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Be an Agile Leader Featuring Chuck Mollor

Chuck “Charlie” Mollor is founder, CEO, executive coach, and advisor at MCG Partners, an organization that specializes in leadership and talent optimization, aligning business and people strategy for maximum results.

In today’s episode of Smashing the Plateau, you will learn how to be an agile leader and build a business that is modeled to serve your clients and you well.

Chuck and I discuss:

  • Chuck’s career and personal journey [02:27]
  • How Chuck specialized [06:59]
  • What led Chuck to write his book [10:01]
  • Techniques he recommends for agile leaders [11:30]
  • Examples of agile leaders [13:52]
  • How to choose the right business model [17:25]

Chuck is the author of his new and best-selling book, The Rise of The Agile Leader: Can You Make the Shift?, Amazon’s #1 best-selling book on management. As a recognized expert in leadership effectiveness, a former Harvard Business School executive coach, and a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, Chuck specializes in coaching and advising senior, global executives and leadership teams through times of rapid-growth, M&A, and change.

Learn more about Chuck at www.mcgpartners.com, www.chuckmollor.com

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Transcript
Chuck Mollor:

The format first has to start with what are

Chuck Mollor:

you really passionate about?

Chuck Mollor:

Because look, if you're not passionate about this every day, if you don't

Chuck Mollor:

believe in yourself and believe in the solutions that you're offering,

Chuck Mollor:

my mindset's is very simple.

Chuck Mollor:

If I don't feel I have a world class offering in terms of expertise

Chuck Mollor:

and solutions and impact...

Chuck Mollor:

I'm not going to offer it.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Welcome to Smashing the Plateau.

David Shriner-Cahn:

We help consultants, coaches, entrepreneurs, and small business

David Shriner-Cahn:

owners build their businesses after long careers as employees.

David Shriner-Cahn:

We believe you should be able to do what you love and get paid

David Shriner-Cahn:

what you're worth, consistently.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I'm your host, David Shriner-Cahn.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Today on Smashing the Plateau, I'm speaking with the CEO of

David Shriner-Cahn:

MCG Partners, Chuck Mollor.

David Shriner-Cahn:

In today's episode, you will learn how to be an agile leader and

David Shriner-Cahn:

build a business that is modeled to serve your clients and you well.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Stay with us to hear all the details.

David Shriner-Cahn:

How do you feel about where your business is today?

David Shriner-Cahn:

Most of us do our best work in collaborative, supportive environments.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Come explore ours.

David Shriner-Cahn:

The Smashing the Plateau Community can help you build your business

David Shriner-Cahn:

through live events, a private communication platform, accountability

David Shriner-Cahn:

partners, and lots more resources.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speak to me or one of our community members to learn more.

David Shriner-Cahn:

You can schedule a quick conversation at smashingtheplateau.com/15.

David Shriner-Cahn:

That's smashingtheplateau.com/15, or go to our website at smashingtheplateau.com.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Now, let's welcome Chuck Mollor.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Chuck is Founder, CEO, Executive Coach, and advisor at MCG Partners,

David Shriner-Cahn:

an organization that specializes in leadership and talent optimization,

David Shriner-Cahn:

aligning business and people strategy for maximum results.

David Shriner-Cahn:

He is the author of his new and bestselling book, "The Rise of the

Agile Leader:

Can you make the shift?"

Agile Leader:

and Amazon's number one bestselling book on management.

Agile Leader:

As a recognized expert in leadership effectiveness, a former Harvard Business

Agile Leader:

School executive coach and a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, Chuck specializes

Agile Leader:

in coaching and advising senior global executives and leadership teams through

Agile Leader:

times of rapid growth, M&A, and change.

Agile Leader:

Chuck, welcome to the show.

Chuck Mollor:

Thanks, David.

Chuck Mollor:

Thank you for having me here.

David Shriner-Cahn:

It's great to have you on.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Can you talk a little bit about your own career and personal

David Shriner-Cahn:

journey to get us started?

Chuck Mollor:

Sure.

Chuck Mollor:

I'm definitely part of that very large group that, that was graduating college,

Chuck Mollor:

trying to figure out what I wanted to do.

Chuck Mollor:

But I always was, drawn to business and the dynamics of

Chuck Mollor:

business and organizations.

Chuck Mollor:

I've always liked being a problem solver.

Chuck Mollor:

I've always liked to learn.

Chuck Mollor:

Always been very curious and I get bored very easily, David.

Chuck Mollor:

Consulting was a really good career path for me and I spent most of my

Chuck Mollor:

career in management consulting, and, based upon that description, no

Chuck Mollor:

surprise, I actually bounced across a number of different practices.

Chuck Mollor:

Most people kind of stick to one practice or methodology.

Chuck Mollor:

Yeah, no, not me.

Chuck Mollor:

I started off doing business process reengineering for a year that

Chuck Mollor:

I got involved in some strategy consulting, and then I moved into

Chuck Mollor:

the change management practice, which I did for a number of years.

Chuck Mollor:

And then probably about 25 years ago, I got into the leadership development,

Chuck Mollor:

talent management space and I never left.

Chuck Mollor:

I was fortunate where, I did consulting work, I managed projects, managed teams.

Chuck Mollor:

And I got involved and I experimented, I liked the big consulting environment

Chuck Mollor:

in terms of early your career, providing some good mentorship and foundation

Chuck Mollor:

in terms of the best practices.

Chuck Mollor:

And then I did a couple of boutiques, one boutique I should say in particular.

Chuck Mollor:

And then I did a global startup ,and I built a practice for a global firm.

Chuck Mollor:

So I I liked experimenting my career and I liked, getting exposure to those

Chuck Mollor:

different, practices and methodologies.

Chuck Mollor:

And then I, advanced my career to running a practice.

Chuck Mollor:

I ran business developments and then I also became the CEO.

Chuck Mollor:

I was a CEO of a global consulting firm for about four or five years, and

Chuck Mollor:

then we got acquired twice in one year.

Chuck Mollor:

And then I started my own firm 15 years ago.

Chuck Mollor:

So I'm a little unique in the sense that I am a coach, I'm an advisor, but

Chuck Mollor:

I also own and run a consulting firm.

Chuck Mollor:

We got about 50 people.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I would say that is unique, that a very common path is someone who is

David Shriner-Cahn:

in the corporate world or an industry and rises up the career ladder gets

David Shriner-Cahn:

to a point where she or he would prefer to, the way I describe it is

David Shriner-Cahn:

take more control over their destiny.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And, sometimes they leave voluntarily and sometimes they get pushed out and they use

David Shriner-Cahn:

the transition as an opportunity to really kind of double down on what it is they

David Shriner-Cahn:

love doing, what they're best at doing.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And they do it in a coaching format.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Often it's solo, sometimes it's in a firm, but often it's solo.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And your career trajectory was a little different.

Chuck Mollor:

Yeah, I know it was, and, but I did design this role of my

Chuck Mollor:

business to suit what I was interested in.

Chuck Mollor:

I liked the idea of having a business and having a team and having a,

Chuck Mollor:

people that I could manage and develop and lead and scale on some level.

Chuck Mollor:

I decided I did not want to open up offices around the us, the or

Chuck Mollor:

globally, like I had done previously.

Chuck Mollor:

Cause I had, I, at the time, I had three out of my four young

Chuck Mollor:

children that I wanted to be involved in their quality of life.

Chuck Mollor:

Coach soccer and go to dance recitals and all those things you do as a parent.

Chuck Mollor:

So I kind of desi designed the job to fit both my personal lifestyle

Chuck Mollor:

needs and the least desires, but also a role that made sense for me.

Chuck Mollor:

I came full circle.

Chuck Mollor:

I've been in the ivory tower for a number of years and I wanted to get back and

Chuck Mollor:

make a difference with the clients again.

Chuck Mollor:

And I'm still living in the business where I'm learning, I'm learning

Chuck Mollor:

about industries and companies and the challenges that people

Chuck Mollor:

are facing in the marketplace.

Chuck Mollor:

And I think if you have that, I hate to say classic consulting

Chuck Mollor:

mindset and interest, which is you're motivated by learning, you're

Chuck Mollor:

motivated by problem solving, you're motivated by making a difference.

Chuck Mollor:

It's really a nice fit for me personally, in addition to, running the firm.

Chuck Mollor:

So yeah, I have this hybrid job, but I enjoy that.

Chuck Mollor:

That's, it's satisfying for me personally.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And I gather, Chuck, that you also have, a wide

David Shriner-Cahn:

variety of interests both on the kind of work side and on the non-work side.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I see that, you were a cranberry grower?

David Shriner-Cahn:

Owner, right?

Chuck Mollor:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And also board member of several organizations.

Chuck Mollor:

No, I've been involved in a number of boards over the years,

Chuck Mollor:

both for profit as well as nonprofit.

Chuck Mollor:

I'm a big believer, I even talk about this in, in my book, about making sure

Chuck Mollor:

you have healthy time in each of our quadrants of life, which essentially is

Chuck Mollor:

yourself, your family, and friends, your community, and then of course, your work.

Chuck Mollor:

So I, I like to make sure that I'm spending enough time in each of those

Chuck Mollor:

quadrants, not just one or two..

David Shriner-Cahn:

Right.

David Shriner-Cahn:

It's really important to living an integrated life.

Chuck Mollor:

I agree.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Could you talk a little bit about how you came to really

David Shriner-Cahn:

double down on your specialty?

David Shriner-Cahn:

You do have a pretty broad background, yet you've now really specialized in one area.

Chuck Mollor:

Yeah, I, for me personally, yes, I specialize in what I do in

Chuck Mollor:

terms of the work I provide to clients.

Chuck Mollor:

As a firm, we're broader, we have essentially three practices.

Chuck Mollor:

We have a leadership development practice, which includes everything from executive

Chuck Mollor:

coaching to leadership development, to management training, to succession

Chuck Mollor:

planning, to leadership alignment.

Chuck Mollor:

So that's actually fairly broad.

Chuck Mollor:

our organizational practice is everything from work around

Chuck Mollor:

culture to work around change.

Chuck Mollor:

We have a DEI capability in there.

Chuck Mollor:

We also work around point engagements and we do a lot of work around

Chuck Mollor:

team effectiveness, team building, including hybrid and virtual workforce

Chuck Mollor:

effectiveness, which as you could expect the last two years has been huge.

Chuck Mollor:

We did a lot of work around that.

Chuck Mollor:

And then our talent practice essentially is assessments.

Chuck Mollor:

Where we do everything from behavioral assessments that we have a tool that we

Chuck Mollor:

use that we're we have a, long term sort of global certified partner relationship.

Chuck Mollor:

And then we also do a lot of 360 assessment, employee engagement surveys.

Chuck Mollor:

So that's what we call our telepractice.

Chuck Mollor:

So as our firm, we're actually pretty broad.

Chuck Mollor:

That allows us to really David, partner with our clients actually.

Chuck Mollor:

Smaller mid-size companies that really want a partner to help them throughout

Chuck Mollor:

the talent management life cycle.

Chuck Mollor:

We do a lot of work with Global and Fortune 500 firms as well,

Chuck Mollor:

where it's a bit more specialized either around leadership

Chuck Mollor:

development or executive coaching.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And how did you personally decide on your niche in the

David Shriner-Cahn:

service that you perform with clients?

Chuck Mollor:

Yeah.

Chuck Mollor:

I think, as I was starting my firm 15, over 15 years ago, I knew that I wanted to

Chuck Mollor:

be, was a self-funded, business startup.

Chuck Mollor:

So I was going to do it on my own and I wasn't looking to scale that quickly.

Chuck Mollor:

So I was experimenting early on my first year to say, okay, what

Chuck Mollor:

really role I wanted to have.

Chuck Mollor:

And in that I knew what my business model was going to be, as I already

Chuck Mollor:

described it, we really haven't changed that business model in 15+ years.

Chuck Mollor:

Maybe we've, we've obviously up, you know, modified and, upgraded in

Chuck Mollor:

terms of best practices and research, including what the book is based upon,

Chuck Mollor:

which is this new leadership model we design called The Agile Leader.

Chuck Mollor:

So we continue to make sure we're staying current with what the needs

Chuck Mollor:

are in the marketplace, but from my role, it really is a reflection about

Chuck Mollor:

my own experiences as a leader, david, I had, I was one of those leaders

Chuck Mollor:

that got tapped on the shoulder and said, Hey, we had a 360 assessment.

Chuck Mollor:

So my own personal experiences of leading and managing my own trials

Chuck Mollor:

and tribulations as a manager, in the moments where that were very

Chuck Mollor:

transformational for me to really figure out what leadership meant for

Chuck Mollor:

me, made a huge difference in my career.

Chuck Mollor:

So based upon those experiences, I thought becoming an executive

Chuck Mollor:

coach, would be a good fit for me.

Chuck Mollor:

And, it's really a combination of coaching and doing some advisory work

Chuck Mollor:

that's been a really good fit for me.

Chuck Mollor:

I've really had such amount of, I'm just so grateful to be able to do what

Chuck Mollor:

I've been doing the last 15+ years.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Congratulations on what you've built, this success you've

David Shriner-Cahn:

achieved, and also congratulations on the release of your new book.

David Shriner-Cahn:

What led you to write it?

Chuck Mollor:

Yeah, I asked the question actually right before Covid to my team.

Chuck Mollor:

I said, what do we think is the future of leadership?

Chuck Mollor:

And the leadership model has hadn't really changed that

Chuck Mollor:

dramatically the last 10+ years.

Chuck Mollor:

And yet the world had been changing rapidly, and this is before covid.

Chuck Mollor:

Cycles innovation are getting shorter and shorter of a pace.

Chuck Mollor:

The intensity of change, the digitalization of business, the

Chuck Mollor:

multiple generations in the workforce.

Chuck Mollor:

And then, obviously Covid just accelerated all that.

Chuck Mollor:

Including issues around diversity, equity, inclusion, the virtual

Chuck Mollor:

hybrid workforce became an issue.

Chuck Mollor:

So we have all these things going on, but what are leader, what do

Chuck Mollor:

leaders need to do to be effective?

Chuck Mollor:

So we interviewed CEOs, we interviewed clients, we looked at research.

Chuck Mollor:

We came up with this leadership model that we coined The Agile Leader.

Chuck Mollor:

So that became the impetus to the book, David.

Chuck Mollor:

In addition to that, I really wanted to provide a roadmap to help leaders

Chuck Mollor:

at any level get to the next.

Chuck Mollor:

So, you know, for some people, 95% of the roadmap is completely,

Chuck Mollor:

new and transformational.

Chuck Mollor:

For maybe a very seasoned leader, 10% or 20% of the book

Chuck Mollor:

is going to be very impactful.

Chuck Mollor:

But the point is, no matter who you are, your background or your

Chuck Mollor:

level, I want to have a roadmap that's going to be hopefully

Chuck Mollor:

helpful and a very practical level.

Chuck Mollor:

Tools and strategies, methodologies that a person can

Chuck Mollor:

incorporate in their day to day.

Chuck Mollor:

So that was really the what motivated me to write the book.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Chuck, what are some of the techniques that

David Shriner-Cahn:

you, that the book recommends for leaders who want to be agile?

Chuck Mollor:

Yeah, there, there's a number of things.

Chuck Mollor:

There's definitely this self-awareness component.

Chuck Mollor:

we've been talking about self-awareness for a lot of years.

Chuck Mollor:

That's not new.

Chuck Mollor:

But how do you really apply that in a very practical way?

Chuck Mollor:

And by the way, what techniques and tools, they're not necessarily new either, are

Chuck Mollor:

you doing in terms of how you ask for feedback and how you focus on what you're

Chuck Mollor:

developing and frankly, if you're now focusing on self development, You're

Chuck Mollor:

letting yourself down, including your organization, your team and I think one

Chuck Mollor:

of the challenges I've seen, especially the last few years, David, with a lot

Chuck Mollor:

of leaders, is they don't recognize that leadership and managing in itself

Chuck Mollor:

is a skill in itself, is a profession.

Chuck Mollor:

Okay.

Chuck Mollor:

A lot of people, because they're bright, they're highly

Chuck Mollor:

competent individual contributor.

Chuck Mollor:

They're incredibly successful as a performer.

Chuck Mollor:

They're thrust in the management very often and they're in it for a

Chuck Mollor:

lot of years in advance, quickly.

Chuck Mollor:

And next thing you know, they, they just take for granted that, management and

Chuck Mollor:

leadership is just part of their mindset or part of their personality in itself.

Chuck Mollor:

It's a skill, it's a profession.

Chuck Mollor:

and if you take that mindset of understanding that how do I continue to

Chuck Mollor:

get better as a manager, leader, as a skill, as a profession, that's how you're

Chuck Mollor:

going to continue to develop yourself.

Chuck Mollor:

The moment you think, Hey, I of reached the pinnacle of my expertise,

Chuck Mollor:

that's when you're let yourself down for potential failure because.

Chuck Mollor:

it's a constant, lifelong approach of learning and development.

Chuck Mollor:

So I think that's, to me, one of the most critical elements that

Chuck Mollor:

I talk about that in the book.

Chuck Mollor:

I cover really a lot of material in the book.

Chuck Mollor:

There's 20, I can't even remember how many chapters, like 26.

Chuck Mollor:

I cover a lot of different sections David.

Chuck Mollor:

One thing in particular I talk about is triggers.

Chuck Mollor:

I've done a lot of work.

Chuck Mollor:

I've come up with my own methodology and how people help them manage their

Chuck Mollor:

emotions and manage their triggers.

Chuck Mollor:

Now, whether you're very intense and very, sort of assertive personality, or you're

Chuck Mollor:

very low keyed, in laid back and calm.

Chuck Mollor:

We all have triggers, and it all impacts on how we interact,

Chuck Mollor:

respond, develop relationships, and address specific situations.

Chuck Mollor:

I talk about conflict.

Chuck Mollor:

I talk about managing, multiple generations and managing a hybrid

Chuck Mollor:

workforce, a virtual workforce.

Chuck Mollor:

So I really cover a lot of, managing change.

Chuck Mollor:

So I really cover.

Chuck Mollor:

To me, I try to cover really the critical aspects of managing,

Chuck Mollor:

leading in today's work environment.

Chuck Mollor:

And again, trying to give people some really practical tools

Chuck Mollor:

and techniques on how to be

David Shriner-Cahn:

effective.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Chuck, what are some examples of, some leaders that follow this kind of

David Shriner-Cahn:

methodology and have done really well?

Chuck Mollor:

That's a really great example.

Chuck Mollor:

I think a couple of things.

Chuck Mollor:

I think a leader that I know particular, and I use this metaphor in my book.

Chuck Mollor:

I, we, and I like to be visual, right?

Chuck Mollor:

And give people to close their eyes and visualize in a lot

Chuck Mollor:

of ways a leader is a surfer.

Chuck Mollor:

Right now, no, I may not resonate with a lot of people but let me, continue.

Chuck Mollor:

What I mean by that is, and I'm not a surfer, which is even funnier,

Chuck Mollor:

I'm using that as a metaphor.

Chuck Mollor:

But my point here is that when you're surfing, you have no idea what's going

Chuck Mollor:

to go on in the ocean at any given day, frankly, any given moment, whether

Chuck Mollor:

it's the conditions of the ocean you know the direction of the waves,

Chuck Mollor:

the choppiness or a storm brewing.

Chuck Mollor:

As a surfer, you're surfing in chaos, essentially.

Chuck Mollor:

The key is balance.

Chuck Mollor:

How do you find balance on that surfboard?

Chuck Mollor:

Well, guess what, in life it's similar, right?

Chuck Mollor:

As a leader, you're swimming really, often in an ocean in your organization.

Chuck Mollor:

You even know what direction your business is going in.

Chuck Mollor:

What's the business climate?

Chuck Mollor:

What's going on with your people?

Chuck Mollor:

The challenges that everyone's facing.

Chuck Mollor:

You've gotta create stability.

Chuck Mollor:

You've gotta find, create a stable environment for your people to

Chuck Mollor:

feel safe, for your people, to feel you're there to help support them.

Chuck Mollor:

That they're grounded in their environment even though there's chaos all around us.

Chuck Mollor:

So you try to use that as a visual, but also as is the methodology for leadership.

Chuck Mollor:

And that really ties into, and I already just said this kind of

Chuck Mollor:

creates safe work environment.

Chuck Mollor:

What does that really mean?

Chuck Mollor:

Safe work environment means that, people feel they can, challenge, they

Chuck Mollor:

can make mistakes, they can fail, they can challenge the status quo,

Chuck Mollor:

that they're not going to get shot down with their ideas and opinions.

Chuck Mollor:

They're not going to get thrown out or lose their job or slap them the wrist

Chuck Mollor:

if they make a mistake or failure.

Chuck Mollor:

And the challenge is, we all remember in our careers, we learn by failure.

Chuck Mollor:

When we look back at our careers and our profession, we recognize how we've

Chuck Mollor:

gotten better is how we've learned, overcome our failures and mistakes.

Chuck Mollor:

Yet when we get into management, whether it's the pressures of, the executive

Chuck Mollor:

team or if you are an executive team member and it's the board.

Chuck Mollor:

Or it's your investors or your shareholders.

Chuck Mollor:

We sometimes put so much pressure, we forget sometimes the formula for success

Chuck Mollor:

and the formula for success is creating an environment where people can thrive.

Chuck Mollor:

And take risk and fail and be innovative because without innovation, not just

Chuck Mollor:

in terms of products and services, but internally, you're risking the

Chuck Mollor:

organization that's going to get stale and that's not going to grow

Chuck Mollor:

and that's not going to thrive.

Chuck Mollor:

And that people are not going to give, beyond discretionary effort.

Chuck Mollor:

So that's one of the foundations that I I often talk about.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

That's a huge challenge.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

And I love the metaphor, the surfing metaphor about, trying to

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

achieve balance in a world of chaos.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

It's so true.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

No, thank you.

Chuck Mollor:

I'm not a surfer either.

Chuck Mollor:

We all can visualize it, right?

Chuck Mollor:

We all can visualize it.

David Shriner-Cahn:

We all can visualize it.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And, I grew up near the ocean, so I spent a lot of time at the beach, so I

David Shriner-Cahn:

know exactly what you're talking about.

Chuck Mollor:

Yeah, I think it's important we think about that because

Chuck Mollor:

again, if anything, the world continues to be, especially with the access to

Chuck Mollor:

media and digitalization, everything feels like it's in our backyard.

Chuck Mollor:

And so how do we create a mindset as well as a work environment and psychologically

Chuck Mollor:

where people, again, there's a lot of work around psychological safety and

Chuck Mollor:

a lot of that's what I'm referring.

Chuck Mollor:

About, how do we create environment where people feel they, they can

Chuck Mollor:

do all those things and we, and we have to remember the relationship

Chuck Mollor:

between innovation and failure.

Chuck Mollor:

and I talk about this a lot, David, which is, without

Chuck Mollor:

failure there is no innovation.

Chuck Mollor:

And we sometimes, especially when you get to senior manager and we forget

Chuck Mollor:

about that, we figure about the principles, what innovation's all about.

David Shriner-Cahn:

That's a really important point, Chuck.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I wondered if we could shift and talk a little bit about, for someone who

David Shriner-Cahn:

is in a consulting role, particularly for those folks that may be earlier

David Shriner-Cahn:

on in their consulting business, and they're not looking to grow a

David Shriner-Cahn:

team as large as yours, how do you choose the right business model?

Chuck Mollor:

Well, I mean, I think there's got, I'm going

Chuck Mollor:

to become a formula person.

Chuck Mollor:

I think the formula first has to start with what are you really passionate about?

Chuck Mollor:

Because look, if you're not passionate about this every day, if you don't

Chuck Mollor:

believe in yourself and believe in the solutions that you're offering,

Chuck Mollor:

my mindset's going is very simple.

Chuck Mollor:

If I can't, if I don't feel I have a world class offering in terms

Chuck Mollor:

of expertise and solutions and impact, I'm not going to offer it.

Chuck Mollor:

It's just too competitive world out there.

Chuck Mollor:

Doesn't mean that necessarily everyone's going to want to buy from us when it

Chuck Mollor:

comes to those capabilities, but to me, I feel we're going to be world

Chuck Mollor:

class and we're going to continue to, by the way, research and invest in.

Chuck Mollor:

And that's so critical of consulting.

Chuck Mollor:

You just cannot continue to lean on models and solutions that

Chuck Mollor:

you created five, 10 years ago.

Chuck Mollor:

You've got to constantly be out there and doing research and evaluating best

Chuck Mollor:

practices and looking at the future trends, what's needing out there.

Chuck Mollor:

So that's, that to me is number one.

David Shriner-Cahn:

So you got to be on top of your game.

Chuck Mollor:

Yeah, you got to, you've got to be passionate about it, and

Chuck Mollor:

you've got to invest in your expertise and your knowledge and think about

Chuck Mollor:

the future, not just about today.

Chuck Mollor:

Not overly rely on the methodology that you've been using for a number of years.

Chuck Mollor:

The other, second thing that's really critical, and I can give you an example of

Chuck Mollor:

this and I will, is where is the demand?

Chuck Mollor:

So I'll give you an example.

Chuck Mollor:

One of the things I first did when I created my business that

Chuck Mollor:

we still provide it, is I really thought that the future was going

Chuck Mollor:

to be about new leader onboarding.

Chuck Mollor:

Because, new leaders, especially hired externally, they still fail at a, like

Chuck Mollor:

a 45% failure rate after 18 months, which is astounding when you think

Chuck Mollor:

about the impact of productivity, performance, stability, culture, morale,

Chuck Mollor:

and then performance of your people.

Chuck Mollor:

There's a lot of instability, unrest when a new executive comes in from

Chuck Mollor:

the outside and fails after 18 months for a variety of reasons.

Chuck Mollor:

So to me the solution was a new leader onboarding coaching program and toolkit.

Chuck Mollor:

I thought it was going to be a home run.

Chuck Mollor:

And guess what?

Chuck Mollor:

Crickets.

Chuck Mollor:

You know why?

Chuck Mollor:

Because in the priority of what companies wanted to spend money on,

Chuck Mollor:

they all saw the value, but they didn't say, I'm going to spend money on it.

Chuck Mollor:

So the lesson learned there is, I might think I may see what the need is, and

Chuck Mollor:

I may try to convince as many prospects and clients that they need to use this.

Chuck Mollor:

But the of the day, if it's not a demand for them, It's not

Chuck Mollor:

going to be the right solution.

Chuck Mollor:

So, it sounds like a very simple, example, but trust me, I see too many people

Chuck Mollor:

trying to provide a solution that there's simply no demand in the market for.

Chuck Mollor:

So the demand in the marketplace is really critical.

Chuck Mollor:

And then third, the last thing I'll say, just to keep it simple,

Chuck Mollor:

is where do you spend your time?

Chuck Mollor:

Especially becuase you know, I think we can agree that the majority of consultants

Chuck Mollor:

or coaches out there are individuals.

Chuck Mollor:

So how are you?

Chuck Mollor:

And it's like the three or four legged stool, depending on how

Chuck Mollor:

many legs you want to talk about.

Chuck Mollor:

We already talked about one of them, which is, investing in your expertise,

Chuck Mollor:

investing in your best practices, and your solutions that you're offering.

Chuck Mollor:

The second, leg is obviously delivering work.

Chuck Mollor:

Having clients, they're working with you and you're providing

Chuck Mollor:

services and you're executing.

Chuck Mollor:

And remember of the cliche, and I use this with my team every time.

Chuck Mollor:

You're only as good as what you deliver today.

Chuck Mollor:

Doesn't make a difference what you did yesterday or five years

Chuck Mollor:

ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago.

Chuck Mollor:

So make sure that when you're delivering, you're delivering what

Chuck Mollor:

you're there to deliver, and it's only as good as what you're doing today.

Chuck Mollor:

And the last stool, or leg, I should say, of that stool is external.

Chuck Mollor:

Building relationships, networking, doing business development, being

Chuck Mollor:

involved in the business community, finding partnerships and alliances,

Chuck Mollor:

investing in professional associations.

Chuck Mollor:

And again, I think what happens to a lot of individuals is they get

Chuck Mollor:

so busy delivering a project and they're trying to find balance in

Chuck Mollor:

their own personal life, they're not investing in those other two legs.

Chuck Mollor:

And that's honestly the biggest challenge for any individual versus being part

Chuck Mollor:

of an organization is how do I, Now there's a lot of really successful

Chuck Mollor:

people that can do that, but they're all, they've also disciplined themselves in

Chuck Mollor:

a way to be able to make sure they're focusing on each one of those stools

Chuck Mollor:

or each one of those legs, excuse me.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah, no, the discipline is really critical to be

David Shriner-Cahn:

able to have the balance and then make sure that you're feeding what is

David Shriner-Cahn:

needed in each area of your business.

Chuck Mollor:

Agreed.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Chuck, is there anything that I haven't asked you that

David Shriner-Cahn:

you want to share before we close out?

Chuck Mollor:

No, I, I I think, look, there, there's always going

Chuck Mollor:

to be good days and bad days.

Chuck Mollor:

There's always going to be good experiences and bad experiences.

Chuck Mollor:

If there's any advice we give to anybody, don't be a lone wolf.

Chuck Mollor:

And what I mean by that is, yeah, surround yourself with friends and

Chuck Mollor:

mentors and associates, that are interested in you, they care about you.

Chuck Mollor:

It doesn't have to be a formal board.

Chuck Mollor:

It doesn't have to be even a formal advisory group or committee.

Chuck Mollor:

But, make sure you've got people you can talk to that can give you feedback.

Chuck Mollor:

That can be able to support you when you're having a bad day or a bad

Chuck Mollor:

week, or maybe even a bad month.

Chuck Mollor:

stay optimistic, stay positive, believe in yourself, because guess what?

Chuck Mollor:

Just like I talked about earlier, about leaders and innovation around failure.

Chuck Mollor:

Guess so you're going to make mistakes.

Chuck Mollor:

You're going to sometimes fail and forgive yourself.

Chuck Mollor:

Accept youself.

Chuck Mollor:

Learn from that and move on and grow and continue to be better.

Chuck Mollor:

So that's my last piece of advice.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And I have to say, I was reflecting as you were

David Shriner-Cahn:

describing, who you need to surround yourself with and why, which is, one

David Shriner-Cahn:

of my primary motivations for founding and leading the Smashing the Plateau

David Shriner-Cahn:

Community for consultants because it's designed to help consultants and coaches

David Shriner-Cahn:

that are primarily working alone.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And you do need to spend time with like-minded people who will give you

David Shriner-Cahn:

support, give you feedback, point out some solutions you may not have thought

David Shriner-Cahn:

about when you ha when you're facing a challenge, and really just be there to

David Shriner-Cahn:

help you achieve the kind of things you want to achieve and you can't do it alone.

Chuck Mollor:

Agree, completly.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Chuck, I want to thank you so much for joining us today.

David Shriner-Cahn:

If somebody wants to go deeper with anything we've discussed, get a copy

David Shriner-Cahn:

of your book or access any resources you have, get in touch with you,

David Shriner-Cahn:

where would be the best place to go?

David Shriner-Cahn:

Sure.

Chuck Mollor:

I would say connect with me on LinkedIn.

Chuck Mollor:

Again, it's Chuck Mollor, M O L L O R.

Chuck Mollor:

I have my own website, under my name, predominantly because of the

Chuck Mollor:

book, which is chuckmollor.com.

Chuck Mollor:

And then, of course, my business, which is mcgpartners.com.

Chuck Mollor:

So those are the three options in getting in touch with me.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

Thank you again, Chuck.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

My guest today has been the CEO of MCG Partners, Chuck Mollor.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

Thank you, Chuck, for joining us.

Chuck Mollor:

Thanks David, its been a pleasure to be here with you today.

David Shriner-Cahn:

When you visit the Smashing The Plateau website at

David Shriner-Cahn:

smashingtheplateau.com, you'll find a summary of each episode along with

David Shriner-Cahn:

the links we mentioned on the show.

David Shriner-Cahn:

On today's episode with Chuck Mollor, we learned how to be an agile leader

David Shriner-Cahn:

and build a business that's modeled to serve your clients and you well.

David Shriner-Cahn:

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David Shriner-Cahn:

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David Shriner-Cahn:

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David Shriner-Cahn:

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That's smashingtheplateau.com/circle.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I'm David Shriner-Cahn.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Thank you for taking the time to listen to our show, I'll

About the author, David Shriner-Cahn

David is the podcast host and community builder behind Smashing the Plateau, an online platform offering resources, accountability, and camaraderie to high-performing professionals who are making the leap from the corporate career track to entrepreneurial business ownership.

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