Being a ‘Yes’ man!
I have always been a ‘Yes’ man. Meaning, I tend to agree with everyone naturally. This helps me be on good terms with everyone, but I wonder if I am missing something by not being able stay strong to my thoughts. I am not afraid to raise my thoughts but I tend to belive in the facts other bring to the table. My spouse often says I’m too innocent and easily persuadable. Not sure if it is good or bad. From an Amazon leadership principle standpoint, this is agaist the ‘Disagree and commit’ and ‘Have backbone’. I’m afraid if this would jeopardize my career. Any thoughts?
YES
Read the book no more mr nice guy
I see a couple of authors. Could you please share the author you are referring to?
Robert a Glover
i used to be the same. When someone states an opinion, take a step back and think if you really agree with what they’re saying. You’ll find that people spout a lot of bullshit and you can start to “disagree”
I will give it a try. But the problem is, the more i think about what someone says, the more I tend to think they have a point.
What’s your role? SDE, Product, TPM? How many YOE? In general, It depends. Disagreeing for the sake of sounding smart/ tough is silly too.
I’m a data engineer. 6 yoe. Agree, I never want to disagree just for the sake of it.
Did you ask for peer feedback? Has anyone complained that you agree too much? Maybe you’re worried about a problem that doesn’t exist.
Initially as an inexperienced folk it's ok!! Not at senior level. Be good at what you are, and you can definitely say NO
What is it that holds you back to disagree? It could be you are not interested, as you are not very invested. I found i avoided conflicts because I didn’t care that much - and felt unprepared. Try to diagnose if something like that is happening.
If you agree with yes Everytime. It might deem to management as you're more of a follower vs a leader personality. Personally I feel you learn more by questioning everything and agree with sound sense of reasoning if you want to grow from a personality standpoint. If you choose to grow in your career then you need to set your own path (which does sometime mean saying No with valid reasons and proving them that you're right)
This may be true. I am not sure if I’m a good leader. I tend to be a IC than a manager. How can I improve or change?
Leadership doesn't just mean management. It could also be technical leadership. Sometimes you gotta believe in your design/architecture and keep pushing until you get results
i think I saw this in an interview of Jeff. The Prime video team wanted to do something rad and he thought that was a terrible idea, and after some back and forth he said I disagree and best of luck. The team went ahead and it was a hit. He was suggesting when you don’t have data and consensus it is ok to disagree and commit rather than going in circles (bias for action?). I found that very interesting. Sorry to hear that there’s more to it - specially not in an encouraging way.
Yes