In crowded airspace, some of the best, most well-considered voices too often stay silent. Why bother adding to the noise? If you’re not willing to join the yelling match, how will your voice ever be heard?

You might not have the loudest voice, and might not have access to the biggest loudspeaker, but that doesn’t mean your voice doesn’t matter. No matter whether your “voice” is your blog, public speaking, raising your hand in the meeting, there are lots of other reasons to speak up:

• Speak to show you’re listening. Active listeners speak to engage in the listening process. Speak up to let the world know that you’re paying attention.
• Speak to participate. No one person in a choir is significant on their own, but together they create music that’s greater than the sum of its parts.
• Speak to learn how to speak. My two-year-old isn’t even understood half the time, but speaking is necessary to develop the skill of speaking.
• Speak to teach. There’s something that we can learn from everyone, including you.
• Speak to learn. Teaching is one of the best ways to learn.

There are lots of reasons to be silent, lots of reasons to ignore the stirring inside. Don’t let fear of adding to the noise be one of them.