Motivation: Can You Learn to Speak Up For Yourself?

No matter how long you’ve been in the professional world, you’ve seen many opportunities for difficult conversations. The tough boss. The coworker who never carries their weight. The client who insists on getting more than what was agreed upon in the contract. As much as you’d love to gloss over those issues, you know it’s in the best interest of your career to find the motivation and speak for yourself. At the same time, no one relishes the idea of having a difficult conversation; you worry about what you’re going to say, how you’ll be perceived, and what the final outcome of the confrontation will be. Under these conditions, it is tough to find the motivation to act. In short, something’s at risk, opinions vary, and emotions are a big factor.

In this TED Talk, Adam Galinsky speaks to that very topic. Galinsky has received numerous national and international awards for his teaching and research. He is only the second psychologist to ever to receive the two most important mid-career awards in social psychology. In 2015, he was named one of the Top 50 Thinkers on Talent by Thinkers50. In recognition of the quality of his teaching and research, he was selected as one of the World’s 50 Best B-School Professors by Poets and Quants (2012).

Find the motivation with this educational TED Talk: