Victor Cruz, Justin Tuck, & Kristyn Cook On Why They Don't Settle In Football Or The Boardroom

The pressure around don't settle means you are showing up, whether it's in the arena, in the stadium, boardroom. You're choosing to bet on yourself or your team, even though odds are against you. You're choosing to choose hard. Hello, everyone. We feeling good? I love to hear it. I love the energy, the theme of today's panel, which is don't settle. Thank you so much, of course, to Rich and Boardroom for making this happen and to State Farm. I'm really excited to dive into this conversation, because as you can see, we have such a rich diversity of voices and experiences up here. And I have so many questions to ask you all about just how this don't settle mindset has propelled you and your career. So I'm going to start with you, Victor. All of you have pushed boundaries in a lot of different ways, from the field to the front office, to the boardroom. But when you hear that phrase, don't settle, what does it mean to you personally? Oh, man, for me, don't settle. I mean, that's been my mindset, you know, since I was young. I was never the tallest. I was never the fastest. I was never the strongest in any team or sport atmosphere that I played in. But I was always the one who was willing to do the most. I was always the one that was willing to stay later and work harder and and try to be faster or be as fast and to raise my game to the caliber of the guys that I looked up to on every respective team that I played on. So that term never settled something that follows me each and every day that I played a sport, even now outside of the game, when I'm doing deals, when I'm having these conversations about things that I want to do outside of the game. That term of whatever my mindset is built towards, whatever I want, I want to go get that. I never want to settle on. Oh, let's just do like let's just open one Crystal's fast food chain. No, I want five. Like, let's do five and let's put my name on all of them and put my jersey number in the front of the store and put my memorabilia all over this bad boy. And like, I'm not settling for just one, you know what I mean? So that mindset has just it's just been part of my DNA since I was since I was a kid. And we also I got to say, we got to give it up for the fit. Look at Victor Cruz, ladies and gentlemen. I knew I was coming to visit some esteemed people, some ladies and gentlemen. I can't correct it. We're growing out the beard. I mean, we're just we're checking. I'm going to turn this way because I feel better and tuck is hating. I've sensed hate coming from the left. I wish I know the history of that conversation that they're having right now between me and Vic. Hey, we have lots of time. We'll get to that in the end. Yeah, Kristen, for you, what has known settlement in your life? I think to your point, mindset is everything. And to me, it's about how you handle pressure. And I had the good fortune last year, actually, to connect with Billie Jean King, who kind of coined my favorite phrase. Pressure is a privilege. It only comes to those who earn it. And so the pressure around don't settle means you are showing up, whether it's in the arena, in the stadium, boardroom, like in the meeting, like you're showing up and you're making choices. You're choosing to bet on yourself or your team, even though odds are against you. You're choosing to choose hard and to handle hard better because sometimes the easy path. It's nice sometimes, right, to take the easy path. But when you're choosing to bet on yourself, too, and remembering who you are and that's where authenticity lives and then sometimes being vulnerable, too. And so I think the not settling piece, it just unlocks so much potential in terms of what's possible wrapped around that pressure, which is like, you know what? You want to feel it like it makes you feel alive. I love that. How long did it take you to really redefine what pressure meant in your life? I think I might not have been on the football field, but early on, I built an affinity for a wonderful sport called basketball and developed a love of the game. And, you know, it was back home in little Washington, PA, the court there. And then it took me to Syracuse where I got to play basketball as well. And so I'm just a corporate athlete now. And so my game has changed. And so those core principles that you learn being part of a team and shooting your shot and the scoreboard never lies, right? Those things kind of stick with you. And so it's it's just kind of the essence of who I am way back when. Wow. Corporate athletes. I love that. Yeah, it's so good. Let me put that in my pocket. Take that one for later. That was a chat GPT. Thank you very much. No, corporate athlete is so good and a great segue to the corporate athlete in the flesh. Yeah. The one and only Justin Tuck. What is don't settle for you? I mean, listen, you just heard two phenomenal depiction of what that means. I would add that for me, it just meant I always wanted to be a chameleon with any room I walked into. I always wanted to take something from someone else and make it my own. I do not believe in reinventing the wheel. I think there's people that go before us in any sector, anything we do in life that has paved the way for us to at least not have the same pitfalls as other people. So for me, no, don't settle is in some phrase. That means, you know, whatever whatever business I'm doing or whatever sport I'm playing or whatever, do as much of that business as you can as a big attest to it. Vic played the slot. He returned punts. He showed up early. He was the person that was leading meeting rooms, et cetera, et cetera. He did as much for the team as he could do. I played the tackle linebacker, the end. I've actually walked out and covered people like Vic, not successfully, but because they asked me to do it, I did it. But I want to know everything that was about football. And I think that allowed me to be the best player I could be. Now, in the role I play for Goldman Sachs, I want to know everything there is to know about finance, everything there is to know about our clients and how I can add value in that sector, because it makes it very difficult for you to get replaced. Right. And, you know, I know in the world, in the world I live in, hopefully I can be one person doing five jobs. So it allows me to stick around a little bit longer than what I didn't. That was football for me. Stick around a little bit longer than what I should have probably stuck around because I did so many different things. So don't settle for me just means, you know what? Don't say no to an opportunity just because you don't know how to do it. Learn from the people who have done it before you and then go and make that thing your own thing. So that's what it means for me. Taylor, there's a term in football that I know Justin knows this one very well. And he alluded to it a little bit is the more you can do. And as football players, especially in the NFL, y'all know it ain't for long where there's injury that gets you or many other things. But we've always talked about the more things that you can do and bring to a team, whether that's return punts, play a little defense, play gunner, play special teams, be a wide receiver. Can you can you get the ball from the backfield, be a running back? Like the more things you can do, you become more of an asset to your respective team. And 31 other teams are watching that, too, which means they can also pick you up. If that team lets you go, you can go to another team and do those same things. And that can elongate your career. So I think that same mindset, I think a lot of successful players bring that to outside of the game when they retire as well, because we've been so keyed in on that particular mindset while we were athletes. And I want to think I know you got a lot of questions. I don't know. But like that also means to me, I've seen it where opportunities just start to find you your bosses or your boss's boss to say, oh, he could do that. Well, let's let's throw that in the mix and see how he handles it, how she handles that. And for you know it, you're you're elevating. And I just feel like, you know, every time I get the opportunity to learn a new craft or learn a new whatever, I'm just putting myself in a position to hopefully, you know, get paid on something extra, get an opportunity to do something extra, get an opportunity to see something new. You never know. Right. So like especially in a place like the NFL, like, you know, corporate finance, corporate whatever. Whenever you get the opportunity to say, you know what? I don't know about this, but here's an opportunity for me to grow. That typically leads back to more opportunities later on. I love this because what I hear you all talking about, of course, is is versatility and being a Swiss Army knife. But it's also about being open to newness. And there's like a real vulnerability in learning and trying things that you haven't done before. But to your point, there is a prize at the end because you're opening yourself up to new opportunities. But it can still be scary. So, Kristen, I'm curious how learning has opened things up for you and taking that step into the unknown. I think when I think about my career, it's the ups and downs, the arcs. And learning is always at the foundation. And I think first and foremost, it's pushing yourself sometimes to shoot your shot, whether or not it's getting your voice in the room and learning how, you know, to frame things so that people listen and not saying I think, but saying I recommend. And that comes off more strong. Right. It's also learning about you don't know what you don't know. And it's OK, because there's a lot of expertise that I have. But at the same time, you have to show the vulnerability, too, in terms of here's what I don't know. And oftentimes that's about surrounding yourself with really good people. A lot of them I have here in terms of being on a team. And so I think it's just that relentless pursuit. And I've often said that leadership is both an art and science and that you have to constantly study it. And for me, it was about I want to read about it. So sometimes I would grab a Harvard Business Review and consume that. Whatever it is, there's the academic side of it. Then there's the side of like watching. Right. And you're watching to say that more of that, because I know how that made me feel. Or maybe it's what you don't want to do, too. And so it's watching and learning. And then it's also doing. And I'm a big believer is that you have to fail forward. You have to skin your knees a little bit. But at the same time, you're moving forward. And it's the never stop learning. And you can't know everything at the end of the day. But you have to be really curious about life and people and things, because you bring that into looking at problems differently and how you might want to collaborate with people differently or how you want to lead your teams differently, too. And so I think it's a very important piece, especially with all the noise that we have out there today. If we all were more learners, I think that would help. When it comes to learning about leadership, who taught you the most? Oh, man, I hate to admit this, Taylor, right, I'll be honest. But that guy, you know, that guy, he was enough for Justin Tuck, everybody. You know, when you come into a locker room like the Giants, like when I did right as an undrafted free agent, I didn't even have a true locker in the locker room when I first came in. We had these don't laugh. We had these makeshift like lockers for not just the undrafted guys, but the rookies as well. All the rookies, you know, you don't you kind of got to earn a locker, which I respect that I wanted to earn a locker. But when you sit in those lockers, you look to your left and your right and there's all the guys that are already on the team in these beautiful lockers with chargers. They had charging stations back there. I mean, we didn't have one in the in the makeshift one. So they had just it was just beautiful. They had all their things in there. And like, you know, I watched the NFL my entire life and I aspire to like be in my locker and held a meeting with the media. And like that was one thing that I like, you know, was looking forward to, you know, so when I look to my left and I see Justin Tuck and OC Newman, you're on Eli Manning on the other side and Steve Smith at the time and Trell Rose now on our team and I'm looking around like, yo, these are guys that were real guys in college and in the NFL and like made their mark in this league. And I want to be like them. So I used to just watch how Justin Tuck moved. Watch how he spoke to the media, how he spoke to everyone with respect, with dignity, how he ridiculed some of the friends or some of the teammates that needed it, though, that needed a jolt so they can get a little bit extra out of them in practice this week or a little bit extra in this day of training camp when we got to get better today. Some days in training camp are lulls, right? But you lean on the leadership to inject that energy from time to time to show coach like, look, we can ramp it up when we need to. And then we can get back to just managing training camp and getting to where we need to be to ramp it back up for week one when the season really matters. So watching guys like Justin Tuck and watching him move around a locker room, speak to the media, helped me understand how to navigate not just my team and become a leader later on in my years, but how to handle New York City, how to handle the media, how to handle. You know, now now I get to go to Nick games with him and we sit down. You know, I I got the tutelage. I saw how to do it. And every Nick game, I got to go next. If anybody knows me, I'm at the Nick games. You know what I'm saying? So but that started with going with Tuck and seeing how he navigated that space and just being around. And and it just it just I just understood very early on what playing in New York City meant. And I think Tuck navigated that still does to the to the best of his ability. And I learned a lot, a lot from him. How does it hit you to know that your leadership work? Listen, I don't take any credit for that, other than the fact that someone taught me that, too. Right. And it's again, I use this phrase a lot. You hear me speak. You hear me say it a lot. I don't believe in reinventing the wheel. I learned from Michael Strahan. I learned from Coach Kaufman. I learned from all a lot of different people about how to navigate the things in which I wanted to to live in, especially for a kid who grew up in Kelton, Alabama. There's probably more people in this room than it is in Kelton, Alabama, to to come and be somewhat of a notable figure in the biggest and best city in the world. So it took a lot of the same things that Vic is telling you that he saw me do. I did the same things. Well, that was on the field or off. And for me, because I was very interested in the transition from sport. So a lot of my leadership qualities comes from hedge fund titans or private equity principals, because those are the things in which I aspire to do once I left football. This is very simple to say the fact that like, hey, as a football player, you come in New York City, you see this guy number 92. He's been all pro this, all pro that. Well, I play the same position. Why wouldn't I sit back and say, all right, what is what is he done to get to that position? And the same thing when I went to Goldman Sachs. I X, Y, Z partner of the firm, David Solomon, John Waldron, Eric Lane. Let me sit back and watch these cats and just figure out how they maneuver. And then it's like once you see how they maneuver, figure out the qualities that you have that looks somewhat similar to the ones they have and make that transition or make that journey yourself. You know, don't don't go and say, hey, Michael Strahan's best move is stab slap. I'm going to do a stab slap, too. Well, what if I don't have the same qualities, right? Well, if I don't have the same strength, what if I don't have the same footwork for those that don't know? That's a power rush. But anyway, but what power rush fits for the attributes that I have or what speed rush fits for the attributes I had? Oh, so you know, it was the best that the staff slap. I was not good at the staff that. But I was good to stab rip. I'm just making it up as I go. But to that point, is it a showcase? Something Vic said, no matter where you are in life again, I'm going to say it again. I guarantee you there's somebody who's done what you're trying to do or some version of it that you can learn from instead of us being this ego person and saying, hey, I'm going to do it all by myself. I'm going to pull myself by the bootstraps. No, no, no. Learn about the pitfalls of that person went through this and you don't have to go through. And then the efficiency of your time, the efficiency of your journey is so much more magnified by that. So I think I've seen. Thank you, Vic, for that. And I mean, I guess the checks in the mail, what are you going to say? You've already paid me back tenfold. My God, you're bragging. I got one question. How many traffic lights in the town you grew up in? Traffic lights or caution lights? Either one. Both. So in the county, there's one traffic light and three caution lights in the county. You know, I came from a small two hundred, two hundred and twelve people in Coosa County, a five of them I know for a fact I'm getting to. Do you have a street named after you? No, it's too small. They can't just give out streets. We've got to give them the count. It's only like four. Got to give them the count to make this the geography where you're from. But I'm just curious, where would you fly into? I would fly into Atlanta or Birmingham. OK. And then just make the drive. Yeah. OK. Well, one of my favorite Justin Tuck stories that I have heard was about your recruitment to Notre Dame. It was somewhat of a phenomenal question. Can you please tell the crowd about this story? But also, more importantly, what it may be taught you about value? Well, I don't know how much time we got, but basically I got recruited to Notre Dame on accident. They went to the wrong high school. At the time, there was three schools in the state of Alabama named Central High School, Central High School, Central Tuscaloosa, Central Phoenix City and central of Coosa County, where I went to school. If you fly to Birmingham, you get on Highway 280. You can drive by. Basically, you can drive by all three of them. This was Google Maps time, not Waze or Apple Maps. What do you want? This is MapQuest. You're printing it out. This is MapQuest. And I think, well, I know for a fact they they got on Highway 280 instead of heading north, they head south. And about an hour later, they stopped at a gas station. The gas station was Tulum's gas station. The clerk that night was a girl named Crystal Barker. Crystal Barker was my classmate. Her dad owned the gas station. They said we were recruiting a kid from Central High School. Didn't say his name. Didn't say Central Tuscaloosa County by the University of Alabama. They just said Central High School. She was like, well, obviously they're talking about Justin and obviously they're talking about Central Coosa County. She literally said to them, you can see the likes of the field from our gas station. As you all know, in the south, around 630, everything starts to shut down. She says, listen, you can wait and I'll drive you to my parking spot, which is right behind our field house. And I'll take you that way. Or you can drive in there now and you can park three miles down the road. They obviously waited. They get to the game. I have a pretty good game. They realize that they're at the wrong high school and they watch me play. And long story short, my high school coach. And this this is I shouldn't tell you all this, because you're going to make fun of me later about this, how small my town is. The high school football coach is the high school basketball coach. And that guy is my second cousin. True story. His name was Joe Beliu, and that started the recruiting process. Then I got the opportunity to go to the University of Notre Dame and see how different that place was than any other place I've been to. I've always been a kid that didn't think I was that good at football, but I feel like if I can get a Notre Dame education with football, why wouldn't I do that? So that's in layman's terms why I went to University of Notre Dame. And I mean, it worked out, I would say. That's an amazing story. Yeah, you ended up exactly where you were supposed to end up. Really beautiful. You know, for you, Kristen, I know that your love and passion and dedication to State Farm was actually forged by your families want to never settle. Can you tell us that story? Well, I often say it's personal for me. I grew up in a very small town, but not as small as yours. Washington, Pennsylvania. So it's the last town before you get to West Virginia. And I'm the oldest of three girls. And my dad, for most of my young life, was a wrestling coach. And he actually was a wrestler growing up. It kind of got him out of really tough times. And so he channeled that. And he's actually now in the Hall of Fame in the state of Pennsylvania for coaching. So I'm very, very proud of him. My mom was a social worker, and so we didn't have much. We had each other. And that's sometimes, right, good enough. He always tells a story that he got recruited for four years by State Farm to be a State Farm agent. And he said, no, no, no, until one day. And I was in sixth grade. He looked at the three of us and just said, we have to do better. I have to I have to help change our trajectory here. And so they literally took almost every cent that they had and gave up what they knew and what they were comfortable with. And my dad went into State Farm agency and my mom left and she joined him, too. And so that decision completely changed our lives. I wouldn't be sitting up here now. But more importantly, our gravel driveway, we were able to pay that. And then they were able to go get me a basketball hoop, too, and put that spotlight up. And so, you know, every night, every day, just the practice and developing the love for the game that then obviously took me to Syracuse. And so I have a legacy that I get to carry. So I have an amazing job that I get to do with great people on the marketing side. And I have the good fortune to lead 19,000 State Farm agents on the sales side, too. But for me, I wake up every single day carrying my purpose forward. And my purpose is sometimes you just want to make your mom and dad proud. And that to me is like, you know, what I live for. And at the same time, I'm proud. My sister is a State Farm agent in Dallas. Yes, I'm very proud of her, too. So we're we're all State Farm. We bleed red, you know, but it is, you know, when you think about the brand and like a good neighbor, State Farm's there, like my life growing up, like we got to live it. And so now I get to amplify it every day with the platform that we have to tell our story. That is so great. You truly do live in your purpose. That's such a beautiful story. You know, for you, Victor, you talk about, you know, obviously getting to the locker room. You didn't really have a locker. You were undrafted, obviously ended up as a Super Bowl champion. But you were very much so labeled as an underdog. And I'm just curious how being labeled and an underdog shaped what you felt like settling was, because I think that when people think you're that just taking one step, it feels like you're overachieving. But you took the next step, the next step, the next step. So how did it shape that? Well, I think for me, it was the constant understanding that I am that underdog. I felt like being an underdog was my superpower. Like that means that I could always be behind the eight ball. And my overachievement was always going to be celebrated. But never. It was never enough. Still, I still needed to do more. You know, I always still needed to continue to prove myself. So, yeah, we won a Super Bowl. But that next year I practiced even harder. I worked even harder. I worked the same as if I didn't win the championship or I didn't, you know, break any records at the Giants. I understood that I needed to continue this because they could replace me the next year. They can continue to draft. This is the NFL every year. You need to continue to prove that you are the same person and that you can continue to build on what you set the last year before. So I think that was just the mindset forever. You know, I always was like I said, I was in high school. I wasn't the best athlete. There were guys getting recruited higher than me. I only had one scholarship to go to UMass. I made the best of that scholarship. I played due to some academic issues that we don't have time for. I played two years at UMass, broke every record there. Top five and everything in just two years. And then I got my opportunity. Still didn't get drafted, though, right? I still had to be an undrafted free agent. So I think, you know, the never settling as an underdog was was my cheat code, because every single time I put myself out there, every single time that I had an opportunity to prove myself, I was just proving myself within the sphere of myself, because there was always another guy that was better. It was always I had to continue to keep climbing up and keep climbing forward and never be complacent to where I was in that moment. So settling for anything was just never an option. You know, I feel very similarly to you, Justin. I just feel like every time I look up, you're doing something new. You are excelling in new business, new venture. And I it's just it's so admirable that you are constantly pushing yourself. And this is really for all of you. But I'll start with you, Justin. How do you identify opportunities for that growth? And how do you always encourage and empower yourself but others around you? I feel like I know myself well. I think I know the things that I'm interested in. I'm also I know the things in which I feel as though a moving needle. And you talked about legacy. You know, my legacy, hopefully my legacy is, you know, just opening up opportunities for other people. You know, obviously, I played a sport that got me to the opportunity to be, you know, I think the the best investment bank in the world. And so, like, I just want to be someone that represents those people that look like me and have a story similar to mine. So for me, a lot of things in the way that I move is is because of that. You know, how do I take on this new role or learn this new, you know, craft if it doesn't appeal to all the other things in which is in the Rolodex? It has to make sense. It ain't just me being, you know, curious, I guess. The curiosity also has to come with something that's practical. So for me, it's always just one knowing myself, knowing the things in which I'm interested in, but also the things that I feel as though is going to add to the toolkit of all the other things that go in the mix. I guess the second part of that is just I have a phenomenal team around me. I felt like I've done a really good job of adding people into my mind. I guess I would call my personal board of directors that touch and feel all the things in which I'm interested in. I have a CEO of my real estate. I have a CEO of, you know, all the things I want to do in tech. I have a CEO of anything I want to do in a sports venture, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And all of these people are people that I met while I was either playing football and trying to be curious about what the transition looked like or what I got into kind of corporate America. You know, obviously I've added some things that probably wasn't an interest of mine when I was playing. So I think the combination of having all these people around me that have phenomenal expertise in all these sectors in which I'm interested is they keep me kind of abreast to like, man, you did X. Now I think you should add this and that. And not only do they say you should add X, but they can help me do that. Where again, I'm not reinventing the wheel. I'm not going through the process of starting at zero. I'm going to the process of starting at wherever they starting at. Now they just got to get me up to speed. So I think the transition in all these different things. And I guess why I look like I'm doing something new all the time is because I have phenomenal people that can start me a little bit higher than what I would have done if I'm just going at it on my own. Personal board of directors is very good to see if you can. I had to get one in there. Yeah, that's good. But America, a lot of gems, a lot of terms up here. I love that TJ is in my personal board of directors. I call him before everything and ask if I should do it. Whatever, TJ. All right. What about you? How do you find new areas of growth? You know, I think it comes back to just at the foundation. There's a set of core principles that I live by, and I think they've been implanted in me being raised by a coach that's kind of always in my ear still. And that kind of is a notion that success is where preparation meets opportunity. And I'd like to kind of hold myself to a standard to where I'm always going to be prepared. But at the same time, I'm going to also give myself grace, too, because I think there's two sides of that coin. And at the foundation, my dad always told me three things that I think has come true. One is just always outwork them. And that's not just in the physical sense, but then also in the mental sense. But then also know when it's time to kind of shut it down, which I am going to do tonight when I fly home and be in my own bed, right? You've got to recognize that. And then the second piece is that always give yourself a chance to win, because you'll miss 100% of the shots that you don't take. And that's really important for me, whether or not it's leaning in, get my voice in the room, or I've had to ask for the job. I've had to ask for more money, all those things, and just the courage to do that. And it's something that I try to instill in my team, because you have to be a role model. And I think it's important, too, that people can't be what they can't see. And I take that in a very responsible sense. And then lastly, I think the most important thing is just control what you can control. There's so many things that are outside your control. Like in our industry, it's very competitive, and you can live in the competition, what they're doing. And I always tell the team, like, we've got to watch film, we've got to know what they're doing, so that we can sharpen our saw. But at the end of the day, we're going to play our game. And what is our game? And how do we execute on that strategy that's uniquely us at State Farm? Because we believe that having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm. See, I got it in there, you happy? Okay. She's a pro. Yeah, so I think those things are really important, in terms of just creating that opportunity. But the essence is that it starts with preparation, day in, day out. And preparation has certainly been a through line in this. Just knowing as much as you can, I think, is a good antidote for that pressure that you referenced earlier. I have the same question for you about places of growth. But when I think about just the life and career that you have carved out, Victor, it is so intentional. I think, of course, we think about Victor, we think about the giant. So we also think about fashion, and we think about, you know, just media and person to person connection. So what is your thought process when you decide to take opportunities? What do you say no to? What do you say yes to? And how does it all lend itself to the broader universe of Victor Cruz? Yeah, that's a good question. I think a lot of it for me is, one, my team, right? I have a phenomenal team. Shout out to Brianna, who's in here, who definitely gives me, is my discernment button in my brain on whether or not I should do this. Sometimes I come to her really excited about something. She was like, I don't think you need to do that. Or she goes, you ain't got the time to do all of that. I don't know who brought that to you, but maybe we can do half of that, and then we navigate that the way we do. But I think the biggest thing for me is not having any fear. I think I go into things so fearless if I'm adamant about it, if I'm passionate about a certain thing, and it's maybe something that's outside of my realm or maybe just outside of my comfort zone, but it speaks to me, I want to do it, and I want to go and conquer that task and climb that bridge. You know, because there's a young kid that's in college right now or playing a sport or a young athlete that's looking at me and being like, okay, I wonder what Victor's going to do next. I know about the salsa dance. I know about him being a Giants player. I know about all these pillars of him, but what's he going to do next? So now, you know, I'm on TNT every weekend doing the Big 12, and I see these young kids dancing salsa every... So there's a thing we do at the end of the show. We interview one of the players, and we ask them, we have Victor Cruz on our show, and every single time, A, they know who I am when they were like three when we won a championship. And I'm like, how do you even know who I am? But B, they start dancing before we even ask them now. And it's just like, that just triggers in my mind how much, A, of an impact that I had on them as a youth, A, and even on YouTube. I feel like some of them just watch on YouTube now and still had an impact, which is incredible. And then B, how much they look up to me and are looking forward to what I'm doing next and look forward to just the things and the lanes that I'm carving out for myself. And I know I carry an important task to continue to do things and continue to open these doors for them so that they can climb up and climb through them when it's their time as well. So I just want to be fearless and continue to navigate this space and continue to, you know, not be afraid of opportunities when they come my way. And just understanding the minute I hear about something new and it hits me in the stomach, and I'm like, oh, I need to do that. But if it's something I got to think about a little bit or I'm kind of weighing it, then I understand immediately that that's just not for me. And it is. But I know what it is for me, Taylor. And I don't know if this is the stage to do it, but, boy, I'd look good in a State Farm commercial. Don't you think? Don't you think that I'd look good what I look? Victor and Jake. I saw the build-up. Me and Jake. Think about it. Me and Jake. Hey, we've got the people there for you to challenge. And Jake can dance. Jake can dance. So, you know? Lesson number one, pitch yourself, everybody. Fearless. That was fearless. Fearless. That was fearless. I like it. But, yes. It's all of those things that I mentioned. Yes. Honestly, though, something that resonates with me, and I know Kristen talks about this a lot, is authenticity. Because the reason that the salsa dance kind of took on a mind of its own was because it was very you. Like, when you did it, you didn't think it was going to begin the craze that it did. But it is one of the main things that people think of when they think about Victor Cruz. Yeah. And it's incredible. A, it's a continuance of an homage to my grandmother who, and to my people, for starters. Right? I'm Puerto Rican. My mother's Puerto Rican. I was raised in a very Hispanic, very Spanish household. My house was the party house until I was nine years old. We had people coming over. There was music in my house from sunup to sundown from the day I was born until about nine years old. Like, until we moved out. Like, there was always music happening. And there was always people. And when there wasn't people, my grandmother and my grandfather were dancing in the living room. And that's how I, you know, my grandmother taught me every dance in the book. So, it was just so a part of my DNA that when I got to the NFL and even when I got my first start, my coaches were like, you know, one of my coaches was like, yo, you got to represent your culture in the end zone or just in general. He didn't say in the end zone or anything. And I was like, bro, I'm an undrafted free agent. I'm just trying to catch this football from a soon-to-be hall of famer and get out the way. Like, I don't even think you understand the level of fear that I have right now. But long story short, the very first pass that I caught, I shake two guys up the sideline and I get in the end zone. And I was like, I have to do this salsa dance now. Like, there's no other dance. There's no other thing for me to do. I love Justin's face. Right? I mean, I remember the story like it was yesterday. So, he's not lying at all. And then right after that, for the first time, after I did that dance for the first time, they aired the celebration on Univision and Telemundo. And my grandmother got to see it a couple of years before she passed. And she got to see me on television doing that dance that she taught me in her living room. So, it was just like a full circle moment. So, from now on, it costs a little bit extra to do the salsa, but it's still OK. He's like, so don't ask me to stand up and do it right now. I'll do it for State Farm. I'll do it for the commercial. But, you know, it just costs a little extra pennies now. Yeah, we all got it in mind. I love it. But, you know, speaking... We're taking notes. Taking lots of notes. Speaking of State Farm, though, it has been truly one of the joys of my career to be a partner with State Farm as a broadcaster, because I don't think that any company markets and works with athletes better than you all do. What do you think is the secret sauce? What goes into how you all formulate all of this? And really, what makes you the best? Well, we love our relationship with you and the best is yet to come. And we're very proud of you also, too. And so I think it comes back to sports is a very important piece to driving our business outcomes. So first and foremost. But at the same time, when we take a step back, we recognize that it brings fans and families and friends together. Like, it's just such a sense of community. And that's who State Farm is. And we also recognize that, especially the younger generations, oftentimes they follow more so the athletes than maybe teams. And our ability to be able to storytell around that is so very important because we want to be in culture. And so that's why so many years later, right, that salsa is important because it brings together passions and fandom, music and dancing and sports. And we're very proud of what we continue to do with athletes and our team, State Farm Athlete Roster, Patrick Mahomes and Caitlin Clark and Juju Watkins in particular. And it's an opportunity to kind of, they're excellent. You know, we think of our brand as excellent. Let's kind of bring it together and tell stories. But at the same time, we also want to impact the community together. And so whether or not it's 15 and Mahomes with Patrick, Chris Paul and HBCU, Caitlin and all the work that she does too, it just kind of comes full circle when you think about our brand in particular. And so I think at the end of the day, we've been very fortunate to kind of, I think, choose right. But it's a very intentional thing. And sometimes you have to have insights. You have to be in the market too. You have to understand and learn. That's one of the reasons why we're here, because then we walk away with just a better understanding of culture and what's the insights that we need to know and that kind of always learning aspect of things. And so very proud of what we do. I think the best is yet to come. But the very key piece too is around our assets, because it helps bring that to life. And so the Jake from State Farm, you put him next to Victor Cruz, you put that dance together, and then all of a sudden... It's working. It's working. It's what we call kind of like lightning in a bottle. It's the magic moments that happen that people remember too, because for us, it's we're in the attention business at the end of the day. And so it's how we capture attention so we can tell the brand story, because our mission is to help people at the end of the day. And so how do we capture that attention so we can have more people choose us? No, I mean, it's flawless. State Farm is just so ingrained in culture and everything we do. So bravo to to all involved. But tell me we're at time. So my last question for you all, just in the spirit of never settling, what's more? What does more look like for you? I'll start with you, Justin. Oh, what does more look like? I don't know. I think more looks more the same, to be honest with you. Just a lot of mores. Yeah, I mean, listen, the quote of the day. It's more, I think, just means that I get the opportunity to bring more people along on this journey. I do what I do. I mean, listen, y'all heard I'm a kid from Kelton, Alabama. I've been more successful than I ever dreamed I could be. So for me, it isn't about what's next for Justin. And it's more about what's next for those people who want to go on this journey and be and do some of the things that I'm doing, or if I can open up an avenue or door for like, like Victor said, there's so many people out there that could probably see themselves being the next football player, but more importantly, being the next, you know, corporate athlete or the next doctor or the next whatever it looks like. I just want to be a part of that journey and help them not make the mistakes that a lot of people make when they don't have somebody that can kind of push them to the top of the heap instead of them starting from zero. So for more for me is more about, you know, how do I use my platform to be a representation of what can be if you go and do the work, if you if you really, really put yourself out there and don't settle. Those are things that really, really excite me. I love that. What about for you, Kristen? What's I think it's it's three things. I recognize that I stand on the shoulders of others that came before me. And so it's important for me to be shoulders for people to stand on, too. And I'm the first female and minority in my role in the company's history. And I take that personally. And there's a sense of responsibility to to lift other people up and to hello. Really? I'm a busy man. He's like, I need to get to a meeting. And so I think that's very important. I think the second thing is just around impacting people. And I have a personal kind of purpose in terms of helping people become the best that they are capable of becoming. So whether or not it's safe farm agents or this brilliant team that I get to work with, because all the accolades and things that you're talking about, this this special brand, it's because we have brilliant teammates and our partners here in the room, too. And so the role that I play to that end is really important. And then I think the last thing is about I always remind myself this is that remember who you are, because we all have unique gifts and skills and abilities that we've been given. And like you're here right now at this time to kind of give those to the world. And so I think it's reminding myself of that. And I got some advice recently from somebody that knows me very well. And she said a great exercise to do is to do a pre-morning. So think about retirement, which I can't even think about, but like down the road. Right. And she said, think about your retirement party. And what are you retiring from and who's there? And what are they going to say about you? And what are you going to say about it? And just play that out, all the specifics. Right. And then just capture that. And at the end of the day, you never know where life is going to go. But at the same time, if you can be intentional around it, too, I think that's really important. I love that. Yeah. And giving yourself, you know, a goal and sort of trajectory of what you want things to look like. OK, to close this out, I'm going to ask you something just slightly different. I was lost and that was great. Yeah, it was great. I was like, we're going to switch it over, Victor. When settling feels like an option, the easy option, what is it that you tell yourself about yourself? Oh, that's a great question. I think when settling kind of creeps into my mind and kind of that self-doubt or just kind of being like, I think I've reached the ceiling, I think about the people before me. I think about or the people that haven't even reached this level and how I can exceed that, how I can do more to just elevate that partnership or elevate that particular opportunity. I understand that. Like, I have a unique position to now go into these rooms and dictate a little bit of what I want to do and how I want to be perceived. And I have a brand that I have to protect now. So I want to protect that brand in every single room that I go into. So I never want to settle. I never want to just say I reach for this. I came into a meeting or I came into an opportunity wanting it to be this high or this expectation. And they met me down here. But I was like, I'm not going to settle for that. I want what I want. And I can take that somewhere else now because I've built my brand to that level. So I want everyone to think about everyone's built their own brands and never settled just being right here with your brand. Always go for what you shop for. And if they don't want to give you that, just take it somewhere else. I think that's the biggest thing that I can that I can get. I'm ready to run through a wall. I love it. Three exceptional corporate athletes. Thank you all so much. Thank you to State Farm. Thank you to Boardroom. And thank you to all of you for being here. Thank you.