Alexandra Carter

You can blank my blank.

And suffice it to say, he was not suggesting that I read his proposal or water his plants, okay?

So we get somebody who's really made an unproductive suggestion.

And my tactic for that is I simply look at the person and say, how does blanking your blank help us here today?

Right?

I've had people say something like, I'm going to flip the table over.

And I simply look at them and say, how is flipping the table over going to help you achieve your goals today?

Deadpan.

I don't react.

I keep it calm.

And I'm telling you that

A lot of the time when I ask people how that unproductive behavior is going to help them reach their goals, they can take a moment and they can recollect themselves.

Sometimes that's enough to bring them back from the brink.

I did have somebody call me honey.

And I simply laughed and said, hey, that's my husband's name for me.

So you're going to have to pick another.

I use a lot of humor when I'm responding to people.

I try, first of all, to stay calm and be the grownup, no matter what.

And where I need to, I simply revert back to, that's not gonna help us here today.

What you've told me is, here's what your goals are, and here's what I'm telling you we need to get there.