I attended a party where one of the guests was intent on bragging about his latest accomplishments. I watched as he moved from group to group trying to get people to listen to his story. As soon as he started talking about himself, one by one, people in the group would excuse themselves and move on. He would then move on to another group only to have the same thing happen. By the end of the evening, he was standing by himself. The lesson here is a difficult one. While all of us want to tell our story, the painful truth is no one wants to hear it. At the same time, those same people are dying to tell their story to someone who cares. So, if you want to become the life of the party, give up on the idea of trying to tell your story and give other people the opportunity to tell theirs. If you can discipline yourself to do this, you’ll quickly start to attract a crowd.

One Sentence Wisdom

• “One of the sincerest forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.” — Bryant H. McGill
• “Grace, respect, reserve, and empathetic listening are qualities sorely missing from the public discourse now.” — Meryl Streep

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