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A Few Favorite Questions

May 2, 2023

This is going to be an extra short post as I’m at the airport devouring a breakfast taco and preparing to board a flight to LAX. I’m facilitating a workshop tomorrow to a very bright and driven group of entrepreneurs.  They have been a dream client and I’m super...

Would your current circle be enough?

Apr 25, 2023

This may seem like an odd question, but here goes:  What if you had to spend Eternity in a closed social loop where you were surrounded only by people you knew during your lifetime? There’d be no anonymous faces at the grocery store, on the street, in the gym, at the...

Practices and attitudes for delicious conversations

Apr 18, 2023

Sometimes a few simple rules can make life (and conversations) so much better.  In that spirit, I want to share a few guidelines I learned from the Conversation Cafe model. What is a Conversation Cafe you ask?  They are “open, hosted conversations in cafés as...

Don’t get stranded on this mountain

Apr 8, 2023

Have you ever known ─ or tried to have a conversation with ─ someone who thought they were an expert on….everything?  I’ll go out on a limb here and guess that the relationship ─ and the exchanges ─ with this person probably weren’t all that pleasant. I can even sense...

Turn Potential Negatives into Positives

Mar 28, 2023

Today I’m offering the third post in a three-part series on conversation-enhancing tips involving the number three. If you haven’t read the first and second posts already, you can find them on my website here. Both have the power to shift your conversation quality...

The Art of Going Three Deep in Conversation

Mar 23, 2023

Last week you may have read my blog about saying The Third Thing.  If not, you might want to circle back. It offers some excellent advice to those of us who tend to blurt out the very first thing that comes to mind in our conversations or written exchanges. As you’ll...

The Third Thing: Your Ticket to More Gracious Conversations

Mar 18, 2023

I’m a believer in the power of three. For example, three is the minimum number of legs a stool, table, or four-legged creature must have in order to stand on its own and be reasonably balanced. I also think of the Three Musketeers, Amigos, and Stooges. And did you...

Which is best in conversation? Wit, irony, or sarcasm?

Mar 9, 2023

“I feel like my flair for sarcasm is one of my gifts,” the woman declared, waving her glass of wine around like a magic wand. The setting was a cocktail reception at a conference. Clearly, this person had found her way to the bar early. “Yes, I can...

You have the power and the responsibility

Feb 28, 2023

Social settings can be fun and energizing. Or…let’s be honest. They can totally suck. In fact, I can’t tell you how many times someone has told me how much they dread and despise: Walking into a roomful of strangers. Small talk that never goes...

Expensive problems

Feb 22, 2023

“What expensive problems can good conversation skills help us solve?” Good question!  So glad my friend with the sharp marketing mind asked!  To examine this question thoroughly and answer it effectively, let me break it down into smaller questions. After all,...