In a group project, the most trusted person isn’t the smartest. It’s the one who turned in their slides on time.

Ability is assumed until it is disproved; reliability has to be demonstrated. In any group, people quickly sort each other by whether work arrives when it was promised, and that sorting has more effect on who gets trusted than any measure of talent. Brilliance that shows up late gets remembered as a problem.

Be the one whose part is finished first, even when your part is small. Send it before it is asked for. You will be surprised how quickly that one habit turns into being the person everyone routes work through, which is usually where the interesting work starts.