We’ve all done it at a meeting or at an event: dominated a conversation. It’s easy to do: someone (or no one) is talking, so you feel you have to fill the air.
Well, why don’t you say a few choice words to start the conversation and step back? While you may like hearing yourself talk, maybe others don’t. Andy maybe, maybe, you’ll learn something if you listen.
A recent story in Inc. Magazine pointed this out. Typically that elevator ride is a chance for you to tell your story. But, as the story pointed out, what if you stopped talking and listened to what the other guy had to say?
The same is true at your local networking event: when people are giving their elevator pitches to the larger group, don’t be reading your email or posting to Facebook: listen to what each person has to say and choose which ones to engage after the meeting.
Or when you are talking with people at a reception, ask more questions than volunteer information about yourself. Not only might you learn something, it’s polite. And you just might be talking to your next business partner or getting that life-changing advice you really have been needing.
The old adage of “God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason” really has weight. Pay attention, listen more and talk less. You just might profit from it.
Relentless
