Beth Braccio Hering of CareerBuilder wrote an article titled, “Loose Lips Might Lose a Job,” which recently appeared in The Arizona Republic. In her article she listed several phrases that could potentially damage your career because they make you come across as anything but a team player. Some of these phrases are:
- I can’t take on any more work. I’m completely overwhelmed already.
- Joe is an idiot.
- That’s not fair!
- That’s not how we did it at my old company.
- I’m bored.
These phrases make you sound like you’re whiny, arrogant or self-centered. This is not the kind of person that coworkers want to support or bosses want to promote. As Ms. Hering put it, “Remember, silence is golden—especially if it prevents you from uttering one of these potentially career damaging phrases.”
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Hi Ross – thanks for all the great tips. I think it’s worth adding a comment regarding your tip by Beth Braccio. I agree, we have to be PC in our comments. However, we also have to learn how to tell senior management when something is wrong. A contributing factor in the ENRON problems and resulting SOX regulations was the failure of senior management to understand what was really happening. Employees avoided speaking up when they should have. Thus not only do we have to learn what not to say- we also have to learn how to speak up in a way that won’t hurt our careers.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the comment. I couldn’t agree with you more. What are you up to these days? I hope you are well. Ross