Moe and Ido discuss modern entrepreneurship and accelerated brand-building.
Learning To Say ‘Yes’
Written by Moe Abdou
When Google’s executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt was asked to deliver the 139th Commencement address to Boston University’s 2012 graduating class, he encouraged them to be smart enough to ignore anyone who might hint that their thinking is too big, to be dumb enough to take a shot when someone thinks the odds are too small, and perhaps most important of all, to ‘say yes’ as often as possible.
I’m an eternal optimist, still hearing him elaborate on the power of ‘yes’ helped me internalize a new frame by which I see a more inspiring world. So as he said, imagine if you could “Find a way to say yes to things. Say yes to invitations to a new country, say yes to meet new friends, say yes to learn something new. Yes is how you get your first job, and your next job, and your spouse, and even your kids. Even if it’s a bit edgy, a bit out of your comfort zone, saying yes means that you will do something new, meet someone new, and make a difference. Yes lets you stand out in a crowd, be the optimist, see the glass full, be the one everyone comes to. Yes is what keeps us all young.”
In 2006, soccer teammates Ido Leffler and Lance Kalish started to imagine a world where beauty product were natural, chemical free and produced entirely out of fruits and vegetables. As is always the case, it was a far-fetched idea to the rest world, still they jumped in and the “Yes To” brand was born. In less than eight years, not only have they reshaped an entire industry, they did it with the promise of making the world a healthier place. In their book – Get Big Fast and Do More Good: Start Your Business, Make it Huge, and Change the World – they chronicle how ‘saying yes’ ignites their growth.