Small Talk
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58 . the fine art of small talk<br />
the goal is not to ask every one of these but to have some<br />
ready so that you feel prepared, poised, and confident.<br />
FREE FOR THE TAKING<br />
If you are an astute observer, you’ll discover that your<br />
small-talking cohort is giving you a wealth of free information<br />
you can use to keep a conversation going. Sources<br />
of free information include:<br />
Answers to open-ended questions. When you invite<br />
someone to tell you about his family or her job, you will<br />
receive additional free information that you can use to<br />
further the conversation. Suppose you ask me, Debra, how<br />
is it that you worked in product planning for AT&T? and I<br />
say, I was in R&D in Buffalo, New York, where I’m from, and<br />
I hated it. I hated being an engineer—they don’t even make<br />
pocket protectors for women! So I asked to be transferred anywhere.<br />
They brought me to Denver to work in product planning.<br />
I offered lots of free information: I’m from Buffalo, I was<br />
in R&D (research and development), and I hated being<br />
an engineer. You can choose any of that free information<br />
to find out more about what interests you the most. You<br />
could facilitate the conversation by asking any one of a<br />
dozen questions, including:
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