Reference #28: What Got You Here Won't Get You There
The interpersonal skill which stands out in many successful people is their ability to make the other person in a conversation feel special. This is something most of us know how to do — for example, we do it on first dates — yet in regular interactions we forget and haven't made the behaviours automatic.
Some suggested tactics for improving your next interpersonal interactions are as follows:
- Listen.
- Don't interrupt.
- Don't finish the other person's sentences.
- Don't say "I knew that".
- Don't agree or disagree (just say "thank you'").
- Don't use "no", "but", or "however".
- Don't be distracted, or act in ways which make your partner feel you are distracted
- Ask intelligent questions that show you're paying attention, move the conversation forward, and require the other person to talk.
Goldsmith. What Got You Here Won't Get You There, 2008. (154-156)