Liven up the Conversation by Asking Someone How They Work
When you meet new people, so much talking leads to you asking what the other person is doing for the job. To breathe new life into your chat, don’t ask them what they do for a living, but ask how they do it.
When you ask someone what their job is, the conversation doesn’t make much sense. You either know all about it, or you nod your head and say something like: “Oh, cool.” To keep it interesting, Ross McCummon, author of Works Well With Others , suggests discussing the details of their actual work with them:
People love talking about what they really do for a living. Not their job, but their job … It’s amazing how much time we spend on our job, isn’t it? So many technical things – even if you don’t have a technical job, there are so many small technical things that even your partner or spouse may not know about, just these little triumphs or bursts of creativity, or setbacks, mistakes that go away in one working day. … And I’m kind of obsessed with these little things, these little mistakes.
Each has its own little triumphs and failures, and people are thrilled when they can share them. Maybe they can finally brag about what they’ve done, or even just talk about an invisible aspect of their work. This trick may even save the day from awkward silence. Show interest in small technical things and important things will happen in your conversation.
Works Well With Others: An Bystander’s Guide to Shaking Hands, Silence, Dashing, and Other Essential Business Skills No One Has Ever Taught You | Amazon via Science of Us