Are email exchanges conversation? For that matter, are blogs?
The first question is one that Susan Bird asks at Bird’s Eye View. Comments and follow-up posts ensued. Hey, we’ve got a conversation going on here.
If we enter into this (or any) conversation looking for discovery, we’re better equipped to find value. In fact, Susan points that out in the first post: "Conversations are true exchanges in which both parties are, in at least some small way, transformed."
If one party in a conversation falls short of transformation, I would think it’s most often the listener.
Again, if it’s important to them (the deliverer of the message), it should be important to me (the receiver of the message) – but important on their terms. Lend me your ears.
By listening with intent on finding discovery, lend a selfless ear. Sometimes the speaker grows more than the listener.
Sometimes, we don’t know what we know – until we articulate it.
In Susan’s posts, we witness discovery and growth as if we’re sitting across the table from each other. Better yet, my friend Brett Rogers connected with Susan when he commented on one of Susan’s posts. Brett then connected us via email. New friendships are part of the discovery.
There is opportunity for discovery in every conversation. If you’re looking for it, it will find you.
