{"id":70229,"date":"2015-07-22T11:45:25","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T10:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/insight\/the-power-of-no\/"},"modified":"2015-07-22T11:45:25","modified_gmt":"2015-07-22T10:45:25","slug":"the-power-of-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-power-of-no\/","title":{"rendered":"The power of no"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re always being encouraged to say yes, to take on new opportunities and avoid being the one to break up everyone\u2019s fun with a frank \u201cum, actually\u2026no\u201d. But is this yes culture really beneficial? There\u2019s an old saying that goes, \u2018Yes means nothing until you say no\u2019. In other words, if you always say yes, it has no value.<br \/>\nBut for all but the most thick-skinned of us, giving a blunt \u2018no\u2019 can be difficult. Knowing how and when to say no requires fine judgement. And this becomes more complicated when you factor in the cultural sensitivities of different people, languages and countries. Finding the right way to say no without causing offence is key, as an old joke from the <em>Berliner Tageblatt <\/em>shows:<br \/>\n<em>\u201cWhen a diplomat says \u201cyes,\u201d he means \u201cperhaps.\u201d When a diplomat says \u201cperhaps,\u201d he means \u201cno.\u201d And when a diplomat says \u201cno,\u201d he is no diplomat.\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n<strong>Yes but no\u2026<\/strong><br \/>\nIn Japan, saying no is often perceived as being rude in a culture where showing respect for your elders and seniors is paramount. Instead, the Japanese have cultivated other ways to say no or to air a dissenting view, some of which have more to do with body language than oral language. Of course this trait isn\u2019t unique to Japanese culture. The English commitment to appearing polite by offering opinions masked in a fog of \u2018perhaps\u2019, \u2018possibly\u2019 and \u2018maybe\u2019 is known to drive other nations mad. And understanding the message within can be a particular challenge for cultures such as Germany and Russia, where language opacity is viewed as a flaw.<br \/>\nBill Rivers, the executive director for the US Joint National Committee for Languages highlighted one problem of the English language, explaining: \u201cWe&#8217;ve a cultural tendency to look for quick solutions\u201d. Indeed, some argue that languages that avoid being hedged into an immediate yes\/no answer and take a more circuitous approach in addressing an issue create a more intelligent platform for problem solving.<br \/>\nIn any situation, being sensitive to the meaning behind language can go a long way; not only is there inherent value in being able to say no, but also in knowing <em>how<\/em> to say it. And cultural understanding is key, as this old but persuasive <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/6_WAmt3cMdk?list=PLAEKUX2eV4jJEqwQnxJjXjlz09G7GGk7f\">gem from HSBC<\/a>&nbsp;points out.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re always being encouraged to say yes, to take on new opportunities and avoid being the one to break up everyone\u2019s fun with a frank \u201cum, actually\u2026no\u201d. But is this yes culture really beneficial? There\u2019s an old saying that goes, \u2018Yes means nothing until you say no\u2019. In other words, if you always say yes, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-copywriting-us"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The power of no - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Marketing Agency<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-power-of-no\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The power of no - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Marketing Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019re always being encouraged to say yes, to take on new opportunities and avoid being the one to break up everyone\u2019s fun with a frank \u201cum, actually\u2026no\u201d. 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