Career Advice: Know Your Room

Today’s piece of career advice is about knowing the right place and time to have certain conversations.

Last week, I walked into a meeting at a television network. Randomly, a reporter that I’d been trying to get on the phone for weeks was sitting in the waiting area with an entourage of six people and deep in conversation. I wanted to pitch him an idea I had for a column in his section of his magazine. I went up to him and introduced myself but I stopped myself from pitching him- because it was the wrong room. He was around his colleagues and the setting was wrong. Even though we had business to discuss, this wasn’t the right time to do it. You have to KNOW YOUR ROOM.

Sometimes we all get eager to discuss ideas, campaigns, and deals with executives and we don’t care when we discuss them or how we discuss them – we just want to have the conversation. It’s not about throwing out whatever you want to say whenever you can – it’s about being strategic and knowing the right setting to conduct business.

To determine if you are in the RIGHT ROOM, observe the people in the meeting, and think before you speak, “is this the right time and the right place to have this conversation?”.