WOMAN OF HER WORD

3 ways to stop apologizing already.

READ IT ALOUD.

According to career coach Sarah Vermunt, this might feel silly, but it lets you hear your tone. Superfluous qualifiers will stand out, just begging to be deleted. “‘Only,’ ‘but’ and ‘just’ can almost always go,” she says.

CHOOSE YOUR WORDS WISELY.

When the CEO is late to a meeting, she’s never sorry. “She’ll thank you for waiting— implicitly recognizing that you waited for her,” says Tami Reiss, co-creator of Just Not Sorry. Almost every sorry you type can be swapped for a thanks (for waiting, reading, considering) that doesn’t forfeit your power.

AMPLIFY LIKE OBAMA.

Hear someone struggling with diminutive language? Make like the women of the Obama administration who used the “amplification” concept—that is, they would jump in and reinforce another woman’s point if it was being minimized.