When everything feels urgent, it’s easy to run on reaction mode. In this Prevention Leaders Podcast episode, Dave sits down with Louise Montag—founder of Montag Forward Solutions and former Executive Director at Prevention Network—to talk about a better way: leading with intention. The conversation is packed with practical tactics you can use this week and mindset shifts that protect your team, your mission, and your community relationships.

Why this conversation matters

Reaction mode burns time, energy, and trust. Intention creates clarity, calm, and momentum.

A living mission–vision–values set becomes your North Star for decisions, funding choices, and culture.
Boundaries are leadership tools. Modeling them helps teams do their best work without burnout.

From whack‑a‑mole to intentional leadership

Louise shares what many leaders experience: stepping into a role during shifting funding, staffing changes, and external disruption. The turning point came from making time to think:

Protect 3‑hour focus blocks on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons
Use the pause to orient before acting: “slow is smooth, smooth is fast”
Treat strategic plans as living documents you revisit, adapt, and scenario plan—not shelf‑ware

Make your strategy usable

Most teams can craft a plan. Fewer keep it alive. Try these:

Put your mission and vision at the top of every agenda
Review goals in 90‑day implementation cycles with scheduled retros
Decide “what’s next” before the meeting ends so momentum carries forward

Funding without mission drift

Big dollars are tempting. But misaligned grants cost more than they give back.

Start with a brand audit: Who are we? Why does it matter? What can we deliver with quality?
Map funders to your work (not your work to funders). It’s okay to skip this cycle to come back stronger next cycle.
Guard stakeholder trust—constant pivots erode buy‑in and outcomes.

Build culture with boundaries

Leaders set norms by what they do, not what they say.

Define response windows and label urgency explicitly
Schedule‑send emails to business hours, and use “Not urgent” when appropriate
Close email during deep work and single‑task the biggest domino

Tools you can implement this week

Agenda header: Mission, Vision, Values at the top

90‑day rhythm: plan, execute, review, adapt
Urgency vs Importance matrix to stop faux emergencies
Communication matrix: what’s email vs Slack vs text vs call

Listen to the full episode

This post captures the highlights, but the nuance and practical examples in the conversation will help you apply these ideas in your context. Hear how Louise navigated real funding pivots, shifted organizational habits, and coached teams toward intentional operations.

▶️ Listen on your favorite platform:

Resources & Links:

About the guest

Louise Montag is the founder of Montag Forward Solutions. She supports prevention specialists across their career journey, including leadership development, Certified Prevention Specialist preparation, and supervisory skills.

If this resonated, share the episode with a colleague and compare notes on your next 90‑day focus.

Leading with Intention in Prevention: From Reactionary to Purposeful