Push Back.
During an interview a few years ago, I benignly asked a candidate, “Have you ever had to push back against a difficult manager?”
He responded,“Once my no-good boss yelled at me and got all up in my face. I’m a MAN and you don’t talk to me like that!” While energetically acting out both parts, he showed me how he forcefully pushed the manager down and made him fall hard on the office furniture.
I explained that I was asking him about having to defend company policy to a manager, and that to most of us his actions were not diplomatic push back. They were assault.
He replied, “Oh. I guess I didn’t understand. No job for me, huh?” He was finally right.–Jamie