QUIET CULTURE VS. LOUD CULTURE
In my years working with professionals to help them communicate more confidently in the workplace, I have discovered that there is indeed a group of people who gravitate toward thinking and behaving with "quiet" traits. For example, listening rather than talking in meetings. Following directions rather than engaging in discussion. Advocating for others, but not advocating for themselves. Deflecting attention and praise. Having a more risk-averse mentality, in which they tend to stay within the confines of what they know. Those of us who come from Quiet Cultures are often seen as "the quiet one" at work.
On the flip side, those who come from Loud Cultures often prefer speaking over staying silent. They are taught to engage in discourse and to see rules, processes, and structure as open to interpretation. They don't consider confrontation disrespectful, but think of it as a way to show their thought process. Those who behave with "loud" traits also don't shy away from talking about their work, their impact, and their accomplishments. In the Western world, corporate workplaces tend to reward those who exhibit "loud" behaviors, because work emphasizes individualism, self-
determination, and autonomy.
But how did it become this way? Why do Western companies, as well as many global workplaces, now value Loud Culture traits? It helps to look at how Western society was formed thousands of years ago. The philosophical underpinnings that shaped Western democracies are rooted in Greek ideology. From the likes of Aristotle to Plato, these philosophers talked about individualism—one's ability to carve out their own path, speak their mind, and create their own future.
In fact, the ability to express one's ideas, discuss them openly, and challenge others was not only expected, it was rewarded. Psychologist Richard E. Nisbett writes in his book The Geography of Thought this poignant example: "The Greek sense of agency fueled a tradition of debate.... A commoner could challenge even a king and not only live to tell the tale, but occasionally sway an audience to his side." If we translate this into workspeak, we can see a young employee rise up fast in the corporate world because they're not only good at what they do, but they're not afraid to challenge the status quo, seize opportunities, and take on projects others might not want to do. They speak their mind and put themselves out there and are not discouraged from doing it; rather, they are praised for it.
In fact, we don't have to look very far to see where these characteristics are embedded in Western companies today. The importance of successfully making oneself known can be found in the value statements of some of the most renowned businesses. Amazon's core leadership principles outline an expectation for employees to think big, which means being able to communicate a bold direction that inspires results. They want their employees to have a "backbone" and to openly "disagree and commit." The payroll-software company Gusto lists "Debate then commit" as one of its five values highlighted on its website, and the fintech company Enova has on its culture page a quote from an engineering lead saying the company's ability to innovate is because of the motto "Be Bold and Move Fast." In 2009, Google conducted a study that showed the mark of a great leader in today's world is not technical expertise, but the ability to converse, ask questions, and help others solve problems. Specifically, in American culture, we see companies push their team to enter the market quickly to gain what experts call a first-mover advantage, in which people and organizations vie to be first to the marketplace to gain a competitive advantage. While there is research that states being the first is not as advantageous as one would think, people still push their teams to be the most innovative, and
the market elevates those who are the most disruptive with awards and accolades. In other words, if we want to succeed in the Western workplace, we have to embody what these companies expect: be assertive and communicative.
However, for me, being bold and unapologetically forthright in a professional setting was not an easy thing to do. I grew up in an environment where the overarching sentiment was to keep to oneself and become invisible as a means of survival. When my parents emigrated from Taiwan to the US, they carried with them little to nothing. Their move to a new country was a fresh start, but the only guarantee was that they might be able to build a better future for themselves and their family. So, from day one, they got to work quickly, quietly, and diligently. Values such as stability over risk-taking, saving over indulgence, and safety over unpredictability governed everything they did and the decisions they made. It was also what they expected of us, their kids. When my brother and I were growing up, they taught us to embody their same mentality and beliefs. They reinforced that these were the traits needed to succeed.
Whether our Quiet Culture values come from the community we were born into, our ethnic background, or even the temperament of our parents, many of us get our first inkling of the Quiet and Loud Culture difference the moment we start working. This is what researchers call organizational socialization, and it's the process by which we begin learning new norms and the behaviors and skills that are expected of us. As we experience things like onboarding training, being paired with a workplace mentor, or just observing how people carry themselves in meetings, we start to internalize these spoken and unspoken rules. Soon, we begin to see there are a set of behaviors that feel contrary to what comes naturally to us.
