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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: a great many requests to work from home or work flexibly,

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Speaker 1: we're automatically turned down because, well, what if everyone wanted

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Speaker 1: to work from home? We now know that that would

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Speaker 1: most likely be fine In many organizations, everyone worked from

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Speaker 1: home for a year and things kept chugging along if

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Speaker 1: folks have some level of self awareness. Hopefully this realization

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Speaker 1: spawned some hard thinking about those automatic knows, namely, the

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

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Speaker 1: 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 in 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: going back upstairs to get different shoes when a child

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

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Speaker 1: noodles before any chicken or peas to reading one more

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Speaker 1: book when it's already after bedtime. I imagine you have

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Speaker 1: said no to all sorts of things this morning already,

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Speaker 1: and to an extent that is appropriate, because part of

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

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Speaker 1: creating the space for our children to explore life and

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Speaker 1: become their own people. So if no one is going

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Speaker 1: to get hurt and it's not going to bust the bank,

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Speaker 1: why not try flipping the automatic no script? So say

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Speaker 1: yes when you can. To the bizarre outfit a child

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Speaker 1: puts together, the weird combination of foods in the lunch bag,

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Speaker 1: to the request to try archery or acts throwing, to

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Speaker 1: the suggestion to camp out in your backyard, or even

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Speaker 1: paint the playroom yellow. Instead of asking why, I think

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Speaker 1: why not? And if there is no reason to say no,

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Speaker 1: you could just say yes. You may be amazed at

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Speaker 1: what people come up with, and you buy a lot

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Speaker 1: of goodwill so that when you do need to say no,

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Speaker 1: people are more likely to accept that you have a

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Speaker 1: good reason as opposed to just generally being a downer

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Speaker 1: about everything. So this week in your professional and personal life,

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Speaker 1: try saying yes when you can. I'd love to hear

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Speaker 1: how it goes. You can reach me at Laura at

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Speaker 1: Laura Vanderkam. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,

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Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod

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Speaker 1: that's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: Podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled

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Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I

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Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the

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Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

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Speaker 1: favorite chips M