Throughout my career, this was the attribute that doomed me. It was debilitating and crushed my confidence. That is until switched fields to project management/business analysis. The whole field is rooted in gaining full understanding of how everything works and who does what.

Suddenly I am valuable largely because I ask people to repeat themselves or to clarify. I think people assume I do it for the sake of the room and while that might be a secondary benefit, my sole reason for doing it is either because I forgot what was just said because I was thinking about 47 other things at that exact moment, or because I genuinely don’t understand. And that confidence to not pretend I understand anything ever, only adds more value.

I don’t do this in all meetings or settings because that would end up being annoying and devalue the trait; I’ve learned to read the room. But specifically when I am doing business analysis, project management or consulting with my colleagues on upcoming work, I do and it goes over quite well.

Strange how things work.