Hi, it's TED Talks Daily. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. Today's talk is about speaking up, being open and honest in your workplace or organizations. In her talk at TED at PMI in 2020, the leadership coach Betsy Kaufman tackles our fear of open conversations by sharing the approaches to

honesty that she's found to work the best because she says it gets to better solutions

and higher performing teams in the end. I have two teenage boys. One is 16 and one is 13. And like

most families with multiple children,

they are completely different. Both are wonderful and have many great qualities about them.

However, what really sets them apart is that my older son knows when to bite his tongue.

And my younger son, not so much. You see, my younger son really struggles with having a filter, especially when it

comes to speaking up and saying exactly what's on his mind. About three years ago, a bunch of kids

and adults in the neighborhood had come together to work through a big conflict. The kids were

basically at war with each other. There was lots of tears, screaming, shouting, and I felt like we

would never get to a resolution. When we were in the height of everything, screaming, shouting, and I felt like we would never get to a resolution.

When we were in the height of everything, my younger son, and the most calm, clear, matter-of-fact

tone, turned to another child and said, you know you are lying. You know that's not what happened.

It's time to come clean and tell everyone the truth. The entire group stopped. They could not argue with him.

They could not dispute him. His manner of delivery was so real and so honest. And I remember feeling

really proud of him in that moment because he had the courage and the confidence to speak up.

And that moment started getting me thinking, why as a society have we created this fear to

speak up, especially in a group of our peers or our coworkers? Wouldn't it be amazing if you could tell

your boss that that project deadline she put out there is completely unreasonable? And what about

being able to tell a coworker that they're being really difficult. Now, I know some of you are

lucky enough to be able to work in places that value that kind of openness and honesty. However,

in my work as a leadership, an organizational coach, I have to tell you that is not the norm. I've observed

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