Talk, Inc.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Talk, Inc., Points (TIPs)

A Sense of Direction

A GOOD CONVERSATION WILL occasionally meander. It will go this way and then that way, as its participants talk about one topic before shifting to another topic, or as they fasten upon one idea before changing course to consider a wholly different idea. But in a really good conversation, those who talk together share a sense that they’re moving forward together. They understand that their talk is taking them somewhere, however circuitous the route toward that destination might be. In an organizational setting, conversation will be good—it will be effective and sustainable—only to the extent that it embodies a sense of direction. That phrase, a sense of direction, has two meanings ...