Walking into a new room, the first five minutes are for reading it. Who talks, who listens, who everyone watches.

Every room already has a structure by the time you enter it, and none of it is written down. Who defers to whom, where the actual decisions get made, which jokes land and which do not: all of it is visible if you spend the first few minutes watching instead of performing. People who rush to establish themselves usually misread the room and spend the rest of the time correcting it.

Give yourself five quiet minutes at the start of anything new. Ask a question rather than offering an opinion. You lose nothing by arriving second, and you learn where to stand.