HNY! ✨

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2025...let's do this.

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I remember coming back to Google after a year of maternity leave and noticing that one Marketing sub-team, in particular, was smashing it—epic TV campaigns, hitting all their goals, and they were all suspiciously… happy.

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I had to ask: “What’s going on here?”

The answer: “We have a new manager, and they’re really good at saying ‘no’ to things”.

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Creating space for great things, means saying no to a lot of good things.

Here’s the catch: it’s not just your manager’s job to push back and protect the focus of the team.

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It’s your job too.

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Even if I’m young and pretty junior?

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Especially then.

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Learning to say ‘no’ is a core skill

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Your actual job—like core job—is to prioritise your work (continuously) to help the company focus on the important stuff.

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But also, like...screw the company, this is so you don’t get overloaded and burn out.

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Internalise this:

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You might know better than your manager

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The secret here is, you’re often better placed to make decisions about what you/the team should and shouldn’t do.

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Why?

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You know how long stuff actually takes.

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Speaking as a manager here, when we stop being hands-on with the tools and tasks, we quickly lose touch with reality and how much time + effort things really take.

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So YOU have critical information your manager doesn’t have.

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How to say ‘no’ (without your manager hating you)

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Wes Kao—entrepreneur & executive coach—shared this brilliant 1 min script for her favourite way to say no.

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That last part is important btw. Your manager may in fact think differently, as they are closer to the conversations happening at a senior leadership level.

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Watchouts

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• Be prepared for your manager to want details around why a task takes that long (be realistic with your estimates).
• Be respectful. You know the details of the task, but they might have a clearer understanding of the company's problems and priorities. Share your POV, they're probably gonna have the final say.

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Why culling tasks is actually so hard

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• It’s not just that you don’t like awkward conversations with your manager.
• Our 🧠 is actually hardwired to acquire and keep things (not cull them). A psychologist at the University of Michigan calls it ‘acquisitiveness'.
• Recommend listening to the ​whole Hidden Brain ep​—it’s 👌🏼.

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Welcome to the jungle,

Soph ✌🏼

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