Very good article and reminder for me.

It felt very uncomfortable and artificial to be expected to participate in an informal conversation with this senior person. Thoughts going through my head were, “What can I possibly have to say to this man who has much more experience than I do?” The values that were instilled in me were to “speak when spoken to” and “children are to be seen and not heard.”

Source: https://hbr.org/2014/07/learning-to-speak-up-when-youre-from-a-culture-of-deference