What is your greatest weakness? (investment banking interview)

My weakness has been holding back in group settings when I am not yet sure of my view. In my first internship, I noticed an issue in how our team was treating a one-time charge in a comps set, but I waited until I had double-checked everything before raising it. By then the senior person had already reviewed the draft, and we had to redo part of it. Nothing went out wrong, but it cost the team time.

Since then I have worked on raising issues earlier, even when they are not fully confirmed. I now flag things in the form of a question, such as asking whether we meant to include a restructuring charge, which lets me speak up without overstating my confidence. I also joined a case competition team where I had to present our recommendation, which forced me to get comfortable sharing views in front of others.

In my most recent internship, I raised a data inconsistency on the first day I saw it, and it turned out to be a real error in the source file. I still prefer to prepare before speaking, but I no longer let that delay important questions.