You Need To Be Direct, with Andy Frisella - MFCEO152
Episode Stats
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184.64809
Summary
In this episode, we talk about the importance of being a direct communicator and how to get the point across in order to be successful in your career and in your life. You can't waste time trying to fluff around people's feelings, you have to actually get your point across!
Transcript
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What is up guys? You're listening to the MFCEO Project. I'm Andy. I'm your host and I am
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the motherfucking CEO. Guys, if this is your first time listening, welcome. This is an
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entrepreneurial self-development, personal development podcast. A lot of the principles
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we talk about are going to directly have to do with your career or how you can become
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better in your life. That doesn't matter if you're an entrepreneur or if you're a guy who
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works within a company, the structure of a company, if you're somebody who's wanting to
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start a business, if somebody works at McDonald's and you're thinking about doing your own thing,
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or if you're somebody that works at fucking McDonald's, you just want to be good at what
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you do. While this is considered an entrepreneurial podcast, realize that being an entrepreneur
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is a cultural mindset that helps you improve across all areas of life. And that's the things
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that we talk about here on the podcast. Guys, today, before I get into what we're going to talk
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about today, I want to talk to you real quick about what I would like for you guys to do for me.
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Um, it's very, very important in our podcast rankings that you guys subscribe to the podcast.
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Okay. So if you guys could go on iTunes and you could actually subscribe to the podcast,
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my deal with you is this is if you find value in the podcast, if it helps you, if it helps you
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So thank you guys for that. Now, what I want to get into today is very, very important because I
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feel like it is an area of, uh, you know, life career, um, that most people struggle with
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and it's, it's communication. Okay. Um, a lot of people have trouble communicating because
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they feel like if they're communicating, they're being confrontational. All right, guys, there
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is nothing confrontational about being direct. There's nothing confrontational about saying
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exactly what you think. There's nothing confrontational about communicating some with
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someone in a direct way. Okay. In fact, if you're in the right organization, that's going to be highly
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valued. If you're in the wrong organization, it might be looked down upon, but ultimately don't
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you want to be in the right organization or don't you want to build the right culture in your,
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in your organization? I know I do. And I know that the way you do that is by communicating
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directly. And I want to talk to you guys about that for just a second. You know, normally on
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Thursday thunder, we talk about motivation. We talk about, uh, you know, basically how to get your
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shit together, how to be more productive, how to think differently. This is more practical,
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but I think it's important and it doesn't need to, you know, be an hour long podcast. All right,
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guys, you have, if you're going to be successful in life, you've got to learn to be direct in your
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communication. You can't waste time trying to fluff around people's feelings. You can't waste time
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trying to beat around the bush. You can't waste time trying to get the message across without actually
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saying the message. All right. You've got to be direct. You've got to get the point across and
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you've got to, if you're somebody who has always had trouble with this, it's going to feel weird at
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first. You're going to feel awkward and you're going to feel confrontational. It's going to feel
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like you're confronting people, even though you're not, when you start being direct after spending a
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lifetime of being a passive communicator. Okay, guys, you need to start practicing this. You need
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to start practicing this on a daily basis. All right. Um, and a couple of things you can do here
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to help with this is this one, a realize that when you communicate directly, you're saving yourself
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time. You're saving the other person time and you're getting the point across right away. And
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the right kind of people are going to value that. All right. Number two, when you communicate directly,
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you are stating a clear expectation. And the other person that you are communicating with is going to
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understand that expectation in a very precise way. That means when you tell someone, Hey, I expect
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this to be done this way, uh, in this timeframe, uh, and it needs to be done exactly how I tell you this
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right now, you're going to get exactly what you asked for. And if you don't, you could deal with it
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because the expectations weren't, were made clear. Now, in most situations, people, you know,
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they give 70% of the info they want and they don't communicate directly. And then what happens
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is the person goes off and does the project. It comes back and it's not what you wanted. And then
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you're upset with the person. Then they're upset because they thought they're giving you what they
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wanted. And it just creates a total clusterfuck of confusion. Okay. Why are people not direct?
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Why are people have a trouble being direct? Well, I'll tell you why, because society has become
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so pussified and so soft and so, uh, you know, accommodating to everyone's point of view and
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everyone's feelings and everyone's, you know, wishes and wants that when you communicate directly
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now, you're going to be perceived as an asshole. You're going to be perceived as a dick. You're going
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to be perceived as someone who's a jerk. You're going to be, you're going to be told that you're not a
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people person. When in reality, guys, I would argue by communicating directly, you are going to
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eliminate the time and the progression of someone else's career because you are shortening that
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time span by being direct, being more efficient, getting things done, which makes you a lot more
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of a people person because you actually fucking care about the progression of the people in your
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organization. And that can go for a manager and go for an owner and go for any level of somebody
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who's a leader in an organization. So guys, when you communicate direct, I would argue that you're
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more of a people person than somebody who flip flam flip flams around and flounders around with their
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communication. All right. Think about it guys. What kind of communication do you prefer? Do you want
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somebody to share their expectations exactly with you? Or would you rather someone give you 70% of the
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truth and you have to figure out the rest of the 30%. All right. You can't help it. If someone's
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too big of a pussy to handle direct communication, you can't help it. If someone gets their feelings
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hurt because you're simply direct and they're that fucking delicate in reality, the best thing that
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could happen to them is for you to help callous them up because the real world doesn't give a fuck
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how offensive or how hard or how direct communication is. You just deal with the facts. You deal with
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reality. You know, the real world isn't going to soften its message for someone just because they
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were raised in a household and a school program that was never direct with them, never held them
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accountable and always made them feel like their feelings matter. In the real world, guys, your
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feelings don't fucking matter. They just don't. Okay. In the real world, you are going to get stomped on.
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In the real world, you're going to get punched in the face. And by being a direct communicator,
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you're helping people understand that even though that happens, it's okay. All right. And I can tell
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you this, you know, I'm a very direct communicator. I communicate very directly and far in a way,
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the response is much more appreciative and, and respectful and thankful for that kind of
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communication than it was before I really became a direct communicator. You know, I wasn't always this
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way. I became this way. I taught myself to be this way. All right. For the first, you know,
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10, 12 years I was in business, I used to try to manipulate people's feelings to get them to see
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what it is I wanted them to see and do what I wanted them to do and be, you know, try to like
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convince them. That's not your job as a leader. Your job as a leader is to make the fucking decision
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and put the fucking action in play to make that decision materialize. Your decision, you're,
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you're, you know, this whole thing of like, everybody's got to buy in and everybody's got
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to do this and everybody's got to do that. Let me tell you something on a great, a great communicator
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will get buy-in from their employees because they're good communicator. But you know what,
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when you first start becoming a direct communicator and you first start, especially when your business
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is not established saying you're going to do this, or you're going to do that, or putting out these
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big dreams and big goals, your employees are going to look at you like you're fucking crazy.
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They're not going to believe in you because you're not proven. Okay. And when you communicate in a way
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where you're trying to convince them, you're delaying the, the, the result that you're after
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because it's going to be impossible to convince them. So you've got to step up. You've got to be
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the leader. You've got to say, Hey, this is what we're doing. I know you might not believe in it
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right now, but you'll believe in it in six months whenever you see this fucking happen.
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And let me tell you, there's nothing more powerful than that because when you have someone who you
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both acknowledge doesn't believe in your plan and then it goes out and happens, you know,
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they will trust you from that point forward usually. So you have a situation where you can
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earn that trust and that that's, that's very effective in business long-term. Now guys,
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am I saying go out and be an asshole? No, I'm not saying go out and be an asshole. Am I saying go out
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and disrespect your people? No, I'm not saying go out and disrespect your people. What I'm saying
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is communicate directly, tell people exactly what you expect and then put them in play to go
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accomplish those tasks. You know, there's all kinds of people in the world. And one of my biggest
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failures as a leader has always been that I was not direct enough, which is why I've become very direct
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because it works much better. Okay. I used to always spend a lot of time trying to convince
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people and trying to ask people and trying to, you know, and then finally I embraced my role as a
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leader and I said, you know what, you're going to fucking go do this. And then you're going to feel
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good about it because you're going to see that I was right. And I took my role as leadership more
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serious and I went about it more serious and I went about it more direct. And guess what happened?
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Our productivity went up, our growth went up, people moved up, we create new careers,
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everybody's make more money and everybody's fucking happy. All right. So you have, and it
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all starts with communicating directly, you know, just because the politically correct thing out
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there right now is to fucking pussyfoot around the issue and not offend anybody and this and that,
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that has no place in business. That has no place in business. You should think of it as a fucking
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battle. You know, we're playing, we're playing a game against a hundred other companies, a thousand
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other companies that we're trying to get a market share against. And we've got to be efficient.
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We've got to be effective and you've got to step up and be the fucking man that calls the
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fucking shots. And far too many of you guys, CEOs and managers and leaders are not taking
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that initiative. And the reason you don't take that initiative is a, you're afraid to communicate
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directly and B you don't do the shit that you fucking ask your employees to do. You don't lead
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by example. You don't go out there and try to do everything they do. Instead, you try to
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utilize them as little worker bees and you sit with your fucking feet on your desk. And
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you know what? I don't care how direct you are. If you fucking operate like that, you'll
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never have your people's respect. So guys, you have to communicate direct and you have
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to be willing to do what you ask your people to do. And you have to be able to do it better.
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And if you can remember those two things and you consistently put those things in play,
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your business will grow. Your career will grow. Your, your confidence will grow. Your respect will
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grow. Everything will grow guys, because everybody appreciates direct communication. Now there's going
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to be people out there when you start doing this and be like, Oh, what's up your ass? Are you in a
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bad mood? No, I'm not in a bad mood. I'm just trying to get shit done.
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You know, it's not, Oh, you know what? Why are you so crabby today? I'm not crabby. Our job here
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is to do this and I'm trying to get this done. Now let's go get this done. You understand that
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work is not fucking social hour. It's not donuts around the fucking coffee machine or water cooler.
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Work is about a mission. It's about accomplishing something. And the way you accomplish shit is by
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having a clear cut, clear cut plan with direct communication. You sir, go do this. You sir,
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go do this. You ma'am, go do this. And we'll meet back at the end of the day and see where the fuck
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we got. It's not up for debate. It's not up for fucking discussion. Are there times that we discuss
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these things? Absolutely. There are other times that we take everybody's feedback. Absolutely. But
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your job as a leader, your job as a communicator, your job as the fucking shot caller of your company
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is to take everybody's views and decide which direction is the best to take. It is not to please
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everybody in the fucking room. It's to take whatever could be the best decision and make
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that decision and then delegate the tasks that need to go out and happen for those things to happen
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for the betterment of your fucking team. And until you can understand the role that direct
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communication plays in that, you will never, ever, ever be successful. There is not one CEO on earth.
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There's not one successful business person on earth who has built a business that doesn't
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communicate directly with the people in their company. It just doesn't exist. It's a key trait.
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It's a key factor. And if you're going to be successful in life, guys, whether, like I said,
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you work within the framework of another company, whether you work for yourself and you're the only
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person or whether you're the CEO or manager or whatever your role is, you have got to learn to be
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direct and you've got to start now. Okay. So quit fucking beating around the bush. Quit worrying
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about people's feelings. Quit worrying about what they're going to say about you when they go home.
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Because at the end of the day, when you do right by people and you're making the right decisions
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and people go out and they better their career, you better your company, they better their pay,
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they better their growth, they better their lifestyle. They are going to be fucking thankful
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for your direct communication. And that's the bottom line.