As a young child, Cameron Moll took apart a dishwasher and put it back together just to understand how it functioned. He has always been interested in understanding how things work, and he is constantly trying something new.
"In a nutshell, I have pushed myself to do things I am totally unqualified for almost my entire life," Moll said. "I dig myself too deep into something, and then I have to crawl back out of it. But I think that has allowed me to produce successful things."
Moll, a Brigham Young University graduate now living in Florida, is the founder and CEO of Authentic Jobs, an online job board for Web developers. He is also a bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the father of five boys under the age of 14.
Despite his many responsibilities, Moll says he doesn't believe in balance. Instead, he builds his busy schedule around priorities.
"I find when I focus on priorities rather than balance, that allows me to shift, maybe, my focus such that if I'm at a conference, that conference for me for three days is my top priority, and giving it my best is my top priority," Moll explained in a video series highlighting innovative people and their ideas. "And then I get back home, and family moves back into top priority. But that allows me to at least juggle the amount of stuff that's on my plate at any given time, knowing that the long-term priorities are set, and I just have to deal with what the short-term priorities are."
Some of Moll's most important long-term priorities are his five sons, who are each named after landmarks or influential individuals: Everest for Mount Everest, Edison after the inventor Thomas Alva Edison, Isaac after the son of the Biblical prophet Abraham, Hudson after famed 17th-century explorer Henry Hudson, and Easton because he was born on Easter and because the east is referenced many times in scripture.
“They named each of us something we could live up to, especially me,” 14-year-old Everest Moll said. “They named me that so I would have high goals in life. Mount Everest is really tall.”
Everest enjoys golfing with his dad and boating with his family on the lake near their home. Everest and his brothers wake surf and participate in other water sports, often with their father at their side.
“He’s so adventurous, so he likes to do a lot of daring things that we like to do," Everest said of his father. "He's getting a little older now, so he can’t exactly do all the stuff we can, but he tries. It’s fun.”
In addition to his family, another of Moll's priorities is his LDS faith.
"Everything we do is with an eternal perspective," said Suzanne Moll, Cameron Moll's wife. "The way we approach parenting, the way that we want our family to be and how we’re raising the boys and what kind of men we want them to grow into and the relationship Cameron and I are trying to have, it’s all with eternal perspective."
Moll says he keeps his beliefs and being an example to his children in mind as he attends various work-related conferences. Every year, he takes one of his sons to a conference. This year, Edison, the second oldest, will go to Chicago with his father.
Moll enjoys showing his sons the tricks of his trade. He wants to teach each of them about Web developing.
"I don’t expect my sons to do the same thing I do, but I do feel obliged to give them some instruction in regard to what I do, and if they choose to go into that field, great," Moll said.
He likens neglecting to teach his sons about his profession to an all-star quarterback failing to teach his son to throw a football. Moll believes such failures waste valuable parenting opportunities.
As he tries to be the best husband, father, church member and professional he can, he remains fascinated with trying new things. He enjoys filming and editing videos; he has created typography posters of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Roman Colosseum and the Salt Lake Temple; and he is building an app with his 11-year-old son, Isaac.
"I think that he’s just one of those rare people that if he wants to do something, he just does it," Suzanne Moll said. "And it just happens. He doesn't think about what might go wrong or 'I’ve never done this before. I have no clue.' He just goes after it until he accomplishes it."