People guard what they share to avoid judgment, keeping conversations shallow. Asking genuine follow-up questions about someone's hometown or favorite local food shows you're truly curious. Listeners say they feel like the only person in the room when you talk to them this way.
Everybody's a little careful about what they share and who they are presenting to you, you know, because we all want to protect ourselves and not be judged in any way. So I might not give you an incredibly deep answer to your question about where I'm from, but by asking follow-up questions about, oh, you're from Philadelphia, really? Where? Or do you have a favorite cheesesteak place? Or, you know, why are you— how did you get to this geography if you're not from that geography? And tell me more about that. Was it hard for you? Just not just asking a question, getting the answer so you can ask the next question on your list. Because then it becomes transactional. Then it becomes transactional. One of the things that people have shared with me from a feedback standpoint that I've always appreciated and just never really thought about, because I don't do any of this intentionally, it's just kind of who I am, is people will say, Michael, when I'm with you, even if we're in a room of 100 people, you make me feel like I'm the only one in the room. And I'm not— I have no ulterior motive.
