It amazes me how much time we waste in our effort not to waste any time.
Five, even ten minutes to understand who a person is, where they are today, now, at this moment…there’s no way that you can skip that step and hope to create any sort of real connection in a meeting.
Almost every culture in the world knows this – that you cannot start a conversation before you’ve talked to someone as a person. Except Americans, of course. We pride ourselves on “getting down to business.”
There’s wisdom in those old civilities of asking after someone’s well-being, their family.
Two people might be able to strike a deal, but two human beings are needed to create any sort of partnership.
