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> Third, people do shoot the bearer of bad news. You can earn > a rep as a negative person if you make _true_ predictions > out-loud that don't fit the common
by blablabla123 8y ago
> Third, people do shoot the bearer of bad news. You can earn
> a rep as a negative person if you make _true_ predictions
> out-loud that don't fit the common desire.
I've heard this very often, both as advise, complaint and even in an intimidating manner. And yes, I've seen this, people who stay kind of positive stay in their position even if they screw up a project completely so it has to be "rebooted". In fact I've also observed a super negative person, being a colleague of mine for 2.5 years and staying good with everybody despite one screwed up project.
On the other hand people have put me in various settings under high pressure to keep my mouth shut both internally and externally. (That was only in the startup/co-founding setting though.)
My conclusion: I'd take this advice with a biiiiiiig grain of salt. In my experience people get away with everything as long as they stay confident and keep their shit together.
Disclaimer: I'm not a team lead
- badbug 8y ago"Perception is reality" You can be a negative/realist as long as your perceived value outweighs your "bad" attitude. The problem with this is that people are really bad at placing value on soft skills and all it takes is one clueless manager to sandbag you. Everything op said above is spot on
- blablabla123 8y agoI get the point for an Engineer. There the chances to endless promotions are far higher if you stay nice and calm all the time. Hard earned experience, never got a promotion but always more money and "crazier" jobs over time. But I mean for anyone with team responsibility: staying silent is bad for you, which is okay if you're in for the career. I totally respect that, people should be ambitious if they want to. But this is the recipe to make workplaces toxic and bad for the whole team.
- badbug 8y agoI'm not saying you have to a Bright Ray of Sunshine all the time. But it might not work out so well of you are the office grouch because it wears people out.
- blablabla123 8y agoI can agree to that ;)
- blablabla123 8y ago(On the other hand...maybe the place is that bad then)