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You're in a meeting and someone turns to you with a question you can't answer. You know it immediately. But instead of saying so, you start talking, because silence feels worse than noise and admitting a gap in front of people feels like handing them a reason to doubt you. So you give a long, circular response that touches on something adjacent, sounds confident enough to get through the moment, and answers a question nobody asked. By the time you stop talking, you're not even sure what you said. But you're fairly sure it wasn't convincing.
The strange part is that the people you admire most at work tend to handle this completely differently. They're honest about what they don't know, and it doesn't seem to cost them anything. If anything, it makes you trust them more.
This episode is about closing that gap between what you do and what you wish you did when you don't have the answer.
What you'll find inside:
Want more support with real-world leadership challenges? Head to How to Build a Leader on Substack for in-depth guides and community.
Never miss an episode. Sign up for the weekly Espresso Brief email and get each episode with subscriber-only resources and practical tools in your inbox.
Get the full episode transcript
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
By Amanda Owen-MeehanYou're in a meeting and someone turns to you with a question you can't answer. You know it immediately. But instead of saying so, you start talking, because silence feels worse than noise and admitting a gap in front of people feels like handing them a reason to doubt you. So you give a long, circular response that touches on something adjacent, sounds confident enough to get through the moment, and answers a question nobody asked. By the time you stop talking, you're not even sure what you said. But you're fairly sure it wasn't convincing.
The strange part is that the people you admire most at work tend to handle this completely differently. They're honest about what they don't know, and it doesn't seem to cost them anything. If anything, it makes you trust them more.
This episode is about closing that gap between what you do and what you wish you did when you don't have the answer.
What you'll find inside:
Want more support with real-world leadership challenges? Head to How to Build a Leader on Substack for in-depth guides and community.
Never miss an episode. Sign up for the weekly Espresso Brief email and get each episode with subscriber-only resources and practical tools in your inbox.
Get the full episode transcript
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.