Women In The Business Arena

“Any time we are standing in our truth, it is inevitable that we are going to make someone unhappy. It’s imperative, but it is hard.” In this week’s episode of Women in the Business Arena, we are discussing the ins and outs of people-pleasing, and how it affects women in business. Many times we confuse etiquette or kindness for people-pleasing. Because politeness is often rewarded, we can forget how to adequately express ourselves without feeling apologetic for expressing and owning our own needs. The difference between kindness and people-pleasing can be found in the motivation behind the action. Most often, people-pleasing is done to avoid conflict, rejection, or guilt. “There’s not a way to truly avoid negative response or rejection. The cost of not being in alignment with yourself is so much greater... Rejecting yourself has such a high cost.” It can be uncomfortable to be polarizing in your language, and clearly stand for your opinions and passions. However, when we put people-pleasing as the priorit