Our three major challenges this session were to:
- Secure a Life Changing Apprenticeship
- Become a World Class Interviewer; and
- Become a World Class Conversationalist.
The goal of challenge #3 was to be equipped to walk up to anyone, anywhere and strike up an interesting conversation that makes the other person feel like a Hero Who Can Change the World.
In preparation, we dug deeply into what make a great conversationalist, including the seven key practices outlined in Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Once we had the basics down, we practiced them: in role plays and improvisation; on Running Partners, Elementary School Eagles and Incoming Eagles; with critiques and video reviews until the art of conversation became as natural as breathing.
Then it was time for the big test: Those who earned the honor were allowed to take a long lunch at the Food Trailers at Mueller and practice the art on complete strangers (with all the appropriate warnings and in full view of a Guide.)
The results? Outstanding. It turns out our Eagles not only can strike up a natural conversation at lunch or a cocktail party, but learn enough to write a Hero Story about the person’s life afterwards.
Reading, writing and arithmetic – fundamental. But so is conversation, practiced not in a self centered way, but as a Conversational Artist who knows how to ask questions that motivate a fellow hero to take on the day.