I've always been a people-pleaser. I got better at my job when I stopped caring about being liked.

The author has realized that being direct and honest leads to better collaboration. Courtesy of Asha Dore In my work, I sometimes find myself communicating difficult information. For years, I prioritized politeness and likability over being direct. I realized that it's less important to be liked than it is to be honest. For the first seven years I worked as a speech-language pathologist , I prioritized soft politeness. I apologized before offering my opinion and focused on other people's comfort. Taking this approach felt essential to my job — a lot of the conversations at work are emotionally charged for my clients and their parents. One of the big challenges in this role is finding a way to tell the truth to a parent about how their child is struggling without breaking their heart.