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# Speaking up does not require a perfect answer
- URL: https://research-pop.com/speaking-up-does-not-require-a-perfect-answer/
- Published: 2026-10-18T10:32:39.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-18T10:32:39.000Z
- Author: ResearchPOP
- Tags: Career

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7c/5e/7c5e0911-739b-4a35-94eb-3e810bf78ba7/content/images/2026/10/Screenshot-2026-10-18-at-12.29.10.png)

Source: [https://www.science.org/content/article/how-i-learned-speak-confidence](https://www.science.org/content/article/how-i-learned-speak-confidence?ref=research-pop.com)

At 4:45 p.m., Lan Nguyen Chaplin was watching both the presentation slides and the clock. Day care closed at 5:30, and a project meeting had already overrun. The team was debating disappointing results: one senior colleague wanted more experiments, while another favoured submitting the manuscript with a more conservative conclusion. Chaplin did not feel experienced enough to settle the scientific disagreement, but she could see that the conversation was going in circles. She asked the group to reach a decision before leaving.

In a Science Working Life essay, Chaplin describes how moments like this changed her understanding of authority. For years, she associated gravitas with people who answered quickly, spoke confidently and rarely appeared uncertain. Trying to project those qualities pulled her between two habits: preparing her response so intently that she stopped listening, or staying silent while searching for the perfect words.

Parenthood made the costs of those habits harder to ignore. She still wanted to produce strong work and earn her colleagues’ respect. But being late to collect her son, or arriving home too depleted to be present with him, mattered too.

The approaching pickup deadline helped her identify the choice beneath the discussion. Was the team more willing to delay submission in pursuit of a stronger claim, or submit sooner with a narrower conclusion? She did not need to resolve every scientific uncertainty to make that decision clearer.

Chaplin came to understand gravitas as the ability to bring clarity to a conversation and help people move forward. She describes five connected qualities and practices: remaining steady, being trustworthy, keeping the discussion anchored, navigating competing perspectives and acting decisively when a decision is needed. In research, that trustworthiness includes acknowledging what the evidence can support and where uncertainty remains.

These qualities create several ways to contribute. Someone can ease tension in a difficult exchange, bring attention back to the central question or explain the trade-offs between available options. Each can help a group make progress, even when the person speaking does not have a complete answer.

Chaplin still feels the temptation to wait until she has found exactly the right words. She is still not the loudest person in the room. What has changed is her willingness to speak when she can help others understand the choice before them and decide what to do next.

Author: Lan Nguyen Chaplin, professor at Northwestern University  
Source: Science · Working Life  
Published: 15 October 2026  
Original article: [Science](https://www.science.org/content/article/how-i-learned-speak-confidence?ref=research-pop.com)

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## Research POP Notes

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