BEFORE WE DIVE IN
Want to put the Crystal Clear English Weekly on your phone?
📲 Download for an improved reading experience
Last week I was on a call with a mentor.
He’s built a large education business.
He knows his stuff.
AI was the topic of conversation.
What you can do with it.
How I could integrate it.
I disagreed with quite lot of what he was saying.
But I didn’t interrupt.
I didn’t jump in.
I didn’t try to “win” the conversation.
I listened.
And as he spoke, I made notes.
Quietly collecting the points where I saw things differently.
But the real question wasn’t what I disagreed with.
It was:
How do I communicate that disagreement in the most appropriate manner?
So instead of saying:
❌ “I don’t agree.”
❌ “That’s not right.”
❌ “I think you’re wrong.”
I said:
“Can I push back a bit on what you just said?”
Let me tell you why I think this works:
You ask for permission → lowers resistance immediately
You signal respect → you’ve listened, not interrupted
You frame disagreement as collaboration, not conflict
And most importantly…
You’re not attacking the idea.
You’re testing it.
“Push back” doesn’t mean destroy.
It means apply a bit of pressure.
Just enough to see if the idea holds up.
And here’s the interesting part:
When you say this, people don’t get defensive.
They lean in.
Because you’ve turned disagreement into an invitation:
“Let’s sharpen this together.”
It makes the conversation collaborative, rather than confrontational.
So next time you disagree in a meeting, on a call, or in a difficult conversation…
Don’t jump in.
Don’t soften your idea.
Organise your thoughts and say:
“Can I push back on that?”
Sometimes you have to push back in order to find the best way forward.
Can you challenge ideas without creating friction?
This week’s three tips:
SOMETHING TO AVOID 🫣
🤦🏻♀️ “I am not agree”
Be careful when translating “no estoy de acuerdo”.
In Spanish, this is a state (estoy…). But in English, it isn’t.
If you want a structure similar to Spanish, you can say: To be in agreement.
We are not in agreement
✅ “I don’t agree”
Agree is a verb so you would simple say “I agree”, or “I don’t agree.”
An additional point: To agree with someone on something
I often agree with my boss, but I’m afraid that on this topic, I don’t.
SOMETHING TO SOUND CONFIDENT 🧐
👔 Business expressions
“Can I push back on that?”
A polite way to express disagreement or challenge an idea without sounding aggressive.
Can I push back on that? I think there might be a better way to approach it.
SOMETHING TO LISTEN TO 🎧
THE NEWSLETTER COMPANION 🗞️
Watch Jack and Krystallo discuss last week’s newsletter
NEXT STEPS ➡️
Keep learning,
Jack & Krystallo
Please give us your opinion about this newsletter by replying to us ✉️
and remember to follow us on social media 🫶