Member-only story
Allow Yourself to Admit You Don’t Know and See What Happens
Don’t sacrifice a solid reputation for a flashy first impression
When I said it in front of my new division chief, my coworkers thought I was done.
I had been at my company only a few months and was unaware of some of the unwritten rules about what to say and what not to say when the boss was around.
This meant that I let it slip when I was having trouble hitting a deadline. This meant that I was honest when I couldn’t understand the expectations of a certain task. All of this meant that I did not always make immediately positive and strong first impressions.
As for my division chief, he was not impressed.
“I don’t know.”
When I said it, my coworkers stopped blinking. A couple of them physically backed away from me. I don’t know how this happened, but the air conditioner went silent. My coworkers didn’t want to be associated with the one that openly stated what no one was ever, ever supposed to utter in front of an executive.
Of course, one of my colleagues (we’ll call him ‘Jason’) saved the day. He stepped forward with a tilted chin and an air of confidence, and he provided a project update without hesitation. His update included lots of jargon and…
