10 Why PowerPhrases?
lives. During Patrice’s performance review, the supervisor over-
looked much of what Patrice had done. Patrice exploded and
screamed,
This is a joke! This is unfair! You don’t have a clue about
what I do. You’re never here anyway. You probably aren’t
giving me credit for what I do because it’s more than you
can understand.Did Patrice think that screaming at her boss was going to
enhance her ratings? In retrospect, she wished she had used a
PowerPhrase and said,
Your points are well taken, and they make me aware
that I have not provided you with the necessary infor-
mation about my accomplishments. I believe you need
that information to accurately assess my performance.
Can we reschedule this meeting until a later time so I
can provide you with a comprehensive picture of my
accomplishments?Then there was Robert, who responded to coworker Frank’s
inappropriate, unprintable hostile remarks with his own inap-
propriate, unprintable hostile remarks. When they met with
management, Robert didn’t look any better than Frank did,
even though Frank had initiated the hostility.
Everywhere you turn, people are expressing themselves in
ways that alienate those who can help them.
Marvin saw that happen while he waited to catch a plane to
Denver. The earlier flight to Denver was boarding, and the gate
agent paged two passengers. The gate agent repeated the page
twice. When there was no response, she gave the seats to stand-