Quietness a weakness ?

[suggakisses]

Has anyone experienced people thinking quietness is a weakness ? Have you ever had people being pushy , dominant , cf towards you because you are quiet?

It's only a weakness if you let other people make you believe it is.

Yes it certainly can be perceived that way. As I've got older though I've quite enjoyed surprising people who think quiet means weak, or lacking confidence. They generally back down pretty quick when you pipe up and they are not expecting it.

Definitely. I left my last role because I was disregarded for being quiet despite being more than capable of doing the role.

Sometimes it's a weakness. Sometimes loudness is a weakness. Both can be strengths too. The optimum balance would be to be able to be quiet when it's beneficial to be quiet and to be loud when it's beneficial to be loud - very few people will ever achieve the perfect balance.

This defo

I'm quiet by nature but as I have got older I'm more assertive so people don't expect it and they think I'm a pushover or can be manipulated.

Have you read the book Quiet- the Power of Introverts in a World that Won’t Stop Talking?
I’m married to an extremely bright, quiet man who is also a slow thinker.
He listens then carefully considers what to say, and as a result it’s worth listening to 90% of the time.
He used to view this as a poor character trait but as he has aged he’s realised that many people are full of hot air with little substance to what they say.
Quiet people should be valued!

Very true . They don't like pushback do they.

It depends. If you mean 'reserved' - that is, speaking when you've got something worth saying, or being very considered about what you say, I don't think that would be a drawback (unless your job required an real extrovert streak). But if quiet means timid and unwilling to contribute when reasonably required, or if it prevented someone from doing parts of their job description then I think it would be a problem.

I worked with someone once who always tried to make her colleagues do certain tasks which were really her job because these duties were outside her comfort zone. They were tough for the rest of us too, but we didn't expect to be able to pick and choose the bits of the job description we liked and wriggle out of the rest!