Some people have a talent for talk.
My friend John can strike up a conversation with just about anyone. The ladies who work at the country market near my house, a woman who operates an ice-cream stand in town, a teen in the coffee shop interested in politics: All have fallen under John’s spell of words and thoughts.
His amiable nature along with his voice, which is charged with enthusiasm and goodwill, encourages others to open up and share their thoughts.
When asked where he’d acquired these skills, John credits the time he’d spent years ago as a ski bum in Montana, when he’d worked as a waiter and a bartender. “If you wanted to keep your job and make the tips, you were pleasant and talked and listened to people.” Not that John’s a glad-hand kind of guy. “Put me in a room of strangers,” he says, “and I’ll never approach anyone. But if someone breaks the ice, I’m all in.”…