Indian woman in US thought her colleagues knew more. Then she noticed how they spoke

An Indian woman explained how working with American colleagues in the US changed how she approached speaking up at work. She said the experience taught her confidence.An Indian woman working the US mentioned how confidence is actually the key to success. (Photo: Instagram/harini_nagireddi)What if confidence at work had less to do with knowing the answer and more to do with being willing to speak before you do? That is the lesson an Indian woman working in the US said she learnt from watching her American colleagues.Harini, an Indian professional working in the US, shared the realisation in an Instagram post, reflecting on how her approach to workplace conversations changed after observing her colleagues. She said she was the only Indian in her office and initially assumed her American peers simply knew more than she did.Over time, she realised that was not necessarily the case. “They were more comfortable speaking before they had all the answers,” she said, explaining that the difference was often not knowledge but the willingness to voice an opinion while still figuring things out.That was particularly striking to Harini because of how she had been taught to communicate while growing up in India. She said she was encouraged to think twice before speaking and to wait until she was sure about something before putting her thoughts forward. The approach served her well in school, where having the right answer mattered. At work, however, she began to feel that it was holding her back.An idea, she pointed out, cannot become part of a conversation if it stays in someone’s head while they wait for the perfect moment to share it. By the time one person has worked out exactly how to phrase an opinion, someone else may have already moved the discussion forward.For Harini, that observation changed the way she viewed confidence.Watch the video here:She said she had once believed confidence was something people were simply born with; some had it, others did not. She now sees it differently: confidence is a skill that can be learnt and strengthened.That does not mean speaking with certainty about things one does not know, she clarified. Instead, it means being comfortable enough to say, “Here’s what I think,” even when the thought is still taking shape.Her experience has left her with a lesson that extends beyond cultural differences at work: waiting until you are completely sure may feel safe, but sometimes confidence begins precisely where certainty ends.- EndsPublished By: Srimoyee ChowdhuryPublished On: Aug 16, 2026 13:42 IST