In the US, being soft-spoken, deferential, and respectful makes you a valued colleague, NOT a leader. America was born in revolution, has an enduring cowboy identity, and today is led by a reality TV personality. This pattern plays out in business, too. US business culture favors those who speak quickly, act boldly, and ignore at least some rules and limitations. If anything, this trend is increasing with ideas like “founder mode” getting broad attention and support

The text you write for thinking should differ from the text you write for others to read.

When you disagree with someone in words while being truly agreeable in demeanor, many people will match your conduct. They will discuss with you rather than attack you.

Engineers, although they may have better ideas or insights, their communication style generates resentment that will limit how much impact they can have in the future. Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.

A status report is what others need to know, not what you did. A status report communicates important things (from a stakeholder’s perspective), not all the work.

When a customer brings a complaint, there are always two tokens on the table: “It’s no big deal” and “It’s the end of the world”. Both tokens are always played, so whoever chooses first forces the other to grab the token that’s left. Don’t force your customer into taking the “It’s the end of the world” one. https://brunopedro.com/