Make Yourself HeardIs interrupting a good business tactic, or just plain rude? Use these guidelines for speaking up.

From a young age, most women are taught to be polite inconversation, but how do these manners translate in a dynamicbusiness conversation, especially in mixed company? Should womenlearn how to interrupt to be heard?

"I'm an excellent interrupter," says Cathy G.Lanier, 48, president of Technology Solutions Inc., a $2million-plus software development and consulting firm in Columbia,South Carolina. "I tend to go with the ebb and flow ofmeetings and am pretty good at timing my interruptions so theydon't seem overly rude or pushy. I've never left a meetingwhere I didn't get my opinions out there for review."Lanier admits she doesn't always wait for an opening, but shetries not to step on others too much.

Social conditioning has dictated that interrupting is badmanners. In business, women often look at interrupting as wrong andapologize when they do it, while men use interrupting as a tacticto make themselves heard. So is interrupting rude? Amy WoodwardParrish, 36, partner and chief marketing officer ofCohn, Overstreet &Parrish, a multichannel marketing firm in Atlanta, doesn'tthink so.

"I don't intend to be rude--just productive,"explains Woodward Parrish. Running a million-dollar enterprisemeans making sure you're heard in a meeting. "And when Iwant a conversation to go a different direction, I can usuallyencourage the client or team member to move toward a differentsubject without them realizing I'm doing it."

Woodward Parrish does believe other women can get frustratedwith "interrupting women," because they aren'taccustomed to women playing that role in a meeting.

But what if someone is using interruptions as a strategy tosabotage you? Kendra Todd, one of the competitors on the reality TVshowThe Apprentice, endured constant interruptions from amale competitor who used the power struggle to try to unnerve her.She persevered and became the first woman to be hired by DonaldTrump at the end of the show's third season. She advises womenentrepreneurs to be among the first people to speak up in theroom--engage in conversation early to be seen as an initiator vs. aspectator. Also, use few words. To get your point across, hone yourpitch, and speak as concisely as possible.

Media coach and marketing strategist Susan Harrow, CEO ofPRsecrets.comand author ofSell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul这个建议让听到:

1. Learn the right techniques.Saying, "I'm notfinished yet," or holding up your hand as a stop sign can beeffective ways of getting your point across when the going getstough.

2. Think sparring match.Men aren't interrupting tobe impolite--they are testing you. Are you credible? Can you standup to criticism? Can you prove your point? Don't be afraid togive as good as you get.

Says Lanier, "In the South, rudeness is not accepted, so myinterruptions are sometimes couched in humor to give a softer edge,but my points get across."