This is the Business English Podcast, episode 308.
When should you express pride in your work?
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Hey, Michelle, what's shaking?
What's going on with you?
Hey, Lindsay, I am good.
I have a question for you, though.
OK, what are you most proud of when it comes to all is English?
Wow, that's crazy. That's a great question.
Well, I guess our our download numbers are the size of our audience.
But I think I'm most proud of, you know, the way we have a different idea of what really matters.
Connection, not perfection.
Our vision is what I'm most proud of.
Yeah, I think, yeah, I yeah, that's a good answer.
That's a good answer.
And I think we feel really proud when we hear from listeners how they impact us.
Also, recently, we just had an Olympics event.
And when you see that we had a nice turnout and when you see the listeners and get to interact with them, I think we feel really proud.
All of us. Yes, totally.
Aubrey and Jessica are going to publish a bonus episode as a recap of that Olympics event, guys, make sure you are following the All Ears English podcast to catch that episode that she'll tell you what countries won.
Right. As gold silver bronze and what happened.
And I'm excited for the next competition another day.
Yes, yes, definitely.
So at work, guys, it's important to express pride.
Right. This is important for sharing accomplishments or giving credit or getting credit, whatever it may be.
So we're going to be talking about this topic today and giving you different ways to express that you're proud of something because that's really important.
Yes. So if you haven't already, check out episode 256 of the Big Business English podcast that was get organized with this business English vocabulary.
Check that out, guys.
Go back into the archives and be sure you are following this podcast to you.
You got to hit that button so that we turn up in your feed so you can make it part of your your routine three days a week.
All right. Exactly.
Exactly. Let's talk about the why first.
I mean, why is it important, Michelle, at work to show your your boss or your colleagues or maybe outside clients that you're proud of something?
Why? It shows a sense of confidence.
I think that's important.
And it shows that you are that you care also.
So it shows your confident.
It shows you care. I'm trying to think of another C just because I'm just.
Words come together and it helps you connect.
No, but it is it is a little bit of self -awareness as well and just showing what makes you feel alive.
What do you think, Lindsay?
Yeah. And I also think that we spend what?
40 hours of our lives at work a week.
And that's a big deal.
It's probably more hours than we sleep, you know.
And it matters that we want to make sure that we're proud of what we're doing.
And if we're not, maybe that's a sign that, you know, we want to find a better scenario if we're able to work wise, because it's a big chunk of our lives that we spend at work.
Oh, right. Yes. A very big chunk.
So we want to be able to celebrate those things that we're proud of as well.
Yeah. So we're going to show you guys how to do it.
But, you know, obviously, context matters here.
Who's around you? Taking into account that you've worked with people on a team to create a result.
It hasn't just been your your work most of the time.
Right. Those are all things we want to think about.
Let's go into these phrases.
Yeah. Yes. And I just want to say this is also good for sharing what you're proud of that somebody else did.
So this is good for teamwork as well, which we all want to be good team players at work.
It's very important.
Yeah, especially if we're doing business in another culture like if you're from the U .S.
and you get relocated to Japan and you start saying, I'm so proud of this.
I'm so proud of that.
It may not fit in as well culturally, right?
In a culture that's more focused on the team coming together and having done that work, that might be really weird if you start saying things like that.
But in the U .S. it'd be a little more in the norm.
I've done this. I've created this.
I've pushed the move the needle forward on this.
Right. So things to think about for sure.
So, all right, let's get into it.
So what's the first one, Lindsay?
I'm really proud of X.
So, for example, this is the most straightforward one.
Really proud of the progress we've made with this account.
Mm hmm. Yeah, I actually like the word proud because it adds a little like emotion to what you're saying.
Like if you say something a little more tamed down, like I'm pleased with X, it kind of dulls out the emotion.
I don't love that. Pleased.
I'm pleased. Oh, that's the third one.
And there is a time to dull out the emotion.
But I think that proud shows your humanness a little more.
Like it's more something like a kid could say, a teenager could say, an adult at work could say.
Right. Yeah. You know what I mean?
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
Well, here's another one you might like, Lindsay, to take pride in something.
So we take pride in our X.
So this is an interesting one we'll talk about in a second.
So here at Katie's Coffee, we take pride in our ability to create unique coffee flavors for everyone to enjoy.
So how is this a little bit different if you say we take pride in something?
This is definitely more corporate mission statement ish, right?
I agree. This is something that you would hear on a like in a PR release, a public relations release or a newspaper interview, but if I'm sitting down and talking to my friend, hey, I just opened a coffee shop, I probably wouldn't say we take pride.
Right, right, right.
No, no, it even sounds to me like it could be in a commercial.
Here at Katie's Coffee, we take pride in ours.
So come on over today and get the smells of the coffee.
You know, no, no. What you would say to your friend is I'm so proud that we're finally opening our doors next week at Katie's Coffee.
Right. That's because that's what I'm saying.
Like there's more emotion.
There's more humanness in proud of.
Yeah, right, right.
Exactly. You could say, oh, I'm really I'm really proud of this place because we make these unique coffee flavors.
Right. Exactly. We take pride in is a little bit more formal, a little bit more corporate.
Yeah. And I and we're going to take a quick break and then we're going to get into the two next ones here.
I'm excited for these.
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See you there. OK, all right, Michelle.
Here's his favorite.
Yeah, I think the next two we're getting what we're getting into the zone we're getting into now, Michelle, is the LinkedIn humble Bragg zone.
And we can do another episode.
Maybe we should do like a guest episode on this, which is, you know, you on LinkedIn, you do need to talk about things that you've done, right, you need to kind of build your reputation a bit.
When good things happen, you should mention them.
You get some kind of a promotion, but you can't just say, I'm so proud.
I got a promotion on LinkedIn.
It's too, I don't know, straightforward.
Yeah, so a little too direct.
So you end up seeing things like I'm pleased, I'm thrilled.
I'm honored and I have mixed feelings when I see those because I get it.
I know why we have to do that.
People have to do that.
But I don't know. It's a humble Bragg, right, trying to sound humble.
And this is kind of a different episode today.
We're talking about verbal expression of what we've done.
So we'll go into that another day.
That would be a good episode.
Yeah, that's very interesting.
But yeah, pleased with.
So you could say something, let's say you're talking.
Maybe you have an employee that you're happy with.
You could say, so, so far, I'm so pleased with your work.
You have shown me that you have what it takes to really push our company to the next level.
Yeah, and I think it's good.
Pleased is not super in my vocabulary because it is kind of dulled down.
It's sort of, it feels like kind of holding back enthusiasm, you know?
Right, right. But it's professional, you know?
So if you want to stay safe in your corporate language, this is what you need.
Yeah, yeah, that's true, right.
Sometimes we there's language that we love and there's language that we know works and is used and so we need to have everything.
Yeah, right. And then the last one is thrilled with, right?
So this is about being excited.
So I'm thrilled with everything we have worked on together so far.
I know we can continue to make progress.
Yeah. And also kind of, kind of showing excitement, but in a corporate way, sort of this word.
You know what I mean?
Because would you say, let's say, I don't know, something happens at home that you're really excited about.
Would you say to your husband, I'm thrilled that we've won the lottery?
No, you would say, I can't believe we won the lottery.
I'm so excited. I'm so proud.
Like, you're not proud in that case, but right.
It's like the height of emotion, but it's still the corporate height of showing emotion, that phrase, thrilled, right?
It's really interesting.
Yeah, it's almost like a step back, like you're removed from it a little bit somehow.
Yep. And that's that's how we become more formal.
That's how we move from informal to semi -formal to formal English.
Yeah. Yeah, good point.
So, Lindsay, anything that you want to talk about being proud of anything?
Maybe what about in your personal life?
Is there something you're proud of?
I'm proud of, I would say I'm proud of all the traveling I've done.
I think we might have gone into this another day.
Yeah, I remember. Yeah, right.
I answered your question in earnest.
Yeah, that's what I was supposed to be silly in that one.
I didn't get the memo.
No, no, no, I think, yeah, but this is genuine.
I'm proud of all the countries I've traveled to and having lived abroad for, you know, a number of years in my life.
So, yeah, what about you, Michelle?
What would you say you're most proud of?
I am proud of. Well, I'm the I'm proud of the fact that I have taken risks that I didn't think that I would be able to take.
I'm proud of the fact that I moved away from my hometown and, you know, tried.
I lived in New York.
I also lived abroad.
So I am I am proud of those things.
I'm also I'm proud of being a mom of my relationship with my kids.
Not all the time am I do.
I feel proud. I feel mom guilt, too.
And and I and and also, but truly, I am a part of proud to be a part of this podcast.
I mean, that's that's the truth.
I am very proud of proud of our work here.
And yeah, for sure, especially when you meet listeners in person occasionally.
It happens right once in a while.
We'll meet. Just run into a listener.
And it's the coolest thing ever.
So all right, Michelle, do we have a role play to let's do a role play?
So here we are telling our boss about our new project.
All right. Here we go.
All right. We are so thrilled to tell you about our progress.
Yes, Lindsay and I take pride in our ability to work together to produce great products.
And this is no different.
Yes, we know you'll be pleased with what we've come up with.
I'm really proud of our work.
So let's get to it.
OK, OK. All right. So well, I started with that, the thrilled, right?
We're so thrilled to tell you about our progress, right?
To me, this sounds like we're yeah, we're about to begin some sort of presentation explaining, you know, things that have been been going really well.
So we're using this language to prep our boss for that and tell our boss that, yeah, we did an awesome job.
And then I said, so I said, Lindsay and I take pride in our ability to work together to produce great products.
And this is no different.
So very corporate sounding.
Yeah. And then I say, we know you'll be pleased with what we've come up with.
And then I'm just a little more direct.
And I said, I'm really proud of our work.
Yes. And the other scenario where I could see this being used is after the manager or the boss or leadership has shared good results from that work.
Right. Right. So, you know, it's good to be proud of your work, but you also want to know how is it affecting the company's success?
Right. So the other scenario would be, again, oh, my gosh, we're so pleased that our hard work has contributed to the bottom line.
Our success as a company would be really good, too.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's so.
Yeah. Yeah. Really.
Yeah. Well, this has been an interesting one to talk about how certain things work in certain contexts and when the difference between something like I'm pleased with or I'm proud of all these nuances that we talk about all the time.
Yes. Very good stuff.
And we'll revisit that idea about the LinkedIn humble brag.
We'll come back to it.
It's really an interesting topic.
And we have to strike that balance of obviously making sure that our teammates are being included.
And we have in this language today, we don't do anything alone.
Right. Right. And then obviously understanding when is it the right time to express your pride or when is it the right time to ask questions about the way I see what I've made?
Is it, you know, how's it working in the real world?
Right. As you know, what success is it creating for my company?
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Definitely interesting.
Lot to think about here.
Love it. All right.
Well, Lindsay, this was fun and I'm proud of our work together over all these years.
So we'll leave it there today.
All right. Good stuff, Michelle.
I'll talk to you soon.
Have a good. All right.
Bye. You too. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you.
The high achieving global professional.
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