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The Conversation #39 — Richard Saul Wurman

Conversation has been con­sis­tent­ly a mod­el in my head of being human. For quite a while I’ve spo­ken about how we’re not taught at any time in our life how to ask a ques­tion, and how to talk on the phone. And most peo­ple think they know how to ask a ques­tion, and they know how to talk on the phone. And yet I found that 98% of ques­tions are either bad ques­tions or speech­es. And most phone calls are terrible.

Everybody Knows When You’re Talking To Your Mother

You have to think with your users, with your cus­tomers, what is your actu­al rela­tion­ship? Are they your gods? Are they your guests? Are they a nui­sance to you? Because you know where the pow­er is.