At a previous employer I had a boss who I thought was pretty tough. Not to me, but our users. No matter the request his response was always the same, “No.” Eventually, we implemented around 40% of the requests, but the constant rejection of these requests stuck with me. Now that I lead a team I notice myself using the same mindset. “No” isn’t negative, and it’s not dismissive. “No” is a way of protecting the team, the project, and the users.