Don’t interrupt

I need to get that invoice out. What was I thinking about? Should I order another coffee? There’s so much to do before Christmas. Is the role of the regenerative designer to fully imagine a regenerative world or just design the next step? Am I hungry? I must write those slides for Monday.

Thoughts can be scrambled, non-linear, profound, or anodyne. They might gush out in torrents or emerge as a slow trickle.

But a conversation provides the chance to focus—a chance to tether those thoughts down, to allow them to build.

In conversation, we have to speak, and the power of language lies in its ability to provide a framework for expressing and organising our thoughts.

Random musings must be transformed into nouns, verbs, and adjectives, structured by the rules of grammar.

The thoughts we choose to express must be organised to keep our listener interested (I’m more likely to stay on topic and not digress into talking about invoicing).

Giving someone the opportunity to speak is also giving them the opportunity to think—to refine and develop their ideas as they go.

So, keep them talking – don’t interrupt.