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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to say yes when you can. We

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Speaker 1: say no to a lot of things. Saying yes when

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Speaker 1: you can buys a lot of goodwill and creates an

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Speaker 1: environment where people are willing to take risks and explore.

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Speaker 1: In any large organization, the default answer to anything new

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Speaker 1: can quickly become no. Managers become worried about how things

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Speaker 1: will be perceived or about setting a precedent. Before COVID,

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Speaker 1: for example, a great many requests to work from home,

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Speaker 1: work work flexibly. We're automatically turned down because, well, what

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Speaker 1: if everyone wanted to work from home. We now know

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Speaker 1: that that would most likely be fine In many organizations.

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Speaker 1: Everyone worked from home for a year and things kept

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Speaker 1: chugging along if folks have some level of self awareness.

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Speaker 1: Hopefully this realization spawned some hard thinking about those automatic knows, namely,

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Speaker 1: the catastrophizing doesn't serve anyone. We can say no when

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Speaker 1: we have to, but yes is an option as well. Indeed,

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Speaker 1: I once heard the advice that a real leader's job

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Speaker 1: is to say yes as much as possible. The idea

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Speaker 1: is that leadership isn't just about what you do. It's

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Speaker 1: also about what you allow and the environment you create.

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Speaker 1: When you have staff or volunteers who bring you ideas

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Speaker 1: about things they want to make happen, and you generally

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Speaker 1: say yes to these things, then people want to bring

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Speaker 1: you more ideas. Your organization becomes more innovative. People become

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Speaker 1: happier with their jobs when they feel like their ideas

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Speaker 1: are taken seriously and they are given the runway to

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Speaker 1: try things out. Not everything will work, of course, and

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Speaker 1: you might know that as a leader, but some things will.

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Speaker 1: So if something isn't terribly expensive or risky legally, then

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Speaker 1: there's no real harm and giving it a whirl. So

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Speaker 1: someone wants to work a different schedule, someone wants to

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Speaker 1: start an employee volunteering group, someone wants to test a

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Speaker 1: product in a totally different market. Why not saying yes

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Speaker 1: when you can. It's not just for leaders, it's good

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Speaker 1: counsel for parents too. It is painful to think about

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Speaker 1: how often we as parents say no on a typical

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Speaker 1: day to having pancakes for breakfast on a rushed morning,

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Speaker 1: or two going back upstairs to get different shoes. When

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Speaker 1: a child is running late, or to having a second

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Speaker 1: helping of noodles before any chicken or peas to reading

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Speaker 1: one more book when it's already after bedtime. I imagine

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Speaker 1: you have said no to all sorts of things this

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Speaker 1: morning already, and to an extent that is appropriate, because

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Speaker 1: part of parenting is setting boundaries, but part of parenting

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Speaker 1: is also creating the space for our children to explore

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Speaker 1: life and become their own people. So if no one

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Speaker 1: is going to get hurt and it's not going to

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Speaker 1: bust the bank, why not try flipping the automatic no script?

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Speaker 1: So say yes when you can. To the bizarre outfit

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Speaker 1: a child puts together, the weird combination of foods in

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Speaker 1: the lunch bag, to the request to try archery or

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Speaker 1: acts throwing, to the suggestion to camp out in your backyard,

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Speaker 1: or even paint the playroom yellow. Instead of asking why,

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Speaker 1: I think why not? And if there is no reason

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Speaker 1: to say no, you could just say yes. You may

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Speaker 1: be amazed at what people come up with, and you

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Speaker 1: buy a lot of goodwill so that when you do

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Speaker 1: need to say no, people are more likely to accept

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Speaker 1: that you have a good reason as opposed to just

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Speaker 1: generally being a downer about everything. So this week in

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Speaker 1: your professional and personal life, try saying yes when you can.

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear how it goes. You can reach

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Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vander Kim. Come in the meantime,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making

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Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four,

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Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me

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Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media

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Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much. Should I look forward to

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Speaker 1: staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit

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Speaker 1: listen to your face Richards