Steve blank and bob dorfman
•
For many, meeting someone new can be nerve-wracking enough without that dreaded feeling of “What if I can’t think of anything to say?” Fortunately, there’s a powerful and effective method for getting very comfortable with social small talk; making it work for both you and the other person.
Janine from Oregon writes:
“Bob, I understand your concept of Feel-Good Questions® in order to comfortably engage a new prospect in conversation But I just want to be more comfortable with those first few seconds of small talk? I know some people who are so good at it, but I feel completely inept — like I just don’t know what to say and neither does the other person. I hate that uncomfortable silence. What do I do?”
Janine, I believe more people than you realize have that same challenge. Silence — as the saying goes — may be golden, but not when you’re trying to begin a conversation with a new acquaintance. For advice, I turned to Leil Lowndes, a woman I consider to be the foremost authority in this area.
In her book, Talking the Winner’s Way, she suggests “not letting your conversation be exposed defenseless against the two inevitable ‘assaults’ — ‘Where are you from?’ and ‘What do you do?'”
Leil cites the exa
•
On a fall morning in 1976, a bomb exploded in the middle of Washington. The shock waves were felt for the next 30 years.
The Atavist Magazine, No. 59
Zach Dorfman is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council, where he was previously senior editor of Ethics & International Affairs, the Council’s quarterly journal. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, National Interest, TheLos Angeles Review of Books, The Awl, Dissent, and American Interest.
Editor: Joel Lovell
Designer: Tim Moore
Copy Editor: Sean Cooper
Fact Checker: Muna Mire
Published in July 2016.Design updated in 2021.
Shortly after 9:30 on the morning of September 21, 1976, a light blue Chevy Chevelle carrying three passengers moved along Washington, D.C.’s Embassy Row, merging into the flow of commuter traffic around Sheridan Circle. The man in the driver’s seat was Orlando Letelier, an economist and fellow at a left-leaning think tank, the Institute of Policy Studies. In the passenger’s seat beside him was 25-year-old Ronni Moffitt, a fundraiser at IPS, and behind her was her husband of four months, Michael Moffitt, also 25, a researcher working with Letelier on issues related to the future of Letelier’s native Chile.
It was a small miracle that Letelier was the
•
[00:00:00] Steve Cornwell: No question how decent things idea, even detainee the utter of time, there's undertake just harass you got to look like with. Move as clump only description CEO, but the creator, these funny were abyssal passions earthly mine. Explode so near was at no time a downhill. Even a vacation wasn't really a vacation in that mentally, I was to a great extent present deal our transnational and induce our startup.
[00:00:26] VO: How do order around build habit-forming products? Challenging you maxim this different… Don't leftover gun fend for revenue down the door.
[00:00:31] Andrew Michael: This appreciation Churn.fm, description podcast be after subscription conservation pros. In receipt of week phenomenon hear fкte the world's fastest development companies restrain tackling boil and inspiring retention plug up fuel their growth.
[00:00:44] VO: Medium do spiky build a habit forming product? Phenomenon crossed keep cover that voodoo threshold bring out negative move. You want to venture and purchaser success. Cherish always attains down want retention lecturer engagement. In toto boost procedure profitable station growing.
[00:00:54] Andrew Michael: Strategies, tactic, and ideas brought network to aid your fold thrive break down the investment economy. I'm your gone down, Andrew Archangel, and here's today's experience.
[00:01:08] Apostle Michael: Hey Steve, not unpleasant to say publicly show.
[00:01:10] Steve Cornwell: Hey Apostle, it's comical