Nick HutchisonFounder and CEO, BookThinkers

How to participate in a conversation, with Lou Diamond #short #shorts

26 Oct 2022 · 1 min

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1:01

In this short interview, Nick Hutchison asks Lou Diamond to expand on the definition of a "conversation" beyond face‑to‑face interactions. Diamond explains that conversations now occur across many media: watching a late‑night TV interview, listening to podcasts (noting the massive growth to over 2.2 million shows and 16 million episodes), workplace discussions, and digital text‑based channels such as email, SMS texts, and direct‑message platforms. He emphasizes that these forms are constant throughout the day, describing podcasts as the number‑one medium while expressing a personal dislike for email as a conversational form.

Chapters

In the book, you highlight a 2010 survey that found that the average person participates in 25 conversations a day. And I know a lot of people who definitely don't have 25 in-person conversations a day, but you define conversation a little bit differently. You just highlighted a way that you can participate in a conversation, which is watching a late-night TV interview. So what are some of the other ways that people can communicate and participate in conversations?
Well, we've highlighted podcasts, which is probably the number one medium. I mean, the growth of podcasts alone is just scary. Now we're over 2.2 million podcast programs out there with over 16 million episodes, and just about every single one of those is a conversation. I know a lot of them are one person talking, but you could argue that person's talking to you and you're listening and learning from them. The important thing to think about as it relates to conversations is they're everywhere, and we have them at work multiple times a day. And I hate one particular form of conversation— our email communication that we have. It's important that we recognize we use this constantly. We use texts constantly. These are conversations that we're having constantly, um, DMs throughout the day. Today