When Skimming the Surface Sinks Your Potential

Thinking patterns can make or break your career trajectory, and nowhere is this more evident than in how people approach new information. Our conversation today dives into the fascinating case of "Sal," a recent graduate whose dismissive attitude toward required reading reveals deeper issues with professional thinking.

When Sal told their manager that important job documentation was "boring" and only deserved skimming, they unknowingly demonstrated one of the most career-limiting mindsets possible. We explore why the rejection of reading and learning isn't merely a personal preference but a subtle form of workplace defiance. Whether you prefer physical books with margin notes, e-readers for convenience, or audiobooks during commutes, the willingness to deeply engage with new information remains non-negotiable for professional success.

The discussion moves beyond reading preferences to examine how early workplace behaviors reveal fundamental thinking patterns. What initially appears as simple disinterest often masks arrogance and resistance to organizational norms. We challenge the notion that completing formal education means learning is finished, highlighting how even CEOs must regularly do things they don't particularly enjoy for the greater good of their organizations. The conversation provides valuable insights for both leaders evaluating new team members and professionals seeking to advance their careers through improved thinking.

Have you encountered someone who proudly proclaims "I don't read"? Or perhaps you've worked with someone who believes their prior education makes ongoing learning optional? Share your experiences with these thinking patterns and how they've impacted workplace success in your organization.

Episode Transcript

Karman (00:01):
Good morning Scott and Tammy.
Good morning Karmen.

Scott (00:06):
What's going down, Karmen ?

Karman (00:09):
You seem kind of sassy today, Scott.

Scott (00:13):
I'm extra sassy today.

Karman (00:15):
Extra sassy Okay.

Tammy (00:18):
What happened that made you extra sassy?

Scott (00:21):
Oh, it's just Monday.
You're supposed to be extrasassy on Monday extra sassy, oh
it's just Monday You're supposedto be sassy on Monday.

Tammy (00:32):
We'll look at your sass stores over the weekend and then
full on on Monday morning.
I was watching Ted Lasso, soover the weekend, and there's a
character named.

Scott (00:43):
Sassy.
So now I'm thinking of thatcharacter in Scott.
Yes, and she's pretty slutty.

Tammy (00:49):
Well, I don't know if you consider the fact that she, you
know, is single and sleeps withmen slutty.
I guess that's depends on yourperspective.

Scott (00:59):
I guess we'd have to look up the definition of slut.

Karman (01:06):
Well, while we're talking about ways that we label
people, last night I was on adog walk with my neighbor,
cheryl, and Cheryl was tellingme about a new person in her
office and we'll just call thisnew person Sal and Sal is a

(01:28):
recent, recently graduated withan advanced degree.
This is Sal's first likeprofessional, you know adult job
, big boy, big girl job, okayyeah right and Sal was given
some documentation to startreading as part of their job,

(01:50):
like the thing that they'regoing to need to do the tasks,
the work for their work.
And a couple days later Sal'sboss checks in with Sal, like
you know how's it going, and Salsays, oh, that was all pretty
boring.
I just kind of skimmed it andalso, like the one class I had

(02:18):
on this topic in graduate school, like yeah, you know, we kind
of talked about that a littlebit in my graduate class and so
thinking about Sal made me thinkabout your new book.
Think and how there are somepersonality types, personas that

(02:47):
you describe in this book, thathave some of the same kind of
shortcut thinking that Sal seemsto be tended toward.
And I wanted this morning foryou to have a chance to tell us
all about a couple of thesepersonas and what happens when
people think that way.

Tammy (03:05):
I love that.
And, by the way, there are lotsof people in the world not just
Sal who, for whatever reason,don't think that they need to
read, right, and so there isthat piece as well, which is not

(03:25):
a persona in the book, but itis a point that we make that.
Honestly, if you want to be agood, a deep, a reasonable
thinker, that reading isactually a skillset that will
help you do that, and you don'teven have to read business books
.
You can read fiction and stillhelp your brain to function even

(03:47):
better.
And so it's always interestingto me when people come into the
workforce and they think youknow, woohoo, I'm done with
school, I no longer have to everread.
That's actually not good foryour brain, right?
So I think that's interesting.
That sales like, yeah, I justskimmed it because I was bored,
right, I skimmed it because Iwasn't interested, and of course

(04:09):
, I don't know how long salewill be, you know, employed,
when you tell your boss itwasn't interesting.

Scott (04:21):
And I know this isn't the podcast topic, but I'm curious
like is Sal still employed rightnow?
And again, we don't have fullcontext about what was the
content and how important was it.
All those other things and,Tammy, I do have to disagree
with you slightly.
You don't have to read.

Tammy (04:41):
You could listen.

Scott (04:44):
Well, and you could choose to not do it at all.
No audio books, no reading, andthat is a choice, and there are
consequences or outcomes withthat.
You will not grow, you will notfully understand, you will be
susceptible to fake news or anyother piece, and that is okay,

(05:08):
that is a choice, and you thenkind of have to like deal with
it.

Tammy (05:13):
Scott, I mean, that is that is true to me.
However, this thing where it'slike I've had a lot of people
tell me just in the last fewweeks I don't, I don't read.
You know, like read, why would?
Why would you read?
Okay, I think about that choiceand the impact that it has on

(05:35):
that human being.
Okay, so, not even just sale inthis situation.
I mean, when people start withus, scott, they get what?
Six, seven books, yep, andbefore they ever, ever, ever
start with us, we send themthose books and it is an
expectation that those books areread so that people can have a

(06:00):
basic understanding of how wesee the world, what our culture
is going to be like, how webelieve leadership needs to
happen, how we believe teamneeds to happen.
I mean, there's so many piecesabout that that the books are
helping us help our staff onboard and become a successful

(06:22):
member of this organization.
So, this thing where if wehired someone and they didn't
read those books, that would bean issue.

Scott (06:31):
Oh yeah, and there's a piece where we have a
responsibility to do some sortof follow-up, to check in to see
have they read the book, havethey understood it, are they
applying it?
I mean, there's levels ofunderstanding that we have to
reinforce if it is truly thatimportant Right of understanding

(06:52):
that we have to reinforce, ifit is truly that important Right
, and I think it's.
I'm kind of chuckling becauseI'm like maybe we need to start
having some default responseswhen someone says, well, I don't
read.
Maybe one of them, like do younot know how?

Tammy (07:07):
It's possible.

Scott (07:08):
To Sal's point, maybe it's boring for them and I know
like this is a place, tammy, youand I differ.
Like I put all of my books onan iPad and I read them.
You know I read them in theKindle app and I know you prefer
a hard physical copy.
Now I can tell you the rest ofmy family prefers a hard

(07:30):
physical copy that they can turn, flip and, like I'm lazy, I
don't want to carry carry allthat shit and I do all of my fun
reading on a kindle right, andso, honestly, when I travel I
bring my kindle.

Tammy (07:48):
It's tiny, it small.
I do everything on the Kindle,it's great, but I don't have to
remember it, so it's more likemind candy it comes in and it
leaves my brain right, yeah.
When I want to, like, readsomething and I want to say how
does that incorporate into mylife and my thinking?

(08:08):
Right, if that's a book thatlike, I think there's something
in there for me.
I want to be able to turn pages, I want to be able to write
things in the margins, I want tobe able to reference stuff.
I mean, if you go through booksthat I've done, you'll find
notes all over it and it willeven have clients names on it.
I should have said this to John, right?
I mean it's like it'scompletely because that's how I

(08:35):
can retain it, just personally.
So I don't think that there's aright or wrong way.
I mean even audio books.
It's not the way that I want toexperience a book.
That doesn't mean it's wrong.
There's some research, thoughthat says, you know, putting new
information into our brains isactually helpful for all of us

(08:55):
and this person's sale.
How do you start a job and tellyour boss that was boring?
I know I'm old school, I get it.
I understand the generationthat I was raised in and brought
into the workplace.
I just cannot imagine sayingthose words out loud.
I had an old business partnerand anytime anybody used the

(09:17):
word boring, she would say well,only boring people are boring.

Scott (09:23):
Yes, I think it's interesting.
You know, this whole thingabout Sal saying hey, it's
boring, this whole thing aboutSal saying hey, it's boring If
we assume that it's a jobrequirement, tammy, I don't know
.
I think you and I feel the sameway If someone said, hey, this
is boring.
Now I probably am going to asksome questions.

(09:49):
I'm going to work to understand.
I love the fact that apparentlySal learned all of this in
graduate school.
I guess that means he knows howto do it and he's ready to go,
and I can expect performancetoday.

Tammy (09:59):
You know, scott, I probably in this particular case
would be very forthright andsay something like huh, you
found that boring.
Yes, do you think it's arequirement for work?

(10:19):
It's a requirement for work and, depending on sales, response
to that question is probablygoing to be sales opportunity to
stay in the organization.
So I'm probably a little bitmore short tempered than you

(10:40):
would be in that, and so I'mglad that you're going to ask a
lot of questions, you know.

Karman (10:42):
Seek to understand, I am going to oh, scott's still
super pissed.
He's just backing Sal into acorner so that you know Sal like
withers and dies there.
Nobody's nicer than the otherone here.
Let's just be clear.

Tammy (11:01):
Well, I will admit I probably won't back him into a
corner, but I'll give him onechance.
One chance and that's it I will.

Scott (11:09):
I think my first question to me is my is his first chance
?
Okay, yeah, which, again, Idon't think is the intent of our
, of our conversation here.
It's more of the how are youconsuming, synthesizing and
using new information that youreceive, and reading is one way.

(11:30):
It could be audio books.
Now, some people might do thatvia YouTube, via blog.
I don't know that that mattersso much.

Tammy (11:42):
It does.
From one standpoint, if youlearn how to do XYZ in college
and then you come into anorganization, the organization
may do it in a different way andit is our job to figure out how

(12:04):
the organization does it, whythe organization does that, and
it's possible that we can helpthe organization upgrade Okay,
but the idea that you have goneand done it someplace else means
that you know how thisorganization goes about doing it
is extremely arrogant and it is, in the end, an organizational

(12:29):
requirement that you align, andso, from my standpoint, that's.
That is as much of this as asanything else.
And if the organizational normis, here's the information and
read it.
Unless there is some kind ofcognitive issue so that that
can't happen and we've decidedto not make any accommodations

(12:52):
to that, or we can makeaccommodations to that the fact
of the matter is you need toread it.
That is the organizational norm.
And again, it seems like it'snot defiant.
When somebody says it wasboring, but it actually is
defiant, they are defying whattheir boss has provided for them

(13:13):
in order for them to besuccessful.
And honestly, carmen, I knowwe're not answering your
questions and maybe you'll haveto ask that in another blog.
With that said, however, Ireally struggle when someone is
defiant over something that isso simple inside of an
organization.

(13:33):
There's no moral implications,there's no ethical implications.
This is just a an employeepreference, and sometimes
employees need to understandthat they have to do stuff they
don't like to do.
And, trust me, there's stuff asa ceo I I don't want to do and

(13:56):
I have to do it anyway in orderfor it to be good for the staff,
for the organization, forclients, and so this thing that
I only want to do what I want todo when I want to do it.
Yeah it's not okay.
It's not okay, and so this forme in this spot, this is a great

(14:19):
example about how individuals,early on in their tenure with
your organization, show theirtrue colors, and we can say this
is a one-off for sale, or wecan say this needs to be nipped
in the bud and found out if thisis something that sale can

(14:39):
adapt to and adjust, or if saleneeds to leave the organization.