say, “Adam, I want you to eat this apple.” She phrased it (as all big
winners would), “
You
will love this apple.” That’s why he bit.
Comm-YOU-nication Is a Sign of Sanity
Therapists calculate inmates of mental institutions say
I
and
me
twelve times more often than residents of the outside world. As
patients’ conditions improve, the number of times they use the
personal pronouns also diminishes.
Continuing up the sanity scale, the fewer times you use
I
, the
more sane you seem to your listeners. If you eavesdrop on big win-
ners talking with each other, you’ll notice a lot more
you
than
I
in
their conversation.
The next technique concerns a way big winners are silently
you
-oriented.
114
How
to Talk to Anyone
03 (093-142B) part three 8/14/03 9:17 AM Page 114
Have you ever seen those low-budget, mail-order fashion cata-
logues that use the same model throughout? Whether she is
engulfed in a wedding gown
or partially clad in a bikini,
her face
sports the same plastic smile. Looking at her, you get the feeling
if you rapped on her forehead, a tiny voice would come back say-
ing “Nobody’s in here.”
Whereas models in more sophisticated magazines have mas-
tered a myriad of different expressions: a flirtatious “I’ve got a
secret” smile on one page; a quizzical “I think I’d like to get to
know you but I’m not sure” smile on the next; and a mysterious
Mona Lisa smile on the third. You feel there’s a brain running the
operation somewhere inside that beautiful head.
I once stood in the receiving line of the ship I worked on,
along with the captain, his wife, and several other officers. One
passenger with a radiant smile started shaking hands down our
line. When he got to me, he flashed a shimmering smile, reveal-
ing teeth as even and white as keys on a new piano. I was trans-
fixed. It was as though a brilliant light had illuminated the dim
ballroom. I wished him a happy cruise and resolved to find this
charming gentleman later.
115
How to Make Them Feel
You “Don’t Smile at
Just Anybody”
✰
29
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Copyright 2003 by Leil Lowndes. Click Here for Terms of Use.
Then he was introduced to the next person. Out of the cor-
ner of my eye, I saw his identical glistening grin. A third person,
the same grin. My interest began to dwindle.
When he gave his fourth indistinguishable smile to the next
person, he started to resemble a Cheshire cat.
By the time he was
introduced to the fifth person, his consistent smile felt like a strobe
light disturbing the ambience of the ballroom. Strobe Man went
on flashing everybody the same smile down the line. I had no fur-
ther interest in talking with him.
Why did this man’s stock shoot high in my ticker one minute
and plummet the next? Because his smile, although charming,
reflected no special reaction to me. Obviously, he gave the same
smile to everybody and, by that, it lost all its specialness. If Strobe
Man had given each of us a slightly different smile, he would have
appeared sensitive and insightful. (Of course, if his smile had been
just a tad bigger for me than for the others, I couldn’t have waited
for the formalities to be over to
seek him out in the crowded
ballroom.)
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