Jun 3, 2026 · 12 min · 9 segments
Lots of different things can knock your confidence as a senior manager. Sometimes it's a comment, a specific experience presentation, or even a particular colleague that makes you feel less confident…
So today, I want to continue looking at our series on the realities of speaking English at work.
The first thing I have on my list today is a situation that happened with a client.
They told me that they wanted to work on an international project, and unfortunately, they had been told that there was a language barrier and they couldn't work on that project.
You may have experienced something like this, and it really knocked their confidence, especially because it wasn't what they were expecting.
They had already had some experience communicating in English at work, so it felt like a natural progression.
But it also gave them the impetus to say, "Do you know what? I'm not gonna let this be an issue again because I want the freedom to work on whatever project I want, wherever in the world." For me personally, when I was listening to this person communicate, I didn't think there was a barrier.
I really do think it was a poor choice of words on the part of that person, but there's nothing that we can do to control that, and perhaps they were doing their best to get across what they thought was useful.
But when you say the word barrier, and this is also useful for you to know if you have people that speak in your team, some people internalize that as like there's no communication going on at all.
What do you do if you ha- find yourself getting a similar comment like this, and how do you let it not affect your confidence too much? In this case, they really had the attitude of, "No, I'm not going to accept that as the reality.
No, I'm not gonna let that comment define me and internalize that and think, 'Okay.
Yes, there's a barrier and I can't do it.' I'm gonna work really hard to make sure and that I can move past that." Another interesting reflection on this topic is actually a presentation that I watched a few weeks ago.
And regularly members give speeches, and this one was about rejection and about how to deal with rejection.
It can often actually be loaded with a lot of other dynamics that are going on, which is quite common in the workplace, right? Feedback is data, and you can decide what you want to do with it.
Do you take it on board and feel, "Yes, that's a useful comment and constructive criticism"? Or do you say, "Okay, that's some data there, but I'm not going to internalize that and let that define me, especially in the workplace when I'm speaking in English"? So if you have had a comment like that, those are some different reflections that you can take away to think about it.
You're not the only person that has received that comment, but also to give you the strength to push through and keep going even when you get those comments.
So today, I want to continue looking at our series on the realities of speaking English at work.
The first thing I have on my list today is a situation that happened with a client.
They told me that they wanted to work on an international project, and unfortunately, they had been told that there was a language barrier and they couldn't work on that project.
You may have experienced something like this, and it really knocked their confidence, especially because it wasn't what they were expecting.
They had already had some experience communicating in English at work, so it felt like a natural progression.
But it also gave them the impetus to say, "Do you know what? I'm not gonna let this be an issue again because I want the freedom to work on whatever project I want, wherever in the world." For me personally, when I was listening to this person communicate, I didn't think there was a barrier.
I really do think it was a poor choice of words on the part of that person, but there's nothing that we can do to control that, and perhaps they were doing their best to get across what they thought was useful.
But when you say the word barrier, and this is also useful for you to know if you have people that speak in your team, some people internalize that as like there's no communication going on at all.
What do you do if you ha- find yourself getting a similar comment like this, and how do you let it not affect your confidence too much? In this case, they really had the attitude of, "No, I'm not going to accept that as the reality.
No, I'm not gonna let that comment define me and internalize that and think, 'Okay.
Yes, there's a barrier and I can't do it.' I'm gonna work really hard to make sure and that I can move past that." Another interesting reflection on this topic is actually a presentation that I watched a few weeks ago.
And regularly members give speeches, and this one was about rejection and about how to deal with rejection.
It can often actually be loaded with a lot of other dynamics that are going on, which is quite common in the workplace, right? Feedback is data, and you can decide what you want to do with it.
Do you take it on board and feel, "Yes, that's a useful comment and constructive criticism"? Or do you say, "Okay, that's some data there, but I'm not going to internalize that and let that define me, especially in the workplace when I'm speaking in English"? So if you have had a comment like that, those are some different reflections that you can take away to think about it.
You're not the only person that has received that comment, but also to give you the strength to push through and keep going even when you get those comments.
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