How To Talk to Strangers
How To! with Mike Pesca
Peach Fish Projects
4.3 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2020
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Every other Friday, Amy's calendar reminds her to make the rounds of her office and say "hello" to her colleagues. As an introvert, Amy deeply struggles with small talk, but as a manager of 55 people she's been told she needs to be more approachable. In this episode of How To!, Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking, helps Amy learn how to use her reserved nature to her advantage. Whether you're anxious about networking at conferences or wondering how to talk to your neighbors—from six feet away—Susan has some tips for how all of us can have better conversations. It takes practice, Susan says, so don't be afraid to have a few opening lines in your back pocket.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone, I'm Susie Weiss, and I've noticed there's just simply not enough podcasts in the world. So I'm launching my own. Let's go. Let's go, baby. Second Thought is a weekly show about pop culture. The stuff everyone's been binging, arguing about, obsessing over. Here's the thing about heated rivalry. I mean, even the most devoted swifties, I think we can agree, not our best work. We'll be hosting thoughtful conversations with culture's most important figures. Talk about genius. |
| 0:22.6 | Talk about generational talent. |
| 0:23.7 | Coming to headphones near you on |
| 0:25.0 | April 17th with a first guest you won't want to miss. Available wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:30.3 | Okay, so if I'm standing by the punchbowl and you walk up, what do you say to strike up a conversation |
| 0:36.1 | with me? Oh, geez. Well, my first instinct is to do you say to strike up a conversation with me? |
| 0:38.4 | Oh, geez. |
| 0:42.8 | Well, my first instinct is to wait for you to strike up a conversation with me. |
| 0:47.2 | Welcome to how to. I'm Charles Duhigg. |
| 0:53.6 | On this week's show, we're talking to a listener who you might be surprised is willing to come onto a podcast like this to talk about her life. |
| 0:56.8 | I have a team of about 55 people that I oversee. |
| 1:00.8 | And a lot of the feedback that I hear from them is that people don't find me very approachable. |
| 1:05.7 | So I know that one of the barriers I have is just making small talk. |
| 1:10.9 | This is Amy. She's a manager at a local county government office in Denver, Colorado. |
| 1:16.5 | And by her own description, she is an introvert. |
| 1:20.6 | Like if I encounter somebody in a break room, I might just say good morning or whatever, and that's about it. |
| 1:25.8 | The conversation never really goes anywhere. |
| 1:27.9 | It also happens like at, you know, my husband's Christmas party |
| 1:30.9 | or at other social gatherings where I find myself sort of kind of camping out in a corner |
| 1:36.3 | and talking to the people that I do know, but never really connecting with anybody new. |
| 1:41.5 | Amy has tried to be more outgoing. |
| 1:43.6 | Back when she was working in her office, back before we all started working from home, |
... |
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