Every Conversation Counts: The 5 Habits of Human Connection that Build Extraordinary Relationships

by Riaz Meghji

Overview

You are one conversation away from changing your life. We all crave connection. We were never meant to live alone or communicate only in “likes” and retweets. In Every Conversation Counts, TV host and human connection keynote speaker Riaz Meghji digs deep into the dangers of isolation and loneliness, our social pandemic, that have been brought into sharp relief by the coronavirus crisis. He tackles a uniquely modern question: why are we so connected, and yet so alone—and how can we reconnect?

Sharing personal insights from powerful interviews and years of on-air experience, Meghji offers 5 simple habits for building extraordinary relationships. He explains how to spark authentic conversations, win trust, create new business, and collaborate effectively. Meghji points a way forward to a better future—one in which we express genuine curiosity about others, listen with our whole hearts, show up as our authentic selves, and make every conversation count.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781989603727
Publisher:	Page Two Books, Inc.
Publication date:	02/09/2021
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Riaz Meghji is a human connection keynote speaker and an accomplished broadcaster with 17 years of television hosting experience; he has interviewed experts on current affairs, sports, entertainment, politics, and business. His on-camera experience not only taught him the power of a candid conversation, but also how to put it into practice.

Riaz has hosted for Citytv’s Breakfast Television, MTV Canada, TEDxVancouver, CTV News, and the Toronto International Film Festival. He is a natural storyteller with a proven ability to conduct engaging, in-depth conversations across various disciplines.

Off camera, Riaz dedicates himself to philanthropy and causes he cares about including Canuck Place Children’s Hospice and Covenant House. He holds a degree in business from Simon Fraser University and studied leadership communication at Harvard Extension School and the Canadian Management Centre.

He lives in Vancouver, B.C., with his wife and son.

Read an Excerpt

When you first meet someone, make your mantra “‘Look at you’ needs to be greater than ‘look at me.’” This will help you build trust, as people are unconsciously asking themselves three key questions about you in your initial encounter:

· Do you care about me?
· Are you listening to me?
· Can I trust you?
Remember, humans are social animals. When we encounter someone new, we’re instinctively trying to decide whether they’re a friend or a foe. That’s true when you’re meeting someone socially—whether you’re aware of it or not, you’re sizing them up and trying to decide whether or not you want to spend more time with them.

Those unconscious questions are particularly important in a professional context. At a networking event, for example, many people literally are evaluating everyone they meet. And if you work in sales or customer service, you probably already know that customers tend to approach you warily, wondering if you’re really listening to them, or just trying to run through a script as quickly as possible and get to the sale or get them off the phone.

A spirit of curiosity is crucial to getting a “yes” to these unconscious questions. Curious people care about the world around them. They listen intently because they know that everyone has an interesting story to share. And they come across as trustworthy precisely because of that careful, open-minded listening. In the context of a conversation, curiosity is a choice—it’s an intention to learn more. Genuine curiosity requires you to let go of judgment and open yourself to understanding the world as it is. And you demonstrate that curiosity by asking great questions.

Table of Contents

Introduction Look At You vs. Look At Me 1

Part 1 An Experiment In Isolation

The Social Pandemic 11

Part 2 The 5 Habits Of Human Connection

1 Listen Without Distraction 37

2 Make Your Small Talk Bigger 63

3 Put Aside Your Perfect Persona 89

4 Be Assertively Empathetic 115

5 Make People Feel Famous 141

Part 3 The Future Of Human Connection

Connect In A Virtual World 169

The Future Is Human 197

Conclusion "Call Home" 219

Notes 223

Acknowledgments 242

Editorial Reviews

11/30/2020

Former TV host Meghji draws on his career as an interviewer in this brisk and timely take on making the most of social encounters. He discusses such topics as active listening, adding depth to small talk, and using “assertive empathy” to show interest in another’s “personal reality” during difficult conversations. His approach encourages the virtues of attention, empathy, vulnerability, and appreciation, and has many similarities to the classic How to Win Friends and Influence People, but the context is thoroughly modernized, with significant consideration to how the pandemic era has changed relationships. A particularly salient chapter, greatly aided by Meghji’s experience in broadcasting, explores how to foster connection through the awkward medium of video calls; he suggests trying to make eye contact with the camera, not the computer screen, and to disable your view of your own video. Readers looking to have more meaningful interactions would do well to pick this up. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly