Words to Lose and Words to Use | JobSearchTV.com
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
There are words we use that disempower us and words that make us appear confident in our work, especially in interviews. My guest, Tracy Hooper is the author of “The NEW Hello: WHAT TO SAY WHAT TO DO IN THE NEW WORLD OF WORK” and her newest book, The Now Hello: What to Say | What to Do In the World of Work“
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Jeff Altman 00:05
So my guest today is Tracy Hooper. Tracy is the founder of The Confidence Project, and brings a wealth of experience in broadcast tv news as a reporter and anchor. Her Confidence Project clients include Intel, Nike, Microsoft, there’s a world of different clients she’s supported. And today we’re going to learn the words to lose that sound hesitant and ineffective, and how to replace them with words to use, that have impact, strength, and will make you stand out among the sea of candidates (That sounds like a song title) in the marketplace. And, by the way, this is take two, I made a mistake last time and didn’t set the record button. And she is so gracious enough to do this again. So, Tracy, thank you. I bow to you.
Tracy Hooper 00:58
Well, I’m delighted to be back and to talk about this all important concept of how words can can carry us, can give us a chance to present ourselves with confidence. Small shifts in our words can make a big difference.
Tracy Hooper 01:12
You betcha they can. So what’s the big myth around confidence? And what’s going to surprise people about confidence when we talk about this?
Tracy Hooper 01:21
And for those of you who claim introversion and use that as your excuse, I say excuse because some people are naturally introverted, you can be a confident introvert, as well, and present yourself effectively. It doesn’t mean that you have to suddenly become loud and rambunctious like I am at the top of the shows. But you can be your best version of you speaking with your version of authority, different than someone else’s version of authority and command.
Tracy Hooper 01:21
The big myth is this. He’s just born with confidence. She’s just naturally confident. No, that’s not true. The truth is that confidence can be learned. There is a part of competence for sure that’s in our genes. That’s a part of the personality we were all born with. But the rest of it comes from taking action. I always say take action, make mistakes, adjust, refine, repeat, over and over again, no different than an athlete who needs to look at his or her tape to see how they’re doing. No different than somebody that listened to themselves on a recording and says, ‘Oh, I want to change up the way I sound.’ Whether it’s their voice or their words, confidence can be learned. And that’s the cool thing, Jeff, because this shows you that confidence is an equal opportunity. . . Opportunity. It doesn’t matter where you were born, or what your job title is, or how much money you make, or what zip code you live in. Everyone can learn these skills. And that’s what makes it exciting.
Tracy Hooper 02:57
Right. And Jeff, even before you start speaking, check your posture. Posture, I believe is the unsung hero of confidence. And you don’t even have to open your mouth. So if you are quiet or shy or reserved, or see yourself as introverted, you can have good posture. And that speaks confidence for you, in a presentation at an interview before or during giving. or leading a meeting. Posture can really make the difference. And the trick is to pull your shoulders down and away from your ears. We’re hunched over our devices all the time, aren’t we? On laptops, and we’re texting, and that creates a whole series of physical ailments that we are all suffering from, according to physical therapists. The top three issues are back, neck and shoulder pain, because of all of our texting and other device use. But when you bring your shoulders down and away from your ears, and you present yourself that way, that’s the first sign of being a competent person.
Jeff Altman 03:56
And interestingly, folks, she’s a former anchor. Think of that– the anchors that you see on TV and how they present themselves. They don’t present themselves as being, shall we say, ineffectual or lacking confidence. They physically carry themselves in a particular way. Like there’s an anchor training school that teaches them how to sit in that seat, and they were all seated slightly forward, right? And carrying themselves in a certain way. And we have to do our version of that to present ourselves our best way. This isn’t about the physicality today, we’re talking about words
Tracy Hooper 04:36
Words.
Jeff Altman 04:37
So let’s look at some of the words to lose. Because these are the ones that unfortunately, too many people have the habit of using,
Tracy Hooper 04:46
Right? Well, the number one grouping lists of words are fillers. And fillers we all know the usual suspects– Uh, Umm, like, you know, like it was like the most fabulous podcast. We slip into using those words all the time. But here’s a word that you may not use and may not know about. How about the word stuff? I know my stuff. Stuff. We all know is what is in the junk drawer in our kitchen? Or what is in the closet? After two years of having not wornmost of our clothes, that is stuff. Be more specific? Do you know your stuff? Or do you know your material? Do you know your topic? Do you know your data. We have a lot of stuff to cover. Or we have a full agenda. We have six items on the agenda today. That’s a way to lose that word ‘stuff’ and sound stronger. Another word–thing? Thing. By thing, do you mean an idea? A habit? A goal? A success? A project? How often do you hear someone say, ‘Well, the thing is . . .” What does that mean? The goal is, the idea is, anytime you can replace the word thing with what it really is, that makes your presentation stronger. Those are the beginning of the fillers.
Jeff Altman 06:10
So . . .
Tracy Hooper 06:12
You’ve got me.
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Jeff Altman 06:15
That’s one of my fillers, the, you know, I look at transcriptions of interviews that I do. Because I was trained to pay attention afterwards and to listen to my interviews in an effort to improve. And the one I can’t, I have yet to get rid of is the word, so
Tracy Hooper 06:34
I hear you. That is my weak word, too. I was getting ready to be on a talk show here in Portland, Oregon, where I live. And I had talked with the producer about the topic and sent a list of questions for the anchor to ask me. And I decided that of course, I’m a big practice girl. And I put my cell phone up on my shelf and pressed record. I call that a shelfie. And at the end of a six minute mock interview between my cell phone and me, I had used the word so 13 times, I was embarrassed in front of myself, and it was me. And the way to know what your weak words are, your fillers, and we’ll talk about some other lists as well, is to do exactly what you talked about. Yeah, it is either to transcribe and find those weak words, or record yourself and listen to the words that you use. And after you’ve recorded and identified some words you want to lose, then practice the power of pause. We don’t need to fill every conversation, every second of every conversation with a word. Comedians do it all the time, before they deliver a punch line. A pause, that gives you a chance to gather your thoughts, to choose your words, it also gives the listener a chance to either process what you’ve just said, or get ready to hear what interesting point you’re about to make. Practice is how . . .
Jeff Altman 08:06
Very true. I was about to say so true. I’m trying to be conscious of the word. And there it was, the other word that I use, I create run on sentences.
Tracy Hooper 08:18
Oh, you know that about yourself.
Jeff Altman 08:21
The transcription is showing me that. Time and again, I succumb to run on sentences by sticking the word AND between two thoughts that are distinctly different. So, I . . . there it is . . . I bring it, I don’t bring the period into it. I just continue on and claim the throne or claim the position of control with the word AND because I haven’t stopped speaking,
Tracy Hooper 08:48
Fascinating and great self discovery. I find that people do that all the time. Sometimes when people are nervous, we cram a lot of words together. And we speak really fast. So we don’t give the other person a chance to respond to us. And we need to do that. That’s what conversation is. It’s a give and take. It’s a back and forth.
Tracy Hooper 09:11
And when you’re interviewing, folks, as as she pointed out, the goal is to connect with people and in doing that, you want to give them space to hear you, to catch up to what you say, not to constantly monopolize the conversation. They need to hear and process the points that you’re making. Thus . . . another potential filler–thus. But I think it fits in there.
Tracy Hooper 09:42
I think that’s a that’s a better one. That’s a better one than sell. But either way, Jeff, you have my permission to count the number of ‘so’s’ that I use for the rest of this podcast. I need to be accountable. And I have my threshold which I won’t reveal until the end. But I do have a threshold. I know I threw one in there so you can, so you can throw one in there. Shall we talk about the next group?
Jeff Altman 10:06
Yes, we shut Thank you. Let’s continue.
Tracy Hooper 10:10
Hedges are those small sneaky add on words that we use to sound less aggressive, less bossy, less domineering, less demanding. Instead of speaking, as we want to, saying something that way we want to say, we hedge. And that makes us sound hesitant. For example, for example, do you know what the number one hedge is in my view?
Tracy Hooper 10:35
Well, it used to be Benson, but that’s an old cigarette brand.
Tracy Hooper 10:40
That’s right.
Jeff Altman 10:42
No, tell us what the number one hedge is.
Tracy Hooper 10:45
In my view, the number one hedge is just. I just have a quick question. I just want to circle back. I was just wondering if you’ve made that decision. It’s a it’s a subtle, but not so subtle nudge. We don’t want to come on too strong. We don’t want to offend someone. We throw that word ‘just’ in to soften our delivery, but it undermines what we’re trying to say. Here’s another example– Kind of. I kind of think we should go in a different direction. A little bit. I’m a little bit concerned about the process that we might not make it on time. Almost. I almost think I’m ready for more responsibility. Are you ready for responsibility or aren’t you? I’m ready for responsibility. And this is what you can do. Record yourself or ask a friend or a colleague, if they’d be willing to record a conversation. This is another technique you can use. In the beginning, people will think this is very odd, and you’ll awkwardly go through the first minute or two. But then you’ll be having a normal conversation after that. And you’ll be able to hear on the playback the word that hedges the fillers that you might be using. That’s a great technique.
Tracy Hooper 11:56
Yeah. And physician heal thyself. You need to pay attention to what you do in order to be able to improve. Like any athlete that practices, the first time you take a jump shot, you’re awful. Like you’re lucky (like is another one), you’re lucky chance to wind up hitting the backboard. Yet, when you practice, you get better, you’ll make mistakes. And don’t punish yourself, because you’re learning
Tracy Hooper 12:31
Precisely. And here’s the other piece, Jeff. Let’s remember that your listeners know their information. They know their work. They know what they’re capable of doing. When you throw in the fillers and the hedges and some other lists, I’ll talk about, some other words to lose, it takes away from you the quality of what you’re offering a company or an organization. Takes away from the quality of a presentation you’re making, or a meeting that you’re running. Therefore, give yourself the best chance you have to make a good first impression. And once you begin losing these words, then that builds your confidence and then other people have more confidence in you. And then it becomes this virtuous cycle upward, because you feel more confident, then other people have more confidence in you. And then it keeps going. It’s exciting. And it’s, I’m using all my filler words and but Jeff, now you can really present yourself and carry yourself as you want to. And it’s very actionable immediately.
Tracy Hooper 13:35
It’s about how you present your personal leadership is ultimately what we’re connecting with here. When you undermine, you take away your leadership qualities that you’re trying to present to someone who’s interviewing you. Whether you’re a staff person, or you’re actually presenting in the C suite, the goal you need to have is to demonstrate those qualities that allow people to trust you. Thus, comma, when you hesitate, thus, when you diminish yourself n some way, You hurt yourself. That’s why she calls these ‘words to lose.’ Right
Tracy Hooper 14:18
Right. et’s move on though. Two words to use. I have another category I’m going to share with you. And those are called disclaimers. And we all know that these are disclaimers. Disclaimers are words that we use to sound humble, or modest, but they don’t make us sound strong. For instance, someone might say, ‘correct me if I’m wrong.’
Jeff Altman 14:39
Trust me, I’ll do that.
Tracy Hooper 14:43
Why would we ask someone to correct us before we even started talking? There’s a stronger word phrase to use and I’ll talk about it in a moment. Here’s another disclaimer. ‘You have been doing this a lot longer than I have,’ or ‘what do I know?’ Or ‘I could be way off base’ or ‘jump in if you think I’m missing something,’ Oh my goodness, don’t ask someone to jump in and look for something missing. You can speak up. Another one is this is ‘just my two cents.’ ‘I’m no expert.’ ‘This could be this is a crazy idea.’ These are all disclaimers. And there are words that, phrases that we can use that sound stronger. For instance, instead of saying, ‘correct me if I’m wrong,’ you can say, ‘let me know if I heard this correctly.’ Point taken, let me know if I heard this correctly, then people can speak back and forth. Or ‘you’ve been doing this a lot longer.’ Or you could say, ‘in my experience.’ ‘What do I know?’ Or ‘I could be way off base here’ or ‘from my perspective.’ Now I had somebody say, ‘I’ve had many people say to me along the way, what’s the difference between confident and cocky?’
Jeff Altman 15:53
Being justified.
Tracy Hooper 15:56
But also Jeff, it’s your tone of voice. It’s your body language. It’s your facial expression. For instance, I met this great guy, and we’ve stayed connected. He’s a strategic partner of mine. Has had a brilliant career at a big international athletic apparel company. And I said to him when we first met, ‘tell me, what is your what’s your secret sauce? What do you do really well.’ And he said to me, ‘I’m an expert at leading large global teams.’ Period. He wasn’t hedging. He wasn’t being cocky. He wasn’t leaning in and said, ‘I’m an expert leading large global teams,’he was matter of fact. And I love that he’s an expert at leading large global teams. Great. And you know what that did? That elevated the entire conversation. I thought I’m meeting a person who’s an expert at leading large global teams. And then that prompted me to say, ‘tell me more about that. What does that mean? How have you developed those skills?’ When you present yourself with a statement of fact, with, as I mentioned, a pleasant rfacial expression, good body language, then people are more apt to ask you the second and the third question.
Tracy Hooper 17:08
And what you’ve also illustrated beautifully, is the power of fewer words.
Tracy Hooper 17:13
Yes.
Jeff Altman 17:14
Too many words, people think you’re begging. They think you’re in a situation where you’re pleading. Believe me. Believe me, please! Let me tell you one more time, in a different way.
Tracy Hooper 17:33
Right, exactly. Exactly.
Tracy Hooper 17:36
Those few words, it was a perfect statement.
Tracy Hooper 17:40
Right. And I appreciate you bringing up the idea of fewer words. We tend to speak too fast and too much when we’re nervous. However, if you feel like you need a setup line, so a disclaimer could be ‘correct me if I’m wrong, I’m no expert, you’re smarter than I am.’ Whatever you’re going to say, if you feel like you need a set up line, I want you to steal my mother’s. This is my mother, my 89 year old mother says this if she feels she needs to set up line. ‘This thought is 30 seconds old.’ And I love that she knows that her idea is not fully formed. But she has enough competence to throw it out there anyway and see where it lands. You can say that it’s much stronger than saying ‘this is a crazy idea.’ Or, you know, I’m no genius.’ Much stronger. This thought is 30 seconds old. ‘What if we went with Project B?’ That’s a great way to give yourself more confidence when you are when you feel like you need to give a line to get the person ready for your conversation.
Tracy Hooper 18:51
When I run groups as I do from time to time, I will talk about this is a 10,000 year old ritual I created 10 minutes ago.
Tracy Hooper 19:00
I love that. I’m learning from you. How about validators? Validators are words that we use, because we’re trying to get buy in from the audience, whether it’s an audience of one or 10 or 100. We want to make sure they’re following along. We want to make sure they get what we’re talking about. Therefore, we tend to use phrases such as ‘Is that okay? Do you know what I mean? Do you see what I’m saying? Am I being clear? Does that make sense?’ How often do you hear that? ‘Does that make sense?’
Jeff Altman 19:40
At the end of the complex thought. Casual conversation, but you’d want to confirm that the person on the receiving end of the complex thought follows your idea. What would you suggest someone say because this is going to show up on an interview as well.
Tracy Hooper 19:59
Absolutely. Instead of saying, ‘Does that make sense,’ you could say, ‘Do you have any questions?’ When you say, ‘does that make sense,’ that’s implying that what you’ve just said doesn’t make sense? Or that the person who’s listening to you isn’t smart enough to get it.
Jeff Altman 20:16
Can you ask instead of ‘Does that make sense?’ Because I always wonder about putting someone on the spot. And knowing automatically, they’re going to say yes, because they don’t want to make themselves seem dumb. Was that clear?
Tracy Hooper 20:34
You could say, was that clear? I would prefer you say, ‘Do I need to clarify anything?’
Jeff Altman 20:39
Perfect, thank you.
Tracy Hooper 20:40
Or, ‘let me know if I can clarify something for you.’ That way, you’re not assuming that what you’re saying is not clear. And instead of saying, ‘Do you see what you could say, ‘How’s this landing with you?” Or does anybody want to weigh in here? Or let me know if I need to repeat anything? These are all ways that you can take responsibility for asking if they need more information. And then it gives other people permission to say, ‘Yeah, could you go back to point two? I need to hear that again. And that’s important. Validators are very interesting. Okay, here’s one for you, Jeff. I call this the trifecta. This is a filler, a hedge and a validator all in one. Can you guess what one word, which is extremely popular in our culture today It is a filler hedge and a validator? Are you ready?
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Jeff Altman 21:35
I’m ready for you.
Tracy Hooper 21:37
Right? How often do you hear people talking? And they say, ‘right.’ Right in the middle of a sentence, right? Because they want to make sure you’re following along, right. So they keep doing that over and over again. They don’t give you a chance to say whether you get it or not. And it’s a filler. And it’s one of those words that stretches from one that keeps a sentence going, like you were talking about, it extends the sentence, but without giving the listener a chance to respond. Again, practice the power of pause. Record yourself. Find someone else who can record you. And these are ways that you can learn to drop these words. We can’t go on though without talking about–‘I’m sorry . . ., about that.’
Jeff Altman 22:26
I’m sorry.
Tracy Hooper 22:27
You hear that a lot?
Jeff Altman 22:28
Oh, yeah. I don’t do that myself. However, I do know quite a few other people who do?
Tracy Hooper 22:35
Well, let’s talk about context because context is key. If you have . . . it can be cultural. People from the UK and New Zealand, other parts of the world, they might say ‘sorry?’ And that’s not. That’s not like they don’t understand. It could be that they didn’t hear you or they want you to repeat it. That’s a part of their culture. I was giving a presentation one time, and somebody raised their hand and said, I’m from Canada. We apologize all the time. I was giving a presentation for a group in the UK a couple of months ago. And one guy said, ‘Yeah, we Brits are a polite lot. Someone bumps into us and we apologize.’
Jeff Altman 23:16
of course, but I want to make sure we get to the words to use. Because we’re covering a lot of territory on bad language, dirty words. I’ve wanted to make sure we get to the good stuff.
Tracy Hooper 23:30
Well, the good stuff is, for instance, the words to use for the disclaimers are ‘do you have any questions?’ Or ‘let me know if I need to clarify anything?’ If you instead of asking, is that? Okay? You can also say ‘what are your thoughts?’ These are words to use? Instead of saying, ‘ See what I’m saying, you could say let me know if I need to repeat anything.’ ‘Do you have any comments,’ you could say, “Raise your hand if this resonates with you,’ or ‘I’d appreciate your feedback.” Those are all words to use, instead of the words to lose. And then in terms of I’m sorry, the big takeaway here, Jeff is is to replace I’m sorry, with Thank you, instead of saying, ‘I’m sorry to ask this question, ‘ you could say ‘I have a question about that,’ or thank you for . . . Is now a good time for questions.” Instead of saying ‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand., you could say ‘would you clarify that point? Please? Could you say more about that second point, please?’ Or could you please focus back on that third point you made?’ Those are phrases that you can use instead of I’m sorry, I disagree. You can say ‘I respectfully disagree,’ or ‘I have a different opinion.’ Or ‘ I have another point of view. Here’s what I think. hose are stronger words to use. You can also switch as I mentioned from I’m sorry to thank you, instead of saying Sorry about the noise. It’s my neighbor’s leaf blower you could say ‘thank you for your patience with the noise. Sorry for being late. Thank you for waiting. Thank you for your patience, Thank you for your understanding. Anytime you can switch, I’m sorry to thank you absolutely do it. Now let’s remember, there are times when you need to apologize if you’ve made a mistake, if there’s been a misunderstanding, if you’ve stepped on someone’s toes, by all means you need to apologize. But think of the times when you’re in conversation, or you hear another conversation and people overuse the word ‘I’m sorry” It really does diminish you.
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Jeff Altman 25:35
It’s we’re going for power. We’re going for authority, we’re going for command, and we’re going for connection all at once. These are things that disconnect you, right? And in disconnecting us, you’re not on the same level as the other person. You’re now in the subordinate position instead of at a peer level, right? I always think in terms of power differentials in professional situations. And thus, you don’t have to create that lower position. If anything, your goal, and for those of you who followed me for any length of time, you know, the first thing I have you do is to talk with them about the job at the beginning, so that you’re in a consultative position, and you’re no longer in that superior, subordinate place. Everything that you do, unfortunately, that weakens you, takes you back down. And there’s no reason for that.
Tracy Hooper 26:37
Correct. And remember that people who are interviewing you want to be able to hire you. They want to see who you really are. Don’t don’t diminish yourself by using these words that aren’t strong and using expressions that don’t– it’s much stronger to say, “from my experience, when I worked at so and so for five years, this was my takeaway from that organization.” Now, the person who’s interviewing you is psyched. This could be our person. Let’s keep talking.
Tracy Hooper 27:08
And would you follow up by saying, ‘Have you had a similar experience?’ Or has yours been different in a different organization? I’m just curious about that.
Tracy Hooper 27:18
I love that. I love that. Because guess what, Jeff? Engagement, and everybody’s favorite subject is themselves. You have a chance to talk about them. They are all over the place. Now be careful. You don’t want to have it to be all over them. Because this is your interview. For instance, or this is your meeting that you’re running. But that give and take. Tell me your experience. That’s one of my I call that my Kickstarter questions. What? How? And tell me more. That really gets conversations going to tell me more piece. Tell me more about that gives that back and forth that you’re that you’re talking about.
Jeff Altman 27:56
The fun thing, folks is the follow up to that is, ‘ah, interesting!’ and ask a follow up question after that to understand the environment that they were in that prompted us to do it that way. Ah, I see. In our case, we had this. In your case, it was that.’ I could see how that difference works. This way, if they’re thinking negatively about your answer, you’re able to explain what the difference was that prompted you to propose this solution versus theirs.
Tracy Hooper 28:28
Right. And a really good interviewer is looking for someone who may have a different point of view than they do. That’s the sign of a good leader. Good leaders should surround themselves with people who don’t think like them. And you may be that person. So stand tall.
Jeff Altman 28:44
Yeah. Put your shoulders back.
Tracy Hooper 28:47
Pull your shoulders down and away from your ears. Yeah.
Jeff Altman 28:51
Drop their ears, you know?
Tracy Hooper 28:53
That’s exactly right. You got it. For those
Tracy Hooper 28:56
For those of you who listen to this on the podcast, my shoulders were up above my ears, but hey! What the heck!
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Tracy Hooper 29:02
Now, you’re relaxed.
Jeff Altman 29:04
Yes, I’m relaxed. What haven’t we covered so far that we really should?
Tracy Hooper 29:08
Well, What haven’t we covered? I think the most important thing you can do, the most important thing, let me change that word . . . That’s a filler. The most important skill you can develop is to practice. I want you to practice these skills. I want you to practice having a conversation with someone talk about your favorite vacation, or the best part of your best job or what you’re going to do when you travel this summer. A comfortable conversation where you can find those words that you want to lose and then I would encourage you to be kind to yourself. Psychologists tell us that it takes 30 days to break a bad habit and 30 days to develop a good one. One suggestion is to take a post it note and write four sets of words to lose. Pardon me, words to use on the post it note and put it on the upper corner of your laptop and every time you’re on a phone call or writing an email, you’re having a conversation, you refer to those words to use. And it could be, from my experience, what I know after 10 years in the tech industry, my recommendation is, you can use those words. And then people will begin to treat you differently. Let that that post it note be your guide. And then I want you to consider, this is big, breathing. Breathing consciously. When we get nervous, when we are, when we feel like we have a lot on the line, we don’t breathe. In fact, Linda Brice is a voice coach and I have worked with her off and on for a long time. And she’s a part of my book, Jeff, called “The New Hello,” and she told me this. She by the way, she works with professional singers and speakers all over the world. And I would assert that we are all professional speakers in some capacity. We have to speak for a living, whether it’s to your colleague, or to someone who’s interviewing you, or whether you’re presenting at a meeting, we all have to speak professionally. And Linda says this, ‘our biggest fear is that we will be shamed, humiliated, or banished from the group when we speak up. So we freeze, and we cannot access our thoughts. And we literally stop breathing. And while we stand there madly trying to gather our ideas, we use various words to mask our anxiety, filler, fillers, hedges, validators, disclaimers. I’m sorry, if you breathe deeply, then that gives your body a chance to let the words flow out of you like a river. So breathing deeply. Record yourself, write some words on a post it note. Ask a friend or a coach, a business coach like you to help you, to help identify the words, practice the power of pause, and finally decide. My friend, Mary’s daughter is in her mid 30s. And she came over to visit her mom one day. And Mary noticed that she used the expression, ‘you know,’ a lot. So at the end of their conversation, Mary said ‘Maddie may give you some feedback on something I heard you say a lot today.’ And Maddie said, ‘Okay.’ And Mary said, ‘I noticed you said, you know, a lot.’ And Maddie said, okay, so she left and a couple of weeks later, she came back. And during the whole conversation all afternoon, Maddie did not say you know, once. At the end of the day, Mary looked at her and said, ‘Maddie, I noticed you haven’t said, you know,’ What did you do? And Maddie said, I decided and so can you, you can make that small decision for a big impact.
Tracy Hooper 32:59
Now, can I count that ‘And so can you as a so?
Tracy Hooper 33:03
Oh, yes, you can. Let’s be let’s be real about this.
Jeff Altman 33:08
Because you could have said ‘And you can, too.’
Tracy Hooper 33:10
You can, too. Thank you, Jeff.
Jeff Altman 33:14
You’re welcome. I didn’t count the one from Linda, because there’s something in her quote where she uses the word. But that doesn’t count because you’re reading hers. But when you spoke to me understand up until that point, I had a zero on a sheet of paper. Sorry. Yeah. I had a zero because you hadn’t done any. But it was not until that very last statement that you use the word I had to bring it to your attention.
Tracy Hooper 33:39
Interesting. Sometimes we get comfortable. And we slide into more comfortable speak. And that was one of those cases. I love that story. And I told it newsworthy. Also, I do have a 10 So threshold for an hour conversation. We’re not talking an hour. That’s my, I’m working on that.
Jeff Altman 34:03
You did great. I have the book inside. I started reading it, folks. It’s terrific. Tell people how they can find out about the book. You’ve got another one coming out shortly. Right? Everything about how they can reach you. Okay?
34:19
I do. Thank you. Well, The New Hello is the book I wrote in response to the pandemic. It was what do we say? And what do we do in the new world of work? And there were plenty of plenty of evergreen ideas for networking and for entering a conversation. How do you get out of a conversation so forth? I’m finishing up The Now Hello.” What do we say and do now that we have vaccinations and people are going back to the office going back to work at the office and it’s a much more robust book. I have a new chapter an expanded chapter on networking, a new chapter on confident conversations, a new chapter on, It’s called the hybrid highway. How do we navigate this hybrid highway, and that will be coming out in the next. I’m hoping by the middle of May. It’s at the book designers now. People can find me on LinkedIn, of course, under Tracy Hooper. And you can also find me on Instagram, which is The Confidence_ Project. And I’d like to make an offer to you and I’m and to your listeners, I offer a monthly, a short monthly video, the first Thursday of every month. I produce a one to two minute video on anything confidence related. It could be how to/when to jump into a conversation. It could be whether you should use cuss words or not in business. Evidently, there’s been a heightened use of cuss words during the pandemic. And my sense about when that is not appropriate, and that it’s hard to code switch to go back and forth. All kinds of ideas about confidence in these videos, and people can sign up for that by going ConfidenceProject.com.
Jeff Altman 36:08
Excellent. Tracy, thank you, again. And folks, we’ll be back soon with more. I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. I hope you enjoyed this interview. If you did and you’re watching it on YouTube, share it, leave a comment, give it a thumbs up of course, do something that lets people know it was worthwhile.
Jeff Altman 36:25
Also, I want to remind you, visit my website, TheBigGameHunter.us where I’ve got a ton in the blog that will help you with job search, hiring more effectively, management, leadership, and much more. You can also find out about my courses, books and guides, schedule time for a free introductory call with me or schedule time for coaching. I want to help you. Lastly, connect with me on Linkedin at linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter. Have a terrific day and, most importantly, be great!
When You’ve Been Made Redundant, Fired, Laid Off, RIF’d
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2400 episodes.
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