Opinionated woman
I am stubborn and extremely opinionated, especially if it is regarding something I am familiar with. I will always listen to another person’s opinion; however, if I see that you do not know what you are talking about, “I will school you.” I am passionate, and I like to show off what I know and what I can do if the moment presents itself. I will not back down from a challenge; if there is something that I am not familiar with, I will research it and make sure I understand it to the best of my abilities.
This is how I am wired; some might see it as a bad trait; I, however, have learned to embrace it. It did come with a price growing up; some friends choose to walk away from our friendship, their loss, unfortunately. Many of my friends understand this is who I am and that there is no malicious intent.
This has unfortunately not always been the case in my “career,” it has had a negative impact on my life at times, but I can unfortunately not change who I am. I had started working in the import/export industry but had been retrenched with the Global financial crisis of 2008/2009. I was lucky to find work within a month of being retrenched, it was, however, in the manufacturing industry, and I had no knowledge of this industry whatsoever.
Once I started working there, I requested that I get training on all the products, i.e., the manufacturing and assembly processes. After that, I took all the installation and instruction guides for all their manufactured products home and studied them continuously until I understood each product. I worked there for a decade, and I knew each product back to front; you could question me on anything related to them; this was my job. It was my responsibility to know everything. I started off as an office assistant and ran the company several years later. Unfortunately, the owner’s son-in-law came in as the CEO in the last few months.
My stubborn and opinionated personality played a part in this ending, as this “CEO” did not like the fact that I knew more than him, or that I made it clear that I knew he was spoon-fed with no understanding of the industry or the market. Let alone an opinionated woman knew more than him…
It did cost me my job in the end and put me in an exceedingly difficult financial position; however, this was my own doing. My stubbornness and opinion were not the only elements that led to this ending; I was ultimately responsible for the position I put myself in, had I maybe just kept quiet or kept my head down. I would still be working there, but I can guarantee you I would be miserable as hell and disappointed in myself. In the end, it changed my future plans, but I do not think I will be worse off; this might just be the push I needed.
I cannot be fake or pretend to play along; I am an opinionated woman. There will be many regrets in my life, but being unapologetically me will not be one of those regrets. You need to be happy and true to yourself, so be unapologetically you.
My stubborn and opinionated personality played a part in this ending, as this "CEO" did not like the fact that I knew more than him, or that I made it clear that I knew he was spoon-fed with no understanding of the industry or the market. Let alone an opinionated woman knew more than him…