answer:My mentor in one of my first professional jobs when I was in my early twenties pointed out to me, not so gently – but very aptly – that I needed to be more careful sharing my opinions and do my homework when facing older engineers in meetings. He explained it wasn’t a lack of talent or even that I was wrong – -but the way I was communicating wasn’t getting me the respect I needed in order to be heard. He said something like: “For now, I’m able to explain away your missteps as being a product of your young age or lack of experience. You won’t have that excuse some day soon so you need to learn to learn to rely on statements of fact, no emotional knee-jerk responses and carefully timed and chosen words.” My own father was also full of lots of gems – most of them started with: “A word to the wise…” and ended with something like: ”...any problem money can solve isn’t a problem.” or ”..if it’s 2 feet from your heart you’ll be fine.” (He was an ER doctor..so his perspective might be a bit different.)