W.C. Fields said, “Never work with animals or children.” Why? On stage, people can become wooden, practiced, trite in their delivery. While animals and children remain riveting because we never know what they’ll do; they are wildly unpredictable and therefore fascinating. In the theater, we hear actors say, “I was anticipating, sorry.” Meaning, we were not in the moment, but were anticipating an entrance, a certain way of delivering a line, a light cue. We look towards the wings a second before a character is due to enter, transmitting to the audience what is about to happen. We stop and wait for a line to be delivered rather than barreling on as we would do in daily conversation. And in the split second that we are expecting an occurrence, we let our behavior be determined by something unimaginable and uncontrollable—the future. ..Read on…

My father, Warren Bennis, used to say that if we find someone boring, it means we are not asking the right questions. My father was never bored and found everyone utterly fascinating.

Your challenge this week:

Make a conversation interesting by asking new questions.

Here’s how my father worked his magic…