Don’t start a conversation about things that interest you
Most people like to talk about themselves. This leads to us not listening
any more, but simply waiting for our turn to speak. But a conversation is
not a PowerPoint presentation. Don’t pitch your topics. Rather be the one
person in the group who is interested in the other person’s topics. As Bill
Nye put it: ‘Everyone you’ll ever meet knows something that you don’t.’
Listen
The way people deal with you depends on how you present yourself:
arrogant, worldly-wise or dull posturing brings out the same behaviour in
your counterpart. The supreme rule when making small talk comes from
the radio host Celeste Headlee: ‘Enter every conversation assuming that
you have something to learn.’ People forget what they talked about with
you, but not how they felt in your presence.
‘We have two ears and only one mouth so that we can listen twice as much
as we speak.’
Epictetus