The Drive to Get Better

Cathie Leimbach • November 8, 2022

Molly Fletcher has drive. She has passion and the desire to become her best self. This motivates her to set high goals for herself and to push through obstacles to achieve her next personal best.

Who is Molly Fletcher? A former college tennis player. A young woman who didn’t look for jobs during her senior year. A daughter with little money who drove out of her family’s driveway in Michigan and headed to Atlanta to make her living in the sports world.  A wife and mother. A female sports agent who has represented top professional athletes.

Molly tells of sleeping on the couch at a friend’s apartment while figuring out how to quickly start earning some money. During her first days in Atlanta, she took some very strategic actions. She offered to be a tennis pro at apartment buildings with tennis courts. She learned which apartment buildings already had tennis pros. She reached out to a well-connected tennis industry professional she knew. He shared that he knew an apartment building tennis pro who was changing jobs soon but hadn’t given his notice. After negotiating for ongoing free promotional pizzas with the pizzeria across the road from the soon-to-be vacant tennis pro job, Molly returned to that apartment building to let the superintendent know that IF their tennis pro resigned, she would provide pizza at her weekly tennis clinics. Molly also provided an example of the tennis tips she could contribute to the monthly tenant newsletter. A few minutes later, Molly was the tennis pro at that building. The superintendent couldn’t believe her luck in finding a tennis pro just a few hours after their long-time pro had submitted his resignation. And Molly had just negotiated a free apartment in return for giving tennis lessons one evening a week. And Molly’s story goes on because she has drive.

Molly defines drive as the determination to get even better. Many athletes get to the pros because of there talent. Many achieve great thing but once they reach their goal they stagnate. Those who stay at the top of their game have a desire to continually get even better. 

Those with drive are internally driven. They compete against themselves, not against others. It is continual growth, not their ranking among their peers, that motivates them. They love the pursuit of continual improvement. 

Molly has interviewed many high performing athletes to discover what makes them be so successful and found that the best of the best have internal drive, want to get better, don’t pay much attention to the competition, and help the up and comers.  

How many of these attributes do you have? Which ones would you like to develop further? What will you do this week to strengthen your drive to be the best you that you can be? You might be inspired by Molly’s Ted Talk, Secrets of a Champion Mindset. 

The Power of Strategic Choice: Making Room for What Matters

By Cathie Leimbach • November 10, 2025
In most organizations, the instinct is to add —more goals, more projects, more meetings. But as Juliet Funt, founder of the Juliet Funt Group, teaches in her Strategic Choice process, real leadership strength lies in deciding what to stop doing . Strategic Choice is the intentional narrowing of priorities—cutting away the clutter so teams can focus on what truly drives results. It’s a disciplined act of letting go: saying no to good ideas so there’s room for the great ones. Funt’s approach challenges leaders to pause, think, and create the mental and operational space their people need to perform at their best. By removing unnecessary tasks and misplaced effort, leaders make room for precision, innovation, and real thinking time. This isn’t about doing less—it’s about doing what matters most. When businesses adopt this mindset, they replace overwhelm with clarity and regain control of their time, energy, and outcomes. For small to mid-sized companies, embracing Strategic Choice can transform busyness into focus—and that focus is where sustainable growth begins. Want a quick visual overview? View Strategic Choice: Making Room for What Matters to see how this process helps leaders focus on what truly drives results.

Unlock Your Team's Potential: Fix Dysfunction, Boost the Bottom Line!

By Cathie Leimbach • November 4, 2025
Hey team leaders! Ever wonder why some companies soar while others stumble? Patrick Lencioni's bestseller, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team , nails it: workplace dysfunctions such as no trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoiding accountability, and ignoring results lead to mediocre performance at best. But here's the good news—smart leadership development changes the game! Start with building trust . Train leaders to open up and be vulnerable. Teams bond, ideas flow, and costly mistakes drop. Next, embrace healthy conflict . Teach team leaders to make it safe for team members to share the pros and cons of current or new ways of doing things. This helps everyone understand different perspectives. Then, drive commitment . Leaders who clarify goals, ask everyone to share their level of buy-in, and address their concerns get everyone bought in. People focus on high value work and get more done. . Hold folks accountable through coaching. Leaders learn to give kind, direct feedback by praising good work and calmly providing more training as needed. Turnover plummets and the quality and quantity of work improves. Finally, focus on results . Be clear on expectations. Keep score by monitoring progress weekly or daily. Acknowledge team wins when the goals are met. Winning sports teams pay attention to these Five Behaviors of a Team. How would a World Series winner have been determined this week without trust among the players and coaches, openness to tough coaching, the whole team working together, players focusing on their specific positions, and getting players around the bases to get the top score? Every workplace can benefit from these team behaviors as well. Lencioni's research proves it: Companies who prepare their leaders to overcome these 5 common workplace dysfunctions, improve the culture and see huge financial gains. Invest in your leaders today. Your bottom line will thank you! Click here to learn more about the painful cost of team dysfunction.