The Art of Asking

Here’s a secret from someone who talks for a living: I’m not an expert in anything my clients are experts in.

I’ve sat across from someone explaining structural engineering and someone explaining neurobiology, in the same week, and held my own in both conversations. Not because I studied either. Because I asked.

That’s the part people miss. They think being good at conversation means having something to offer ~ a fact, an opinion, a story that proves you belong in the room. So they wait for their turn, half-listening, rehearsing their next line instead of hearing the one in front of them.

The actual trick is simpler and harder ~ Ask good questions.

All you have to do is be curious enough to follow it somewhere interesting.

There’s so much beauty in creative questions.

I’m naturally curious. That’s the whole secret, if there is one. Not expertise. Not charm. Just wanting to know, and asking in a way that shows it.

People don’t remember what you told them. They remember what you asked.