How to speak up for yourself | Adam Galinsky | Day 58 – 100 Days 100 Thoughts

Hello Folks,

Speaking up is something very very important. Often we are hesitant to speak up and at times we speak at the wrong time. When to speak up and when to shut up is a vast topic. In this TED Talk by Adam Galinsky, we will see in detail how to speak up for yourself. This was kind of an eye-opener and something I oversaw most of the time. Watch this wonderful talk below.

Welcome Back !!

Power or rather lack thereof is one of the prominent factors that restrict us from speaking up. The next thing which restricts us from speaking up is double binds. It is the low power double-bind that holds us from speaking up majorly giving us two options of if we don’t speak we will go unnoticed, if we speak we will get rejected.

To sort this out and expand our acceptable behavior Adam gives us few tools to work on ourselves.  The following are the tools that help us in expanding the acceptable behavior according to Adam Galinsky.

• Be a mama bear
• Be a passionate perspective talker
• Be an Advice Seeker
• Have excellent evidence and strong allies

These tools look great not only on paper but in reality too.

Being a mama bear is advocating for others, understanding other’s perspectives, and working towards that. When you speak up for others then you will be able to discover your own voice. To discover our own voice once we understand things from other’s perspectives. When you empathize with others you can see your problems from other’s perspectives. This widens your knowledge and ability to give you a better view of something.

Once you see from a third person’s POV you know exactly where you are lacking, where others are having an upper hand. You should not hesitate to seek advice. By being an Advice Seeker, you are not only gaining expertise on a subject rather also gaining an ally. Increasing your expertise and building a strong ally makes you feel more confident and widely increases your acceptable behavior.

I am not going into detail regarding being passionate because that’s common and many of us are already implementing it. What’s much more important from the above four points is that being empathetic helps in speaking up. It is essential for all of us to humanize the works we are doing and humanize others. When we do this, we will be able to speak up, we will be able to put things out in a better way.