“‘Everyone’s afraid of you because you use your brain as a weapon’. I was given this advice by my uncle, who recently retired after a very successful career as a solicitor in the City. It’s a reflection of the difficulties I’ve had in my career, particularly relations with potential employers and partners. I have suffered strong reactions at job interviews and had criticism at annual assessments for my outspokenness.
“In the past I’ve been accused of lacking self-confidence. That actually seems consistent with what my uncle says – I didn’t want to speak up in the past because I didn’t wish to contradict people and risk showing them up. But I stopped worrying about that, and now I’m told that everyone is afraid of me. It feels like an impossible situation.
