Chapter 41 The Seventh and Sixth Art: The Art of Self-deprecating Language Anyway

Self-depreciation is to belittle yourself, and it contains the meaning of self-blame, showing weakness and apology. People can not escape from doing wrong?When a person makes various mistakes or mistakes in daily life and work, which brings some adverse effects or losses to others or the company, it is necessary to immediately make up for it, ease the relationship, and resolve the conflict.Self-deprecation is a good strategy. The boss of an underwear manufacturing company in a certain country made a lot of Dongfeng underwear unsalable due to a wrong decision-making.Many employees have opinions and blame the boss behind their backs.The boss also knew that the decision was wrong this time, and it was his own fault.So he held a company-wide employee meeting, at which he openly criticized himself, saying:

Friends, the unsalable Dongfeng brand underwear produced by our company this time is entirely due to my wrong decision-making, which has caused your salary to not be paid on time.Here, I sincerely apologize to you, and hope that you, as always, will tide over the difficulties with me. What else can the staff say?Even those who were about to severely accuse the boss for a meal also forgave the boss in their hearts.The market competition is so fierce, no one can claim to be the general who always wins! In the market competition, in order to win, of course we must not show weakness.However, on specific occasions, it is also a beneficial way to behave in the world by intentionally exposing one's own weaknesses in a certain aspect and publicly admitting one's shortcomings.

For example, when your company has achieved brilliant performance and is envied by your peers, you can show weakness in order to reduce business pressure or get more partners.It can maintain the psychological balance of people who are not as good as you, and offset the confrontation caused by jealousy to a minimum. You can also talk more about your past failures and real pressure in front of your partners, so as to leave people with the feeling that success is not easy, achieve psychological balance, and reduce the hostility of others. When you are skilled in business, it is best to tell others that you have many shortcomings in life, and hope that others will help you a lot.In this way, you can win your approval.

Self-deprecation, in addition to showing weakness, we should also bravely apologize. For example, if you have done something wrong, you should promptly admit it proactively, instead of waiting for others to point out or criticize you before apologizing. It is easier to gain understanding and tolerance from others if you take the initiative to admit your mistake and apologize. Of course, an apology is an apology, and you should take responsibility for your mistakes without making too many excuses and emphasizing objective reasons.Even if there is an objective reason that must be explained, you have to find an opportunity to explain it after apologizing.

Those who are self-righteous, do not admit their mistakes, let alone apologize, will never be able to make friends, and it will be difficult to be successful in their careers. In short, in daily life, proper use of self-deprecating language can achieve very good results and make your speaking art more perfect.