over coming the fear of being heard

A few years ago I sat in meetings wanting to say something. For a long long time, I did not speak up. I was afraid. I was afraid of someone calling me out. I was afraid of being told I was wrong.

This feeling is natural in almost everyone, until it is not. We are genetically hardwired to feel this way, to act this way.

Unfortunately, it is necessary to speak up, to be heard. Our growth and livelihood depends on it. First, we can not move our ideas and projects forward if we are not visible. Second, we can not validate our thoughts and answer our questions if we do not ask.

Start out simple. The goal is to add value, to offer valuable insights. Valuable insights come from asking good questions. If we want to ask good questions, we have to ask “dumb questions.” Often time, the thing everyone needs to hear is by asking the simple questions.

It is also a lot easier to add value by asking questions, than making comments, especially if we do not have enough context. Take the pressure off ourselves by asking questions and if we want to prefix the question with “this may be a dumb questions but..” Assume that our questions are going to be dumb in order to get good.

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