A reader asks:

I was having a difficult conversation with my boss regarding career development when she interjected that someone on another team that I work with, she couldn't say who, said that I "wasn't working with enough urgency." I asked for clarification or a specific example of a project I did not complete on time and she couldn't provide me any.

Her willingness to give me someone else's feedback without any specifics really bothered me. I remembered having a conversation with a peer in another department about her boss doing the exact same thing. I've also had past managers use this on me in the past. I seem to fall for it every time, it puts me on the defensive, makes me question my relationships with my peers and is distracting from the topic at hand.

Read more at Inc.