The Art of Interrogation with Molly Blomquist

We welcome to the Warrior community a security and risk management expert, Molly Blomquist, renowned for her leadership in high stakes situations in Iraq and Pakistan.  She has extensive experience in negotiations and interrogations and joins us to discuss the Art of Interrogation.  She breaks down the complex and nuanced skill of interrogation into easy to use tools that we can apply in our everyday work & life experiences.  

Join us as we learn the tools of reading body language, profiles of unique and difficult people and the power of silence.   With a career that has spanned various high-stakes environments, including critical hotspots like Iraq and Pakistan, Molly Blomquist has not only demonstrated her expertise but has fundamentally redefined the field.  

Molly's illustrious career is marked by her significant leadership roles within the U.S. Government. In these capacities, she has been pivotal in managing complex security programs, advising senior policymakers, and orchestrating global security initiatives. Her ability to thrive in dynamic and challenging environments speaks to her exceptional skills in strategic planning, risk management, and negotiation.  

Molly serves an expansive array of clients, from corporate entities to private partners, leveraging her vast experiences and insights to add unparalleled value.

(3:00) Molly shares her story, how she ended up on her career path  
(9:33) Molly breaks down for us the skills and connections that interrogation has to the business world.  
(12:00) How can we “set the tone” for a constructive conversation “interrogation”?  
(14:40) Molly explains the skill of pairing a question with body language (non verbal clues)?  
(18:47) Molly shares some of the different profiles & people she can worked with over the years.  How can you best handle the different people you may come across?  
(23:40) How does Molly keep up on what is happening in her career to stay sharp and fresh?   (26:30) How does Molly manage her own external factors related to security & threats?  
(32:55) How does Molly’s work have an impact?  
(36:08) Molly reflects on one of the important things she hopes to impart on to the Warrior Community.  
(37:33) Looking into the future, how has Molly made an impact?  

Connect with Molly Blomquist 
http://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-blomquist  

Subscribe: Warriors At Work Podcasts
Website: https://jeaniecoomber.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/986666321719033/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeanie_coomber/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeanie_coomber
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanie-coomber-90973b4/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbMZ2HyNNyPoeCSqKClBC_w

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Where this is.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
This is a dialogue. This is in this is in
part of the dialogue. And so say a minute, if
somebody has an answer and somebody feels like they need
to break the silence, if you're going to break the silence,
it can be I just wanted to recap you know,
would you would you like me to repeat the question?
I just want to make sure so you're still not

(00:21):
moving off of it.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Yes, oh Molly, that is so good. Yeah, not moving
off the question.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Welcome to the Warriors at Work Show. This is Genie Koomber,
your guide and host. This is a show for men
and women in the workplace who want to move from
the predictable to the potent. This is your weekly dose
of inspiration with an edge. I talk with CEOs and shaman's,
sports marketing executives and therapists. All of us are like

(00:54):
minded thinkers and doers who tell stories, share wisdom and chat.
I lunge each other to have the best life possible
inside and outside the office.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Welcome to your Warrior Conversation. Hey everybody, it's Genie. Thank
you so much for joining me here at Warriors at Work.
This week, I'm bringing to.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
You a distinguished security and risk management expert Molly Bloomquest.
She's renowned for her strategic leadership in high stakes environments
like Iraq, Pakistan. She has extensive experience and interrogation negotiations,
security strategy, and she's led pivotal roles in the US government.

(01:38):
And we talk with her today about one of her
favorite topics, the art of interrogation and how you can
use these tactics to improve your decision making. She breaks
this down in such a practical and easy way to follow.
Talk about profiles of difficult people. We talk about the
power of silence. She gives us some great tips and

(01:59):
tricks on reading body language. I think you're going to
get a lot out of this conversation and be able
to apply it right back into your world at work. Enjoy.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Molly bloom Clist, thank you so much for joining me
here at Warriors at work. I'm so looking forward to
this conversation and getting into you and your expertise.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Thank you so much for having me. I've been looking
forward to this and I'm excited to be here and
to see what you're going to ask me For the
next thirty six I hope I do it justice.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Well, you know, you have expertise. That is something that
we just don't talk a lot about in the business realm. However,
it is such a key skill and attribute that I
know you do a lot of speaking around the country
about this idea of the art of interrogation. And we're

(02:50):
going to get into this, but what I what I
first want to do is you have such an interesting
story that leads to why you're doing this. Love for
you to just take a step back and tell us
we know why you why this worked. Did something happen?
Did you have a moment where you're like, oh, I'm
going to pivot and really dig deeper in this.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Sure, Yeah, that's a great question. So growing up, I mean,
I'll take you way back to the olden days of
me growing up. I grew up in southeastern Ohio, so
pretty economically deprived area. You know, a lot of rural
rolling farms, just you know, great people, hard working, and

(03:30):
where I grew up, my grandparents lived the house not
right next door, but the house over so about a
football field a football field and a half apart, And
so growing up, my brother and I'd always run back
and forth between our home and then our grandparents and
my Grandma had eleven other siblings, and one of her
siblings we called him Uncle John. Clearly he wasn't our uncle,

(03:53):
but that's just what we called him. Uncle John lived
in Virginia and he worked for the FBI. He would
visit a couple times a year. And I remember so again,
very rural, rolling hills. We had this long gravel driveway,
so paved roads, it's still a gravel driveway to this day.
We still own the family property. And so you would

(04:14):
see this car sort of start to crest from the
hills and you could hear the gravel under the tires,
and so we knew when he was coming in and
we were out playing. We had grape vines, we had swings,
you everything you would imagine growing up in the country.
And we would run to him, and of course because
he always brought us candy, so we wanted candy and

(04:35):
treats for kids. But he would after he was settled,
he would tell us stories of the FBI, of finding
bank robbers, solving crimes, all these things. Now, growing up
in that part of Ohio, that part of the country,
we didn't travel a lot. So this was my first
introduction to a world that was outside of Belmont County,

(05:01):
and it just it fascinated me, and I was just mesmerized,
and I couldn't wait for him to keep visiting because
I wanted more stories. And I'd always be so upset
when he would leave, because I don't care if the
stories were true or false. I mean, I believe that
they were true. It just gave me something to aspire to.
And so I think from such a young age, I

(05:21):
knew I always wanted to be something like my uncle John.
And the irony is he ended up going to law
school and then he joined the FBI, so out of
high school then college, I was studying for the l set.
I wanted to go to law school. I never ended
up going to law school. It just didn't feel right.
I took a different, different path to the government, but
everything worked out in the end. But that was really

(05:43):
where the roots took place, was listening to his stories,
and I just I didn't want to go to bed.
I never wanted to leave because he was just such
a good storyteller.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
And so you took that interest, in that fascination and
you started to plot your course. You say you took
a job in government, and you obviously started doing interrogations.
You were steeped into the world of security. How did
you know you were actually good at this?

Speaker 2 (06:15):
It took a little bit. So, you know, after graduating
from college, and again you know, coming from from a
blue collar family, you know, when you're at that age,
you only know what you know. And so I didn't
understand the importance of networking, the importance of sort of
laying better foundations after college. If you remember the old

(06:37):
what nineteen eighty six Cam married with children with al Bundy.
I was selling shoes and I thought, oh, man, I
have a college degree and here I am selling shoes
like this. This isn't what I want to be doing.
So I took a federal contracting job in Miami, Florida
for twenty five thousand dollars a year. I couldn't have

(06:57):
been happier. In my mind. I was rich. I was
now getting to go to a city that I've never
been to, expanding my horizons, starting to go out in broadens.
But to kind of go back to your question, how
did I know that I would be good? What? First?
I didn't. But what I can tell you I did
know is I wanted to see the world, and I

(07:19):
knew that I was going to give it everything I
had to be the best that I could, and I
just kept applying great determination and perseverance and just studying
and being open to feedback. So I probably wasn't so
great at first to start, just like anybody learning something new,
but I knew I could get there, Like I just

(07:39):
always had that belief, and I just I loved it.
I was so interested in it. And I think too,
when you love something and you have an interest, you
naturally gravitate and you try harder because it doesn't seem
like work to you.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Were you in a meeting or a conversation with somebody
at that first job that you realize, you know what
I'm good at interrogating.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Once I started so as a newer investigator at that time,
once I started being able to go on more trips,
so they call them TD wise, you know. Once they
were sending me to different cities, different states, and the
cases started to become a little bit more complex, and
I was one of the more junior investigators doing this.

(08:30):
I thought, okay, I think I'm doing Okay, I'm onto something,
And as the promotions came, it made me think, this
is I think I have a gift at this and
then feedback from supervisors or from the quality assurance team,
you know, because it goes through a review process for accuracy,
to make sure the information is Fulsome I always had

(08:52):
high ratings, and you know, not everybody does, because it's
not for everybody. It's definitely you either like it or
you don't. There's really not a lot in between in
it because it can be a grind sometimes, especially when
you're junior and you're starting out. I just I loved
it and so and with the feedback and the coaching,
I just wanted to learn more and more and more.

(09:13):
I still learned.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Today's talk about this word interrogation. So like when you
and I first met and I read your bio and
read the background, I'm like the art of interrogation. It
feels so intense. It's like a hard charging word. And
somehow you've made it work. You've created a whole business
model about this and some other things relating to that.
So I'd love for you to break it down for us,

(09:35):
like what are the skills needed for this and how
are you connecting it to helping business people make better decisions?

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Sure, I think in you absolutely you're one hundred percent correct.
People hear the word interrogation, and I think their minds
go to what they see on TV or what they
see in the movies. You know, whether it's an enhanced
in tereargation technique, it's something that could be harsh or
violent or just really bad or evil, right Like, that

(10:11):
doesn't really have a good connotation, but when you actually
break it down, so it's an emotion invoking word is
like a good phrase to say. It's an interview. It's
a meeting. You're sitting down with somebody, and the secret
to any success is how you do the interview. If

(10:34):
the interrogation is contentious, confrontational, aggressive, that's a great way
to get somebody not to talk to you. If it
feels more like a discussion, an interview seeking clarification, people
are more relaxed. I mean, that's just life. I think
about it, like in your life or somebody you know,

(10:55):
like an interaction you've had with somebody. If it's more
of an exchange of ideas and a conversation, you're more
apt to be willing to participate, even if there's something
that you personally maybe don't want to tell them that
you're embarrassed to or it can be a little hard
to speak about. But if you feel comfortable and relaxed,

(11:16):
you're going to be more willing to discuss those sharper
edges than if somebody is discussing things with you, they're
pointing their finger, they're accusing you, or it's just overly aggressive.
Most people are going to close off and they're either
going to terminate the interview or they're just going to
shut down and they're not going to speak. Either way,

(11:36):
you're not achieving your objective. So when you look at
TV and movies, I mean, they've done a really great
job of glamorizing it. I mean I wish I were
that cool. I can tell you that in real life
it's not as sexy, but it's really effective.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
And how does it connect to making better decisions? So
if an interrogation is in an first let's let's look
at it. What does what does Molly do to set
the tone for a constructive interrogation?

Speaker 2 (12:12):
Sure, so the first thing is you're going to welcome
somebody in. You're going to shake their hand, you know,
if that's cultural culturally appropriate, right, And so just a
quick just a quick side note if somebody has a
different background than you, spend five ten minutes get to
understand if there's something that's culturally different. So if they're
from a different country or they have a different background,

(12:34):
you want to be respectful. It's a human being across
from you at the end of the day, and so
understanding that is very important and that pays dividends. And
if you want it to be an successful, uh, a
successful interrogation, it's making them feel comfortable, treating them like
they're a human being. That's what I do. Use their name.

(12:54):
Everybody likes to hear their name, you know, and especially
especially if you're going to use their name, use their
correct name. I can't tell you how many people have
called me, you know, clearly my name's Molly. They don't
pay attention to my name, and they call me Nancy
or Marcy or whatever. And that just shows you're not
paying attention. Pay attention to the details. And then how

(13:17):
it translates to whether it's business success, whether it's in
a negotiation sales. I mean, we'll get into some of
the applicability stuff probably a little bit later, I would imagine,
is what interrogation teaches you if you boil it all down,
all the training down, how to ask thoughtful questions, how

(13:40):
to come back to questions when necessary, Understanding body language,
pairing the body language with questions, which is really the
secret sauce. And then and then advanced level. As I
talk about body language, we all have tells. Understanding your
body language and understanding your emotions. If you can control

(14:01):
those things, you have such a high chance of controlling
an interrogation, a negotiation. Sales people often when they ask questions,
they're just waiting so they can respond. Again, they're not
truly listening to what the other person is saying. And
if they're maybe listening, they're not watching their body language

(14:25):
to see how they're responding. Seventy eighty percent of all
communication is nonverbal. So if we're not paying attention to
somebody to their behavior, we're missing a lot of important clues.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
So I want it sees out something you said, you
said pairing a question with the nonverbals, say more about that.
So if you could even give me an example that
illuminates your point.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, So say, for example, you and I we're in
a negotiation that I'm trying to say, I'm trying to
sell you something right, and you're a little bit hesitant
or I'm not sure how that's going to go. I'm
asking you. I'll say, okay, well, for this deal, I

(15:15):
think I think our best terms would be three months
at twenty five thousand dollars, just showing up, just throwing
out just something generic, and I think this is best
for you. Then I list all the reasons, and then
I wait for you to respond. But okay, I mean
that sounds great, let me think about it. Then all

(15:35):
of a sudden you start to cross your arms or
you're not looking me in the eye. I'm looking for
changes of your body language in response to the question
and so, and you don't have to know somebody. I
get asked this a lot. I don't know the person.
How would I know changes of their body language? Which
I think is a great question. And so the answer

(15:55):
to that is you don't have to know them for
a year, six months, ten years. When you meet them,
notice how they are with you. Are they relaxed, are
they engaged? Do they seem a little bit more introverted?
Are they a little bit more closed off? None of
that means anything bad. We're all different. But what also

(16:18):
if somebody seems like, say we start talking about price
and terms, and in that example, you are prior to
that conversation, you're open, you're engaged, and then I'm looking
to close the deal, and so I then throw out
some terms and pricing. Well, you're not comfortable with it,
but you don't want to quite come out and say it,

(16:41):
So you can say, oh, you know, let me think
about it. Then I see changes, you start to get
a little bit closed, your eye contact changes, and also
even rate of speech, which is not a nonverbal However,
when people start to change their rate of speech patterns
or how they communicate, those are all signs, and so

(17:01):
then you have a couple options, like I would have
a couple of options depending on that scenario. Either I
can say, hey, listen you you seem a little uncomfortable
with that. You know, that's just my impression. I could
be wrong, can you Can you just discuss what's on
your mind? And then if I go that route, once

(17:23):
I acknowledge what I feel that I have observed, like,
I'm not gonna it's very important to the language. I'm
not going to say you seemed uncomfortable. I noticed that
maybe there, you know, there was a little bit of
uncomfortability or some sensitivity. I could be wrong, but I
wanted to bring this up to you, you know, with

(17:45):
you and discuss it. You know, what are your thoughts.
It's a much softer way.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
And then after I go ahead, now, I was going
to say, the rate of speech is spot on, you know.
I when I'm coaching, I do a lot of work
around executive communicationation. And when we speed up, not only
does it force our brain to have to work quicker,
but we're speaking faster, and so it's harder and harder
for the other person to track. And very often what

(18:13):
happens is we say things we don't mean, we start
to or we have these tells and so as as
the person who might be feeling more anxious, so maybe
they're on the receiving end of your questions and they're
in the inter or in the interview with you. If
you have awareness into I have a tendency to speed
up when I'm nervous, it is how can you manage

(18:34):
your pacing? What does you need to do to slow
it down which gives your brain more time? So that
is so spot on, such a tell. It's such a tell.
By the way, when we speed up. You know, I'm
so curious about particular profiles of people that you come
across and have to work with. And I'm really interested

(18:59):
in hearing about the profile of the most difficult type
of person you've come across when you're in an interrogation,
either when you're teaching it or you've been yourself a
part of an interaction. So like, what's the most difficult
profile you've had to work with?

Speaker 2 (19:17):
I don't think there's one most difficult profile. I'll give
you a couple that may surprise you may not, But
I think what most people would say when they hear
most difficult, it's going to be somebody who's argumentative, who's dismissive.
Those are difficult. But that's just getting to the why.
Why is that person argumentative? Why is that person difficult?

(19:38):
There's a really, really, really good book. It's called Give
and Take by Adam Grant. I love the guy, organizational psychologist.
He does so much phenomenal work. And the basic the
synops of the book there's givers, takers, and matchers. Givers
are exactly what you think they give to other people freely,
not expecting anything in return. Match the energy. It's tit

(20:01):
for tat I give you this, Okay, I'm gonna give
you this and return. Takers they just want it all.
And so when you look at it in terms of
an interrogation and negotiation a sale, you would think that
takers would be the hardest. Takers are the easiest because

(20:22):
they in general, they so want to just talk about
themselves to tell you everything or to show their their dominance,
their intelligence. You just have to keep asking follow up
questions and you don't get to exactly what they want
to say. Yes, givers can actually be the hardest in

(20:44):
that type of setting because they may give you information
doesn't mean it's gonna be relevant, but they're gonna they're
gonna give you. Oh, you can talk to my aunt,
you can talk to my pastor you can talk to
all these things. Like they're giving you all this information,
but it doesn't necessarily mean it's true. They throw out
a lot of distraction in dangles. So so understanding if

(21:07):
somebody is a giver, taker or a matcher, I think
that is extremely important, and ironically it sort of parlays
to the second what I would say is the most difficult.
It's the ones who appear to be nice and cooperative,
but they're not. They are the line in sheep's clothes,
you know, like they are in intentionally trying to distract you.

(21:30):
The pomp and circumstance, the beating of the chest that
some people do, that stuff, that's all just distraction. It's
the ones who act like they're intentionally nice and cooperative
and they're looking left and right to try to stall
or put you in a different direction. You really have
to be on your game.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
And so when Molly's on her game and she's dealing
with somebody like that, what's your move?

Speaker 2 (21:57):
Making sure I'm asking the right questions? And then I'm so.
One of the things that's very important is the power
of silence. I ask a question, I'm not speaking until
it's answered. Most people are uncomfortable with silence. And so
to kind of go back to the sales example where
I used you, you know, where I may say, hey,

(22:19):
you know, you seem a little bit uncomfortable and say
you're sitting there you're thinking, do how do I want
to answer this question? What a lot of people, if
they were me, they'll just keep talking to make it
feel better, to assauge the situation. Stop, even if it's
a minute of silence? Do not speak first?

Speaker 1 (22:41):
A minute of silence? Wow, because I think the technique
that I read somewhere is if you ask a question,
you count to seven or you know the in best circumstances,
you know, when you're leading a group discussion, and what
do we typically say any questions? No, okay, and we
head back to our seat versus what questions do you have?

(23:03):
You're supposed to wait seven seconds, which feels like a
long time.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
Well, but that's also a band, right like that seems
like it's at like the end of something where this
is this is a dialogue, this is in this is
in part of the dialogue, and so say a minute
if somebody has an answered and somebody feels like they
need to break the silence, if you're going to break
the silence, it can be I just wanted to recap,

(23:28):
you know, would you would you like me to repeat
the question? I just want to make sure so you're
still not moving off of it.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
Yes, oh Molly, that is so good. Yeah, not moving
off the question. How do you keep yourself relevant in
in in this space? I mean, because you you're you're
thinking about this in a lot of different domains, but
is it the world of security, is it the the

(23:56):
trends on behavior? Like where where do you spend your
time making sure you stay relevant and sharp and fresh?

Speaker 2 (24:03):
I read a lot, So that's number one. And I
get asked a lot of times like what books do
you read? I already gave you. One that I love
is Give and Take by Adam Grant. And it doesn't
have to be the books that will say how to
manipulate people, how to do an interrogation. I mean those
are catchy and I'm sure they have tremendous value. I

(24:27):
love work by organizational psychologists, and so I think the
applicability across is one. And then the second, like when
you break down whether it's an interrogation, it's the sales,
it's it's doing a podcast. We talk to people that
we know, like and trust, so it's understanding human behavior

(24:49):
and understanding interactions. And another like another book. So if
you ask me this, if I'm jumping a question or something,
I sorry, I just kind of know from Adam Grant.
Another book I love and I always recommend is by
Dale Carnegie is How to Win Friends and Influence people right,
Because you want people to like you and to talk

(25:11):
to you and to feel comfortable, and so other things
like to stay relevant is paying attention to the news
and the trends the world Sadly, what I'll say next,
it's getting more violent in whether that's porch, pirates, it's theft,
it's acts of mass destruction on a larger scale. We're

(25:33):
not becoming a kinder society overall from a security standpoint.
And then COVID, for those years of COVID, it really
set us back in general of how to communicate with people.
I would say basic politeness and just basic social interaction.
And that also is when you look at social media now,

(25:53):
so many people are just they live like this and
we've lost the art how to communicate effectively in some
ways respectively with other people. And so having that training
getting that information out to people I think is critical.

(26:15):
I think it's not so much about staying relevant, it's
creating awareness of like what you can offer to people
like who don't even know they need it. Does that
make sense?

Speaker 1 (26:29):
It does? And you know it makes me think more
broadly too. When you look at your own life, Molly,
so here you are you're steeped into this space of
helping business people at least for today's subject around how
you use interrogation to make better decisions, make better choices.
When you zoom out, you're also steeped into the world

(26:51):
of security. Yes, so when Molly looks at her own life,
when you think about all that's happening in the world,
how do you manage yourself with fear and anxiety and
all of these external factors that may influence how you
see the world Because you know more than the average

(27:13):
Joe when it comes to security and threat and all
of the words that feel very, very intense. So like,
how do you get your arms around that and manage
yourself and continue to leverage it and get stronger in it.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
Yeah, I think that's a great question. First, I sleep
like a baby at night, so I don't stay up. Yeah, No,
I sleep really well. I think there is a balance
of being aware versus being hyper vigilant or living in fear,
and that's a really fine line. And so for me personally,

(27:48):
you know, because of my training, and you hit the
nail on the head. So what I do is not
just training about how the art of interrogation can make
you a better negotiator or increase your sales. It's I
also teach security of how to not be a victim.
I don't teach you like once you're in the fight.
I teach you how to avoid the fight, and also

(28:09):
how to be essentially, how to be, how to disappear
in today's digital society, how to keep a lower profile.
When you do those things, it doesn't mean that you're
never going to be a victim, but you are lowering
your profile. I'll give you an example. This happened to
me a year year and a half ago in San Francisco.
It was a Saturday morning. I was staying at a

(28:30):
hotel and I was walking to a conference, and I
gave myself about an hour's time. It was only a
mile away, but I figured, I just want to kind
of stroll down, grab a cup of coffee, just enjoy
like the crisp morning, Like I love cool, crisp mornings.
And so I have my backpack and what's in my
backpack my laptop, identification valuables, and I'm walking and across

(28:53):
the street I see this guy kind of walking at
my pace, but a little bit just behind me. And
so one of the thing, based on my training that
I started to do is I started using storefronts a
lot of storefronts have mirrored glass, and so I could
see him without having to turn around. And so then
I start making terms that are atypical that I would

(29:14):
not have taken on my path to go to this conference.
And he's following me and he's on the phone. My
guess is that's a spotter. He's signaling to somebody else.
They physically probably don't want to harm me, but they
want to see my backpack because also think about crime
in major cities, and my backpack is stolen, I'll follow

(29:36):
an online report, probably with the San Francisco Police Department,
and then I'll never see that that information again. So
after kind of seeing that he's staying with me and assessing,
like I think this guy maybe maybe wants my backpack,
and you know, I don't really want to give it
to him or whomever's he's calling out, I stopped at

(29:56):
the next intersection. I turned and I looked at him,
and I said, I know it you're doing. And then
when I held up my phone to take a picture
of him, he ran away. Wow. And then I went
into a store that was open in the morning, grabbed
a cup of coffee, sat for a little bit, and
then just made sure and then then I continued walking
like I felt safe enough. Because I had outed him,

(30:20):
I no longer made myself a target. So things that
I'll teach is how to help people or groups not
make themselves a target. It's simple to me because this
is my world in my life, and what my families
had to remind me a thousand times over and they
continue to is just because I see it that way
doesn't mean the average person does. And so I work

(30:42):
with CEOs, companies, sports teams, you name it to help
them understand. You can be a public figure, but what
you put out there should be intentional, and sometimes too
much is too much. And also you want to avoid
just making yourself a target just by not paying attention.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
So today's social media must be must blow up your
mind every day when you're on there, when you think
about all that's happening in the world, whether it's political,
whether it's sportsenter entertainment. There's so much information out there,
and I think you just use a really powerful world too.
Is this word about being intentional rather than losing track

(31:30):
and management of what you're trying to put out there,
put some guardrails around it.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
One hundred percent. And here's the one that I think
is one of the simplest tips that people just do
not follow. You're on vacation, you're out of town, or
you're in town at this really fancy, great restaurant. I
promise you you do not have to post it that second.
People will still see it and like it. Wait until

(31:57):
you're home because a use social media like oh this
person just posted that they're out at dinner, that they
may know that your home's unattended, or if you're out
of the country, and I'll use an example, I have
a colleague who went on vacation on the country. Every

(32:18):
day was a photo of a beautiful beach location of
of what this individual was doing with your family posted
in real time house was unattended. Criminals use this over
and over and over to break into homes. Those posts
can wait till you get back. It's not worth the

(32:40):
loss of your security, your sanity, and your peace. No
amount of likes that can ever replace the loss of
security that you'll feel from being robbed.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
Well, while we're on that topic, I'd love for you
to share with us how your work is having impact.
So when you think about all the people the companies
the businesses that you've been in front of. How are
you seeing this having an impact?

Speaker 2 (33:09):
Yeah, I mean I would break it down to probably
into two themes if I will, so just kind of
staying on like the not making yourself a target theme.
The feedback that I receive is, you know, I've lowered
my profile on social media. I'm only posting things that
are relevant to my business area, and that has made

(33:30):
me feel safe. I've taken steps for things at home
or when I travel that you've implemented. I feel like
I'm no longer I'm not receiving calls, emails, texts as
much as I used to that are scams. So the awareness,
which is which is fantastic. That's exactly what you want.
You want people to feel safe. You know, again, you
don't have to live in a bubble. You don't have

(33:50):
to go when you walk outside your home, your head
doesn't have to be on a swivel. But you should
have a level of awareness. So when I hear that
people's essentially their security hygiene be it digital or physical
or travel is getting cleaned up, they feel more relaxed.
It doesn't mean that they've relaxed themselves, but they're more

(34:11):
aware of their situation. They're less likely to be a
victim of a theft, a robbery, a credit card scam,
something like that. So so those are real time results,
and that matters. The second is when we talk about
interrogation and those interrogation skills businesses. People that I've worked
with have said, my sales have jumped up thirty to

(34:34):
thirty five percent from what they were before you to
after you because we've implemented this with our sales team.
Thirty five percent jumps pretty awesome in my book, you know.
And so and that means that's just an initial that's
not even them refining their processes. So clearly it was
about the communication skills, you know, getting to the close,

(34:57):
and then the art of the close right so that
that's that's a big thing. And then negotiation tailored negotiations.
People have reported they've closed more deals. I had one
company say our deal rate of closure has shot up
forty five percent. Your techniques. I mean, that's incredible, and
so it works. You just have to be open to

(35:20):
applying it. And I'll say to the companies that have
used me, they were very open to it. They were
very willing to say here's what we're doing. We understand
there may need to be some TLC in here, and
I can give you. I can lay out the best
strategy for you or for a company, but if they're
not willing to learn and follow it, you can't expect results.

(35:42):
And so that's also a credit to the people I've
worked with that they've been extremely willing to implement the
results and decision making. You know, we've chatted about that
a little bit earlier in this episode, where executives and
teams feel like they can make better decisions because they're
getting more information, whether it's on a sales call, it's
a negotiation, it's an interview, to then use that for

(36:05):
their next steps.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
So, Molly, if there was one thing that you wanted
to make sure everybody who's listening or watching got from
this conversation, what's the one thing?

Speaker 2 (36:22):
One? I mean, if you're not doing the things that
we discussed you probably I would encourage you to do that.
I mean, you're welcome to reach out to me. The
one thing is reflect on your overall whether it's your
security hygiene or at your negotiation or interview skills, and
assess where you can maybe become better you know, we're
at the end of the day, we're all learning and

(36:43):
there's always things we can continue to improve upon. And
that's something that if you're in that constant state of curiosity,
you will become better.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
I love that. And you know what struck me about
what you just said too. We have to slow down
because the slower we are, the more deliberate we can be,
the more intentional we can be, the more time we
give to the conversation. And that was one thing that
really struck me, is about staying on the question, don't
move new move past the question just because you feel

(37:14):
some sense of pressure. And it really resonated with me
about this notion of slowing down and being here, being
in the conversation. I feel so much better knowing that
you're doing this work in the world and that you're
sharing these gifts with the business community. So my last
question is this look out eighteen twenty four months. How

(37:39):
have you made an impact.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
I've helped businesses and I've helped people either become better
skilled at negotiations or sales. And if you really what
really would be the bigger impact to me? Helping people
be safer? Like seeing that and I will share. I've
had executives and I've had groups of people write to
me and say I love this, like there are things

(38:04):
I'm cleaning up. But what's even more powerful to me,
I've shared it with my children, or I've shared it
with parents, like there's a whole you know, elder care,
you know scams that that go on where they're they're
trying to scam senior citizens, and so hearing that working
with me has impacted their families for the better. I

(38:28):
mean that that's that's pretty powerful.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
That that should be your tagline. Fair it's brilliant.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
Well, thank you help your family.

Speaker 5 (38:37):
Yeah, well, I'm so I'm so grateful to have met you,
to have brought this conversation to my community, and just
just keep doing it, keep keep putting this really really
important stuff out into the world.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
And thank you. I mean, I'm honored to be on here.
I mean I was really much. I was very much
looking forward to this and it has been incredible. So
thank you for allowing me on your plat and allowing
my voice to be heard to your listeners.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
If you are interested in learning more about what we
do at the Warriors at Work show and platform, be
sure to go over to my website, Genie Koomber, and
subscribe to my monthly Warrior Playbook newsletter. I share everything
that I'm up to month by month, as well as
some lessons and insights that I've learned. I'm also interested

(39:25):
in hearing any feedback you have about this conversation or
future topics, so reach out to me directly on JC
at geniecoomber dot com or on LinkedIn. Be sure to
tell your friends and your colleagues about this Warriors at
Work conversation. Subscribe, review and rate us. It's the best

(39:46):
way to get this message out into the world.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
Be well,