Marianne Malhotra: I grew up in a culture where being quiet was appropriate. The pressure of that context on you is causing you to kind of shut down, she says. At Harvard Business School and at a lot of business schools, your grade is based about 50% on your participation in class,. We had a gender-grade gap; the female students were every bit as smart as the male students.Malhotra: One way to start is to change how you carry yourself in small ways.
If you were to pop by Mary Ann’s PhD discussion group, you’d most likely find her quietly, but intently, listening to the debate going on around her. But when it comes time to actually throw in her two cents, she comes up short. She feels nervous. Her mind goes blank. And she leaves the session feeling frustrated that she didn’t voice her thoughts. On this episode of How To!, we bring on Amy Cuddy, author of Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenge. Amy has done a great deal of research on how to carve out your own space — physically and mentally — and has some practical tips to help Mary Ann, and all of us, speak with more confidence.
If you liked this episode, check out “How To Give a Killer Speech.”
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