The quietest person in the room can own it if they’re the clearest.

Authority in a conversation goes to clarity more often than to volume. Somebody who has thought it through and can say it in one sentence will move a room that has been circling for twenty minutes, and everybody will remember who ended the circling. Being loud is a way of competing. Being clear is a way of being useful.

Before the next meeting or group project, write your point in one sentence and know it. Then wait for the gap and say only that.