Ask what a word means instead of nodding along. Nodding is how you agree to things you didn’t understand.

A nod is read as consent and gets filed that way by everybody in the room. Once you have nodded at a sentence you did not follow, you are committed to a plan, a deadline or a position you cannot describe, and finding out later costs far more than asking would have. The nod feels like politeness and functions as a signature. Nobody goes back to check whether you meant it.

When a word or a plan goes past you, stop the conversation and ask. Repeat back what you think was agreed before it ends. The phrase I want to check has never offended anybody.