By being non-confrontational. The trick is to not say some things and be patient, or even better, gently steer the counterparty into bringing up the less pleasant stuff of their own accord (though that's an art.)

How do you balance a non-nonsense approach with kindness at the same time?

cryotosensei

AskSN

What’s something you won’t be able to accomplish?

Being non-controversial.

I tried for nearly a decade to not be too direct and outspoken, because I admired how some people could be principled yet be really easy going. But it just doesn't mix with my personality well and it makes it easy to misinterpret my message. 

While I can definitely do it in a pitch setting (which I internally despise but it sometimes is part of the job) I no longer try to go easy in a business-as-usual environment.