009 | New Futures: How to Say No

Leadership Impact

Welcome to Leadership Impact, the podcast for modern executives who are reinventing leadership within their organizations. Hosted by executive leadership coach and CEO of The Granger Network, Kari Granger, and Sound Financial Group CEO, Paul Adams, this podcast aims to address the topics of performance and leadership through real life examples. In this episode, we begin our five-part series on new futures.

In this episode, Kari and Paul talk all about the importance and the power of saying ‘No.’ Oftentimes, people don’t want to decline an offer or a request out of the fear of disappointing someone, or missing out on an opportunity or other various concerns. Kari begins the show by talking about our declarations and the crucial part they play in creating new futures. Counterintuitively, Kari and Paul begin the series on new futures with a discussion about what we should not do. Kari delves deep into an issue that many people run into in business and life: the underdeveloped capacity to say ‘No.’ There are, in fact, many positives that can come from this declaration. Saying ‘No’ can open up space for other opportunities that otherwise would not have revealed themselves. Paul provides an example of a business owner he knew that would always say ‘Yes,’ and the negative impact this had on both his health and his overall performance. Kari interprets Paul’s example as a classic case of someone who was looking for a sense of belonging or affinity by always accommodating requests.

Finally, Kari and Paul share their own strategies of how to get honest answers from their employees when making requests. They both have realized that being specific and open in their communication is the key to accepting ‘No’ and understanding the reasons behind ‘No.’ Paul challenges the audience to watch for the places in their lives where saying ‘No’ opens up the space to say ‘Yes’ to something new.

For full shownotes: https://grangernetwork.com/9