WBC PODCAST
WBC PODCAST
MARCH 16,2026 #007 M.SIMPSON (THINGS THAT REQUIRE ZERO TALENT)
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In this episode of Talkin’ Grit, M. Simpson sits down to talk about the 10 Things That Require Zero Talent. He shares how simple actions like attitude, effort, and being on time can make a big difference in both work and everyday life.
From the job site to the office, from lessons learned to stories worth telling, this is Talking Grit, brought to you by Wright Brothers. Here's your host, Jared Walger.
SPEAKER_02All right, welcome back to Talking Grit. We've got a great conversation with you uh coming up today. Um, Mitchell, we're gonna get into some really practical things. Um, nothing that's uh ultimately revolutionary, but extremely important for uh you know people just uh to get a handle on. I think something that no matter if um you know you're brand new to this, uh walking onto the job side or you've been here 30 years, it's stuff that everyone can pay attention to and just say, you know what? Okay, I can glean from that. So why don't you explain um this talk today uh and and just where we're headed with this conversation because it's it's gonna be a good one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so a couple years ago I had the opportunity to speak at the Pi Center graduation when uh you had the kids graduating in the spring semester. And what I talked about was 10 things that require zero talent.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Not an original idea by me, it's something that I saw online one day, but it just stuck with me that I wanted to convey that to these kids that as they're getting out, you know, it's something that you know any and all of us can do. Absolutely. So here's the quick list, and then we can kind of walk through it. Number one, being on time, two, work ethic, three, effort, four, energy, five, body language, six, passion, seven, doing extra, eight, being prepared, nine, being coachable, and ten, attitude. So I laid that out to those kids, and the reason I did was, you know, anytime it seems like I talk to kids anymore, they always want to know what have they got to do to get ahead in life, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, you're in the middle of the Pi Center, Jared. Don't you hear that all the time?
SPEAKER_02Oh, a hundred percent. You know, they're they're like, you know, where am I going with this? What do I need to do? Um, and I feel like a lot of times they want uh this magic formula of, you know, X, Y, and Z things that I need to do. Really, it's more about who you need to be.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's right. That's right. It's there's really not a golden ticket to getting ahead in life. It's all about being consistent and process of development. That's right. That's right. It's it's these things right here. So let's just walk through these here. So being on time, you know, for supervisors is they're trying to set up a day and keep things going, you know, the foreman and the superintendents, one thing that's drives them crazy is if people aren't on time. Right. Yeah. You know, there's a there's a beginning and an end to everything. And if you ain't there and they can't get going, you know, you gotta scramble around and change everything every day. It's just hard to set it set the day off right if you're not on time. So um, big deal there. Nothing that you really gotta learn from there. You gotta you don't have to go to school to learn about how to be on time.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01It's just one of those known things you gotta do.
SPEAKER_02Right. And it seems like, you know, the the whole idea, you know, just just be on time, especially if it's somebody that's uh that's new to a crew, you're gonna establish trust. Yeah, quickly. Just be on time, show up. And you know, somebody always told me this whole idea of, you know, if you're uh if you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late. Uh if you're late, then well, then we got problems. Then we got a problem. Right. Uh, but you know, I think, you know, especially for a lot of these young guys, you know, establish that trust by being on time because when when you don't show up, when you don't make the call, when you don't send the text, when you don't, you know, no communication, um, you know, that one, you're not gonna last. Uh, but two, um, you know, you don't want to ever establish yourself as that guy that's rolling in on the uh, you know, on two wheels, um, screeching up. You know, get there early um and uh and and be on time, ready for the day.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. And then the next one that falls in behind that is work ethic.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So here's what Wikipedia says about work ethic. Work ethic is a belief that work and diligence have a moral benefit, an inherent ability, virtue, or value to strengthen character and individual abilities. A moral benefit. So, you know, just knowing and having that embedded in you that work is of value, that it's a valuable thing. It's not something that we just need to throw aside. You can see that and how people operate in their lives. Oh, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02And I think a lot of people have this idea of like they want to do as little as possible. That doesn't work in our industry. No, and doesn't. You can't just be like, I'm gonna do the bare minimum, give as little, you know, uh, you know, provide as little work ethic as possible and just just to get by. Yeah. You know, you can't live like that.
SPEAKER_01Can't live like that, can't live like that. And that's just one of those things that you can see is embedded in people and you just see how they act every day.
SPEAKER_02Right. Right. You know, and and you know, talk to some of these um maybe newer, younger guys out there. Um, what does work ethic speak, you know, when when somebody that's been around for a while sees a young guy coming in and they show that work ethic, how important is that to some of our seasoned guys and they see, you know, somebody that's new or somebody that's that's younger, and they're just out there getting after after it. What what does that do in the minds of the guys around them? Does that uh trigger something where there's like, okay, we got somebody that's that's different, that's not like run of the mill. Absolutely. I think that's so important for these young guys to just really understand it's like, all right, you know, when you show up and you put put forth that effort and that work ethic, it speaks, you know, it's another layer of building trust. You're not just on time, but you're there to there to work.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So that's a good segue into the third point. Effort. Right. Right. So effort doesn't say that you gotta know everything. Effort simply says you're willing to put forth the work to make it happen. You may not know it, but you're willing to put the effort in. That's that's a big deal. That's a big deal.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, just having the willingness to try. Yeah. I don't know everything, but hey, show me. Show me here.
SPEAKER_01Show me, show me, try.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Next one's the energy. So you can just see some people that have energy and those that don't. Right. Um, everybody likes to be around the energetic person that's always pushing, always pulling, always trying to make it happen. You know, if you look at the leaders in our business today, when you think of energy, you know, some of the people that jump out to me is like Jeff Ball. Lots of energy. He's always moving. Yeah. He's one of these people that everybody always wants to follow. Jeff has energy. Right? Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Um, and I think too, you know, energy goes back. It it kind of almost speaks to this whole like, you know, to have energy, a lot of times it goes back to how are you taking care of yourself? Yep. You know, what's happening on the weekend, what's happening the night before, you gotta show back up to work, you know, are are you sleeping enough? Are you eating right? Are you doing the things that are gonna help you be at your best when you're on the job? And uh, you know, energy part of it, you know, is hey, yeah, I'm I'm showing up, I'm energetic, I'm I'm wanting to be here. But a lot of it comes down to uh the way you're treating your body as well. Uh it's where you can physically have the energy you need to be able to be like, all right, um, I'm ready to attack the day. Yep, no doubt.
SPEAKER_01No doubt. Next one up's body language. It's an important one. It's an important one. So the thing that jumps out of me of body language is you know, for a lot of these projects that we have now, they're the alternative delivery projects. We also have a lot of negotiated work. And with those, every one of those opportunities, we've got to go give a presentation to the owner. We've got to give a proposal. And one of the things that we really talk about when we're doing those is look, it's not just about how and what you say, it's how you look. Right. It's your facial expressions. Right. Are you are you showing confidence? Are you showing that you're plugged in? One of the things I always gripe to my kids about is hey, look at people in the eye when they're talking to you. Absolutely. I mean, that's a that's a big deal. The same way. Absolutely. Body language shows if you're plugged in and if you're paying attention, if you're confident, it matters. Right.
SPEAKER_02And you know, nowadays we've got uh a younger generation that's looking people in the eye less and less, and they're shaking hands less and less. And we could probably get on a rant about screens and about distractions and about all this kind of stuff, but you know, there really is something to it. You know, that body language of are you connected, are you engaged, um, you know, the power of a of a good handshake, you know, um, all this stuff seems so small, but really, you know, it goes a long way. So if if you're younger out there, you know, look look somebody in the eye, you know, shake their hand, stand up straight. That is gonna give off an air of, you know, professionalism. Hey, I'm hearing what you have to say. Hey, I'm I'm I'm present in what we're doing. So, so important.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Totally matters. Body language totally matters, and it's one of those things that they just don't teach you in school. Right. They don't get taught that in school. You gotta, you gotta, you gotta know that, you gotta think about it, and you gotta be for sure about how you present yourself.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and and nowadays the generation has to grow into it. And a lot of times, you know, especially some of these these younger guys need they need men around them, mentoring them, yeah, you know, yeah, and and helping them grow into stuff that maybe they're not getting, you know, uh throughout their teenage years. That's an easy one to fix.
SPEAKER_01It is an easy one to fix it, but you know, stuff you gotta be cognizant of. Exactly. So the next one up is passion. Passion, you know, this is one of those things that so many of our people do well. You know, they're passionate about what we do every day. You know, you you can't get up and do what we do every day and not have passion and pride about what we're doing. Right. To look around and see everything that happens every day. You know, right. I think about the guys that are in the field that are really making this happen for us, you know, Victor Barrera, passionate about what he's doing. Yeah. Mark Jenkins, Sean Ryder, Whit, Brandon. Look, I I know I'm missing people, but you know, those are people that I see that have a passion about wanting to make sure that what they do is right every day and they're all in. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02100%. And you you talk to so many guys in our company, you know, passionate about what they do. You can go over uh to the shop and talk to Barry Wynn, and he's he's passionate about you know these machines and the maintenance and the upkeep and you know, loves what he does. And it's it's awesome to see people that love what they do. I mean, I you know, I didn't have a construction background coming into this. And you know, starting my time with Wright Brothers, it was fascinating, you know, learning an entire different side of life that you know I had no clue about and getting baptized into that of just like, man, this is awesome. And seeing people passionate about what they do, building their community, building roads, building stuff that's gonna last. And it's made me passionate about it when I, you know, sit in, you know, these award ceremonies for our annual meetings and people that have gone the extra mile and have done these special projects and the way that they've impacted uh you know all of the Southeast. You know, you can't help but be like, man, I'm I'm proud of you know what this company does, you know, makes you want to show up to work every day. Yeah. So cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's a lot of passion here at Ron Brothers, and a lot of people do that, and that's what makes us great. Yeah. One of the things that makes us great. 100%. Doing extra, you know, when I started out in the industry, I was working at another organization when I started, and uh, you know, I was an estimator, and I would estimate a job, I'd get done with whatever I was doing. I was always asking for more. I was always asking for more. I know I drove my supervisor crazy because of that. He told me that one day. He's like, Look, enough, you're done. But um, you know, you gotta always want to do a little bit extra. Yeah. You want to get ahead. Right. If you want to get ahead, you gotta always want to do a little bit extra. And you know, I remember Steve telling me the story about Robert telling the guy once, the guy asked him for a raise, and Robert said, Well, hey, you can stay here extra, you can help fuel and oil the equipment. Right. If you if you want to get ahead in life, you gotta be willing to do a little bit extra.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. And I think that goes back to this whole you know mindset of people want to do the bare minimum and get get paid for it, you know. Uh how can I get by doing as little as possible? Here, you got to flip that mindset. What else can I do? You know, and if you're if you're on time, if you got good work ethic, if you're putting forth the effort and the energy and you know, your your passion, your body language, you know, that should lead naturally to doing extra and showing up a little bit earlier, hey, what can I help with? Um staying a little bit late, uh what can I help with? Um throughout the day, if you get done with something, looking for something else to do, even if it's you know, something that just a minimal task, organizing something, moving something, helping out, just do extra.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, if you want to move forward in life, if you just stay status quo, you're gonna stay status quo. What you get is what you get at that point. That's right. I mean, if you if you want to move forward and you want to go places in life, doing extra is just one of those requirements. Right.
SPEAKER_02You gotta do it. And it doesn't take an extra certification, it doesn't take a a class, it doesn't take a degree. Um, doing extras is doing extra, all this stuff doesn't take anything. Um, you know, it's not rocket science. It's not gonna cost you money, it's just gonna, you know, maybe cost you a perspective shift in the way you approach your day.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 100%. But it'll uh there it'll be a huge life payoff in the long run. Next one up is being prepared. You know, just showing up to work, being ready to go to work, being ready is an amazing thing, right? Having the right mindset, right, ready to go, not be thinking about everything else that's going on in the world, being ready to hit the ground running. Being prepared is a real requirement for each and every one of us every day. Absolutely. Um you know, the being prepared thing in my mind falls into how we end up with some accidents at times. You know, people's minds are drifting, people aren't paying attention to what they're doing because they're not prepared, they're not mentally prepared to be doing what they're doing. Right.
SPEAKER_02Right. And I think, you know, most people would probably look at, all right, being prepared for work, do I have the stuff that I need? Yeah. You know, do I have all my PPE? And do I got, you know, the the tools? Do I have what I need for the the day, so to speak, but maybe meant mentally, you know, they miss the mental side of preparedness, of, you know, am I ready for this day mentally to be able to give what I need to give to be safe, uh, to keep the guys around me safe, to do the job that that I need to do. And, you know, I think you know, everybody has to handle that differently. Um, but finding that way that works for you to get mentally prepared for the day, whether it's getting up earlier, whether it's making lists, whether it's, you know, um on your commute in, you know, listening to podcast or music or something like that, but you know, finding a way that by the time that the that day's beginning, being able to be in the zone and say, all right, I'm I'm ready to go, I'm locked in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And especially with what we're doing, it matters, right? Absolutely. It matters. You got you gotta you gotta have the right head space whenever you show up on the job site. It's dangerous if you don't. That's right, for yourself and for everybody else. Right. Uh being coachable. So, you know, I've had opportunity over the years to coach some of my kids' teams. Uh, you know, I've coached flag football, I've coached basketball, uh, neither one of them to great success, but I've been there. But it's always funny to me, even with you know, kids that are ages six, seven, up to twelve, you can see different personalities. And you can tell the ones that are coachable and the ones that already know it all. Right. Yeah. And even at that age, you have that. And as you get older, being coachable matters. If you're not willing to learn and grow and have somebody be willing to coach you and teach you, man, what a big deal that is. You grow so much when you find somebody that's willing to coach you and teach you. And if you're not willing to do that, it's a hard road.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you're missing out. You know, I think you know, if if you're a young guy out there listening, look, find these seasoned veterans and let wisdom and experience speak to you. Ask them to tell you their stories. Um, ask them uh what they've seen, what they've done. Lean on these guys that have been there, done that, bought the t-shirt, and be coachable because we have a wealth of knowledge within our company, guys that have done this for so long that uh, you know, they've got things to say and you know, battle stories that uh that that can be shared that so many young guys coming into this um can really glean from, you know, and having that mindset of just like, man, I I don't know it all. So somebody help me. Yeah, teach me, coach me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Be coachable, be coachable. So hey, when I think about being coachable, one of the the the great sports figures of my childhood, Michael Jordan, right? Right, okay, the goat. Yeah, greatest ever. Don't care what anybody else thinks, greatest ever, right? But who was he coachable by? I mean, Dean Smith, right? Phil Jackson, right? You know, that guy, as good as he was, always had somebody that was pouring into him. Yeah. Find somebody to coach you guys. Find somebody to coach you. Listen, learn, grow. Even if you are the greatest in the world, you gotta be coachable.
SPEAKER_02Right. And you know what? There might be a number 11 on this list. Yeah. You just said an important word, listen. Oh. You know, if being coachable, yeah, that that's great to have that mindset, but you gotta actually open your ears and listen. Yeah. There's a lot of people that just don't want to listen. Yeah. Huge part of this is listen. What's being said, retain it, take it to heart.
SPEAKER_01Great point. Great point. And then number 10, attitude. Huge one. Kind of sums up everything we've just talked about here. You know, attitude kind of encompasses it all. Um, you know, how are you gonna present yourself every day? What is your attitude? Yeah. You know, when you walk through the door, when you show up for work, are you gonna have the attitude of all the things we just talked about? Or are you just gonna be closed off, show up, don't want to be approached, impossible. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's that's what it is. It's all it's all what's the attitude.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And attitudes are contagious. Yes. Negative attitudes can spread like a wildfire. But you know what? A good attitude can be effective on a team as well. You know, if you got somebody that's upbeat, that's that's energetic, that's ready, um, that's just got a good attitude, even despite difficulties difficulties, we've all experienced those. But despite that, you know, having just having a good attitude about life, I mean, that's gonna affect others. Um, and that's important on a team. Yeah. Important on a crew for sure. So, you know, can you carry a good Good attitude with you day in and day out. Not saying everything's perfect, but having that uh attitude that um is gonna carry you and others throughout the day in a positive way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So look, Jared, I've got my three words for the year, you know, invest, improve, measure, and I think we can take these ten things that require zero talent, and we can apply those to invest, improve, and measure. So invest in yourself for being on time, having work ethic, putting forth effort, showing energy, having proper body language, having passion, doing a little bit extra, showing up prepared mentally, being coachable, and having the right attitude. And then number 11, listening. Right. Listening. Invest in yourself to do those things, and then really work on improving those things, guys. You know, all of us across the board, me included, we got to do this to be good teammates, right? To do what we need to do here at Right Brothers. And look, you can measure yourself on this too.
SPEAKER_02You can measure yourself on this. It can be a checklist of like, you know what? Hey, I'm doing pretty good on this, this, and this, but you know what? I need to do better at that. And I see that. I'm gonna be honest about it, I want to do better at that. You know, kind of a measuring stick of like, okay, where am I at? And these, you know, these 10, 11 things, these simple things. Because if you if you invest the time and effort to do these things right, you're going to improve. Yeah. And then can continually measure um, you know, your progress and and not just what you're doing, but who you are, because this is going to affect who you are as a person, as a whole.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I mean it'll make you better personally, it'll make the company better, make us all better. Absolutely. At the end of the day, we want to continue to grow. We want to continue to invest in ourselves, improve, and measure and see where we're going. Absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Well, let's wrap this up. And Mitchell, thank you. These are, you know, it's a list that's simple, uh, but it's important. And it's something that I think that if all of us take this to heart, it's going to make us all better. And when we all get better, everything gets better. Um, this company is going to keep moving forward further, faster. And so, guys, uh, thank you uh for tuning into Talk and Grit wherever you're at. Um, have a safe rest of the day. And remember, feedback, uh, send us an email at podcast at WBCCI. Thank you so much for joining us on Talk and Grit.
SPEAKER_00That's gonna do it for this episode of Talk and Grit. Thanks for listening, and thanks to everyone out there putting in the work day in and day out. If you liked what you heard, be sure to follow the show and share it with someone who knows the value of hard work. We'll catch you next time right here on Talking Grit.