Why it was said

Susan Cain writes this in the chapters on the extrovert ideal, the assumption in modern workplaces that the person who speaks first and most is the one worth listening to. She draws on research on group decision-making to say otherwise.

What it actually means

Meetings are won by the confident, and the research Cain cites finds that confidence and correctness are unrelated: the loudest view is adopted because it is loud. The sentence is a warning to the listener and a permission to the quiet. For a manager it means designing meetings so that ideas are collected before they are argued; for an introvert it means the reluctance to speak first says nothing about whether the idea is good.

How to use it

1. 1Collect views in writing before a discussion so the first voice does not set the room.
2. 2If you are the quiet one, put the idea in writing before the meeting; the medium is yours.