WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.940 If you look up right now, depending on where 00:00:01.940 --> 00:00:04.559 you are, you might see, like, a drop ceiling. 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:06.660 You know those little white textured acoustic 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:09.140 tiles? Oh yeah, the classic office ceiling. Right. 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:12.300 And there is a specific comfort to a drop ceiling, 00:00:12.300 --> 00:00:15.140 I think. You know exactly how high it is. You 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:17.399 know exactly where the room ends. Yeah, the boundaries 00:00:17.399 --> 00:00:19.460 are totally defined. Exactly. The parameters 00:00:19.460 --> 00:00:22.179 are set, and your brain doesn't have to spend 00:00:22.179 --> 00:00:25.920 really any energy calculating the unknown. It 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:28.500 is a perfectly closed, predictable system. But 00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:31.120 imagine instead you step outside, right, and 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:33.320 you look straight up on a perfectly clear day, 00:00:33.500 --> 00:00:36.960 just blue sky. Yeah. Suddenly, that predictable 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:39.679 ceiling is gone. There are no grids. There is 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:42.200 no defined endpoint. It is, you know, completely 00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:44.859 unobstructed. Which is a huge shift. It is. And 00:00:44.859 --> 00:00:46.979 honestly, while that sounds liberating on like 00:00:46.979 --> 00:00:50.359 a motivational poster in real life, for a lot 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:53.200 of us, that lack of a defined boundary is deeply 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:55.420 terrifying. Well, absolutely. Because when there 00:00:55.420 --> 00:00:57.320 are no limits to the environment, well, there 00:00:57.320 --> 00:00:59.340 are no limits to the expectations. Right. You 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:01.859 are no longer operating within a safe, predefined 00:01:01.859 --> 00:01:05.579 container. You... you have to define the container 00:01:05.579 --> 00:01:08.500 yourself. And that tension right there is exactly 00:01:08.500 --> 00:01:11.040 what we are unpacking today. Welcome to our deep 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:14.120 dive. For you listening right now to get an edge, 00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:17.079 to find those actual mechanisms of clarity in 00:01:17.079 --> 00:01:19.879 a very noisy professional world, today's mission 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:23.709 is all about dismantling that drop ceiling in 00:01:23.709 --> 00:01:26.090 your own career. Yeah we're looking at some really 00:01:26.090 --> 00:01:28.590 fascinating source material today. We are. We're 00:01:28.590 --> 00:01:30.890 exploring a framework drawn from a presentation 00:01:30.890 --> 00:01:34.090 and an accompanying article by tech leader Sydney 00:01:34.090 --> 00:01:36.790 Tetreault. Both of these center around a concept 00:01:36.790 --> 00:01:40.010 that she calls the blue sky mindset. And our 00:01:40.010 --> 00:01:43.030 goal today is to really bypass the typical you 00:01:43.030 --> 00:01:45.409 know positive thinking tropes. We are extracting 00:01:45.409 --> 00:01:48.569 the actual practical mechanics of this mindset 00:01:48.569 --> 00:01:50.879 from Tetreault's work. So it's not just I think 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:52.920 positive and good things happen. Right, exactly. 00:01:53.099 --> 00:01:54.879 We are going to look at the psychology of how 00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:57.799 you stop seeing artificial limits, the operational 00:01:57.799 --> 00:02:00.579 tactics of turning massive ideas into rapid reality, 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:03.299 and crucially, the interpersonal mechanics of 00:02:03.299 --> 00:02:05.299 how you elevate the people around you while you 00:02:05.299 --> 00:02:08.509 do it. To understand how to execute these massive 00:02:08.509 --> 00:02:10.810 ideas, I feel like we have to start at the origin 00:02:10.810 --> 00:02:13.229 point. We need to look at the mental framework 00:02:13.229 --> 00:02:15.370 that actually generates them. Yeah, the foundation 00:02:15.370 --> 00:02:18.210 of the whole thing. Right. So for Tetro, this 00:02:18.210 --> 00:02:21.770 visual metaphor of the blue sky, it crystallized 00:02:21.770 --> 00:02:24.389 during her time at Disney. Specifically, she 00:02:24.389 --> 00:02:27.150 was working with a division called the Blue Sky 00:02:27.150 --> 00:02:30.389 Group. And the philosophy there is quite literal. 00:02:30.629 --> 00:02:32.849 I mean, you look up at a blue sky and nothing 00:02:32.849 --> 00:02:35.889 obstructs the view. Just wide open space. Exactly. 00:02:36.310 --> 00:02:39.069 It's a mentality built on the premise that you 00:02:39.069 --> 00:02:41.229 can accomplish basically anything you can imagine 00:02:41.229 --> 00:02:44.009 if you just remove the upfront hindrances to 00:02:44.009 --> 00:02:46.949 growth. But what makes the source material valuable 00:02:46.949 --> 00:02:49.949 is how she applied this abstract philosophy to 00:02:49.949 --> 00:02:52.569 a very concrete high stakes career decision. 00:02:52.669 --> 00:02:54.949 Right, because theory is easy, but practice is 00:02:54.949 --> 00:02:57.639 hard. Exactly. The story she shares about getting 00:02:57.639 --> 00:03:00.039 the job at Disney Research perfectly illustrates 00:03:00.039 --> 00:03:02.840 the terror of removing that drop ceiling. So 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:04.819 she was already an established chief marketing 00:03:04.819 --> 00:03:07.460 officer at a tech firm. She's doing well. Very 00:03:07.460 --> 00:03:10.099 well. And a former colleague who was heading 00:03:10.099 --> 00:03:12.699 up this new Disney group calls her and essentially 00:03:12.699 --> 00:03:16.719 says, we need someone with a business mindset 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:19.300 to figure out how to make businesses out of all 00:03:19.300 --> 00:03:21.379 this new technology we are developing. That's 00:03:21.379 --> 00:03:23.819 amazing, right? It does. But he follows that 00:03:23.819 --> 00:03:26.199 up with a massive caveat. He tells her, it's 00:03:26.199 --> 00:03:28.120 a brand new role. I don't know exactly what it 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:30.439 looks like. I don't know how long it's for. And 00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:32.280 I can't even tell you what the projects are. 00:03:32.419 --> 00:03:35.020 Wow. Talk about a lack of parameters. Right. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:37.900 It is the ultimate undefined opportunity. It 00:03:37.900 --> 00:03:41.099 is the blue sky staring right at her with zero 00:03:41.099 --> 00:03:43.639 guarantees. And her reaction to that ambiguity 00:03:43.639 --> 00:03:45.280 is really the foundation of the whole mindset. 00:03:45.379 --> 00:03:47.360 She didn't ask for a 90 -day plan. She didn't 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:50.180 ask for clear KPIs. You know, those key performance 00:03:50.180 --> 00:03:52.340 indicators that most of us desperately demand 00:03:52.340 --> 00:03:54.860 just to know how will be evaluated. Exactly. 00:03:55.060 --> 00:03:57.919 We want that safety net. Would she pause for 00:03:57.919 --> 00:04:00.460 maybe 10 seconds? Realize she would never get 00:04:00.460 --> 00:04:03.020 this exact call again. and just jumped all in. 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:05.360 10 seconds. Yeah and she ended up staying for 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:07.539 five and a half years building entirely new businesses 00:04:07.539 --> 00:04:10.199 inside Disney. Let's dissect the mechanics of 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:12.259 that 10 second pause though because I think that 00:04:12.259 --> 00:04:15.219 is where the real work happens. Oh for sure because 00:04:15.219 --> 00:04:18.360 in those 10 seconds she is actively overriding 00:04:18.360 --> 00:04:20.620 the brain's natural threat detection system. 00:04:20.740 --> 00:04:24.259 The panic response. Right. When faced with ambiguity 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:27.670 our amygdala fires up. It screens for certainty, 00:04:28.009 --> 00:04:31.110 for a job description, for a defined path. But 00:04:31.110 --> 00:04:34.189 she forced a cognitive override. She basically 00:04:34.189 --> 00:04:36.550 realized that waiting for a perfectly defined 00:04:36.550 --> 00:04:39.029 opportunity usually means you are waiting for 00:04:39.029 --> 00:04:41.509 a mature opportunity. And mature opportunities 00:04:41.509 --> 00:04:44.490 rarely offer exponential, transformative growth. 00:04:44.970 --> 00:04:47.730 They offer incremental steps. It makes me picture 00:04:47.730 --> 00:04:50.269 it like standing at a train station and someone 00:04:50.269 --> 00:04:52.410 hands you a ticket. You don't know the exact 00:04:52.410 --> 00:04:54.509 destination. You don't even know how many stops 00:04:54.509 --> 00:04:57.149 there are along the way, but you trust the track 00:04:57.149 --> 00:04:59.250 and you trust the conductor. That's a great way 00:04:59.250 --> 00:05:00.930 to look at it. But let me challenge this for 00:05:00.930 --> 00:05:02.430 you, the person listening right now who might 00:05:02.430 --> 00:05:05.449 be weighing a job change. How do you differentiate 00:05:05.449 --> 00:05:09.949 between a genuine blue sky opportunity and just, 00:05:09.949 --> 00:05:14.029 you know, boarding a train that is going to derail? 00:05:14.120 --> 00:05:16.759 Yeah, because there is a very fine line between 00:05:16.759 --> 00:05:20.079 a bold leap of faith and a poorly planned risky 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:22.220 career move. Right. So how do you tell the difference? 00:05:23.180 --> 00:05:25.399 The distinction lies entirely in what you are 00:05:25.399 --> 00:05:27.839 actually risking. It's about understanding the 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:30.160 difference between fundamental risk and path 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:33.439 risk. OK, unpack that a little. So the blue sky 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:36.100 mindset is not about blind gambling. Look at 00:05:36.100 --> 00:05:38.540 her baseline in the story. She was already a 00:05:38.540 --> 00:05:41.439 successful CMO. She had the skills. Exactly. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:43.420 The person calling her had worked with her and 00:05:43.420 --> 00:05:46.079 knew her capabilities. The risk in taking the 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:47.980 Disney job wasn't about her core competence. 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:50.959 The risk was purely about the ambiguity of the 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:53.639 role. OK, so a disastrous career move is when 00:05:53.639 --> 00:05:56.579 the fundamentals are flawed, like a toxic culture, 00:05:56.740 --> 00:06:00.139 a broken product, unstable leadership. Yes. A 00:06:00.139 --> 00:06:02.879 genuine blue sky opportunity is when those fundamentals 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:06.350 are solid. but the path is just unmapped. You 00:06:06.350 --> 00:06:09.470 de -risk the ambiguity by trusting your own internal 00:06:09.470 --> 00:06:11.649 adaptability. You are relying on your ability 00:06:11.649 --> 00:06:13.889 to figure it out once you are inside the building, 00:06:14.170 --> 00:06:16.949 rather than demanding a map before you even open 00:06:16.949 --> 00:06:19.810 the door. Exactly. If you demand a perfectly 00:06:19.810 --> 00:06:22.810 rendered map before you take a step, you essentially 00:06:22.810 --> 00:06:26.490 relegate yourself to... only ever going where 00:06:26.490 --> 00:06:29.009 others have already paved the road. So you step 00:06:29.009 --> 00:06:31.850 into the unmapped path. You embrace the ambiguity. 00:06:32.569 --> 00:06:34.889 But just standing in a field looking at the sky 00:06:34.889 --> 00:06:36.990 doesn't actually move you forward, right? No, 00:06:36.990 --> 00:06:39.389 it doesn't. A limitless mindset doesn't do you 00:06:39.389 --> 00:06:41.870 any good if it just stays in your head as a fun, 00:06:42.189 --> 00:06:45.290 optimistic daydream. Seeing the opportunity is 00:06:45.290 --> 00:06:47.629 merely step one. Right. The crucial second step 00:06:47.629 --> 00:06:50.589 is taking aggressive action, which brings us 00:06:50.589 --> 00:06:52.959 to the next phase of the source material. becoming 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:55.699 what Tetra calls an activator. An activator? 00:06:55.740 --> 00:06:58.319 Yeah, the activator phase shifts us from philosophy 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:01.639 to execution. It is the literal translation of 00:07:01.639 --> 00:07:05.000 abstract strategy into tangible reality. And 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:07.480 Tetra's experience running her 3D printing company 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:10.139 serves as an absolute master class in the mechanics 00:07:10.139 --> 00:07:12.279 of this phase. It really does. It's a wild story. 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:14.220 So she starts this company in the personalized 00:07:14.220 --> 00:07:16.660 3D printing space. They developed incredible 00:07:16.660 --> 00:07:18.939 tech where they could map a person's face onto 00:07:18.939 --> 00:07:20.800 an action figure. Yeah, you could literally buy 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:22.439 an Iron Man figure with your own face on it. 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:26.279 Which is so cool. And they secured massive premium 00:07:26.279 --> 00:07:29.579 partnerships. Marvel, Star Wars, Hasbro, the 00:07:29.579 --> 00:07:32.779 NFL. They do a highly successful launch at Comic 00:07:32.779 --> 00:07:35.500 Con. Which is huge. Huge. They are selling high 00:07:35.500 --> 00:07:38.680 -priced premium collectibles directly to a dedicated 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:41.199 fan base. So they had a proven working business 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:44.000 model operating within a very specific set of 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:46.420 parameters. Then immediately after Comic Con, 00:07:46.420 --> 00:07:48.519 she gets a phone call. The question from the 00:07:48.519 --> 00:07:50.459 other end of the line is basically, how many 00:07:50.459 --> 00:07:53.060 Walmarts could you launch in? for Superhero September. 00:07:53.420 --> 00:07:56.120 And Superhero September is exactly 60 days away. 00:07:56.899 --> 00:07:58.959 Think about the operational whiplash of that 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:02.339 moment. I mean, to pivot from a premium, high 00:08:02.339 --> 00:08:04.879 -priced, direct -to -consumer collectible to 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:07.800 mass market retail in Walmart. It's totally different. 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:10.319 It requires systematically dismantling your existing 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:13.139 business and rebuilding it in two months. The 00:08:13.139 --> 00:08:15.579 pricing structure was fundamentally wrong for 00:08:15.579 --> 00:08:18.649 mass retail. The product itself was wrong. The 00:08:18.649 --> 00:08:20.990 distribution infrastructure didn't even exist. 00:08:21.209 --> 00:08:23.589 Right. They didn't even have time to manufacture 00:08:23.589 --> 00:08:26.610 new bodies. She describes how they literally 00:08:26.610 --> 00:08:29.470 contacted Hasbro, completely changed their pricing 00:08:29.470 --> 00:08:32.490 model, and physically spent days popping the 00:08:32.490 --> 00:08:34.730 heads off existing action figures to replace 00:08:34.730 --> 00:08:37.110 them with their 3D printed ones. Wait, they were 00:08:37.110 --> 00:08:39.190 literally popping heads off? Literally popping 00:08:39.190 --> 00:08:41.610 the heads off. They had to invent entirely new 00:08:41.610 --> 00:08:44.350 attachment systems on the fly just to hit this 00:08:44.350 --> 00:08:48.000 deadline. All in 60 days. It sounds like sheer 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:52.340 logistical chaos, but honestly, it isolates the 00:08:52.340 --> 00:08:54.720 defining characteristic of an activator. How 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:57.399 so? Well, when faced with an impossible 60 -day 00:08:57.399 --> 00:09:00.139 window, an activator does not sit at a whiteboard 00:09:00.139 --> 00:09:02.620 listing the 50 logical reasons the project will 00:09:02.620 --> 00:09:04.980 fail. Right. They don't look for the no. Exactly. 00:09:05.139 --> 00:09:07.059 They assume the outcome is possible, and they 00:09:07.059 --> 00:09:09.519 immediately shift 100 % of the team's cognitive 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:12.820 load to the how. They de -risk the massive idea 00:09:12.820 --> 00:09:16.159 through absolute relentless adaptability. But 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:18.080 let's look at this from your perspective listening 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:21.159 right now. If your goal is to build a sustainable 00:09:21.159 --> 00:09:24.360 career and avoid burnout, adopting a mindset 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:26.820 that requires you to pop the heads off action 00:09:26.820 --> 00:09:30.700 figures for 60 straight days to meet an impossible 00:09:30.700 --> 00:09:33.480 retail deadline. It sounds exhausting. It sounds 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:36.220 like exactly the kind of grinding hustle culture 00:09:36.220 --> 00:09:39.379 trap you want to escape. How does an activator 00:09:39.379 --> 00:09:41.879 survive that kind of sprint without breaking 00:09:41.879 --> 00:09:44.559 the team? That's a really important point. It 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:47.019 requires separating the physical intensity of 00:09:47.019 --> 00:09:49.559 the event from the underlying psychology of the 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:51.480 team. Okay, what do you mean by that? Burnout 00:09:51.480 --> 00:09:53.620 is rarely the result of simply working hard. 00:09:54.220 --> 00:09:56.240 Burnout occurs when you are working hard while 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:59.220 fighting reality. It happens when you feel powerless. 00:09:59.700 --> 00:10:02.519 Or when a team is paralyzed by the constant fear 00:10:02.519 --> 00:10:04.960 of failure and second -guessing every decision. 00:10:05.340 --> 00:10:07.779 Ah, so you are exhausted by the friction of doubt, 00:10:07.799 --> 00:10:10.600 not necessarily the speed of the execution. Exactly. 00:10:10.980 --> 00:10:13.669 The blue -sky mindset. removes the friction. 00:10:14.309 --> 00:10:16.629 When that team was in a warehouse modifying those 00:10:16.629 --> 00:10:18.870 action figures, the leaders weren't allowing 00:10:18.870 --> 00:10:20.730 debates on whether they made a mistake taking 00:10:20.730 --> 00:10:23.049 the Walmart deal. The decision was already made. 00:10:23.330 --> 00:10:26.509 Right. All of the team's energy flowed in a single 00:10:26.509 --> 00:10:29.909 unified direction. Execution. Yes, it requires 00:10:29.909 --> 00:10:33.070 an immense physical toll in the short term. But 00:10:33.070 --> 00:10:36.830 it is an empowering exhaustion, not a draining 00:10:36.830 --> 00:10:39.350 one. because there is total clarity of purpose. 00:10:39.629 --> 00:10:42.450 And the strategic payoff is that this one 60 00:10:42.450 --> 00:10:45.409 -day sprint completely altered the trajectory 00:10:45.409 --> 00:10:48.350 of the company. Oh, massively. It led to subsequent 00:10:48.350 --> 00:10:51.470 launches in Target, Toys R Us, and partnerships 00:10:51.470 --> 00:10:53.610 with the Super Bowl and the World Series. They 00:10:53.610 --> 00:10:56.049 sprinted through the ambiguity to reach a fundamentally 00:10:56.049 --> 00:10:58.529 new plateau. Yeah, they really did. But pulling 00:10:58.529 --> 00:11:02.250 off that kind of retail miracle in 60 days requires 00:11:02.250 --> 00:11:05.539 more than just internal team alignment. Absolute 00:11:05.539 --> 00:11:07.679 adaptability within your own company isn't enough. 00:11:07.940 --> 00:11:10.519 No, because you cannot launch in Walmart if Walmart's 00:11:10.519 --> 00:11:12.620 buyers aren't willing to adapt with you. Exactly. 00:11:12.840 --> 00:11:15.179 You have to convince external partners to step 00:11:15.179 --> 00:11:18.039 into the ambiguity alongside you, which requires 00:11:18.039 --> 00:11:20.019 a completely different mechanism, leading us 00:11:20.019 --> 00:11:23.039 to the third cornerstone of this mindset, developing 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:25.759 deal sense. Deal sense. Yeah, this is a critical 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:28.000 evolution in this framework because Tetra radically 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:30.200 broadens the definition. We usually think of 00:11:30.200 --> 00:11:33.779 deals as like these high stakes, multi -million 00:11:33.779 --> 00:11:36.779 dollar contracts negotiated by lawyers in boardrooms. 00:11:37.059 --> 00:11:39.600 Right. But she argues that DealSense is actually 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:42.720 the everyday value exchange between human beings. 00:11:43.100 --> 00:11:45.320 It is the underlying mechanics of how you interact 00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:48.480 with a partner, a junior employee, or a vendor. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:51.080 And she shares a story that perfectly dissects 00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:53.039 the emotional intelligence required for this. 00:11:53.539 --> 00:11:55.700 She was managing a project with a company worth 00:11:55.700 --> 00:11:59.419 roughly ten billion dollars. A behemoth. Yeah, 00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:02.419 a giant. And the deal was bleeding money. It 00:12:02.419 --> 00:12:04.620 was structured as a multi -million dollar contract, 00:12:04.659 --> 00:12:06.899 but her company was only making a couple hundred 00:12:06.899 --> 00:12:09.399 thousand while pouring massive resources into 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:11.740 fulfilling it. That's a nightmare scenario. Truly. 00:12:11.980 --> 00:12:13.940 So she secures a meeting and walks into the room 00:12:13.940 --> 00:12:16.419 with the CEO of this 10 billion dollar company 00:12:16.419 --> 00:12:19.000 to fix it. And this specific moment is where 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:21.799 the vast majority of negotiators fail. How so? 00:12:21.980 --> 00:12:24.320 Well, most people walk into that room completely 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:26.870 consumed by their own deficit. They walk in with 00:12:26.870 --> 00:12:29.470 a slide deck ready to say, I am losing money. 00:12:29.590 --> 00:12:31.750 My costs are too high. You need to pay me more. 00:12:32.029 --> 00:12:34.110 They make their problem the center of the negotiation. 00:12:34.730 --> 00:12:38.289 Exactly. But she used DealSense instead. She 00:12:38.289 --> 00:12:40.990 explains the necessity of reading the room. She 00:12:40.990 --> 00:12:43.610 walked in with a planned presentation, but realized 00:12:43.610 --> 00:12:46.330 instantly that she had to drop her own agenda 00:12:46.330 --> 00:12:49.149 and react to what the CEO needed in that exact 00:12:49.149 --> 00:12:51.740 moment. That takes incredible self -control to 00:12:51.740 --> 00:12:54.039 put your own panic aside when your project is 00:12:54.039 --> 00:12:56.740 failing. It really does. She laid out the facts 00:12:56.740 --> 00:12:59.220 transparently. She basically said, we cannot 00:12:59.220 --> 00:13:02.220 cover our costs on this trajectory, but we know 00:13:02.220 --> 00:13:04.480 we are adding massive value for your specific 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:07.299 goals. So she focused entirely on how to maintain 00:13:07.299 --> 00:13:09.419 the value for them while solving her own economic 00:13:09.419 --> 00:13:12.600 problem. Yes. And they walked out with a restructured, 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:15.720 mutually beneficial, multi -million dollar deal. 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:18.340 The mechanics of that pivot are just fascinating 00:13:18.340 --> 00:13:21.600 to me. By not centering her own panic, she avoided 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:24.159 triggering a defensive response from the CDO. 00:13:24.539 --> 00:13:26.960 She essentially said, we have a shared problem 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.500 threatening a shared success. Is the difference 00:13:29.500 --> 00:13:32.360 between treating a negotiation like a zero -sum 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:34.500 fighting game? Where you only win by depleting 00:13:34.500 --> 00:13:36.700 the other player's health bar. Right, versus 00:13:36.700 --> 00:13:39.159 a co -op game where you are both on the same 00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:42.100 side trying to defeat the level together. DealSense 00:13:42.100 --> 00:13:44.899 is turning every interaction into a co -op game. 00:13:44.940 --> 00:13:47.259 Exactly. Whether you are negotiating a starting 00:13:47.259 --> 00:13:49.620 salary next week or trying to get the marketing 00:13:49.620 --> 00:13:51.659 team to approve a difficult project tomorrow 00:13:51.659 --> 00:13:54.559 morning, if you approach it as a joint puzzle 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:57.399 to solve rather than a battle to win, your success 00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:00.179 rate completely changes. And there's a deeply 00:14:00.179 --> 00:14:03.360 pragmatic long -term reason for that co -op approach. 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:07.529 Zero -sum thinking. actively destroys long -term 00:14:07.529 --> 00:14:09.950 value. Because if you squeeze external partners 00:14:09.950 --> 00:14:12.669 so hard that they walk away frustrated or feeling 00:14:12.669 --> 00:14:15.529 defeated, the relationship begins to degrade 00:14:15.529 --> 00:14:18.750 the moment the ink dries. True deal sense requires 00:14:18.750 --> 00:14:21.110 the emotional intelligence to pause your own 00:14:21.110 --> 00:14:23.850 ego and constantly recalibrate toward mutual 00:14:23.850 --> 00:14:26.490 success. People fundamentally want to work with 00:14:26.490 --> 00:14:28.470 people who make them feel successful. When you 00:14:28.470 --> 00:14:30.889 win together, you create an environment of abundance 00:14:30.889 --> 00:14:33.250 rather than scarcity. and the source material 00:14:33.250 --> 00:14:35.350 shows how this mindset of abundance naturally 00:14:35.350 --> 00:14:38.210 expands outward. It does. Once you realize the 00:14:38.210 --> 00:14:40.350 sky is limitless and you're playing a co -op 00:14:40.350 --> 00:14:42.570 game, you start looking at how to bring other 00:14:42.570 --> 00:14:44.950 people up there with you. Which brings us to 00:14:44.950 --> 00:14:47.309 building things that matter, specifically focusing 00:14:47.309 --> 00:14:49.830 on the Women Tech Council and the She Tech program 00:14:49.830 --> 00:14:52.570 that Tetra co -founded. The sheer scale of that 00:14:52.570 --> 00:14:55.110 initiative is remarkable. I mean, they have introduced 00:14:55.110 --> 00:14:58.669 over 20 ,000 high school girls to STEM pathways, 00:14:59.169 --> 00:15:02.289 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 00:15:02.450 --> 00:15:05.330 That's massive. Introducing that many young women 00:15:05.330 --> 00:15:07.730 to these fields isn't just about giving a nice 00:15:07.730 --> 00:15:11.169 speech. It is about fundamentally altering the 00:15:11.169 --> 00:15:13.990 default career path for an entire demographic. 00:15:14.149 --> 00:15:16.850 And the proof of that impact is captured in a 00:15:16.850 --> 00:15:19.289 really powerful feedback loop she shares. Oh 00:15:19.289 --> 00:15:21.970 I love this story. Yeah she was at an event and 00:15:21.970 --> 00:15:24.450 a young woman approached her and said seven years 00:15:24.450 --> 00:15:27.049 ago I came through your program and heard an 00:15:27.049 --> 00:15:29.970 aerospace engineer speak. That one moment changed 00:15:29.970 --> 00:15:32.590 my life and I am graduating with an engineering 00:15:32.590 --> 00:15:35.070 degree right now. A seven -year delay on the 00:15:35.070 --> 00:15:37.009 return on investment. It perfectly demonstrates 00:15:37.009 --> 00:15:39.330 the compounding interest of human capital. You 00:15:39.330 --> 00:15:41.870 make a small investment of time and access and 00:15:41.870 --> 00:15:44.490 it accrues value over a decade. But what makes 00:15:44.490 --> 00:15:47.149 this section of her presentation truly actionable 00:15:47.149 --> 00:15:49.950 is the framework she provides to achieve this 00:15:49.950 --> 00:15:51.769 kind of impact without burning yourself out. 00:15:51.929 --> 00:15:54.149 Right, because everyone is busy. Exactly. She 00:15:54.149 --> 00:15:56.529 refers to it as the rule of one more. And to 00:15:56.529 --> 00:15:58.529 explain this, she uses the story of her friend, 00:15:58.809 --> 00:16:01.470 Shannon Barkhapi, an Olympic skier. Oh, yeah. 00:16:01.629 --> 00:16:04.730 Her training philosophy was brilliantly simple, 00:16:05.590 --> 00:16:08.299 but physically brutal. Brutal whatever exercise 00:16:08.299 --> 00:16:10.700 she was doing she just did one more if she was 00:16:10.700 --> 00:16:13.100 doing a set of squats She did one more squat 00:16:13.100 --> 00:16:15.779 push -ups one more push -up over years of training 00:16:15.960 --> 00:16:18.779 That micro addition, that tiny bit of extra friction 00:16:18.779 --> 00:16:22.299 created Olympic -level strength. And Tetro maps 00:16:22.299 --> 00:16:24.620 that physical training concept directly onto 00:16:24.620 --> 00:16:27.159 professional leadership and mentorship. You do 00:16:27.159 --> 00:16:29.580 not need to quit your job and found a 20 ,000 00:16:29.580 --> 00:16:32.120 -person nonprofit tomorrow to have an impact. 00:16:32.340 --> 00:16:35.440 No, you simply need to execute one more in your 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:38.139 existing daily routine. Invite one more person 00:16:38.139 --> 00:16:41.259 to a networking event. Bring one more entry -level 00:16:41.259 --> 00:16:43.360 employee into the boardroom just so they can 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:45.889 sit in the corner and observe the dynamics. Give 00:16:45.889 --> 00:16:48.409 a speaking opportunity to one more junior team 00:16:48.409 --> 00:16:50.610 member instead of taking the stage yourself. 00:16:50.789 --> 00:16:52.710 But let's look at this from your perspective, 00:16:52.850 --> 00:16:55.629 the listener. You are likely thinking your schedule 00:16:55.629 --> 00:16:58.570 is already packed back to back. Time is the one 00:16:58.570 --> 00:17:01.350 resource none of us have an abundance of. True. 00:17:01.850 --> 00:17:04.109 How do you incorporate this rule of one more 00:17:04.109 --> 00:17:07.490 without it adding three hours of mentorship duties 00:17:07.490 --> 00:17:09.849 to your work week? Well, the structural genius 00:17:09.849 --> 00:17:12.589 of the rule is that it requires almost zero extra 00:17:12.589 --> 00:17:15.140 time. The boardroom meeting is already happening. 00:17:15.339 --> 00:17:18.000 You are simply cc -ing one more person on the 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:20.380 calendar invite. That takes two seconds. Exactly. 00:17:20.859 --> 00:17:22.920 The networking event is already on your schedule. 00:17:23.380 --> 00:17:25.359 You are just asking someone in the elevator to 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:27.640 walk in the door with you. It is not about spending 00:17:27.640 --> 00:17:29.599 more time. It is about applying the leverage 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:32.119 you already possess to open the door a fraction 00:17:32.119 --> 00:17:34.579 wider for someone else. You are changing their 00:17:34.579 --> 00:17:36.680 trajectory using the momentum you have already 00:17:36.680 --> 00:17:38.400 built. You don't have to build a new door. You 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:40.720 just hold the existing one open an extra second. 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:43.859 I love that. So we have covered some serious 00:17:43.859 --> 00:17:46.759 ground. We started by looking up and embracing 00:17:46.759 --> 00:17:50.079 the terror of ambiguity. We explored the activator 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:52.700 phase, aggressively pivoting a business model 00:17:52.700 --> 00:17:55.920 in 60 days by focusing entirely on the how. We 00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:59.079 discussed restructuring massive deals by pausing 00:17:59.079 --> 00:18:01.980 our ego and playing the co -op game. And we looked 00:18:01.980 --> 00:18:04.440 at lifting up the next generation by leveraging 00:18:04.440 --> 00:18:07.700 our existing momentum with just one more. But 00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:11.069 the sources include a final necessary reality 00:18:11.069 --> 00:18:13.490 check. They do. Because if you are executing 00:18:13.490 --> 00:18:16.750 all those bold moves, you know, taking massive 00:18:16.750 --> 00:18:19.250 risks, sprinting through product launches, negotiating 00:18:19.250 --> 00:18:22.519 with CEOs. It becomes incredibly easy to develop 00:18:22.519 --> 00:18:24.660 a massive unchecked ego. You start believing 00:18:24.660 --> 00:18:26.779 your own myth. Which makes you brittle. Yeah. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:28.940 The grounding mechanism of the blues guy mindset, 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:31.500 the thing that keeps you tethered, is a relentless 00:18:31.500 --> 00:18:34.019 aggressive openness to feedback. And the story 00:18:34.019 --> 00:18:36.259 Tetra tells about this is honestly jarring compared 00:18:36.259 --> 00:18:38.420 to the massive wins we just discussed. It really 00:18:38.420 --> 00:18:40.400 is. So she is early in her career, fresh out 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:42.539 of grad school. She holds a computer science 00:18:42.539 --> 00:18:45.339 undergrad degree and an MBA. She is highly educated, 00:18:45.559 --> 00:18:48.339 primed, and ready to dominate. And her VP sits 00:18:48.339 --> 00:18:51.059 her down and says point blank, you have to stop 00:18:51.059 --> 00:18:53.279 talking in the meetings and you have to listen. 00:18:53.799 --> 00:18:56.799 Ouch. That is a staggering piece of feedback 00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:59.339 to process when you feel like you have been hired 00:18:59.339 --> 00:19:01.279 specifically because you have all the answers. 00:19:01.500 --> 00:19:03.640 Oh, absolutely. She admits she could have been 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:05.559 furious. She could have easily dismissed it, 00:19:05.640 --> 00:19:07.680 thought he was threatened by her degrees or just 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:11.099 felt put down. But instead, she paused. There 00:19:11.099 --> 00:19:13.519 is that pause again, the exact same mechanism 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:16.220 she used when she got the undefined Disney job 00:19:16.220 --> 00:19:20.079 offer. Exactly. She paused her defensive reaction, 00:19:20.519 --> 00:19:23.920 reflected, and allowed it to become a pivotal 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:26.480 course -correcting moment in her career. Let 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:28.460 me ask you this though, because I see a massive 00:19:28.460 --> 00:19:30.630 contradiction here. Okay, what is it? How does 00:19:30.630 --> 00:19:33.710 a person reconcile the bold, borderline irrational 00:19:33.710 --> 00:19:36.210 confidence required to pitch a superhero launch 00:19:36.210 --> 00:19:39.589 to Walmart in two months with the deep, quiet 00:19:39.589 --> 00:19:41.910 humility required to sit in a chair and be told, 00:19:42.210 --> 00:19:44.890 you talk too much? It's a great question. They 00:19:44.890 --> 00:19:47.470 appear to be opposing forces, but they are actually 00:19:47.470 --> 00:19:49.990 part of the same engine. Let's go back to the 00:19:49.990 --> 00:19:52.470 original definition of the blue sky. It's limitless 00:19:52.470 --> 00:19:55.569 limitless if you genuinely possess a limitless 00:19:55.569 --> 00:19:58.569 mindset Then you must also be limitless in your 00:19:58.569 --> 00:20:02.170 capacity to grow and adapt If you reject difficult 00:20:02.170 --> 00:20:05.569 feedback because it bruises your ego You have 00:20:05.569 --> 00:20:08.230 instantly created a ceiling for yourself You 00:20:08.230 --> 00:20:11.269 have drawn a hard line in the sky and said I 00:20:11.269 --> 00:20:13.990 refuse to grow past this specific point which 00:20:13.990 --> 00:20:16.349 directly violates the entire philosophy of the 00:20:16.349 --> 00:20:19.680 mindset precisely Rejecting feedback is literally 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:22.039 grabbing a drop ceiling tile and installing it 00:20:22.039 --> 00:20:25.440 right over your own head. Wow. The fearless energy 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:28.180 is what gets you moving fast, but the humility 00:20:28.180 --> 00:20:30.680 to absorb feedback is the navigation system that 00:20:30.680 --> 00:20:32.880 keeps you steering in the right direction. Without 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:34.920 the feedback loop, you aren't flying in a blue 00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:37.460 sky. You are just a loose cannon with a lot of 00:20:37.460 --> 00:20:40.319 velocity. Tetra notes that she now actively seeks 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:43.099 out friction, constantly asking what she could 00:20:43.099 --> 00:20:45.019 have done better in a meeting or how she can 00:20:45.019 --> 00:20:47.640 support her team more effectively. It is the 00:20:47.640 --> 00:20:50.119 mechanism that keeps the limitless mindset anchored 00:20:50.119 --> 00:20:52.500 to reality. Bringing this all together for your 00:20:52.500 --> 00:20:55.380 own career, it really is a complete operational 00:20:55.380 --> 00:20:58.920 system. Look up and decide to jump into the unmapped 00:20:58.920 --> 00:21:01.240 path, trusting that you can lay the track as 00:21:01.240 --> 00:21:03.980 the train is moving. Become an activator, shifting 00:21:03.980 --> 00:21:06.819 all your cognitive load to how to make it happen 00:21:06.819 --> 00:21:09.349 rather than why it will fail. Play the co -op 00:21:09.349 --> 00:21:12.470 game in every negotiation, using deal sense to 00:21:12.470 --> 00:21:15.869 ensure everyone's value increases. Adopt the 00:21:15.869 --> 00:21:18.210 Rule of One More to leverage your daily actions 00:21:18.210 --> 00:21:20.549 into massive impact for the people coming up 00:21:20.549 --> 00:21:23.609 behind you. And finally, stay humble enough to 00:21:23.609 --> 00:21:26.289 pause your ego and listen when someone tells 00:21:26.289 --> 00:21:28.130 you that you are heading in the wrong direction. 00:21:28.430 --> 00:21:30.130 Before we sign off, I want to toss it over to 00:21:30.130 --> 00:21:32.170 you for a final thought. Yeah, there's an unmentioned 00:21:32.170 --> 00:21:34.009 application of this source material that I think 00:21:34.009 --> 00:21:36.450 is really worth pondering today. We discussed 00:21:36.450 --> 00:21:39.039 the Rule of One More. Primarily in terms of helping 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:42.000 other people. Right. But consider applying the 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:44.519 rule of one more to the way you consume information 00:21:44.519 --> 00:21:47.619 and interact with your environment. What if today 00:21:47.619 --> 00:21:50.279 you asked just one more why about a corporate 00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:53.130 process you assumed was set in stone? Or ask 00:21:53.130 --> 00:21:55.809 one more genuine question of a colleague whose 00:21:55.809 --> 00:21:58.069 motivations you thought you completely understood. 00:21:58.490 --> 00:22:01.049 Exactly. What artificial limit in your own professional 00:22:01.049 --> 00:22:03.630 life might you accidentally dismantle simply 00:22:03.630 --> 00:22:06.329 by asking for one more piece of the puzzle? Ask 00:22:06.329 --> 00:22:09.150 one more why. I love that. The next time you 00:22:09.150 --> 00:22:11.170 find yourself staring up at a drop ceiling in 00:22:11.170 --> 00:22:13.769 a meeting room, just remember what is waiting 00:22:13.769 --> 00:22:16.250 right on the other side of it. Thank you for 00:22:16.250 --> 00:22:18.369 joining us on this deep dive. Keep looking at 00:22:18.369 --> 00:22:20.250 the blue sky and we'll catch you next time.