Quora Answer: How Did You Get Comfortable Speaking Assertively?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “How did you get more comfortable speaking assertively?”

I have always been an assertive person.  It is in my nature to be dominant.  For others, however, it can be learned.  To be assertive is to be certain about your position.  That sort of confidence comes when you have spent a lot of time thinking about the subject matter, and done some study of the issue.  Assertiveness is born out of conviction of your position, and a passion for it enough to articulate it, and defend it. You cannot be assertive when you do not know what you are talking about, and you do not know the limitations of your position in the social hierarchy relative to the person you are contenting with.

The problem with assertive people is that there is little correlation between assertion, and knowledge.  Thus, it seems paradoxically true that the ignoramus is far more assertive that the learned.  The fool is ignorant of his ignorance, and is comfortable sharing his notions, and advertising his idiocy.  The learned man, on the other hand, is aware, due to his knowledge, that there is much that he does not know, and is thus, unwilling to commit to a position.  That lack of confidence must be addressed first.