Something wise(-ish)

​

For all our talk about radical candor, let’s be real:
​

Being honest is risky business.

​

Speaking your mind — while important and admirable — often comes at a cost.

​

Hurt feelings.

​

Compromised relationships.

​

A reputation for being confrontational.
​

The judgments of other people.

​

Straight-up retaliation.

​

And honesty is especially tricky at work, where complicated politics can make the cost of speaking your mind — even if you’re 100% right — extremely high.
​

And yet being radically honest at work can also be a huge asset.

​

It can make you stand out.

​
It can put solid judgment and crucial feedback on the table.
​

It can send a signal that being effective is more important to you than just being liked.

​

All of which can do wonders for your reputation, your responsibility and your paycheck.

​

But it’s not enough to just be unfiltered at work. There’s an art to effective honesty.​
​

And that art comes down to three key things:
​

Focusing on facts over feelings.
​

Being collaborative and solution-oriented.
​

And tapping into your courage and vulnerability.
​

The courage to lean into difficult conversations, and the vulnerability to own your convictions and risk the consequences — which, by the way, include getting something wrong.
​

If you can nail those three elements, you can deliver almost any difficult piece of news in a professional setting without tanking your career.

But it takes time, practice and a willingness to go against the grain to develop those muscles.
​

These are the qualities of people who make a real impact, rise up and tend to be given more and more responsibility.
​

In other words, these are the qualities of a leader.
​

So if you want to be bolder with your opinions at work, start by exploring these questions:​
​

What specific positive outcome am I hoping to achieve?

​

How can I orient this tough conversation around that goal, rather than my personal feelings about it?

​

How can I learn to tolerate people’s disagreement, ire or friction?

​

And which relationships do I need to cultivate in order to recruit some strong allies and reduce the risk of getting something wrong?
​

Answer those questions, and you’ll be building a solid game plan for a difficult chat at work.

​

And if you’re interested in hearing how this idea played out in a listener’s life…​
​

Check out episode #1,104, where we took a question from a listener who was facing a performance review where she’d need to talk to her boss about a new protocol that was making her work less efficient and more demanding.
​

In that segment, we talked about how to navigate that minefield thoughtfully and carefully, in a way that actually strengthened her relationship with her boss.
​

If you want to learn how to voice your concerns at work without burning bridges, this segment will be a great listen for you.

​

Have you found this principle to be true in your world? Struggling to make use of it?​
​

Hit reply and tell me about it. I’m all ears!
​

On the show this past week

​1177: Iran vs. Israel 2025 | Out of the Loop​

​

​1178: Connor Beaton | How Society Engineered a Generation of Lonely Men​

​

​1179: Sister’s Bad Beau Threatens Her Share of Dough | Feedback Friday​

​

Support Our Sponsors

Want to share Wee Bit Wiser with family and friends? Visit jordanharbinger.com/news to explore all our posts.