In English meetings, she always had something to say. She just never spoke.

She was a senior executive. Experienced, sharp, respected in her field. But in English, she compared herself to everyone else in the room and always came last.

“Everyone else is so much better than I am,” she told me. (I hear this more than any other sentence.) So she waited. The meeting ended. Her ideas stayed inside.

The comparison was the problem. Her English was fine. She was measuring herself against a standard that existed only in her head.

Her perspective was exactly what the room needed. It always had been.

Quick win: Next time you hesitate, ask yourself, “Do I have something useful to say?” If yes, say it. The English will follow.