In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Scott Davis, a marketing professor at the University of Houston Downtown. The conversation begins with a sponsor plug for Authors Unite, then moves into Davis’s personal story: a former software developer who returned to school for an MBA and PhD, illustrating that it’s never too late to change careers. Davis shares key insights from academia, emphasizing that paper rejections are common and should be viewed as growth opportunities rather than personal failures. He offers broad business advice centered on asking probing, follow‑up questions to uncover deeper insights. When reflecting on his younger self, he advises not to abandon ideas prematurely, suggesting revisiting them later. Davis links happiness to family time, advocating for work‑life balance and living close to work. He recommends Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel for its lesson on seeking root causes, and cites a favorite quote by Norman Cousins: “Death is not the enemy. Living in constant fear of it is.” The episode concludes with Davis’s online handles on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode. Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Scott Davis with us. He's the professor of marketing at the University of Houston Downtown. So welcome to the show, Scott.
Thank you, I'm glad to be here.
Awesome, man, glad to have you here. We'll dive in. The first question I have for you, Scott, is what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
I would say I've had kind of an interesting career journey in that I was a software developer for a number of years and then decided to kind of overhaul everything and went back to school to get my MBA and continued on for my PhD. So I think that the valuable message there is that it's never too late to change direction, even if it seems radical at the time. I was pretty good as a software developer, but I didn't love it, so I was looking for something a little more fulfilling. And I went after it. And now many years later, I'm happy with my decision.
And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Okay, so in my industry, in academia, there is a lot of rejection. I've had dozens and dozens of rejected papers. So I think that the lesson there, or the most valuable piece of information, is that failure is a part of life. Failure Failure is a part of growth. Don't take it personally. It's really hard early on in your career, but try to use the constructive feedback to build something.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice, so not necessarily industry-specific?
I'd say ask probing questions. Good questions will lead to a lot of interesting answers, things that are beneath the surface. I always tell students and really anyone that talks to me about business that we should always be asking follow-up questions. So ask why. If someone gives you an answer and you're not quite satisfied, ask them why that's important or why that's interesting. And through doing this and making it a habit, we can really develop critical thinking skills.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I'd say, Don't quit on ideas too early. Sometimes it's good to reheat an idea 6 months later or 3 years later. I'm kind of an ideation person, so I come up with lots of ideas, and I think my tendency even today is to give up on some ideas a little prematurely. So I'd say keep at it for the ones that keep nagging at you.
And kind of going a little bit down a different path, but in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
I think, and again, this kind of explains my career path a little bit, but I feel strongly that more time with your family is important. I'm not someone who's really into the 80-hour workweek or even the 60-hour workweek. I think that doing little things like living closer to where you work can really help and maximizing the number of hours you're spending with family, in my opinion, leads to greater happiness.
And what's the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
This is kind of related to my answer about asking probing questions, but I'm going to say it's Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. And the lesson there is that the surface causes don't always provide the full story. So we need to be looking for fundamental root causes, especially when it's an important issue.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
This— why is going to be a little hard for me, but it's been my favorite quote for a long time, and it's, "Death is not the enemy. Living in constant fear of it is." It's a Norman Cousins quote, and I've just loved it ever since, gosh, high school or even earlier. And I think the idea is just that, you know, you can't, you can't always be worried about the future or things that are looming. Kind of live in the present and enjoy what's what's in front of you today.
Yes, man. Thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where's the best place for people to find you online?
All right, so I'm most active on LinkedIn and my username there is Scott W. Davis and I have the same username on Twitter, so I'm there too, Scott W. Davis.
Perfect, man. Thanks again for coming on. We appreciate it.
All right, Tyler, I appreciate it. Thank you. The podcast you just heard was recorded with Anchor. If you want to make your own, download the Android or iOS app completely free from anchor.fm/podcast. That's anchor.fm/podcast.
