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222 CAREER ADVICE FOR LIFE SCIENTISTS II

You Don’t Have

to Shout to Be Heard

W. Sue Shafer

University of California,

San Francisco

Richard L. Shafer

Retired, The National

Institutes of Health

H

ow can I get my point across? Everyone con-

fronts this question. Women particularly may

worry about being heard. They wonder if they

can exert authority or get things accomplished without

using macho behavior.

“Christiana” suggests a neat new idea to the product

development group, only to have it ignored. Later on, when

“Frank” suggests it, he gets credit and compliments for it.

Do things like this really happen? Observe and ana-

lyze behaviors in meetings you attend, and you’ll agree

that it happens too often.

Going to Meetings

Many of us attend one or more recurring meetings, such

as a lab meeting, a product development meeting, or a

policy meeting. Next time, try to map out the interac-

tions you see, and measure the meeting’s effectiveness:

• Is the leader in control of the meeting? Do you like
  the way the meeting is run?


• How many participants speak up? Are there a few
  dominant personalities who hog all the air time?


• Do people interrupt each other? Do men interrupt
  more than women do? Women more than men?


• Does everyone get to contribute? Are ideas freely
  shared and acknowledged?

If you like the way the meeting is working, try to

think about why. Who is making it happen and what is

she or he doing? Who is effective and why?

If you don’t like the dynamics of the meeting, try to

pinpoint the causes. What would you do to change

them? How would you do it?

One-time meetings pose another opportunity to

analyze and understand the meeting culture around

you. As you develop your skills of observation and

analysis, you’ll adjust your style more quickly to these

one-time events.