The Lion Within—Learning the Importance of Saying “No” in the Workplace
By Cleo Zell
For years, I’ve told the story of an early time when I stood up for myself in a workplace. It was the first time I had ever used my voice to say out loud what I wanted in a job.
I was a recent college graduate interviewing for a position I found through a newspaper ad. This was 2001 and Baltimore, like me, had many opportunities and many troubles. I had just finished a year of AmeriCorps and two other jobs to make one livable income—and decided to try corporate America.
I was dressed up, ironed, and wide-eyed in a small corner office of an electronic component company. My nerves were screaming, and I just wanted to say yes to anything and get the interview over with. The hiring manager was telling me about two open positions: an office manager and an inside salesperson. Either would have been fine, however, once he described the office manager position as a “mother hen,” something burst out of me like a lion attacking its prey.
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