Say Yes

The fastest way to stall your career is to walk into your first job trying to prove you have already arrived. We start with a surprisingly perfect metaphor: cowbells outside the window, marathons running past the house, and the Bix Run in Davenport where the crowd cheers so hard it feels like a moving party. It is funny, but it is also real, because careers work the same way. The energy is out there, the opportunities are moving, and you decide whether you are going to stay in bed or step onto the course.

From there, we pivot into graduation season and the advice we wish every new college grad would hear before entering the workforce. Our simple take: be curious and say yes. Not yes to nonsense, but yes to learning, yes to the invite that scares you, yes to staying late one day to understand the bigger picture, yes to the unexpected project that teaches you more than any class. Curiosity builds context, and context is what turns “smart” into effective.

We also get blunt about entitlement, ego, and the overlooked skill of being a great follower. Listening well, aligning with leaders, and respecting authority can be the difference between building trust quickly and burning bridges early. We talk about how confidence grows when you do hard things you never thought you could do, and how to handle the real concern of being taken advantage of without shutting down opportunities too soon.

If you are a new graduate, a parent of a grad, or a leader mentoring early-career talent, this one is packed with practical career advice, leadership lessons, and mindset shifts you can use immediately. 

Transcript

Cowbells And Weekend Races

Karman 0:30

Good morning, Scott and Tammy. Good morning, Karman.

Scott 0:35

Hi, Karman. Where's our cowbell?

unknown 0:38

Right?

Karman 0:39

I had the cowbell out this weekend. You know, uh marathons run past my house. And it's not unusual for me to wake up on a Saturday morning to the sound of cowbells.

Scott 0:50

And do you hand out beers as people run by on the marathon?

Karman 0:54

No, I am still generally in bed and just sort of listen to it all happen out there. My very nice husband said once that we should run out there and say things like, You sure look tired. I hope you make it. It's really better if probably that we just loan our cowbell out to the neighbors. And yeah.

Tammy 1:23

I'm also laughing because they're out there running. And you and you and your lovely kind husband are probably both laying in bed, lazy as can be, right? In that 100%. Yeah. It's like, how many steps have they taken and you have not moved an inch?

Karman 1:39

Not even gotten my foot off the ground yet, out of the bed yet.

The Bix Run Party Factor

Scott 1:42

Absolutely. So I've I've never done a marathon. My wife and I used to run the BICS in Davenport. Oh, and so that's a that's a seven-mile. And you know, there's Brady Street goes really vertical up, which is like a 45-degree guys.

Tammy 1:59

If it's from the Mississippi River and it goes straight, it's just like I would never do that in a million years.

Scott 2:06

Yeah. Well, it's so, you know, the first we didn't know what to expect the first year, and my sister talked us into doing it. We're like, okay, that's cool. And we went, and and uh the two things that surprised me is when you go up Brady Street and you you take a right, and at that moment, when you're turning right, you know, you have to rate yourself and you have to prove that you can run at whatever time that that's kind of your your start point. And we're not elite runners, so you know, it was like three and a half minutes before we actually got to the start line. And by the time we get to the hill and around the corner, because there's like 17,000 runners. I mean, this there's a lot of people that do this. The elite runners are already coming back, so we're like rounding on mile one, and they're already coming back because they start you know when the gun ran, they are off immediately, right? So that surprised me. And then the other thing that surprised me is the whole way is lined with people cheering you. There are bands playing, so I've never been offered so many beers in my life. Like you're just running, and there'll be people said, like, dude, you want a beer? And they'll throw you a beer and you're supposed to chug it and like, yeah, I'll sip it, you know. Not, but it is hilarious how many people. I mean, it's almost like Mardi Gras.

Karman 3:29

Well, that's kind of the VIX MO, isn't it?

Scott 3:32

It totally. So it even if you were to walk it, it's just it is an absolute joy and hilarious because there's someone who does it on on drywall stilts, there's someone who is in the military and he carries like a 40-pound dummy with him. I mean, there's like people are in costumes. I mean, it is yes, it's a race and a party. It is it is so fascinating. Welcome to Iowa. Welcome to Iowa. So, yes, it's a fun. I now now I kind of want to go run it again.

Tammy 4:03

Oh the hills are too much for me, baby. I'm just saying those hills, right? I understand it's not Colorado, but for Iowa, whoo, whoo, it's vertical.

Graduation Season Reality Check

Karman 4:17

Well, speaking of big accomplishments, it is also graduation season.

Tammy 4:25

It is. Oh, yes. And one of our staff members has two graduating, one from high school and one from college. Can you imagine what that must feel like in that household?

Karman 4:35

Woo! I I literally, that was me in 2019. I had a college graduate, uh high school graduate, and my college graduate was getting married two months later.

Scott 4:46

Wow, that's a lot all at the same time. Yeah, we have two staff members who graduated 11 days ago.

Tammy 4:54

That's right, which is really exciting, right? Isn't it cool?

One Rule For New Graduates

Karman 4:58

Like, we imagine Cowbell here, everybody. Yeah. Well, in graduation season, you know, we start to read a lot of graduation advice or the listing of somebody's graduation speech. So, my question for you guys today is if you were gonna give one piece of advice to new graduates, what would it be?

Tammy 5:22

Oh wow, Scott, Scott has an evil look on his face. I'm just saying, which means whatever is gonna come out is not gonna be appropriate. You can just already tell.

Scott 5:33

Exceptionally appropriate. What I'm smirking about is depending on what they're graduating from, my advice would be different if they're graduating from high school versus college.

Tammy 5:43

Okay, so which one are we doing? Let's do college. Totally fine. Yeah. Yeah. College from the standpoint of, right? I mean, these are people who are gonna enter the workforce, right? So what's the thing that we're going to be talking with them about or suggesting that you know you've just left, you're leaving college, and you quote unquote, you're adulting for the first time. And uh more than likely that requires a job. Right? Okay, Mr. Smirk. So what do you got for us?

Be Curious And Say Yes

Scott 6:17

If you are if you are graduating from college, my advice would be simple be curious and say yes. Right. If you get asked, hey, would you like to? Your answer is yes, right? Right, run the bits marathon.

Karman 6:32

Yes.

Scott 6:32

How how could I? What would happen if, and just be curious, don't overthink, right? Leave your ego at the door, just be curious and say yes.

Drop The Ego And Listen

Tammy 6:43

Interesting. Okay, because that actually aligns with one of our core values of become more group, right? Yep, is this concept about being curious? And I will tell you that mine aligns with that a little bit, which is also kind of interesting. I would say I'm trying to figure out exactly how to say it so it's short and succinct, right? Don't be don't be an entitled shithead.

unknown 7:11

That's kind of what it was.

Tammy 7:13

Only I was trying to be maybe a little bit more, you know, uh, like not quite as in your face. But it's this piece that says, I know that you're excited, and I know that you have a lot of ideas. And listen, because there are time periods when you need to understand, you need to follow and align more than you need to be, I have a great idea and I'm right. And that spot, and that kind of goes with curiousness because you can't be curious if you don't listen, right? But it is this spot that sometimes we have a tendency to say, I'm right, I'm right, I'm right, I know, I know, I know, versus, or I'm trying to prove that I'm smart, I'm smart, I'm smart, versus asking the questions, taking the time to listen, consider. And then in the end, one of the things, being a great follower is like as important as being a great leader. There are times when we're not going to get our way, and we really do need to align and say, Yes, sir, yes, ma'am.

Scott 8:15

Most of the time we're not going to get our way.

Tammy 8:17

Well, and most of the time, our way is not necessarily always the best right way or the right way. And by the way, who died and made you God? Like, why do you get to be the person that decides? And we do have authority. I have this great new college degree, and I'm so smart. And they told me I was brilliant, I was the top of my class, and you know what? And no one else is smarter than me. Well, unfortunately, that is actually not true. The whole world is like probably smarter than most of us. I mean, yeah, we're smart in our own ways and we have gifts and those types of things. I don't want to diminish that, but I also want to say we're not done yet. That's what become more is about. That's why we name this company, right? So at 22, you're not even close to being done. Because at 65, I'm not even close to being done. So, what is the stuff where you're still learning, you're still growing, instead of trying to prove that you've already arrived? Because honestly, life is a journey. So, like keep learning, keep growing. And remember, we have authority over us in situations, and in those situations, there's reasons why that authority is there. And sometimes it's really the right and best thing to align. Now, if it's moral, if it's not you know immoral, it's unethical, whatever that is, that's another story. That's not what I'm talking about. But there are spots where it can be a little bit more.

Scott 9:32

Well, there's learning lessons there too. There's learning lessons there too. There's learning lessons there too. How do you get away with it? How do you how to go to jail, how to how to go, how to escape from prison. I mean, there's all kinds of learning lessons in every situation.

Tammy 9:48

All of that is true. All of that is true.

Scott 9:51

And I think this whole for me, this piece of being curious, saying yes, like taking the chance to learn and grow. It is the time to like, yes, I want to understand context. And yes, like we can sit and joke, you know, if somebody offers you a pill, of course, take it, see what happens, right? Say yes to everything. But it is this part of like when I think of the chances I had to grow the most was when someone random said, Hey, would you like to? And I didn't, I didn't overthink it. I looked at it and said, you know, this person probably has the best, my best interest at heart. Yes. And you go and and learn, or you stay late, or you do whatever that is, because in my experience, that is the differentiator. And we can say that's not right, that's not fair, that's not whatever. And sorry, that is how people are getting jobs, that is how people are getting promotions, that is how people well, and there's a there's a saying, you know, go to the places that scare you.

Doing Hard Things Builds Confidence

Tammy 10:54

And and truly, that's that's the heart of saying yes, right? It's this space that says, oftentimes we're reluctant because we think we might look foolish, we're reluctant because we think, you know, we're not gonna be able to do it. There's we we have come up with these excuses. Most of the time, that's just based in like, I'm not gonna show, I'm afraid I won't show up in the best way that I could, versus saying, Oh, gosh, there's probably something for me to learn and grow in this particular spot. And what's really cool is that when you go do something that you don't think that you can do, and then you accomplish it, you start to recognize that there's so many more things in life you can accomplish. I know I felt that way, you know, we were talking about the BICS. I felt that way when I ran my first triathlon. I mean, come on, I'm not that kind. First of all, I don't run ever. Okay. I mean, there's if there's a lion behind me and you're standing next to me, and that lion is coming after us, I'm gonna die because you'll run and and I can't, right?

Scott 12:00

That's right. When you're in a group of people and there's a lion or a bear, you don't have to outrun everyone, you just have to outrun one person, exactly.

Tammy 12:09

And I'm the one, and it's easy.

Scott 12:11

And if you shoot, if you shoot someone in the leg, it's a lot easier to outrun them.

unknown 12:16

Exactly.

Tammy 12:17

So I mean, honestly, so when I did when when someone said let's do a triathlon, I was like, I don't run, I can't, and they were like, Tammy, right? You can do this, and I really believed in my heart I couldn't. Truly, I believed I couldn't, and then I did, and I remember crossing that finish line, and I remember thinking, wow, this was beyond me, but it's not, it's not behind me. And then it opened this door that said to my to me, like, there's so many things that are I can do if I don't get in my own way, and really, Scott, that's what you were talking about. You were talking about get out of your own way and just go see what happens. And there is some fun and excitement in stuff like that, right? In that spot of doing things that you never thought you could do or never even thought about doing before. You might not be really good at it in the beginning, but you might find out that you loved it, and then you get good at it.

Scott 13:22

And it's I'm watching people, and I know there is there is a line here, right? Oh, I don't want to do that because it's not my job, they're not paying me to like, and and I know that there's a balance here. Like, yes, are there times when you might get taken advantage of?

Tammy 13:43

Yes, but you can wait and watch over time and decide. Don't decide that in the beginning, right?

Scott 13:49

Right. And to me, that's where it's like, hey, I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna see what happens. And yeah, you know what? If I'm starting to be taken advantage of, to me, it's no different than if I have you know an emotional vampire in my life where they're sucking the life out of out of me, or you know, it's like then I'm not gonna hang out with them, right? I'm gonna have, but I'm not gonna make that decision immediately in one or two interactions. I'm gonna, I'm gonna ante in, I'm going to lean in, I'm gonna say yes. And then, you know what? Yeah, shame on me if I like then I have some ownership to take action there. And so it's super interesting when I think about are some of our staff and interns and kind of the ones who have been really, really successful. Yep, they're the ones who've leaned in, they're the ones who who have asked deeper questions and and you know want to understand context, those who have not been as successful or you know, went off and kind of did not or have not yet achieved their potential. They did not take the opportunity. I'm thinking of like, hey, would you like to go with us? Well, I'd have to get up early, and I don't I'd like I don't want to get up early. Wow, you just missed out on a huge learning opportunity.

Tammy 15:13

And and that spot, right?

Scott 15:15

It's actually I want to go to bed because I'm tired. Like, okay, you know, it's eight o'clock, and we're still talking, like, hey, what's next? And what are we doing next? And like, there's so much learning. And can you really like not handle that for a day? That's for me, those are the things that I've I'm like, that's weird.

The Intern Test For Success

Tammy 15:35

Well, it's super weird. And if you think about the, you know, we've had Scott, we've had a ton of interns, right?

Scott 15:43

And in that space, literally, I think if we put them all on a scale, it would be a ton.

Tammy 15:50

Not because they were overly heavy, just because there was many of them. Right.

Scott 15:55

Many of them, yeah. And like jobs, like jobs, I've had a lot. Like had a lot.

The Secret To Work Life

Tammy 16:01

One of the things, though, if you really look, the differentiator between whether we thought those folks added value to our organization and whether or not we would want them to stay around really came down to the two things that you and I brought to the table. Were they saying yes? And were they listening, considering, willing to follow? Right? And align with where we were going. In the end, that's was true of our interns. It's also true of the staff, which I didn't think about. But if you look at the staff that is no longer with us, almost always it was one of those two things of why they are not with us today. They were not willing to say yes andor they were not willing to listen and align. Maybe that's the secret to work life, right?