face saving : Java Glossary

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face saving
One important life lesson to learn is to let your boss save face when you point out an error he is making or even suggest a better way to do things. The more you argue why your way is better the harder he has to argue for his. He will appear to defend the indefensible and sound increasingly irrational. The harder you argue the harder he argues back. It is a matter of egos and saving face. You have to give him an out, an excuse for why he did things the way he did and why he could logically change his mind, without admitting to any error or wrongdoing.

I got into one of these early in my carreer. I was convinced a project was headed for disaster, and tried to talk the boss into changing approaches. I eventually gave up, and to my amazement, a month or so later, I discovered the boss was secretly doing as I suggested. I had given him no way to save face.

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