36 Why PowerPhrases?
- Your boss is unfairly critical of you at a meeting. What
would you say?
A) “You are dead wrong about that. You don’t know
what you’re talking about.”
B) Nothing.
C) “I would be very happy to discuss this issue in pri-
vate. When can we meet?”- Someone sent you an e-mail that said there was an
attachment, but you didn’t receive an attachment. What would
you say?
A) “You forgot the attachment.”
B) “Gee, I’m not technical at all. I must be doing some-
thing wrong because when I try to open the attach-
ment, I can’t find one. Sorry to bother you with this,
but could you resend it?”
C) “I didn’t receive the attachment.”- Your coworker made errors in a joint report. What would
you say?
A) “This is sloppy. Obviously, you didn’t proofread.”
B) Nothing. You stay late to fix the errors and you don’t
say anything.
C) “Great job. I did find a few errors. Is now a good
time for me to point them out?”