The best talkers in any group are usually the people who listened the longest first.

LEADERSHIP

WHAT THIS MEANS

What sounds like natural eloquence is usually accumulated attention. People who speak well in a group have generally spent a long time noticing what that group cares about, which arguments land, and what has already been covered. They are not inventing on the spot so much as finally saying something they have been assembling quietly. Listening is not the opposite of speaking well but the preparation for it.

Be deliberately late to speak in your next conversation. Track what people actually want rather than only what they are saying. Then offer one thing that answers that.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

How much do you listen before you start talking?

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