In an age when teenagers can set up multimillion dollar companies, no one should be surprised by the young age of the present day workforce. Not even when the positions held by the young are the senior ones.

And yet even though this is what it should be like, the young are often looked down on by the more seasoned ones and lose their composure. Here’s some advice for the new generation on how to keep it calm and build the air of confidence.

Check out: Will You Ever Be Taken Seriously?

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Glossary

• self-induced – induced or brought on by oneself or itself
• intimidation – to make timid; fill with fear
• acquiesce – submit or comply silently or without protest; agree
• proposition – the act of offering or suggesting something to be considered, accepted, adopted, or done
• overcompensate – strive to overcome a sense of inferiority through overt,opposite behavior
• wardrobe – the total collection of articles of clothing belonging to one person
• slouch – to sit or stand with an awkward, drooping posture

Think about it

Answer the questions below.

• What is the “gray hair complex?” What symptom often appears first?
• How did Jason go about conditioning himself mentally?
• Why isn’t it a good idea to go into detail in a meeting with higher level colleagues?
• What was wrong with Jason’s choice of clothes?
• How did Jason improve his voice and posture?

Practice makes perfect

Fill in the blank spaces below with the missing letters and learn about three typical symptoms of nervousness and insecurity:

Your palms are s _ e _ t _. You _ t u _ b _ e over your words. You don’t seem to be getting a clear message a _ r _ _ s.

Fill in the blank spaces in the text with the words and expressions in bold.

face time – a place at the table – point of view – key factor – hard time – mindset – limiting belief – value proposition – bring to the table

A _____________to conveying confidence is first believing that you belong. One of our clients, Jason, struggled with this when he was first promoted to senior manager. His new position required him to spend much more __________ with senior executives and at times even the CEO. Often the youngest at the table, he acquiesced to the more senior executives in meetings, and hesitated to challenge their__________ . While Jason wished for the day when the senior-level executives would see him as a peer, he refused to see himself as such. Because he did not believe that he had ______________, his impact was limited. Jason’s first requirement was to replace this __________ with one that actually helped him. When we asked Jason, “What value do you __________? What’s your ______________?” he had a ____________ answering. But when we flipped the question and asked, “What would be lost if you were not at the table?” a light bulb went off and Jason was quick to list what differentiated him from the rest. His ____________ shifted to what he had to offer rather than what he didn’t.

Find the verbs in the text above which collocate with the following:

• __________ face time
• __________ point of view
• __________ a place at the table
• __________ hard time (doing something)
• __________ light bulb
• __________ mindset

Explore it more

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