David Horsager:
Trusted leader show listeners. It’s David Horsager from our studio here at trust edge leadership Institute. I want to just give a huge, thank you. It’s our hundredth episode coming up. Those of you listening from 85 countries on six continents across industries, from government to sports, to business, to entrepreneurs, to healthcare, to education. I wanna just say personally, thank you. Thanks for being in this journey with me. You’ve been with me when we listen to the founder of the Ritz Carlton and we listen to athletes. When we listen to CEOs of startups and companies to the, the, the gentleman that has sold more books in categories about half billion books to, you know I was thinking of just some of my favorites, so many different people that we’ve listened to and learned from about being trusted leaders and about creating trusted teams and trusted cultures. Thanks for joining me in this journey. We have some amazing guests ahead. So we’re just celebrating this milestone of a hundred shows because you’ve made it happen. Thanks for joining us. And we’re looking forward to the next show the next year, the next episode, the next celebration of trusted leader show.

David Horsager (Intro):
Welcome to the trusted leader show. I’m your host David Horsager join me as I sit down with influential leaders from around the world to discuss why leaders and organizations fail top tactics for high performance and how you can become an even more trusted leader.

David Horsager:
Welcome to the trusted leader show. It’s David Horsager and I’m here with a special guest. We AC I think we actually met face to face the first time keying both of us on the, I, I some have said it’s the biggest event one day event in north America, that leader cast we had a great time there we’ve crossed path. Certainly other times she’s known as the Jerry McGuire, female, Jerry McGuire, she’s negotiated contracts, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars for coaches, you know, pro athletes, you know, hall of fame athletes and a host of others, golf pro golfer. I know PGA golf tour folks and others. She knows P peak performance, and she’s just playing an amazing lady on stage and off. She’s a multiple best selling author. She’s got some amazing courses on peak performance and other things, but she’s also a friend, please welcome to the show. Molly Fletcher. Thanks for being here.

Molly Fletcher:
It’s great to be with you, David. This is gonna be fun.

David Horsager:
Hey, it’s gonna be fun. We’re gonna go fast and furious knowing you and knowing me and our energy. And I’m just I’m grateful to have you here. I’m grateful to call you friends. So let’s, let’s just give us a co a, a, a one minute background on Molly Fletcher.

Molly Fletcher:
Yeah. So G you know, I, I mean, I’m married with three daughters now who are all in college, but I grew up in Michigan played tennis at Michigan state, moved to Atlanta to get into the sports business right after I graduated with, you know, it’s sort of a fun story, 2000 box, no job. And I was sleeping on the couch of a friend’s apartment and negotiated a deal to teach tennis for, for my rent at a, an apartment complex with gave me an opportunity to take a job in sports where you make, you know, $18,000 a year. And so I got into the sports business when I was young and, and evolved in that space and became an agent and represented about 300 athletes, coaches, broadcasters built a team of agents and then wrote a couple books and companies started saying, Hey, come talk about it.
Like when you write a book, people think you have something to say, right? So , so then I started and the phone just kind of kept ringing. And then I thought, man, you know, and Zig Ziegler had told me when I was young, when I told him I wanna do what you did, he do. He said, well, go do something first. And then maybe you can talk about it. And so it’s funny how life works, but you know, now I like you, I speak and right. And we have training programs and all that kinda stuff.

David Horsager:
So let’s jump in on the front row seat you’ve had in life. You’ve seen some amazing peak performers. You’ve I mean, I, I look at your client list. It’s unbelievable. So what, what do you think what’s kind of common, not just to peak performers, not those that get there, but those that stay like the kind of the, the Tom Bradys of the world or the Serena Williams, like what does it take to, to, you know, to, to not just get there, but stay there.

Molly Fletcher:
Right, right. And it’s different, right? I mean, I, I saw a lot of people ho hoist a trophy once and never again, I saw a lot of coaches win championships and never again. And so, you know what? I, I gave a Ted talk on this too. I mean, it’s not about talent. It’s about drive, right. Everybody that gets to the big leagues, everybody gets to the PGA two or everybody that, I mean, they have talent, but the ones that stay there have drive and, and, and drive, in my opinion, it’s not the drive to achieve David. It’s the drive to get better every day. Because if all you’re focused on is achieving is getting to that one place. That you’ve always, it’s not enough because success can breed complacency, which is so interesting. But when you have a ton of success, you can get and settle in and become complacent. And so, you know, it’s, it’s about mindset. It’s about discipline. It’s about resilience. It’s about connection and relationships.

David Horsager:
So I wanna ask you right there, because a lot of people are talking about this today. Oh, resilience. Oh, resilience. And some people are saying I’m burnt out. I’m just plain burnt. I, how do I pick myself back up? How do I become resilient? Are there ways we can do that? What, what, what say you?

Molly Fletcher:
Well, I mean, I mean, I think number one, you’ve gotta know why you do what you do. I mean, because when we’re grinding, it completely grinding it day after day after day. If we don’t know why we’re doing it. And if we don’t have a greater purpose, if we don’t have a north star, then when you do get burned out, when you do hit the speed bumps, you don’t wanna put in the effort, the grind, because you don’t know, know why you’re doing it in the first place. So we have to keep our purpose, our wide front and center. We’ve also gotta be intentional about managing our energy. You know, it’s always been fascinating to me, David, in the world of business, I came from the sports world where great athletes, they don’t live by their calendars at all. Tom Brady, isn’t waking up every day, looking at his calendar.
He’s looking at what are the kinds of things that I need to do to perform at my best? What are the things that I need to, how do I manage my energy to optimize performance? And, and the problem today is people’s level of demand is, is ex exceeding their capacity. And when demand exceeds capacity over a long period of time, it’s not sustainable. So you have to pull back and say, what are, what are the things that give me energy? What, what are the things that give me energy? What are the things that fry my energy and how can I be intentional about managing my energy and more intentionally, more than my time.

David Horsager:
So let’s answer these two and get nitty gritty. Number one, you said, why is important to this? What’s your why right now

Molly Fletcher:
To lead, inspire and connect with courage and optimism. So I say yes to things in which I know I can live my purpose, which is to lead, inspire and connect with courage and optimism. If I’m inside of an opportunity where I don’t think I can do that, I’m gonna say no. And, and no is hard in life. We don’t like to say no particularly I’m a, I’m a pleaser, but you know, my purpose now with you is, gosh, can I share some words that could lead, inspire others to live with courage and optimism.

David Horsager:
And, and with that, what gives you energy on a daily basis? You’re, you’re managing your energy. Well, you’re vibrant. I’ve seen you on stage and off. You’re ready to roll. And your team is so it’s fun. Sure. But what, how do you manage it? What gives you energy?

Molly Fletcher:
Well, I mean, I I’ve pulled back and I say, what drains my energy? And I’ve tried to delegate, remove, delete, get rid of those things, whatever those things might be and optimize ’em or, or be more efficient. And then the things that gimme energy for me personally, it’s things like working out it’s things like walking, my dogs, it’s things like, you know, sitting with my husband at the end of the day. I mean, and, and our kids are in college now. So it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s getting clear on what those things are and then ensuring they live inside of my every day, the things that give me energy, and then the things that drain your energy, you’ve gotta create first awareness around it. Right? What are the things that you see on your calendar? And you go, oh my gosh, you know, it, it, we wanna try to delegate those or remove them.
And, you know, there was a, you know, for me, you know, the kids always looked at me at four o’clock mom what’s for dinner. I don’t like to, to cook. I, I really don’t. I don’t love it. Food is fueled to me. And so I was like, I gotta figure this out. And so I did one of those, you know, fresh every, every day they’re showing up at my house. My kids were pulling, it’s like paint by numbers, cooking. So I share that only because that was a drainer for me, that I turned into an Energizer and an opportunity to teach my girls and, and, and have them step up and help, or my husband step up and help in that way, in a way that that was easy for them. So we’ve gotta get clear and have awareness around those things and then live into it.

David Horsager:
Let’s jump to negotiation. You’re a pro clearly you’re negotiating these massive contracts. You get a lot of people have different views of negotiation. It’s hard, it’s bad, it’s negative. You gotta hold your cards. You gotta do this. You gotta that. What would you recommend for those? I mean, I feel like every day is negotiation, whether it’s with my teenager or, or, or a sale or, you know, or, or a company or whatever or a business deal. And we want to create win, win wins, but, but tell me your perspective on negotiation.

Molly Fletcher:
Well, I mean, to me, it’s just a difficult conversation and, and it generally conversations go better when you have a good relationship with the person on the other side. And, and people would always think, gosh, as an agent, I mean, you just took your gloves off all day long and went at it on the other side of the table. And the truth is I found the better, the relationship, the better the outcome and the quicker I could close deals. So negotiation’s a conversation. And to your point, David, it is everywhere. It’s all around us. We negotiate who we spend our time with our energy. With we negotiate deals. We negotiate things personally, professionally it’s everywhere. And the more that we recognize all the opportunities that exist, the better we can get at it, because the more we can practice. And to me, the reason that people are afraid to negotiate is generally in the data shows this it’s a lack of confidence, but the reason they have a lack of confidence is cuz they haven’t practiced. So what I encourage people to do is practice, practice everywhere, practice at the coffee, shop, practice with the yard guy, practice with your kids. I mean, it’s everywhere, but we gotta practice. We gotta pour into it and recognize that relat relationships can actually enhance our ability to close deals quicker.

David Horsager:
You’ve said something I read said basically some people where some people see obstacles, others see opportunity for

Molly Fletcher:
Sure.

David Horsager:
What does what’s that look like?

Molly Fletcher:
Well, to me, no is just one away from yes. Right? I mean feedback. No was just feedback to me. I mean, you can imagine as a female sports agent at 25 years old, I mean I heard no all the time people thought I was somebody’s wife that, you know, guys were hitting on me behind the dugout when I was trying to recruit a player. I mean, you know, no was, was, was. And when, when I moved down to Atlanta trying to find a job in sports, you know, with 1700 bucks, I was eating grapes, walking through the grocery store to save money. I mean, no is just feedback. And, and so what I found that the, you know, it’s like, I, I, I was out on the phone with a friend of mine, Eric Thomas this morning and, you know, winners win and losers lose. I mean, it, it, it, you gotta find a way. And, and that’s what I saw always with the best athletes in the world is they saw obstacles and challenges as a gift, as an opportunity to grow as a as. And, and if you know why you do what you do, you wanna embrace and step into those challenges makes you better.

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David Horsager:
How did you, I mean, you’re in a, it was a highly male environment. It was a, there’s a lot of other things you could have made excuses about. Sure. How did you well, you know, all we talk about outta the Institute trust edge leadership Institute is how do you build trust? How do you build trust fast? How do you, how did you build trust? Like with your first dealer, maybe you have a story from some somebody you were able to sign. I mean, you’re kind of an outlier and you got it done, and then you got it done over and over and over again. I wanna hear, like, how did you start to build trust?

Molly Fletcher:
Yeah. Authenticity. I mean, you know, I was lined up on the fence with, with Scouts and khakis and golf shirts, right. She went tobacco with a whistle around their neck. I mean, you know, I’m, I’m, I didn’t wanna try to be like them. I wasn’t them. I wasn’t gonna show up in khakis and a golf trip that wasn’t me. So I, you know, for me it was about authenticity and when we’re authentic, that’s what people want most from us. That’s how we truly connect in my opinion, that’s how we build trust because we show up the same way consistently. And when we do that, we can connect. And when we do that consistently, we can build trust. So for me, it was consistency. It was outwork and everybody else, it was, it was over delivering in a way that surprised and delighted the athletes that I wanted to represent, it was giving so much to the athletes that we had, that if I asked them to, to say a nice word about me to another prospective player, they couldn’t wait to do it.
They wanted to do it. They, they were like, yeah, Mel, no problem. I got it. I’ll do it. So it was, it was, it was pouring in, I mean, I think, and that’s the interesting thing to your point about negotiation. That’s so, so unique. I mean, I think people sometimes think that you don’t give to the people that you wanna negotiate with. But in fact, I think that when you do, it creates an opportunity for more yes. As it creates an opportunity to drive connection as well. So you know, P pouring in and over delivering, I always wanted to make sure that my guys felt like they owed me so that if I picked up the phone and I called a second basement, and I said, dude, tonight, you guys are playing the giants. I’ve been trying to get their middle and fielder. When he round second, if he gets stuck there for a hot minute, will you talk to him for me? Will you run over to the other clubhouse and give, you know, check, you know, check in with him before BP and guys would do that for me. And, and, and that was really, I, I built my roster of clients primarily through referrals from my existing guys, mostly athlete. Most of my guys were guys 10%.

David Horsager:
Tell me a story, tell me a, tell us, I’m just gonna push you. And this wasn’t pre-done. Yeah. And ask us, I don’t know where you’re gonna go, but I, you know, you’ve been around some interesting folks and people have seen ’em on TV TV. Sure. Not met him in person. Maybe what’s a story you have for us from this this experience in the sports world.

Molly Fletcher:
Well, I mean, you know, gosh, I mean, I’ve got a thousand, but I, I guess I’d give you a couple, I mean, you know, one of my, one of my favorite guys, who’s now calling games on, on TV is Smallz and, you know, John was a guy who was a starter forever, and you hall hall

David Horsager:
Of Famer give, give those that don’t know that

Molly Fletcher:
Don’t hall, Famer. Yeah. Hall of Famer. Now he’s on TV pitched forever in the big leagues. And you know, so many people that you’re, that your listeners, your leaders, aspiring leaders, they’re dealing with a lot of change and change is gonna continue. And I, I, I don’t think we’re ever gonna be on the other side of that. And, and, and MTY was a guy who for over a decade was a starter. And then all of a sudden, you know, the organization reached out and said, Hey, Molly, can you talk to John about whether he’d consider being a closer next season now, for those of you that don’t know. I mean, a, starter’s a guy that steps out on the mound at the beginning of game throws 80 or 90 pitches. And does it again, four or five days later now they were asking him to step on the mound at the end of games and throw maybe night after night after night, long story short through, you know, a, a lot of conversations that we had.
John stepped into that closer rule. The following season, the team needed him to the 24 other guys on the dugout, needed him to the, the, the coaches, the manager, they needed him to John led the national league in saves as a closer the following season. He went under the hall of fame. One of the only guys as not just one of the best starters, but one of the best closers John loved and leaned into change. In other words, the best want the ball when it’s tight, they don’t mind getting uncomfortable. You know, the pit that we all have often in our stomach when we’re dealing and navigating change, both in our own lives with, at, with our companies, with our teams, it, we don’t love that feeling, but the best of the best know that the person that comes out the other side of that change is a better version.
You know, Tom is a longtime client, great guy, great human being had had men’s basketball coach at Michigan state national championship. He’s won. And, you know, Tom sits with us with his players at the beginning of every season. And this was great for leaders. And he sits down with him and he says, Hey, get, give me real quick. On his three by five card, he gives ’em all three by five card. What do you want out of this season? He tells everyone of his guys give it to me. So they all write down what they want out of the season. And then Tom gathers all the cards and then he sits with each guy one by one, and he looks at me. He goes, all right, John, you wanna win a national championship? Yeah, coach. That’s what I want. Okay, cool. Hey, and you wanna graduate in all American yeah.
Coach. That’s what I want. Okay, cool. And, and, and you wanna, you wanna get drafted into the NBA? Yeah, coach. That’s what I want. Okay. Well, so let me ask you this as your coach, as your leader, if these are all the things that you wanna do, what would you like my role to the, in this to be? Well, what do you mean coach? Well, gosh, I mean, what, what, what can I do to help you achieve this? You just told me these, they’re the things that you want out of this season. What can I do to help you fulfill this well? And they kind of pause, they look at Tom and then they say, well, coach, I guess, I mean, you could hold me accountable, help me reach him. Okay, cool. You know what Tom does. If you’ve ever seen him on the sideline, he is about his heads, about to explode when he is talking to his guys, he goes insane on his players, but you know what? He’s gotten permission to hold ’em accountable. He he’s gotten permission to hold them accountable. And I think, you know, that’s what great leaders do. I, I, I’ve got a database of stories, David, I could go on and on. But to me, those are things that we, as leaders can lift up and apply to the people that we lead and serve in a way that allows for alignment and allows us to make other people that we lead the best version of themselves.

David Horsager:
Love it. You know, what, what do you doing these days? What I’ve noticed at least is, is people that are leading great organizations and leading well, they’re doing some things personally spiritually health, you know, athletic fitness wise with their health, whatever it is, what are a couple habits you keep so that you can lead your organization? Well lead well from the stage and the spaces you’re in these days, what are you doing? Maybe their habits are repeaters. We call ’em sure. What are some things

Molly Fletcher:
You’re doing rituals. Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, at the highest level, I always like to check in mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and relationally. And I try to do that every morning and every night, you know, where am I? What are some gaps? What am I doing well, where could I do better in all of those five categories? And I think when we think about our lives in those categories, we can then have the courage and the vulnerability at some level to identify the gaps. I think having people around us that need absolutely nothing from you, but for you to be the best version of yourself is imperative. Right. For me, it’s my brothers, my husband, you know, my sister-in-law my, I mean, my, my parents, you know, those people that aren’t afraid to tell you what you’re jamming up, so that, so that you can get better because when you get to a certain point in your life where nobody tells you the truth, so you’ve gotta make sure you’ve got people that will, so that then I think tactically, it, it’s saying to myself often what can only I do, and I gotta give away everything else.
What can only I do, and then give it away and then spending more time working on the business. And instead of, you know, in it, right, which means pulling back and creating, you know, repeatable core processes, ensuring that, that I’m helping hold and, and support my team relevant to their, their weekly and their quarterly and their annual goals working on the business versus in it is, is something that I’ve been really working on lately too.

David Horsager:
Yeah. It’s been fun to watch you and you do that so well, I think I’ve had to work on that over years at to 22, 3 years almost now of this let go of certain things. So that better things happen. Right? Sure. What do you, you know, you’re a continual learner. Are there some other things you’re doing that you’re learning these days just, or what are you curious about right now?

Molly Fletcher:
You know, I’m, I’m, I’m really I, I, I’m really curious a about why people get complacent. What, what is it that gets people to that place? And, and, and people don’t like to talk about complacency. And, and to me, I’ve identified eight core pillars that help get us from complacency to drive. But I have a book that I’m working on. That’ll come out in 2024, that will be threaded with research too, around how do we unlock drive in people and how do we combat complacency and not just the drive to achieve, but the drive to get better every day. So I’m give us a

David Horsager:
Teaser, give us a teaser that this is interesting to me, give us a what’s the teaser. We don’t have to go through all eight, but what’s, what’s a teaser. And what does it take to go from complacency to drive?

Molly Fletcher:
Well, I mean, I think it, it, it takes a limitless mindset. It takes resilience, it takes discipline. It takes energy, it takes connection. It takes a core purpose. I think you’ve gotta have a core purpose. And, you know, those are some of the things that I think we need and research would support that. But, but to me, people get stuck and they don’t know it. They get stuck mentally. They get stuck relationally, they get stuck emotionally. They get stuck spiritually and they don’t know it. And so how do we challenge people to dig in and ask themselves tough questions consistently to allow him to identify these areas in their life, maybe where they’re a little bit stocked and what to do instead, right? Because we only get this life thing one time we only do, there’s no dress for rehearsal in this deal. Right? So you, we don’t wanna settle for less, less than we’re meant to be less than we’re supposed to be, unless that the lesson we can be to contribute to the people that we lead and the people that we, that we serve.

David Horsager:
Absolutely. Oh, there’s loads more I could ask. I’ve got probably one more question or two at least, but tell us where we can find where’s the one key place. Everybody you’ve, you’ve got books, you’ve got some amazing training programs and a host of other things where where’s the key place to find out more about Molly.

Molly Fletcher:
Yeah. Thanks. David, Molly, fletcher.com. If people go go to Molly, fletcher.com, they can find out all kinds of stuff from there.

David Horsager:
And you can find the new training program, the newest books, and a whole lot more about everything from energy to negotiation, to going from complacency to drive. Yeah. So before I ask my final question, Molly, and this has been a treat and we could talk all day, but you know, we’re kind of similar in certain ways we did some things and then we ended up really not just speaking, we ended up crossing paths from speaking, but kind of trying to, and caring about creating these learning and development businesses that reach the world to go beyond us, that touch people in ways that we’re passionate about. And sure. But if, if, if you, you did have and have had over these years, so many amazing different, you know, coaches, athletes, leaders, one advice, you’ve got some piece of advice that you either heard from them, or maybe even surprised you from somebody you talked to like that, but it stuck with you mm-hmm in this time, some, some coach you watch like, oh, or is there any like outlier piece of advice that you kind of keep thinking back on that you heard over the years from some of the leaders you’ve served

Molly Fletcher:
You know, I, I, I would say Dabo Sweeney said who I have a lot of respect for as a person, as a human being, but he is a great football coach too. And a great leader is bloom where you’re planet, you know, bloom where you’re planet, in other words, and, and Saban says it in a different way, head coach at Alabama, right. Be where your feet are now Saban says, but, but it’s, in other words, wherever you are right now, be incredible, be the best, whatever that is the best and, and crush it because you know what, if you do that, opportunities are gonna be unlocked. They just are. If you over deliver, if you execute, if you show up, if you behave with discipline, if you then opportunities will come, they, they, they will. So bloomer your planner. Dabble said, I also had another one tell me once, you know, be brave, not perfect. And, and, and I think, you know, that is an important thing to remember for us as leaders, because we aren’t perfect. , I mean, we are and not even close. So be brave. Cause that’s what our people need us to do when we’re leading them is be brave and step into the discomfort and the change and the challenges and, and, and, and, and be that first guy or gal on the front of the line.

David Horsager:
Be brave, not perfect. Bloomery planted simple but powerful. Thank you. That’s right. Hey, it’s the trusted leader show. It’s the final question. This has been a treat. Thank you so much, by the way, for, for all this. And just for being my friends, it’s been a, a, a great privilege of my life. But last question, trusted leader show. Who’s a leader you trust Molly. And why?

Molly Fletcher:
Honestly, I would say my parents, my mom and dad,

David Horsager:
I’ve heard you talk about ’em before.

Molly Fletcher:
Yeah. They’re and, and my husband, I mean, to me, they, they have humility. They have discipline. They, they believe they they’re resilient. They have drive in their own way at 80 and 85, but I trust them in being a north star for me in, in, in choices in life. And I’m so grateful for that.

David Horsager:
It’s nice. When the closest ones to you are the ones you trust the most on. Mm

Molly Fletcher:
Amen. Yes.

David Horsager:
Yes. Lots more. We could say Molly, fletcher.com. Molly. Thanks for being on with us. I there’s there, like I said, there’s a lot more we could say and talk about. You’ve got a lot of stories. I’ve heard some of them, but I appreciate this Molly about you. I appreciate who you are on stage, but more than that, even off stage. So that’s a gift to everybody. It’s been the tall the trusted leader show until next time stay trusted.