“Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.” Proverbs 17:28, The Bible

As a young entrepreneur, this line written 3,000 years ago has helped me immensely. If you are in your 20’s in business, I would highly recommend living by it.

It’s a fact, older people do not think highly of people in their 20’s. My grandfather used to say that everyone under 35 should be shot. They especially don’t like it when we ramble on in meetings and such. They think we don’t know what we’re talking about and, for the most part, they are correct.

So what can we do to combat our lack of knowledge, experience, and credibility? Shut up. Just say very little, if anything at all. In meetings, sit quietly and thoughtfully. Think very carefully before you speak. Ask yourself if what you’re about to say is very meaningful and very helpful and very needed. If it’s not, don’t say it.

It really works. I am of very average IQ, but have been labeled “bright” or “advanced” by much older people by just sitting there and shutting up. It’s really amazing. Once, I sat in a meeting of about 6 or 7 people all over 40 years old. They talked. I sat quietly, thinking, listening. After about 10 minutes, one of them turned to me and said “Well, you don’t say much.” Another then said “He’s way ahead of us. You can see the gears turning and he’s waiting for us to catch up to him.” An incredible thing for someone much older than me to say. Completely false, of course. I had plenty of dumb things I wanted to chime in with… I just bit my tongue. But the Proverb held true.

I think this is magnified for younger people. It’s not often that young people know how to shut up and listen, and older folks really appreciate it and take it as a sign of maturity.

It sounds too easy to be true, but give it a try sometime. You’ll be amazed. And an added bonus is that you’ll learn more by listening, anyway.

I’ll shut up now.

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