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Smartketplace's avatar

I’ve seen people maneuver conversations with incredible finesse, often using several skills here at once.

Finesse to me is the ability (almost superhuman when you see a world-class practitioner) of maneuvering people and conversations with excellence, while appearing yourself completely neutral. You could say “while masking your intentions”, but that’s too sinister; closer to “while maintaining absolute poise”.

Finesse is seeing a conversation coming (usually one you don’t want to have), and never flinching, never grimacing, never being defensive… you just turn a person right around and maybe even pick up ground afterwards. They didn’t get what they wanted AND they left happy. Or YOU got signed up for something you didn’t think you wanted, and you’re not upset about it. Masterful.

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Nicks's avatar

Posts like these are incredibly helpful for young people just beginning their careers, like me. Could you please do one on handling embarrassment in the workplace?

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