How Smart Leaders Eliminate Distractions and Focus on What Actually Matters - John Mollura Interview - video Dailymotion

Workforce Alchemy

What separates high-performing leaders from overwhelmed ones? It comes down to one thing: clarity.  In this episode of the Mason Duchatschek Show podcast, John Mollura shares practical leadership strategies that help business owners and executives cut through noise, prioritize effectively, and lead with precision.  If you are navigating competing priorities, constant distractions, or scope creep that is killing execution, this conversation gives you actionable frameworks you can apply immediately to regain control and drive real results.  This is not theory. These are real-world leadership tactics designed for CEOs, business owners, and senior leaders who need to make better decisions faster.  What You Will Learn  • The HIT Framework for prioritizing what actually moves your business forward • How to separate urgency from importance without falling into reactive leadership • Why pausing before reacting is a leadership advantage • How to eliminate scope creep before it impacts execution • Proven ways to communicate clearly across all levels of your organization • How to use data and metrics to make confident, grounded decisions  Why This Matters for Business Leaders  Strong leadership is not about doing more. It is about doing what matters most.  In this episode, you will learn how to:  • Set clear priorities and expectations that drive execution • Create accountability through clarity and communication • Use real business data to guide smarter decisions • Say no with confidence and protect your organization’s focus  If your team feels misaligned or your organization is moving in too many directions, this episode will help you simplify complexity and lead with clarity.  Action Steps You Can Implement Today  • Pause before reacting to high-pressure decisions • Define and communicate clear priorities with measurable outcomes • Use data to guide decisions and avoid unnecessary expansion • Strengthen communication up, down, and across your organization • Audit your current priorities to ensure alignment with business goals  Connect With Workforce Alchemy  Website: https://workforcealchemy.com/  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@workforcealchemy  Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaGSQcRH4ChwjjPLD9FN6r2IvuBp5PPbg  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReverseRiskConsulting  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/workforcealchemy/  X: https://x.com/WorkAlchemist  Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/WorkforceAlchemy  Dailymotion: https://www.dailymotion.com/WorkforceAlchemy  Connect with Mason  Website: https://masonduchatschek.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masonduchatschek/  Guest Resources  Website: https://johnmollura.com/  Subscribe for More Leadership Insights  If you are a CEO, business owner, or executive looking to improve decision-making, leadership clarity, and organizational performance, subscribe to Workforce Alchemy for weekly insights.  #Leadership #CEO #BusinessStrategy #DecisionMaking

Transcript

00:05welcome to the mason dukacheck show and before we jump in this episode is brought to you by

00:12workforcealchemy.com helping leaders uncover hidden profit leaks inside their workforce

00:17john malura works with leaders who are done tolerating distraction misalignment and diluted

00:25priorities he focuses on what he calls unfiltered importance helping executives cut through noise

00:34make sharper decisions and operate with clarity when the stakes are high his work centers on

00:41simplifying complexity so leaders and teams can focus on what actually drives results so happy to

00:49have you here today welcome to the show i really appreciate it man thank you so much so you talk

00:55about unfiltered importance what does that actually look like in a real business setting

01:01when everything feels important yeah and what what it what it feels like what it looks like

01:07is as leaders there is no shortage of information we're being bombarded with at all times

01:12right whether it's whether it's from the dings on our phone or computer the people calling us the

01:17the to-do list that's a mile long that has things on there from three months ago that we haven't

01:21let

01:21go like there's no shortage of things that all feel important and it can be very difficult to filter

01:29out what is actually the next right step when we have just all this stuff in front of us so

01:35a lot

01:35of what it is mason is we just need to hit the pause button sometimes i saw people it's like

01:41just just

01:41say to yourself just halt like what what do i need to do next like let me just take a

01:46couple of breaths

01:46and actually take stock of what i have because it's so easy to be reactionary right like next

01:51next thing next thing and then you feel like you haven't done anything it's it's fascinating because

01:56i one of the reasons i invited you on is because this is something i struggle with yeah and i

02:00have

02:00to remind myself on a regular basis that you can't eat an elephant in one sitting it was invited

02:05and i i'm just super glad you're here so when a leadership team says that everything's a priority

02:12what's your process for forcing clarity without creating friction or messing with politics

02:19yeah the the framework that i give people is hits h-i-t-s and this is what leaders just

02:26need to

02:26write in the inside of their notebook put it in their screen just hits h-i-t-s and that

02:30stands for

02:31halt first of all so if you're if you're getting the message that everything's important you need

02:37to call time out as a leader whether it's you know on your own or as a team and be

02:41like all right time

02:42out everybody let's put everything up on the whiteboard in our notebook in a in a slide whatever

02:48it is and let's go to the eye of hits let's identify what's immediately important immediately

02:55immediately important because there are some things that are time restrictive right like

03:02my kids soccer practice ends at a certain time it's pouring rain i need to be there to hit that

03:08mark so when do i need to back it up and leave that's the immediately important thing do i need

03:12to get the order for you know whatever supermarket we're picking our groceries up from no that can wait

03:17but they can feel important so halt first of all as a leader just just call time out doesn't have

03:23to be a big deal but just take a breath figure out what's next what's immediately important what has

03:27a time factor on it right and then t is take decisive action because so often we try to get

03:35it perfect

03:35right and then and then we round and round we go and then we get wrapped around the axle it's

03:41not

03:41perfect yet it's not perfect so which i say just focus on excellence what's the best you can do with

03:45the information you have and excellent now is better than perfect never absolutely 100 you know

03:51general colin powell had his 70 40 framework general powell would say you know if you have less

03:57than 40 of the information as a leader that's reckless to make a decision with that but if you

04:03have you know 70 of the information now you can lean on all that experience you have and make the

04:09next right decision and adjust as you go along because if you're waiting for 80 90 100 of information

04:15you're going to take too long you're going to stall out so taking decisive action is about

04:19making the next right call and then the s of hits framework mason where i see so many leaders

04:26whether they're they're a physician a founder you know academic where they they they just go off the

04:31rails they do all the things they halt they identify what's important they take action but they don't

04:36set a specific deadline they don't give themselves a i need to do this by and then checking in with

04:44themselves whether that's writing it down whether that's sticky notes whether that's reminders on your

04:48phone on your household device set a specific deadline because nothing like a deadline to get

04:54moving right so that's the framework i give leaders hits halt identify take action specific deadline

05:02so where do most executives in european unintentionally dilute their own effectiveness

05:07on a regular basis one of the biggest things that happens is they don't set clear directives to

05:15the people that that they're leading that's true and by that i mean setting the objective what's the

05:23requirement for completion what's the end goal don't tell them how to do it necessarily that's not

05:28leading that's building doers don't do that you're there to build other leaders but if so if you clearly

05:35communicate here's the objective gang here's where we need to end up by this time right set that specific

05:41deadline cut your team loose let them do it let them know that if something comes up that they're

05:48not going to hit that target they need to communicate that asap so that's probably the biggest leak that

05:54i see for leaders is they don't set a clear success criteria with a clear specific deadline and then also

06:00remind their team check in with me if that if something's going to be off of that i'm going to

06:07chime in

06:07here because for those watching or listening that might be early career professionals who have

06:12aspirations of executives because most of the folks listening here are business owners executives

06:18ceos high-level folks and young executives who are looking to acquire the skills knowledge and

06:22experience so that they're prepared when those opportunities present themselves but when i've

06:28listened to what you're talking about setting a specific guideline and communicating that to the people

06:31on your team as a reminder for those of us who've been doing it for a while and something that

06:36might be new to some of the

06:37aspiring executives is i would encourage you to back that deadline up and get yourself some cushion

06:43i was army rotc and one of the things i learned was that if if my was responsible for having

06:49my platoon

06:49ready for a formation at 7 a.m i did not tell my squad leaders or my platoon sergeants that

06:55the formation

06:56was at 7 a.m i told them they needed to be prepared ready to go at 6 45 yeah

07:02why because then they can inspect

07:04everything my sergeants had the chance to look at everything and make sure people had all of their

07:07gear everything was ready to roll and if one or two people didn't have their act together which

07:14happened yeah that takes another five to seven minutes and we're still five to seven we're seven

07:19minutes early and my unit is ready on time yeah and you're relying on other people and i'm not saying

07:27that they're bad people they're not trying hard they're not doing everything they can within their

07:30power but if you've got a specific deadline that you need to have something accomplished by my

07:36encouragement to you is to back that timeline up to build yourself in a little bit of cushion

07:41for rework or redoing some things that might not have been done to standard if that's the case yeah

07:51not for for early career professionals who might be listening yeah yeah and and that's a great that's a

07:59with that mason because that's all about setting yourself up for success because there's two things

08:03in life there's what you can control or what you can't you can't control the traffic you can't control

08:09the the flat tire you can't control the not being able to find the parking space when you show up

08:13to

08:13give a keynote what you can control is what time i get my my oh let me back up i

08:19was gonna say what

08:20time i get my butt out of bed let me back up even further what time am i getting my

08:23butt in bed

08:24turning my screen off how am i setting myself up for success when i get my butt out of bed

08:29the next morning so i can give myself that cushion so this all stacks up about setting yourself up for

08:36success i'm so glad you chimed in on that because my my company commander didn't care what my

08:40circumstances were you have to be ready to go at this time period it was as long as everything falls

08:46into place as long as it's convenient as long as you guys feel like it like those were not options

08:50like right this is the standard right and it was non-negotiable and i'm not going to be the one

08:57with a unit not prepared because i didn't think ahead yep absolutely that's why i sold my test

09:03operation teams yeah can you share a situation where a leader was focused on the wrong things and

09:10what changed once that was exposed so i i dealt with this all the time whenever whenever i was in

09:16engineering i did test operations for for nasa and elite military units for 15 years so our our group's

09:22job was to make sure that whatever we were making whatever whiz bang thing we were doing that whether

09:28it's going to a fighter jet or going to mars that it was going to do what it needed to

09:34do when it needed

09:35to do it so we would do lots of ground testing space simulation testing you know putting things on

09:40rockets wily coyote style out in the desert all kinds of cool things but what it all came back to

09:46was meeting the specification that the government or our customer would provide to us because in there

09:52we need to be able to check all these boxes that hey what we did or what we built is

09:58going to satisfy

09:59all these requirements and here's here's the proof not just because we think it should work right

10:03that that does that doesn't fly real well when you're sitting in a design review hey that should work

10:08like my mentor always used to tell me one good test is worth a thousand opinions so yeah yeah yeah

10:15he was

10:16a fantastic mentor he had lots of those one good test is worth a thousand opinions but to give you

10:21an

10:21example where things kind of would go off the rails a lot of time would be scope creep we weren't

10:29keeping

10:30track of what the requirement was and if the thing met it sometimes requirements would get added

10:38unofficially you know and we're under contract to do xyz well when you start adding like xyz one two

10:43three four five six like that's going to grow timelines going back to hitting the mark budgets

10:50so scope creep is something i saw all the time because it was so easy to be like oh well

10:55we can make

10:56it better we can do this we can add that and then in addition to scope creep the other thing

11:00that i would

11:01see going off the rails would be we would meet a requirement let's say it had to i don't know

11:06be

11:07this strong had to be 50 be able to hold 50 pounds and we do the test and it would

11:13hit like 50.2 pounds

11:14and we'd be check and then someone would be like oh i don't know guys that's really close it's like

11:20but it met spec yeah but it's really close it's like no it met spec don't don't let it get

11:25out of

11:26hand don't don't go chasing better when good enough is good enough then uh what advice do you

11:32have and this is a little bit off topic but i'm curious based on your life experience what advice

11:37would you have for protecting yourself and your team from scope creep necessary scope creep let me

11:42put it that way sure sure yeah you're right i mean sometimes scope needs to creep like like

11:47the reason why we do those tests is we've learned it's like oh okay yeah we didn't we didn't see

11:51that coming that that that's why you do that so the biggest way to protect yourself against scope

11:56creep is to number one be aware of what the requirement is in the first place or why it's

12:01necessary yeah what are you trying to accomplish instead of we need to make something that's going

12:05to hold 50 pounds well why does it need to hold 50 pounds what is what is this role in

12:10the overall

12:11big picture and is that and then when i guess when someone comes to you and says hey we need

12:17to

12:17do this that or the other thing and they start creeping the scope

12:21at least you have some idea of what the big picture is and why it may or may not be

12:26necessary

12:27and would theoretically be more capable of offering a reasonable opinion that hey we don't need to let

12:32this creep here because of that or maybe we do and this is a good thing to explore but i

12:38think

12:38might have answered my own question there about the understanding the bigger picture yeah yeah absolutely

12:45something you want to add to that i mean feel free yeah yeah i mean and my official title when

12:50i did

12:50test engineering was systems engineer nowadays systems engineer is like associated with like

12:54computer and software and a bunch of other stuff i don't understand at all but our title back then

12:59was systems engineer because we had to understand how the entire systems work so we not only were

13:03testing our components we were testing them at the system level a lot of times it was our teams

13:08that were the ones loading it on the fighter jet or loading it on the rocket so we had to

13:12really have a

13:13great understanding of how everything worked and to and to speak to your point mason we were working a project

13:17for nasa one time and by the time it got to me to review all the requirements we were already

13:24under

13:24contract and i said this leakage requirement is banana sandwich guys like there's no way we can build

13:32anything that's physically going to meet this and it caused a huge contractual issue and i said what's

13:38driving that and they said well that's we did a calculation i said no no no no no no no

13:43what's the

13:45reason for that and they said well our inflation system on the spacecraft can only do this i said

13:50all right well let me talk to your let me talk to your inflation system guys and they're like our

13:54tank's this big it's got this much you know gas in it this pressure and i just did a real

13:58quick

13:59calculation like high school level calculation i'm like guys we can have like 50 times more leakage

14:04than is in the contract based on that and i'm like oh okay no problem let us just change it

14:11but there were so many lessons learned there it's like don't just blindly accept something like

14:16understand what the requirement is and understand if it's going to be a stretch based on past technology

14:22or best past projects you've done or if there's just something really out of kilter and especially

14:26before you're under contract because once you do that that's that's when things can get really

14:31sticky especially with the customer if you go back and say oh yeah by the way we can't meet the

14:35contract

14:36i think you did a way better job of explaining that answer than i did

14:41it was a team effort brother it's a team effort let's go with that one so how do you help

14:47someone

14:47distinguish between what feels urgent and what is actually important when both are demanding

14:53attention yeah so so i go back to you know with my nerdy engineering backgrounds like what what's the

14:59data say like like what is the fact because if we can start to shift out of autopilot and get

15:07into

15:07awareness whenever we start feeling something's important that's the operative word like feel like

15:16like i'm all for emotional intelligence and and leading your team in an emotionally correct way

15:22that's not what i'm talking about but when we start being like oh man i really feel like i need

15:26to get

15:26this done i say why based on what and i'll give you an example of that that just happened less

15:32than

15:3224 hours ago ago mason i was working with with one of my clients and they were talking about raising

15:38their prices on something and i said okay well let's let's talk that through there like i got a lot

15:44of

15:44stories going in my head why i shouldn't raise my prices i said i get it very very natural reaction

15:50no shame in that game but let's let's unpack that and they said i worry that if i raise my

15:55prices

15:56i'm going to lose all my current clients or clients are going to walk away and i said very valid

16:02i get

16:02it have you ever raised your prices before they said yeah i raised them once before i said when was

16:09that they said about 18 months ago i said okay let's separate the data from the drama now how many

16:15clients left when you increase your prices 20 which is what we're talking about now they said

16:22no one left i said okay so the only data you actually have is that your clients see such value

16:29in what you deliver to them and how you serve them they were willing to absorb a 20 cost increase

16:35and no

16:36one left true or true he goes yeah that's true i go so based on that data but do we

16:44feel confident

16:44now stepping forward and he's like well hell let's double it i'm like whoa time out brother

16:49let's talk this through but that's a great example of whenever we we we you know don't we have these

16:56feelings but the facts don't support it when you step into a company how quickly can you tell if the

17:04leadership team is aligned or just appearing aligned i mean what are some of the signals yeah so

17:09a lot of it comes down to action like what kind of actions are you taking because that's always my

17:15question i'll be like all right you know what what's the plan where are we at let's let's

17:19understand where we're starting from you know because that's the first thing the second thing

17:23your gps asks you after it says hey where do you want to go it says where are you where

17:27are we starting

17:28from so once i start working with clients and i'm like all right this is where you want to go

17:32this

17:33is your north star where are we on the map and it can become very quickly apparent you know if

17:41people

17:41are just kind of spewing out word salad and you know if you're not familiar with what word salad

17:46is those are you know listeners those are just the things that sound good like we need to take

17:51you know you know massive action we need to to really move the needle to which i always say

17:57here that's right yeah yeah yeah pick pick whatever corporate speak you want to which i'll always be

18:03like okay cool we need to shift the paradigm we need to think outside the box yeah exactly and i'm

18:08all right

18:09okay well what's your success criteria for that how will you know when you are successfully outside

18:13of the box how will you know when you've reached sufficient synergy and like when they just like

18:18stare at me with like blank eyes they're like well we'll know when we know i'm like bs you know

18:24so

18:24it's like unless you have like a clear objective and that was that was what i got back into like

18:28in

18:28test engineering that's how i've been successful in like you know when i did commercial photography

18:33like i understood the requirements of these fortune 500 clients like xyz like this is what we need for

18:39success it's how i am successful with like coaching clients like what are we trying to get to and if

18:44we

18:44don't have a clear objective we're just saying word salad like you know shifting paradigms let's figure

18:50out what the success criteria is first gang before we go shifting paradigms in our spaceship so we start

18:56talking you mentioned clarity a lot of leaders say they want clarity but they resist the trade-offs

19:03required to get it how do you handle that tension yeah so so helping people shift out that tension

19:11where a lot of times it can be scary to look at the data a lot of the the clients

19:16that i work with

19:17one of the things that i make sure they're doing is filling out their their business statistics

19:24and like we're not talking like you know master's level mba kind of stuff we're talking like how much

19:31money do you bring in and what are your expenses and like well over half are like i have no

19:38clue

19:39i have no clue and i'd be like all right no no judgment it's let's lean into curiosity and not

19:44judgment that's one of my big things is curiosity not judgment like without judgment why not what's

19:53the story you're telling yourself and a lot of times like it comes down to they're like i'm scared i

19:57don't want to know what it says and i'm like i get it i totally get it but how can

20:02we make correct

20:03decisions again separating the data from the drama like this is business like we need to make decisions

20:09based on fact we need to extrapolate based on previous data with you know with with some judgment

20:16so the first thing i do is i let them see that what they're doing putting their head in the

20:21sand is

20:21actually what's causing them to stall out and now once we can get out of that and we can start

20:26making clear decisions based on fact man that's that's when we can really start moving towards

20:31those north stars that i help them develop is it okay if i promote you a little bit here please

20:36do

20:36yeah yeah mason you're gonna be my hype man this is one of the valuable reasons why consultants are

20:42useful to companies and i can give you a real life example i was doing some work with a company

20:47who was

20:48having very significant problems with employee selection i eat turnover and and i sat down with

20:57the senior vp of hr and this large organization thousand plus employees and we actually plugged

21:02that client's actual payroll data from that day into what we call the human capital calculator it's a

21:09system that can be utilized to analyze the data and let the data tell a story about what exactly is

21:15turnover costing you what exactly is poor employee engagement costs and the numbers were staggering

21:21and she took those numbers into a executive board meeting ceo chief financial officer all of the chief

21:29operating officer all those folks and i was in that meeting also and i watched them go oh there's no

21:35way that we aren't doing that bad that's an example those are those there's no way we don't feel like

21:41those numbers are accurate we don't feel like that is right what feel we don't feel we don't feel

21:46and what did you say earlier the facts don't care about feelings she looked it out and said i extracted

21:52this data from our payroll this morning it's accurate to the penny and you should have seen a look on

22:01their

22:01faces now she couldn't have i'm not gonna say couldn't have because she was a very strong executive

22:06but there's a lot of executives that justifiably would not have pushed back against the ceo or the

22:12cfo operations against their feelings but as a consultant who was there i could say like i watched

22:21her do it here's how she did here and i gave her the confidence to say hey let you're just

22:25telling

22:25them the data you're just telling them the truth right this this is this is the emperor has no clothes

22:29moment are you going to remain are you going to tell them the truth yeah and had to encourage her

22:37to have the confidence to handle it yeah and she stepped up and told the truth and she shared the

22:44data and she showed and they might not like hearing it but they respected her because of it

22:49and they knew she straight and but as a consultant i was there to be able to provide her with

22:55the tools

22:55and stuff and it's not like i'm giving you an opinion i could give you the data so i that's

23:01a

23:01real life experience that i had that goes right in alignment with what you're telling me and i wanted

23:07to share that for the benefit of those listening so how do you approach executives say no at a higher

23:12level without damaging relationships or momentum yeah and and can you can you specify like as far as like

23:20an area of like saying no well in this particular i think that there are some executives who feel the

23:27need to be collaborative and participative and i would like your opinion here or your guidance there

23:33or your input there and people are asking don't have the knowledge expertise or experience that the one

23:40responsible for making the decision actually has sometimes and when that you're that person and you're

23:46getting all this feedback and input from all these other people and you're not in the majority you're

23:52in the minority all these other people have their opinions that we should go to this way and you want

23:55to say no how do you do that at this high level without damaging relationships or momentum yeah and

24:02does that help yeah yeah yeah thank you got it crystal clear so people are messy right let's let's just

24:09own it people are people are the most challenging part of the whole thing so a lot of it has

24:15to do with

24:16and with any kind of communication is when you're communicating the goal of communication is not

24:23necessarily to get your point across the goal of communication is to get your point across in a way

24:28that the other person will be able to hear it so being a leader is understanding that you might have

24:34team members that very much just appreciate hey this is the data this is where it's going wrong

24:43don't do this again do this some people love to be communicated to like that as leaders we need to

24:49understand how people receive messages because that same person that says like you didn't do this

24:56we should have done this do this now if you walked up to him said hey sweet spirit how are

25:02you doing

25:02how are we feeling today just checking in like they'd be like what do you want i i have things

25:09to do

25:10right that they would not hear what you're going to say next conversely if you walked up to some

25:15people and be like you know this this this and this they might be a puddle of you know goo

25:20crying

25:20on the floor for the next four days in hr so as a leader so to not damage the relationships

25:25we need

25:25to make sure we understand that we're able to read other people how the message is going to land well

25:33with them so then we can craft it and deliver that message again based on fact and you're not being

25:38inauthentic by changing how you deliver the message you're delivering the same truth as long as you're

25:43delivering the same truth you're just delivering it in a way that the other person can receive that

25:48information because i think back to times where i have been that person that had to make the unpopular

25:54decision and i in an effort to be collaborative and to see if there were some blind spots in my

26:00thinking which there often are like with anyone else i've sat there and i've asked and then i've gone

26:06ahead and gone with my original idea or my strategy or original plan that some of the others might not

26:16have voiced support for okay in fact he didn't voice support for it but i owned it and i was

26:25responsible

26:25for the outcome and if it didn't work i accept full responsibility i asked them they provided this

26:31input i chose this route instead i own it not on them so step one but two because i want

26:40them to

26:40contribute next time and i didn't want them to view me as an ask hole a-s-k-h-o

26:45-l-e that's when you ask

26:47opinions and you don't listen i didn't want to ask that they wouldn't help in the future

26:51so i always took the time to at least before the discussion started to say i've got this universe

26:57of inputs and i'm i have some degree of uncertainty about what the next step is would value your input

27:09but please know ahead of time that the things i'm asking about only comprise a small portion of the

27:15universe of inputs that i'm dealing with right and if you had access to all this other stuff you might

27:22think like i think right now but i still have uncertainty in this little area which is where

27:26i need your expertise and your help yeah then they understand that it's not like this is the whole

27:34picture and i didn't listen to them but this is one small part and will be considered a whole bunch

27:39of other stuff that i don't have the time to explain right now and then that has seemed in several

27:47occasions allowed me to preempt friction and unnecessary drama and heck of synergy

27:56yeah yeah i love that that that's that's beautiful mason yeah that that clear communication going back

28:02to that communicating just clearly like hey this is what the status is you people don't need to know

28:07all the information but another gem of that my mentor taught taught me when i was in test engineering

28:14he was former special forces so they they operate outside the normal like you know rank and file

28:22type mentality so one of the things he carried over from special forces going back to me

28:27communication was his up down and across framework that he just beat into my head

28:31up yeah up down and across is all about making sure that the leadership above you you're sharing up

28:40what's going on so they can going back to what you said so they can make informed decisions

28:45because as leaders i'm sure we've made decisions and then subordinates come to us they're like what

28:49the heck is wrong with you and you're like i made the decision based on you they're like that's

28:53completely wrong it's like well that would have been great if i had known right maybe you asked maybe

28:58they didn't feel comfortable like whatever it is so up down and across is about first making sure

29:03leadership knows you're pouring into them so they can make decisions the down part is making sure the

29:09people that you're leading again are getting the the proper amount of information are they do they

29:14need to know everything no that's your job as a leader is to be able to disseminate and distill in

29:20appropriate ways but they need to at least know what's going on just like like you said like circling

29:25back and and like talking to them be like hey this is what happened this is why moving forward this

29:30and here's the step that a lot of times gets missed of the up down and across it's the across

29:37people at the same leadership tier as us you know we we just silo and compartmentalize ourselves

29:43because we're all going 100 miles an hour but if we can really work on that across communication

29:51because those are the people that if they're going to need to step in and bail us out it's likely

29:55going

29:55to be the people at the same leadership tier whether it's covering for us whether it's adding adding

30:00personnel like they're going to be the ones that have to do it and i'm sure we've all been in

30:04situations where like you just get blindsided by something it's like what are you talking about

30:08why wasn't i made aware of this number one we could have helped way earlier instead of getting called

30:13at 4 p.m on a friday now my weekend shot right so up down and across framework you know

30:18really speaks

30:19to what you said which is so important to me so making sure everybody that that is in your little

30:24sphere of influence up down and across has the proper amount of information so can you walk through

30:29a real example of simplifying a complex situation maybe down to a few critical priorities and what

30:35changes the result yeah so let's use let me think here so many times i would have been like wow

30:40we

30:40could have made that a lot simpler so okay so for instance i was working with a client at the

30:45beginning

30:46of this year and this is this is tying everything back in like with the data and they were saying

30:51like

30:52man this is like this is like the worst worst sales month we've ever had you know i'm so frustrated

30:57and my numbers are garbage and like they went through all these things you know people and you

31:02know the staff and you know being sick and all you know all all the things and i said all

31:06right well

31:07i let them let them go and then finally i had to gently say let's peel you down off the

31:10ceiling let's talk

31:11about the facts because you just you just said a bunch of things that could influence it but let's get

31:18back

31:18to the facts i said why do you feel this is so bad he's like well you know i'm not

31:25having new clients

31:26coming in like all the things i said okay what what does the data say what do you mean i'm

31:30like

31:30well how many how many new clients have you gotten how many days have you actually been in the office

31:36because they you know they have a four-day work week and and it's it's it's it's it's based on

31:42on

31:42clients coming in he said how does that compare now to last year like let's get real simple they're

31:48like well well last year i was in the office like 10 a day is more i'm like okay how

31:54much is your

31:54revenue down right now they're like about 10 said okay this isn't rocket science like let's you

32:00physically haven't been there to earn cash and you only earn cash when you are in the office for what

32:05you do you've been in there less you've earned less because your prices are the same no ding on that

32:10but

32:11do you see that now they're like got it okay i guess i'll pick i said you'll pick it up

32:16at the end

32:16of the month just because the way the calendar is falling they're like right yeah i guess we're on track

32:19okay cool well it's amazing though and this is why it's nice to have third parties come in

32:27it's obvious to you but sometimes the answers are hiding in plain sight and they can't see them

32:32it's not a i mean they're busy their world their world is spinning everything's moving target

32:40yeah it's a lot of it yeah but sometimes a someone else can come in from the outside

32:46and they can just see it clearly and point it out and it's like yeah it happens all the time

32:52yeah so if there was only one piece of advice of all the knowledge and experience that you have

32:58if there was only one piece of advice that you could give to those listening today or watching

33:03what would it be and why i encourage people to practice pausing practice the pause because whether

33:12it is getting ready to react to something whether that's a something someone said or something that

33:18you just observed or something that you think you observed or something that you started feeling

33:22just pause before you react because reactions are involuntary and reactions are without thought

33:29we want to practice the pause so we can respond responding is intentional responding has some

33:37forethought responding is controlled that's the reason why they're first responders

33:42and not first reactors you know our police and firefighters and all that so if we can practice

33:47that pause and build it in and it can just be a beat it can be a quick breath or

33:52it could be a walk

33:52around the block if we can practice that pause that is going to elevate every level of your leadership

33:58because that is going to have you be able to respond and not react that's great advice so if people

34:06want to know more about you your company the work you do what are the best ways for them to

34:10connect

34:11yeah thanks for asking that and the best way to connect is just with my name john melora because

34:16there aren't very many of us out there so you know on all the socials you know linkedin facebook instagram

34:22even tiktok because apparently that's where people are it's just john melora and my website is

34:29john melora.com j-o-h-n-m-o-l-l-u-r-a.com slash free stuff gets them

34:34to my free master class which is where

34:36i teach them how to shift out of autopilot and into awareness and also maintain that posture

34:42of curiosity well thank you so much for being here and i hope that your socials get flooded

34:48with people who want to know more i really appreciate your knowledge your wisdom your

34:51examples your stories so awesome so much for joining us yeah thank you so much i appreciate it take care

35:06um

35:06you

35:07you

How Smart Leaders Eliminate Distractions and Focus on What Actually Matters - John Mollura Interview

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