Be strong

If you are the head of your company or organization, you may have been advised to be polite to everybody, to seek consensus, and to avoid the appearance of confrontation. But that may not always be the best advice.

You need to be a strong leader, not merely an efficient manager. You should expect to encounter criticism, disagreement, and conflict (which will usually be civil, but not always) and deal with it strategically, not emotionally.

That applies to such things as lobbying for legislation, negotiating a hotel contract, or signing an office lease. You need to get the best deal you can for your company or organization. If you compromise, it should be a strategic decision, not one you made just to keep everybody happy.

If others know you are conflict-averse or that you can be intimidated, they will take advantage of you and they will get the better part of any interchange that takes place.

You should have the ability to step into the fray when necessary and just as easily step out of it when that is best. Neither should be a default behavior.