Page 179 - Free Yourself From

162 It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor

3. Summarize your key points before ending your conversation.
You can open up and be passionate about something as
long as you always stick to your two or three main points and
drive them home.

Guideline 5: Leverage the Use of Questions

We don’t create ideas so much as we reveal great
ideas by asking good questions.

—Dr. Jonas Salk,
creator of the polio vaccine

Imagine this scenario: You have a 15-minute meeting and you need
to make the most of it. How do you make sure you connect with
the other person and talk about what’s on your mind in a way that
will engage them and win them to your point of view in that amount
of time? One of the best ways might be to start with a question,
or several questions. You can use questions to determine the per-
son’s position on the issue, establish a person’s priorities for what-
ever it is you want to accomplish, and gain his or her interest in
what you want to discuss.
For example, if you are talking with the CEO or your boss about
a project you are working on, start the conversation by asking what
their top concerns and top priorities are on the topic. This will help
you to think about the issue from other angles. It will also help you
to better understand what they are looking for and to channel your
conversation in a direction that gives the other person exactly what
he or she needs in order to be on your side.