Why Loud Wins

A few ordinary mechanisms do the work:

• Fluency — claims that are easy to follow feel true, just because they are easy on the brain
• Airtime — a dominant speaker takes up more of the room, and presence reads as authority
• Anchoring — the first strong opinion becomes the reference point everyone argues around
• Bystander drift — when one person sounds sure, everyone else assumes they must know

In most meetings, whoever speaks first and firmest steers the group — regardless of whether the idea is any good.