Engineer Saying No to CEO

One of the things I always get some complaints from my neighbor founders, AKA, CEO. They often tell me that their engineers are too negative, always saying ‘NO’ first. 😕 I agree with what they say, but as one of the engineer types of persons, I also know well why the engineers say that to them.

Frankly, to say, even for me, I used to say ‘No’ to my boss or CEO a lot. Sometimes I know that is not a big deal, but based on the previous history of what we used to work together, we have some sort of anxiety about, ‘Oh, my CEO asked some dumb requests again, what a great Friday.’ 😩 and we are saying in our minds, ‘I know exactly how to deliver or do it in a way better than what they ask, but I will not give the idea to them.’ 😶

The energy we use to say ‘No’ and go against each other, and the energy we use to try to solve the problem and move forward, are actually almost the same.

If you believe that your engineering teams have become overly negative, it’s essential to reflect on why this might be the case. You might be a contributing factor to their attitude. 🤔

To transform your team into a more proactive and positive group, you need to learn how to talk with them.