Budgeting Energy to Excel in What Matters Most

Alana Muller 0:10
Welcome to Enterprise.ing, a podcast from Enterprise Bank & Trust that's empowering business leaders one conversation at a time. We'll hear from different business leaders about how they found success in cultivating their professional networks and keeping them healthy and strong. I'm your host Alana Muller, an entrepreneurial executive leader whose primary focus is to connect, inspire and empower community. We at Enterprise Bank & Trust thank you for tuning in to another episode.

Alana Muller 0:41
Hello, listeners, welcome back to Enterprise.ing podcast. Molly Fletcher is a trailblazer in every sense of the word. Hailed as the female Jerry Maguire, she made a name for herself as one of the first female sports agents and represented hundreds of sport's biggest stars. Recognized as a world's top 50 keynote speaker, Molly shares the unconventional techniques she used to thrive in her former career as a top sports agent and now as a successful entrepreneur and thought leader. She's the author of five books, including her latest, “The Energy Clock,” and is host of the popular “Game Changers with Molly Fletcher” podcast where she interviews experts and celebrities in every field. Molly's TED Talk, “Secrets of a Champion Mindset,” has racked up more than 1 million views, and she recently launched her first on-demand course, “Up Your Game.” Molly's passion is to give people the tools to unlock their drive, up their game and achieve peak performance. A true game changer: Molly Fletcher, welcome to Enterprise.ing podcast.

Molly Fletcher 1:40
Thanks so much, awesome to be with you.

Alana Muller 1:42
Well, I'm delighted to have you. I got to hear you recently at a conference and was so inspired by you. And so I'd love to... Keying off of that discussion that I listened to, I have a bunch of questions to you. And I want to focus really on thinking about business with intention. One of the things I've been wondering is, what led to your transition from sports to motivational speaking and helping clients to drive a champion mindset?

Molly Fletcher 2:07
You know, for about 15 years I was a sports agent and I loved every minute of it. And then I wrote a couple books, and the books started to get some traction in the market. And then people started saying, "Hey, will you come and talk about your book?" And I was always super passionate about the common thread with peak performers. And what I began to find with my clients was that the way an NBA guy, an NBA coach or college coach, the way a big league baseball player, or a PGA Tour player, or an LPGA player, the way they were wired was very similar. So, I wrote a book about it. And then companies started saying, "Hey, will you come and talk about your book?" And then that really just continued to snowball.

Molly Fletcher 2:47
And it got to a place where I really needed to make a decision. And I felt like the speaking was changing people's lives, was impacting people in a positive way. You know, I'd seen the good and the bad. I'd watch athletes and coaches navigate change and challenges and recover. And I watched the resilience that occurred inside of becoming a Hall of Famer, a national championship coach, and the world sees, you know, these guys and gals hold trophies over their heads on a Sunday or cut down a net. But I saw all the stuff that happened to get there. And there's so much — there's self doubt, there's questioning, there's injuries, there's all these things. And so much of that happens in the business world, too.

Molly Fletcher 3:30
So, when it really started to, candidly, take on a bit of a life of its own, with the phone ringing saying, "Hey, will you come and talk about sustained high performance at some level?", it was so rewarding and fulfilling. And the truth is sometimes, given your question — I'll kind of tie the knot here, but people always think, "Wow, those are so different." Right? Like, "What was the deal with that?" It's interesting, because as a sports agent, you have to get in front of athletes and coaches that are hard to get in front of, that question people, that don't trust very many people at all. And then you have to earn their trust and respect quickly. And then you have to navigate a really remarkably special window of time for an athlete or coach to do what they do at the highest level for generally a short period of time. And that's kind of what speaking is. You know, you walk up on a stage and people are like, "Dude, what do you got?" You know, "Now we got another… well, what is this lady? What are... you know, I'm busy, I got stuff. What are you all about?" And you've got to create connection quickly and trust quickly, and you've got 45 minutes or an hour or two to impact them, hopefully in a really positive way. So, there's actually a lot more similarities than I think sometimes is sort of to the naked eye, if you will.

Alana Muller 4:46
Yeah, I totally agree with you. I spent a significant portion of my career in the corporate world and made a similar switch, wrote a book, I do a lot of, a lot of speaking, a lot of training, coaching, that kind of thing. People often ask, "How did you go from there to there?" I totally agree with you, I think that you can leverage those skills. And in fact, you said something that I so resonated with, and I want to press on that a little bit. You said, "You are impacting people's lives." And for me, I often see people's eyes light up, I see the light bulb go on. And it's gratifying. It's almost this virtuous cycle, when you're standing up there on stage and you see somebody respond in such a positive way. Talk a little bit about what that does for you. And how that sort of, again, that virtuous cycle where you just feel good, and you want to keep going?

Molly Fletcher 5:33
Yeah, yeah. Well, for me, I want to get in the head and the heart of the audience as much as I can. I want to know what they're worried about, what they're excited about, what's on their mind. I want to know what the best in the room do differently than everybody else. The truth is, it's not about me. It's about how do I take the guy in the back that's kind of half in, half out and get him to lean forward? You know, how do I get the guy that's sort of a little bit skeptical, or the gal that's not quite sure if you're really gonna give them anything or not. And they're the first person in line after to come and say, "Boy, that really hit me. And that really connected to me." It's about driving connection in a way that makes an impact, that allows them to change their lives. So often, the most powerful thing is the email or the DM on Instagram or the note or whatever, on LinkedIn, that's, "You won't believe this. But I did, sort of, what you... I did this that you shared with me. I manage my energy more than my time. I was more intentional about being relational and less transactional and this happened in my life." And that's what really fills you up.

Alana Muller 6:42
I love it. You sort of just said that. Let me just again, key off on something that you said, there's an expression that I've heard you use that I just love. And it's the “intentionality of preparation.” The intentionality of preparation. Where did you first encounter the concept of the intentionality of preparation? What is it and how can leaders embrace this notion to help them up their game?

Molly Fletcher 7:03
Sure. Well, I mean, to me preparation is such an integral part of driving connection. And the more that we can prepare for the people that we're going to connect with, the more that we can get in their head and heart, the more that we can understand what's working and not working in their world. And the more that we take the opportunity to be curious at the core, then we're driving the opportunity to create connection in a way that's really intentional. And part of this thinking for some, at some level, came from a place of making mistakes.You know, when you pick up… When you're an agent and you call a player, and they went 0 for their last 12 at the plate, and you're like, "Hey, man, I hope you're doing great." They're like, "Dude, this lady doesn't know what's going on."

Molly Fletcher 7:48
As an agent, you have to know not only what they did the day before, and the couple days before and what's coming at them the next couple of days. And you have to get in their world to be able to do that. And that requires preparation, it requires intentionality. Because in that world, and certainly in our world now, and I think in most people's world in business, it's about relationships, it's about connection. And to me, it's not that you have to do hours and hours of research. But I think what you do have to do is step into their head and heart for two minutes, ten minutes, five minutes. And that was a practice I did as an agent. I would literally stand in my office for like two minutes and be every single one of my players. You know, what did they do last night? What are they about to go do? What's their schedule look like? What's their next off day? Where are they going to be? What do they have coming up? What's their next major? I mean, everything that I could do to anticipate in the spirit of A. driving connection, but also in the spirit of solving and serving them in a way that was meaningful, and thinking of things at some level before they think of them.

Molly Fletcher 8:53
And so when we think about relationships, I think so often, particularly in business development and sales, and even in leadership, anticipating things that are about to happen in somebody's world before they see them themselves is a really powerful way to add value, to drive connection, and not only to keep the business, but get the business. From a business development perspective, when we see gaps before the people that already work with them haven't seen them, it's pretty powerful.

Alana Muller 8:55
It is powerful. So carry that forward, you're talking about this very much in the sports world, and you even talked about in all of our worlds, but think of it, if we can sort of push forward in terms of the entrepreneur, the corporate leader, how would you translate that same concept so that the corporate leader or the entrepreneur or the up-and-coming manager can see it from their perspective, irrespective of their industry?

Molly Fletcher 9:47
Yeah, I mean, what I would often recommend is sort of, you know, pull back and say, who are the 10, 15, 50, 100, 200, whatever it might be for you, most important relationships in your world. And then I would recommend that people pull back and say, "How can I begin to understand what they're worried about, what they're excited about?" Get in anticipation of that. And then begin to, what I often say is, "Act like you have the business before you have the business." Right? Behave in a way that sends a message that this relationship really matters to me.

Molly Fletcher 10:21
I think, you know, you heard me share one story about negotiating free rent for nine years, teaching tennis in exchange for my rent. You know, I taught an hour and a half of tennis a week in an apartment complex in lieu of rent. But, in part, that was simply anticipating really what the manager of the property was mostly worried about. Which really isn't fighting a tennis pro, it's keeping her residents happy and occupancy up. And if I could be a way and a vehicle to help her solve that problem, then maybe she'd bring me in to support her.

Molly Fletcher 10:53
And so you know, I got free pizza, you might remember that story, I got tennis tips that I brought in, Wilson stuff. And so the other thing I'd say is, they're not always things, you know, some people think, "Oh, I can't buy things for people, I can't..." That's okay. It's just about, maybe it's an article or a thought, a quote, or a note in the mail that nobody does anymore. Maybe it's a comment on LinkedIn, maybe it's… There's so many… if we're curious, then we create chances for ourselves.

Alana Muller 11:24
You're speaking my language. What you're describing is social capital, right? You can't purchase that, but you can earn it. I once worked with a guy by the name of Paul Russell, I helped him write his book called “STUN! Selling,” and STUN is an acronym for: "Satisfy Their Unmet Need." And I think that's what you're talking about. It's identify, identify the challenge that they're facing and find a way to address it.

Molly Fletcher 11:47
Yep. 100%. Again, a challenge that they don't even maybe know that they're about to face. That's even more powerful.

Alana Muller 11:54
Well, I also, in that same course that I sat in on, one of the things you talked about was energy. Who deserves your energy. And a tough question to pose not only to others, but certainly to yourself. How do you help high-performers to manage this question? Because when it comes to who deserves your energy, there are a lot of people who can suck the energy out of the room, but sometimes they're your client. Right? And you have to address that. So, how do you help your clients to manage that question, so that they are able to maintain their energy and direct it appropriately?

Molly Fletcher 12:29
Sure. I think it starts with purpose and clarity of that, I think, you know, it starts with saying, "What are you chasing? What are you chasing? Like, what are you really chasing?" And, to me, it's a little bit of a concept of when, as a sports agent, I watched athletes very intentionally manage their energy for high-performance. And then in business, what you see is people operate against their calendars. They're leaning into their calendars, they're accepting meetings, they're showing up at things. And, you know, sometimes when I'm keynoting at an event, I'll say, "Has anyone ever shown up at a meeting and thought, what am I doing here?" And literally, everybody starts laughing, because they're like, "Oh, yeah, that happens to me all the time.

Molly Fletcher 13:10
But what high-performers do is they fundamentally structure their days differently. I mean, they fundamentally structure their days and their lives differently. And what they do is they say, "Where do I need my highest and best source of energy to perform at my best in the moments that matter most? What really matters most?" And then they ensure they reserve the kind of energy they need for those moments. So, tactically, they do things like, they're remarkably intentional about the way they schedule their days and their lives. They say no, often, quite a bit, because they have to, or they push things out, they are very intentional about micro breaks, one-minute breaks, five-minute breaks, 15-minute breaks. They load their calendar in such a way that they have time to recover and reset. And, and, they anticipate remarkably well.

Molly Fletcher 14:05
So, what I believe we need to do in life is say, "Okay, what gives me energy? What drains my energy? What are my, obviously, my deepest priorities and goals, my deepest values? What is my purpose? What am I chasing?" All of those kinds of really big questions. And then we have to pull back and align our schedules in such a way that it ladders up to that. So that we don't get stuck chasing the wrong stuff, which happens often and people end up at the end of a day or a week and sadly, sometimes at the end of their life, and they've missed the things that matter most. They've missed the people, they've lost the relationships because of a lack of intention and clarity.

Molly Fletcher 14:45
So, what I challenge business people to do is to look at their schedule through the lens of energy, ensure they're remarkably intentional about structuring their days, and recognize that human beings weren't made to sit in front of a computer, eight hours a day on Zoom calls. Like, we're not wired for that. I literally deployed a thing in my organization where, unless you have to share your screen, there's no video. There's no video, you don't, to me, you can't get up, walk around, be outside, move around all these things. And where, I think it's remarkably important, but yet we live in a world post-COVID, where, for whatever reason, everybody's on Zoom all the time instead of just general phone calls, which is historically how it was from time to time before.

Molly Fletcher 15:34
So, I think you have to be remarkably intentional and recognize that we need breaks. Like, if you wanted to get in crazy sick shape, you couldn't go into a gym for a month, and just lift weights, and just grind it and run and lift and run and lift. No, you got to eat, you got to sleep, you got to drink water, food. But, I think people in business think you just keep going, you keep grinding. And at some level, what's happened in the world, in my opinion, is for most people, the level of demand has exceeded their capacity to execute against the demand. And what happens when that happens, is usually we compromise our most important relationships, our health and ourselves.

Alana Muller 16:17
Well, so how do you help people course correct? I totally agree with you. People do this all the time. We... I call it the “wall of meetings.” You look at Google Calendar, or Outlook, whatever you're using, and it's a wall of meetings. So, how do you, I heard you say that you encourage people to either say no, or to push things out, which I completely agree with. I like that notion of micro-breaks, I would even say micro-meetings, not everybody needs a full hour or a full 30 minutes. You know, 15 minutes or 10 minutes can work as well. So, how do you help people to course correct so that they're not just faced with the wall of meetings?

Molly Fletcher 16:52
Sure. Well, I think at the highest level, you have to know what you're chasing. What's your purpose? What's your why? What's it all for? What's your legacy? What do you want on your tombstone? Who do you want at your 90th birthday party? I mean, we have to ask ourselves some of these tough questions. But then I think, what I would encourage people to do, and if they go to MollyFletcher.com, we have a downloadable version of an energy audit. And I wrote a book about this called, "The Energy Clock." But I would say, "What gives you energy in your life mentally, physically, emotionally, relationally and spiritually? And write those things down. And then I would encourage people to pull back and say, "What drains your energy in all of those categories?" And then considering your purpose and your why, to me, then you go out into your calendar, you protect the things that give you energy, like your life depends on it. And people can't get in there and take it.

Molly Fletcher 17:48
We often, you know, the data shows that, you know, people say, "Well, I, I don't sleep enough, because I don't have enough time. You know, I don't work out because I don't have enough time.” Here's what the data shows. If we gave everybody who said that another hour a day, you know what? They would do more of what they're already doing.

Alana Muller 18:02
That's exactly right. This is a choice.

Molly Fletcher 18:05
One hundred percent it's a choice. And I know... So, I think what you know, for me, personally, I'll give an example, my husband and I have been married for 24 years. I have three daughters that are now in college. But, we had three kids in 12 months, that's a whole other story. But for me, I got really clear early on, that I was the only one that could be their mother and my husband's wife. And I was the only one that could be my parents' daughter and my brother's sister, and all these important relationships. And so, anything that was sort of circling around that went into my calendar first, everything went in first. The basketball games for my girls, the play, the anniversary, the birthday, the whatever, all of that went in first. And then, everything would build around that.

Molly Fletcher 18:50
Now it doesn't mean that emergencies don't happen and fire drills don't happen and you have to call audibles from time to time. But what it does do is it allows, you know, my workouts for me are what gives me energy. As you know, I love to workout and I'm a big sleeper. I think sleep is so important. And so, nothing gets in the way of that, right? Like, I make sure that, sort of, that happens. And what I found was I show up as a better mom, wife, and leader, all of it, because of that. So...

Alana Muller 19:21
All the things.

Molly Fletcher 19:22
All the things. So I think you've got to figure out what gives you energy, what drains your energy, then you've got to really figure out what you're chasing. And then you've got to look at your calendar for the next, call it 30 days, and go out and protect the things that give you energy.

Alana Muller 19:35
So great. That's a great line. I love it.

Molly Fletcher 19:37
And you might need to manage up and you might even manage down in your organization. My team and I, we talk about it. We talk about the “reds” are the drainers, the “greens” are the things that give you energy. My team feels really safe to say, "Hey, listen, you know, I have a board meeting tonight or I have this tonight, so, I can do one of these two things, but I'm not gonna be able to get them both done. So, what matters most? What do you need tonight?”, for example. So, it might require some tough conversations to try to do these things. But to me, it's remarkably important because we can't give from an empty tank.

Alana Muller 20:12
Switching gears just slightly, what's something that you're working on now that you're especially excited about?

Molly Fletcher 20:17
Well, I have a new book called "Dynamic Drive" that's releasing on September 3, and I am so pumped about it. It's a book about how to achieve and sustain success without compromising what matters most in your life. It's up on Amazon now and it's a book that I hope changes people's lives in a really awesome way, both in business and in life.

Alana Muller 20:35
I'm going to ask you to join me for another episode, because I really want to dig into some of this relationship talk that we've been having. In the meantime, there is a question that I ask at the end of every interview, and I want to ask the same question of you. And the question is this: if you could have coffee with anybody, living, not living, fictional or nonfictional, who would it be and why?

Molly Fletcher 20:57
You know, I think… I mean, there's a lot of people, right? But the person that pops in my head right away, honestly, is Oprah Winfrey. To me, just what she has done and where she came from and how she's done it, is absolutely remarkable. To get inside of her head and heart and connect with her would be pretty cool.

Alana Muller 21:18
Love that. I have loved this conversation. And I'm gonna ask you to stick around and let's do it. Let's do a part two and focus on intentional relationship building, if you would, but in the meantime, Molly Fletcher, where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the Molly Fletcher Company?

Molly Fletcher 21:33
You bet. Yeah, just MollyFletcher.com is a great place. And my podcast “Game Changers with Molly Fletcher” is wherever you listen to podcasts. That's another great place to start, too.

Alana Muller 21:42
Well, thank you for being with us on Enterprise.ing podcast.

Molly Fletcher 21:45
Thank you.

Alana Muller 21:47
Thanks for joining us this week on Enterprise.ing. Be sure to visit our website, enterprisebank.com/podcast, to subscribe so you'll never miss an episode. If you found value in today's program, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or telling a friend about us. Enterprise.ing: powering business leaders, one conversation at a time.

Alana Muller 22:12
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