During my freshman year in college, I received a great piece of advice from one of my professors. At the time, I still carried quite a bit of shyness from my days as a high school -let's be honest –nerd, and I was often reluctant to speak up in class out of fear of judgment.

After turning in my first assignment for the course, my professor asked if I could meet with him briefly to discuss my grade - it was an A+.

During our meeting, my professor explained the reason he'd asked me to meet. After never having heard me speak in class, he had suddenly received this paper from me that was filled with insight. Because I never spoke up, he had no idea that all of things that I had written about in my paper had been inside of my head the whole time. He had no way of knowing that I understood and cared about what he was saying, because I didn't speak up. He then asked me to think about how my being silent might make it difficult for others to know that I have an opinion or thought about what is going on around me. He asked me, "how will they know if you don't tell them?"

In romantic relationships between men and women we often joke that women expect men to read their minds. I shouldn't have to tell him. He should just know. Well, we all know how that tends to turn out for both parties involved. Not well. Both parties end up missing out.

In school, work and life in general, I've learned that you have to speak up. You have a voice. It's a gift that you can use as a vehicle for expressing what you want, what you don't want and adding your own unique point of view to the mix of all of the other viewpoints out there. And it doesn't have to be said verbally, it can be said through writing or photographs or music or any other form of expression.

The point is, you do yourself and others a disservice when you don't share your unique point of view with the world. Without your voice, we all miss out on a piece of the puzzle that brings us closer to better understanding one another. We miss out on your ideas and contributions for building a better world (or, depending on the day, class discussion or solution for a client). Whenever you feel like shying away, remember, we need your voice too. How will we know if you don't tell us?