Dynamic Drive: The Purpose-Fueled Formula for Sustainable Success

Published Aug 30, 2024, 12:05 PM

Watch Carol and Tim LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.
Molly Fletcher, CEO of the Game Changer Performance Group, discusses helping leaders, teams and organizations unleash their potential. Her new book Dynamic Drive: The Purpose-Fueled Formula for Sustainable Success comes out September 3rd.
Hosts: Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. Producer: Paul Brennan.

Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news.

This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio.

We got to get.

Down down.

All right, everybody.

Yep, we are working so hard, no doubt about it. Here at the Huel.

Look at everybody's looking at me like, wait, you are working.

Look to be fair, to be fair that I think they do this on purpose. They put us somewhere where we can't actually watch any tennis from here, I know, so we don't get distracted. What I can see is there are probably some really good matches going on because there are a lot of people court side.

That's one of the stadium courts, right No, that is oh no, that's a field court.

That is just a it's a practice court. No, it's not a practice court. Practice courts are right there. Okay, there's a match going on right there. But you bring up a really good point about what's unique at the US Open because you can go go watch I mean, you know, two years ago when we were sitting here, I left because okay, you stayed the first night to watch Serena and her what her thought could have been her final.

Match, right exactly, I went over there and watched her practice, which is really cool. I did the same thing.

Yeah, or maybe it was the night before. I can't remember.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was.

It's pretty amazing. But it's cool, like.

The boards are over there and an idea of who's on some of these side courts, and you can just go and watch and it's just fascinating to see.

The other part of this is the athletes just walking by you. So you know pro tennis players typically they're above average and height.

Yeah, they're pretty tall dudes.

They're carrying around or women carrying around bags of like a dozen tennis rackets. You can kind of tell they carry.

That's what they do. They carry their on a court.

The walk that they walk amongst us.

They do.

And someone who really knows about this world. She's an athlete. She's represented athletes and negotiating deals. You'll know some of the names she has represented. She's now helping others, including non athletes, really performed him at their best.

Let's get to our guest, Molli Fletcher. She's the founder and CEO of the talent development company Game Changer Performance Group.

She's got a new book out.

It's called Dynamic Drive, the purpose Fueled Formula for Sustainable Success. It's coming out this week.

It is coming out this week, and she joins us from Atlanta, and her notes remind us she was a walk on tennis star at Michigan State. She and her mom actually won enough US qualifying matches to play doubles at the US in nineteen ninety one. I can imagine what a great memory that is. Mollie, Welcome to Bloomberg Business Week. Great to have you.

How are you.

I'm doing awesome. I'm jealous. You guys have golly.

I want to be where you are, so soak it all in for me. Listen, I got we will, I wish we wish you were here.

It's really kind of perfect today. The weather has settled down, it's not too hot. There's something about top notch athletes that can teach us so much about yourself, how to do things, how to approach things. I feel like we talked to coaches athletes.

We learned so much.

What have you learned being an athlete and representing them?

Absolutely? You know, for almost twenty years I was a sports agent, and so I had an opportunity to see so early in my career. I mean, it was sort of a front row seat to peak performance. And what I saw is that at the end of their careers the things that gave them the most satisfaction was actually not the trophies, right, It wasn't the rings on their fingers, but it was at some level the knowledge that they left it all out there for where you are. They left it all out on the court. They gave it everything they had. And so yeah, the book that I have coming out next week, Dynamic Drive, it is all about how do we align our pursuits and our outcomes at some level in service of who are we becoming in the pursuit? Who are we becoming in the journey? As much as the achievements, the trophies, the out right, when we think about the guy or the gall that's about to hoist a trophy over their head after winning the Open, I think when you see those tiers of joy, it's anchored more in the pursuit than in fact the achievement itself.

How do you then so interesting that you say that. I think about that with amateur athletes too, who you know, might work a full time job, but they're also have athletic goals. And maybe those athletic goals that they have they don't achieve. But what they did was they trained for that marathon, They trained for that one hundred mile bike race. They might not have finished it in the time that they wanted to, but maybe it was the training leading up to that, that experience that actually is fulfilling.

One hundred percent. I mean, I think sometimes when we think about you know, drive is such an amazing thing, right, like the driver run on marathon, the drive to achieve something, it's such an awesome thing, and it's amazing. But to me, so much of why I'm so passionate about dynamic drive as I define it, is because our lives are so transformative. They're so dynamic right at some level. In other words, it's not about reaching the summit or finishing or running that marathon per Sae to your point, and you know, because at some level, the interesting thing is what do you do when you're when you're done? Right, Like you guys probably see it and have seen it, and I know I saw it as a sports agent. I mean, when you when you finish the marathon, when you win the US Open, when you win, uh, you know, a world championship, what do you do next? And if you're in the pursuit of better every day, if you are working on your mindset, if you're working inside of discipline and resilience, and you're anchoring all of it in something bigger, right, a bigger why at some level to me it makes the journey worth the time. And it's what I saw with that.

So what do you do, Molly? So what do you do?

Like, how do you work with someone or how do you train someone?

I think you and I the know as they'll feel like we'll come off of something and it's like so great and.

Yeah, and then you got to remember that there's the flip side of that too. We come up with something, we come off with something and you're like, you know what, it could have been a lot better and here's why, right, So how do you like, we're pretty harsh critics of ourselves.

Absolutely, so how do you get your mindset to be like, okay, you know, all right, maybe that was a bad one, or so how do we make it better or how do we not let that kind of throw us off?

Course? Well and and and you hit on it right there with that word mindset, because it's everything right and you guys see it out there on the courts right there. I mean the difference between the guys and gals that are that are that are competing and continuing to make progress so often, right, it's their it's their mindset. It's not talent. It is at some level that gets them there, but it's the discipline and the resilience and the mindset that keeps them winning. And so to your question, I mean, I think you know we have like something like seventy thousand thoughts a day, which is kind of insane when you think about it, right, And so if we aren't intentional about reframing our thoughts, right, like really intentional about saying, am I telling myself something right now that is taking me where I want to go? Or am I telling myself something that it isn't right? And so I teach something in dynamic Drive called a total mindset reset, which is, how do we recognize when we're telling ourselves something that isn't going to take us where we want to go or give us the outcome or the make us show up as the best version of ourselves? How can I recognize that? How can I then replace it with something different and better that in fact is driving toward the outcome that we want? And how do I reinforce it? Right? You know, you see athletes. I've certainly got the open yd right. You see athletes looking at notebooks right and cards and they're getting their mind right and reinforce the kind of self talk they need when they're out on the court.

What is that self talk? And how can we take what they do on the court and apply it to our own lives when it comes to either professionally or personally.

Yeah, for sure. I mean you know, dynamic drive has seven keys to it, right that I unpack in detail. Of course, it's all foundationally anchored in purpose. But I would say the first step fundamentally is saying where am I playing small in my life? Right? Like? Where am I? Where am I maybe not showing up in a way that aligns with the legacy that I would want to leave. And that was really what got me to this point right now, which is pulling back and saying do I want to be an agent and negotiate two billion, three billion, five billion contracts? What am I chasing? Right? So I think to answer your question, it's pulling back and saying where am I playing small? Where could I have an opportunity to level up a little bit in service of the leg See, I want to leave in service of what I want on my tombstone, right in service of me showing up both personally and professionally and living into my four values. And then I think we have to say what am I really chasing? Right? I think sometimes in life, whether you're a you know, stay at home parent, whether you're a past pastor whether you're a professional tennis player, whether you're a media talent like you, it's pulling back and saying what am I chasing? Right? Like, at some level, what is all of this for? And who am I becoming as a result of the pursuit, and and and and those kinds.

Of questions are because this.

Kid drive you a little crazy and you're not your best you, or maybe I feel like that I'm not my best me sometimes because it makes you a little crazy. Hey, Molly, one thing we do want to ask you and love hearing kind of your perspective on how to help people be their best if you if you will, you mentioned twenty years representing three hundred plus of the world's top NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, athletes, coaches, so Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Aaron Andrews. I could go on and on and on.

What was what was the fun part of that? The good part of that?

What was the maybe not so fun part of it?

And why did you stop?

Yeah? Awesome question? And uh, you know, I mean the fun part is being around peak performers, right, Being around people who live into and want to pursue better every day, right, that have the kind of mindset and resilience and discipline, and that that was and is so magnetic and so fulfilling and so fun. You know, in service of your.

Is there anybody in particular? Is there anybody?

Is there anybody though in particular that stands out that you were just like, oh my god, they're just on a different plane.

You know. John Smoltz was a pitch sure for the for the Atlanta Braves. To me, he he got it from the perspective that he would step out on the mounta and give it all all he had all the time. He wasn't afraid to change. It wasn't really about him. It was about the other guys in the clubhouse more than him, right, And and I think you know Ernie Johnson Junior. You guys know EJ's name, given the work that you do. I mean just you know, we we'd go from the set where he's between Kenny and and Barkley, right, and then we'd get in a mini man and drive to go have lunch with his his sensed past son, Michael, who was severely disabled, and and and have lunch and J would rub his head and beat Michael. And you know, so, I think it's it's the it's the people that recognize the the opportunity and the uniqueness of it, but and also recognize the blessings in it, and and and at some level don't get too self absorbed in their sort of in the in the seat that that they're in. And you guys see it there right, Like it's easy to do that when everywhere you turn, everybody stands up and moves and follows you, right, and so small C E J. Doc Rivers, Tom Izzo. These are people and and the list goes on and on and on. But they're great human beings who obviously had an unbelievable had unbelievable careers too.

In terms of the stuff that maybe wasn't so fun being an agent and why you.

Stop, said, I was hoping you forget that part of the question, girl, and your back with it.

I said to tim I Wade, I'm like, I want to follow up.

Hey, yeah, yeah, I know. I was just so you know, the the I would say that not so fun is when is when you you know, the eleven o'clock call, when a player gets traded and they didn't want to. You know, the the player that just gets up to the big leagues and then they get injured, the you know, the golfer that's right there and they're about to win their first tournament and they sort of don't get it done for whatever reason on the back nine on a Sunday. You know those because the love and the connection. I mean, these are people that you're at their weddings, right, You're there when their kids are born, and so when they when when you when they're disappointed in their heartbreaks or their family's heartbreaks, Man, that hurts. You know, that hurts. And so I would say I would say that was the hardest part truly, or the or the the other component I would actually say is the ones who had just an enormous amount of talent but didn't have candidly. What I break down in dynamic drive the discipline, the resilience, the mindset. So they had all the talent, the talent isn't enough, right Like, you need talent plus resilience, talent plus discipline plus mindset. So that was always sad to see the at some of the wasted talent, knowing the gap that existed, and you know that that's that's heart. That hurts your heart too.

Yeah, I could see that very briefly.

Because we only have about thirty seconds left with you, Molly, what would you say to somebody who's feeling a little burned out right now? I'm not talking about a pro athlete, but somebody who's feeling just like really really tired.

Actually have more time, I believe. Do we leave like two minutes?

So go ahead.

She wants to dig into this burnout question. Man, that's what's really going on. I love it too, mad. No, here's what I would tell them. I would say, burnout is usually a result of chasing the wrong things. In other words, it's putting her energy towards the things that don't matter to you. Right. So, and and when we operate into dynamic drive, because the foundation is that we're plugged into our purpose in everything that we do. Burnout is actually at day. In other words, for somebody who's feeling burned out, what I would encourage them to do, pull back and do is ask themselves some tough questions. Right, what am I chasing? What matters most to me? What legacy do I do I want to leave? What at some level are the things, the people, the relationships, the values, the beliefs that are most important to me? And how am I living and pouring my energy into those things in service of creating alignment and in turn offsetting burnout. Because I think where people find themselves burned out is they're misaligned, right, Like, they're misaligned in other words, they're spending their time and energy. Yeah, right, totally, I'm glad to Yeah. I mean, it's spending your time and energy doing things that don't ladder up to what in fact matters most to you. And so that's why I'm so passionate about this approach to drive to life and at some level what can become really an identity in which we approach our lives because it keeps burnout at bank, It doesn't focus on the competition, it's an inside out approach to living, to living our lives in fullness without regret and leaving the legacy that we really want to leave.

Now it's a deeper think and thought, as you said, mindset and just thinking about right when we all ultimately will leave this world, like how you leave it right? And do you feel kind of good on the way out to be quite owing? No, I really I think about the relation as I get older, As I get older.

Molly Fletcher, thank you so much for all this time.

Founder, our and chief executive officer at game Change Change her performance group, and of course her new book is called Dynamic Drive.