Assertiveness strengthens self-esteem (self-esteem), dignity, and social relationships.
To demand respect as a leader or manager, you must start with self-respect and recognize what makes us particularly valuable, that is: loving and feeling that you are worthy of love. Precisely emotional dignity is the recognition of all those positive emotions that motivate us to seek the best in our actions.
Just as we feel loved and important when someone defends us and cares for us, in the same way self-esteem increases when we resist being manipulated, used or exploited.
If injustice, disqualification or offense within the labor field is passively accepted, one is admitting in the facts and in the lack of empathy towards the other, who also deserves to be treated improperly.
With this it can be said that with the learning and development of intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, human dignity is being strengthened, which needs four conditions:
Not be an instrument for purposes other than your own. This would be related to what Kant called the categorical or moral imperative: "In all his actions, not only those directed at himself, but those directed at other rational beings, man must always consider himself as an end."
Be autonomous in your own decisions and therefore responsible for their consequences.
Being treated according to their merits and not with random circumstances such as race, ethnicity, social class or sexual preference, that is, not being discriminated against for these reasons.
Not be abandoned, despised or emotionally rejected.
Assertiveness, in addition to protecting self-esteem, allows together with emotional intelligence to modulate inner violence, giving what Buddhists call "patient resistance", which is not passivity but a strategy so that negative thoughts and emotions are not take over the mind and alter behavior.
Emotionally inhibited and non-assertive people, such as those who use a repressive style of coping ("I don't want to suffer anymore") or an alexithymic pattern ("I don't understand emotions"), are unable to relate to the affective world outside and inside. Without emotional intelligence and without assertiveness, you cannot enjoy life, understand it, much less develop a managerial position effectively.
Unlike IQ, which is largely genetic, intrapersonal and interpersonal skills can be learned. Developing these skills requires practice and commitment on the part of 21st century organizations. These are skills that are not developed during a weekend or a seminar, it requires diligent practice on the job for several months. If people do not see the value of change in their actions with others and in strengthening their self-esteem, they will not make the effort.
This training takes months, since not only at the neurological level is the neocortex involved, but also the emotional centers of the brain come into play. The neocortex, the thinking brain that learns purely cognitive skills and techniques, gains knowledge very quickly, but the emotional brain does not.
To master a new behavior, emotional centers require repetition and practice. So improving emotional intelligence, assertiveness, and self-esteem is akin to changing non-operational habits. The emotional circuits that carry leadership habits have to forget the old and replace them with the new. The more a behavioral sequence repeats, the stronger the underlying brain circuits become.
