There's been a lot of talk about words you should 'never' say at work - so much so that we're worried about opening our mouths and somehow sending ourselves back down the career ladder.
The latest comes from a former female Google and Apple executive, who urges women to stop using "just" at work, because she feels it's childish. You know, when you say "Can I just have a quick meeting" or "Could we just look at the figures before we make a decision"?
Ellen Petry Lease says that it's a signal of subordination, telling Business Insider:
“A few years back I noticed something: the frequency with which the word "just" appeared in email and conversation from female co-workers and friends. It hit me that there was something about the word I didn’t like. It was a 'permission' word, in a way — a warm-up to a request, an apology for interrupting, a shy knock on a door before asking 'Can I get something I need from you?"
She added: “The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was a “child” word, to riff Transactional Analysis. As such it put the conversation partner into the ‘parent’ position, granting them more authority and control. And that “just” didn’t make sense."
Lease argues that removing 'just' makes us sound stronger, more confident and intelligent when presenting ideas at work.
She might have a point, but it turns out that there are even more words than can be damaging when said a lot in the workplace. Dr. Travis Bradberry, the cofounder of TalentSmart, the world's leading provider of emotional intelligence tests and training, said that these are the words to avoid because they can make you sound lazy, make promises you can't keep, give the impression you are difficult to work with or even overly passive. How many of these have you said?