Rediscovering the Art of Conversation

Why it is so challenging to engage with the Gen Y?

One element is that we have lost the art of conversation. How often do we ask: "How are you?", not expecting a honest answer.

It is a pity, because it is a lost opportunity to connect and begin to discover talents waiting to be mined. Shockingly, it is believed that "organizations are running on a fraction of their human potential....less than one-third".(1) 


How can this make business sense?

Moreover, when we ask "What do you think?" but fail listen intently - why should we expect an honest and thoughtful answer?

Good conversation is like an exchange of goods - finely balanced and of equivalent worth. Yet, how often do we leave a conversation feeling a little cheated by the exchange? And what is the cost in terms of relations and future transactions of effort?

Now more than ever, it is beholden upon us to make time to converse with Gen Y; revisit our deeply held beliefs and expand our thinking through an engagement with their perspective.


Why did exchanging of perspectives become absent from organizational  culture?






(1) Curt Coffman and Gabriel Gonzales-Molina, PhD (p. 19), Follow This Path: how the world's greatest organizations drive growth by unleashing human potential (2002)