Yekini Grace
Member
The things I did to announce visibility in strong rooms when I was growing up .
To every young professionals in the corporate world - Kindly give me some minutes.
Humility doesn’t get you very far in the corporate world , that’s not what your company is looking for there.
Honoring your boss is great.
Having the humility to admit when you’re wrong is greater.
Carrying the bag for your junior colleagues is not being down to earth.
Timidity isn’t humility.
Stupidity is not loyalty either.
I won’t downplay myself just to make anyone feel good.
You must master the skill of "Perception Management" , it is an art .
In the corporate world, nobody keeps their mouth shut in a strategic meeting. No one is “carrying bag” for anybody.
Though we know bag carriers, we know their usefulness anyways and we know where and when to send you to play your eye service roles.
Strategic meetings are battlegrounds of visibility, power dynamics, and job-preservation.
The unspoken rule is clear:
Honor and Loyalty
Be audacious but know your place
Silence in the corporate world is often interpreted as a lack of value, a lack of preparation, or worse, a team-Lead with a sinking ship.
I am not also saying you should object like an idi0t. you must still follow hierarchy and speak when you’re asked to speak ; every word must have purpose, knowledge and power.
The survival dynamics of high stake meeting is NOT built on silence.
Silence equals absence. Period !
In that executive circles,
If you’re not talking, you’re invisible .
If you have a boss, speak through your boss, but don’t keep quiet. You must signal to leadership that you’re engaged and essential.
It’s called the “Value Flex.”
Every smart professional must enter a strategic meeting with an agenda that justifies their existence in that company .
I’m very assertive.
I hardly show off in the room
I don’t talk when I’m not called to
But I won’t allow anyone to claim my territory.
It’s an art.
You’ll feel my presence
I shape how people perceive me and my team.
You must bring visibility to yourself in the room. It’s called “disruptive insights.”
You can't be a pretty girl and your only disruptive insights is in your physical features
Look for the Kingmaker or Gatekeeper and listen to them attentively in every meeting.
After that , throw a very smart question at them or make a contribution.
With the hope that you’re going to meet them again, and you’ll remind them that you were the one who asked that question at the WYZ meeting in Tanzania.
The trick is to create a lasting and brilliant impression of yourself.
You could use the Devil’s Advocate model, objecting to wrong proposals, to position yourself as the critical, analytical thinker in the room.
You could be the Preemptive Defender, and control a new narrative in the meeting, ask hard questions on actual performance metrics.
You could be the Status Hijacker and wait for a colleague to make great point, then immediately cuts in to “expand” on it effectively and hijack the credit.
These were what I did when I was a young professional in those years .
Today , I sit at the back—back—back.
I take notes of every spoken and unspoken words
Often , I speak less unless there's a Kingmaker in our midst, but I’m the girl the chairperson of the board will call at 11pm after everyone is gone to ask her:
“ [ Doc, what do you think?”]
Lol , I don’t start with things like:
“With all due respect Sir or Ma …”
There's already the company ethics , employee Handbook and Value system, what do you need my due respect for again ( laughing)
My husband needs that
The company needs performance
Goodmorning
Rehoboth,
Ninnah Samuel
To every young professionals in the corporate world - Kindly give me some minutes.
Humility doesn’t get you very far in the corporate world , that’s not what your company is looking for there.
Honoring your boss is great.
Having the humility to admit when you’re wrong is greater.
Carrying the bag for your junior colleagues is not being down to earth.
Timidity isn’t humility.
Stupidity is not loyalty either.
I won’t downplay myself just to make anyone feel good.
You must master the skill of "Perception Management" , it is an art .
In the corporate world, nobody keeps their mouth shut in a strategic meeting. No one is “carrying bag” for anybody.
Though we know bag carriers, we know their usefulness anyways and we know where and when to send you to play your eye service roles.
Strategic meetings are battlegrounds of visibility, power dynamics, and job-preservation.
The unspoken rule is clear:
Honor and Loyalty
Be audacious but know your place
Silence in the corporate world is often interpreted as a lack of value, a lack of preparation, or worse, a team-Lead with a sinking ship.
I am not also saying you should object like an idi0t. you must still follow hierarchy and speak when you’re asked to speak ; every word must have purpose, knowledge and power.
The survival dynamics of high stake meeting is NOT built on silence.
Silence equals absence. Period !
In that executive circles,
If you’re not talking, you’re invisible .
If you have a boss, speak through your boss, but don’t keep quiet. You must signal to leadership that you’re engaged and essential.
It’s called the “Value Flex.”
Every smart professional must enter a strategic meeting with an agenda that justifies their existence in that company .
I’m very assertive.
I hardly show off in the room
I don’t talk when I’m not called to
But I won’t allow anyone to claim my territory.
It’s an art.
You’ll feel my presence
I shape how people perceive me and my team.
You must bring visibility to yourself in the room. It’s called “disruptive insights.”
You can't be a pretty girl and your only disruptive insights is in your physical features
Look for the Kingmaker or Gatekeeper and listen to them attentively in every meeting.
After that , throw a very smart question at them or make a contribution.
With the hope that you’re going to meet them again, and you’ll remind them that you were the one who asked that question at the WYZ meeting in Tanzania.
The trick is to create a lasting and brilliant impression of yourself.
You could use the Devil’s Advocate model, objecting to wrong proposals, to position yourself as the critical, analytical thinker in the room.
You could be the Preemptive Defender, and control a new narrative in the meeting, ask hard questions on actual performance metrics.
You could be the Status Hijacker and wait for a colleague to make great point, then immediately cuts in to “expand” on it effectively and hijack the credit.
These were what I did when I was a young professional in those years .
Today , I sit at the back—back—back.
I take notes of every spoken and unspoken words
Often , I speak less unless there's a Kingmaker in our midst, but I’m the girl the chairperson of the board will call at 11pm after everyone is gone to ask her:
“ [ Doc, what do you think?”]
Lol , I don’t start with things like:
“With all due respect Sir or Ma …”
There's already the company ethics , employee Handbook and Value system, what do you need my due respect for again ( laughing)
My husband needs that
The company needs performance
Goodmorning
Rehoboth,
Ninnah Samuel