How to Say No: Dr. Sunita Sah on Defying Social Pressure and Building Confidence

Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel

Careers, Business

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When was the last time you said “no”? In this episode of Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel, Dr. Sunita Sah, author of Defy: The Power of No in a World That Demands Yes, reveals the psychology behind decision-making, compliance, asserting your boundaries without guilt. Dr. Sah’s groundbreaking research on human behavior explores the psychological forces that lead us to follow bad advice and conform to social expectations. She introduces the concept of insinuation anxiety—the fear of giving negative feedback—and how it impacts our ability to speak up, even when something feels wrong. Dr. Sah also discusses how to navigate authority, cultivate confidence, and practice defiance in a way that aligns with your values. Whether you're facing pressure at work, in relationships, or within your own mind, this episode offers actionable strategies for setting boundaries, asserting your "no," and making decisions that truly serve your goals. Tune in for insights on how to build confidence, manage authority dynamics, and defy expectations when it matters most. Continue the conversation with us at Hello Monday Office Hours! RSVP here to join us on the LinkedIn News page this Wednesday at 3 PM EST.

Transcript

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0:00.0	LinkedIn News
0:02.0	From the news
0:08.0	I'm Jesse Hempel and this is Hello Monday, a show about work on our own terms.
0:18.0	We've got an important episode to start the year.
0:21.3	Now, if you're anything like me, you have spent a lifetime pleasing other people.
0:26.5	I mean, most of us learned to do this when we were really tiny.
0:29.6	I remember being a little girl and having my parents tell me to be good.
0:33.2	Be nice.
0:34.8	And part of being good and nice meant going along with people, even when I really didn't
0:39.2	want to give my great aunt a hug after dinner or read that book that my father really wanted
0:45.3	me to read.
0:46.8	And that has landed me here as an adult who still has a really hard time voicing my
0:51.5	own opinion, especially when it involves saying no to someone more
0:56.2	powerful than me. And look, let me be real with you. The consequences of saying no can be tough,
1:02.9	and they're much greater for some of us. But owning our defiance, digesting it, defining it,
1:09.1	expressing it, it's going to imbue us with a quiet authority.
1:14.7	It will become your power move.
1:17.4	So today, we're going to have a lesson in how to stand up for ourselves right after this.
1:24.2	The LinkedIn Podcast Network is sponsored by Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, which provides
1:29.7	AI solutions that are easy to implement, secure, and tailor to your business.
1:34.4	Visit Dell.com to learn more.
1:36.7	Hey, I'm Gianna Predente.
	...

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