A year into her first job, Shreya feels like she’s not learned anything concrete. She said yes to every task, every request, and every opportunity that came her way as an associate product manager. 

“Proofread your colleague’s presentation.” 

“Take notes at a meeting” 

“Plan an intern’s onboarding” 

“Participate in someone’s brainstorming meeting”

Shreya wanted to be reliable and become indispensable. So, she did it all. But soon enough, her calendar filled up with a list of Non-Promotable Tasks (NPTs). 

NPTs are essentially “office maintenance work.” Everyone benefits when these NPTs get done. Yet, nobody likes doing them. So, the person who does not say no gets scapegoated each time for doing it. And sadly, it robs them of valuable time and the promotable work that actually grows paychecks and careers.

Research suggests that women volunteer for these tasks more and also get assigned to do them more. Especially, women in their early career like Shreya, have internalised the expectation to say yes. 

How do you break character and start saying no - especially when you like being known as the person who does it all? Will your manager take notice of it? 

On this episode of TFTY, host Akshaya Chandrasekaran turns to Leo Fernandez who has leadership experience of close to two decades. He was a managing director with Accenture Singapore and COO of Hewitt before he founded TalentEase. As a leader, how he spends his team, and what he says yes and no to, dictates the future of the company. He has some advice on decision-making and strategy. 

If you like this episode, you should check out the latest business podcast by The Ken - Two by Two. Listen here: Is Zepto a gold medalist or a bronze medalist?

Also, share a note with the host at akshaya@the-ken.com or take this form and tell us your early career problems. We might have you on the show! The First Two Years is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive business stories, deeply-reported newsletters, and a whole lot of stuff.