've got your back. And think about that in terms of being really intentional about just simply starting the day with, how am I going to show up? No matter how big of a battle. It was like my daughter. It was a struggle mentally and physically for her to get to her soccer game.

Yes, she showed up, but she was only her best self for five minutes. Her team needed more than that. Your team needs more than that. Be intentional about it. Be extraordinary. And I would bet, not that I'm a betting man, but I would bet that you would be really amazed when you do that consistently, showing up the right way every day, despite what's going on in your world, the way other people on your team step up. All right, and I mentioned previously in our podcast and our conversation here that I work with a lot of coaching clients. And when it all boils down to is our willingness and our ability to transform as coaching leaders so our people can transform.

How they perform, how they lean into their strengths, how they step up, and how we develop this cohesive team that operates at a level that blows people away. If you're interested in finding out more about those coaching programs, go to the website themalatorgroup.com. That's themolitorgroup.com and check it out. We just. New website, brand new look, a ton of new stuff on there. Really just so much information. Talks about our 90 day emerging leader coaching program. Talks about our 90 day leadership and role or leader. Enroll. Excuse me, coaching program in detail. We dive into the victory defined platform that we have and it breaks the word victory down. We talk about the five fundamentals of coaching and then there is our team. Okay, we would love for you to reach out.

If you are not on our mailing list for our VIP newsletter that goes out just about every Friday, please go ahead and give us your email address. We'd love to have you. We share so many stories, we share books, we share resources, we share leadership lessons. We'd love to get you on there and get you a part of our community that has grown so significantly the last few years. Again, themalitorgroup.com and look forward to connecting with you and just be intentional about how you show up.

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 level to unleash your greatness.