Welcome back to the look and sound of leadership, an ongoing series of executive coaching tips designed

to help you be perceived in the workplace the way you want to be perceived.

I'm Tom Henshel, your executive coach, and today we're talking about leading with political

savvy, Part 1.

We men was an art director in animation.

Our initial coaching conversations happened when she was between jobs, but in short order

she was hired by a small animation studio to build an art department, establish systems

and create a pipeline of talent.

The job, she said, was thrilling and scary.

The thrilling part was that she absolutely knew she could do this.

She was good at assembling talent and making work run smoothly.

Having an art department sounded like fun to her.

The scary part was that money is always tight in production houses.

She knew she would need to fight for resources, but I don't usually win those fights.

She said, I'm not good at all that politics stuff.

Not good how I asked.

Well, some people tell me I'm too honest, but look, it's hard enough being a woman in this

role, let alone an Asian woman.

So sometimes when I speak up I guess it sounds harsh, but what they don't know is that most

of the time I don't speak up at all, or if I do, it's just awkward.

Awkward, I echoed?

Yeah.

...