‘I’m really sorry, but can I just say, I think that maybe….’
STOP IT!
How many times have you sent an email including any, or even all of those phrases?
For many people, it’s a habit and according to this new app, it’s one that should be broken. Pronto.
Innovator and product consultant Tami Reiss has developed an extension for Google Chrome that will call you out every time you use a word or phrase that undermines your voice, ideas or authority.
According to their website, “Just Not Sorry is a free app that underlines any words that undermine your message.”
Slate reports that when you hover your mouse over highlighted phrases such as, ‘just’, ‘I think’, or ‘sorry’, you’ll see notes from prominent women like writer and personal growth coach Tara Mohr, or author Sylvia Ann Hewlett, explaining why using the word in question may be detrimental to the effective communication of your message. Like this:
JUST- “‘Just’ demeans what you have to say. ‘Just’ shrinks your power.”
SORRY- “Using ‘sorry’ frequently undermines your gravitas and makes you appear unfit for leadership.”
Reiss admitted to Christina Cauterucci of Slate, “I am queen of the ‘does this makes sense?'” But she believes that by qualifying and over explaining ourselves, women are frequently undermining our positions in professional environments.
The idea for Just Not Sorry cam about after Reiss attended a brunch event for the League of Extraordinary Women. “The women in these rooms were all softening their speech in situations that called for directness and leadership,” she wrote on Medium. “We had all inadvertently fallen prey to a cultural communication pattern that undermined our ideas. As entrepreneurial women, we run businesses and lead teams — why aren’t we writing with the confidence of their positions?”
The major aim of Just Not Sorry is to have “#10000women (and men) resolve to send more effective emails in 2016 by leaving out undermining phrases like ‘just’ and ‘sorry’.”
Do women really apologise more than men? (Via Stuff Mom Never Told You):
On their website you can sign a pledge, promising: In 2016, I will be a more effective communicator. I will not use ‘just’ or ‘sorry’ in emails, which undermine my message. I will talk about what I know, not what ‘I think’.
The app is free and downloadable FOR FREE from the Google Chrome app-store.
I’m sorry, but I think this might just be something I need… if that makes sense.
Top Comments
Sorry, did I read that right? This obviously means Canadians will never be able to send a text again.
Haha! Now I need to watch Due South I love Benton Fraser. And Diefenbaker.
OMG, me too! I don't know anyone else who has seen it, but it's one of my all time faves!
Same here lol No-one I know seems to remember it. It's gotta be on Blue ray or DVD tho', yeah?
We have it on DVD, I was just planning to re-watch it soon! I can't tell you how happy I am that there is someone else out there who loves this show too!
This just (so there, app!) sounds irritating to me. These words/phrases have legitimate uses and most are not "shrinking your power" or "undermining your gravitas".