Mollie Plotkin spends much of her time listening to some of the smartest and most inspiring people on the planet, so it’s hard to imagine just how much she’s learned through the years.
I can relate, because I spend a good bit of time these days interviewing really smart and inspiring people for Off the Rak — people like Mollie. And I’m constantly learning new insights about organizational leadership.
The Mollie Plotkin Group (MPG), which Mollie founded more than 20 years ago, represents marketing gurus like Seth Godin, leadership experts like Paul Sean Hill (former director of mission operations for NASA), and a slew of current and former professional athletes and coaches like Tom Brady, Annika Sorenstam, Saquon Barkley, Dusty Baker, Dave Schultz, and Rocky Bleier.
Naturally, when she was a guest on Off the Rak, I asked her about her favorite speakers and most memorable lessons, and I want to share a few highlights:
Don’t Go Nuts
One of Mollie’s early clients was Ken Hitchcock, the Hall of Fame hockey coach who spent 35 years leading teams in the NHL. And one thing she learned from Hitchcock applies as much to parenting as to leading teams, she said. That’s the value of letting people do things their way if it’s working even if it’s not always your way.
“You’re watching a dynamic going on and frankly, it’s making you nuts,” she said. “You have to ask yourself, is it making me nuts? Or is it hindering the performance of the team? Because just because someone’s not doing something the way you want them to do it, doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
Adopt Technology
Jay Bear, an early innovator with internet startups, often talks about the importance of using technology to improve efficiencies and accelerate growth goals. That’s something Mollie has applied to her own business, because using technology wisely frees her and her team to do what they do best.
“What Jay talks about is that when you can start to adopt that mindset, then you start to challenge yourself with what you will do with your free time,” she said. “For me, it continually has allowed me to have [more] time to connect with my hiring clients and my talent, because that’s what I enjoy the most.”
Maintain Perspective
The speaker Mollie said she’s learned the most from through the years is Kevin Reilly, a former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker and author of the book Tackling Life. Kevin is a quarter amputee who lost his left shoulder, arm, and four ribs because of a tumor.
One of the big ideas from his inspiring talk, Mollie said, is that “when you’re at the very, very top of your game, don’t get too comfortable because it’s never going to stay there. And when you’re at the very, very bottom, never get too comfortable because it’s never gonna stay there.”
Ken Hitchcock preached a similar message about putting your wins and losses in a “safe space” and moving on, she said.
“You can’t buy into all your wins and you can’t be crushed by your losses,” Mollie said.
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Use Your Ears
Mollie also had some insights from her experiences leading MPG. For instance, we all can learn from an approach that she made foundational to her agency’s success from the very beginning: Listening to her stakeholders.
When Mollie first started, she quickly discovered the pain points professional athletes had when it came to making public appearances. They often went to events without a contract, they told her, and they ended up spending more time and getting paid less than they expected.
“These were all problems we could solve,” she said. “So we brought a legitimacy and a business acumen to helping them market themselves for personal appearances and keynotes in a way that hadn’t been done before.”
By word of mouth, more and more athletes came to her for help. But she also listened to the needs of hiring clients so she could match the right speakers with the right opportunities. That made those clients happy.
Even with the growth of her agency and the team that helps her run it, Mollie still enjoys keeping her personal connections with the clients she represents and the hiring clients.
“It helps when you really, really love what you do,” she said. “I try to always be accessible to all of my clients, but the truth is it’s not hard when what I do is really fun. It’s rewarding. And I learn so much.” That’s an opportunity for all leaders. We don’t have to run a speaker agency or host a podcast to broaden our base of knowledge and insights. We just need to embrace the reality that the people around us know things we don’t know and then listen to what they have to say.
