Silence: Because I talked so rarely, people took the time to listen to me

Re:Silence: Because I talked so rarely, people took the time... by sankalpk on Saturday August 13, 2011 @10:32AM (#2881010)

While this may be helpful for business people and politicians, I think this isn't great advice for this demographic. A huge skill lacking within this industry (and of course I'm generalizing) is that of verbal communication. Wouldn't talking more, much like writing more, help that skill?

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Re:Silence: Because I talked so rarely, people took the time... by swombat on Saturday August 13, 2011 @10:41AM (#2881020)

No, not at all.

Silence, like body language, is an essential part of "verbal communication skills" - that's the point I'm making. You can no more learn "verbal communication" without learning to use silence than you can learn "driving skills" without learning to look in the rear-view mirror... (poor analogy, but you get the idea)

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Re:Silence: Because I talked so rarely, people took the time... by pohl on Saturday August 13, 2011 @11:20AM (#2881098)

"Music is the space between the notes." - Claude Debussy

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Re:Silence: Because I talked so rarely, people took the time... by losvedir on Saturday August 13, 2011 @11:47AM (#2881160)

Wouldn't talking more, much like writing more, help that skill?

Yes and no.

I think "talking more", in the sense of finding more occasions to speak: more meetings, more conferences, etc, would be helpful.

However, I don't think using more words during each of those occasions would improve your verbal communication skills.

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Re:Silence: Because I talked so rarely, people took the time... by hv23 on Saturday August 13, 2011 @02:40PM (#2881629)

Talking more doesn't necessarily mean you're saying more.

To use another popular adage that drives the point home: brevity is the soul of wit.

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