Hello, my friend! How are you? If you're out of time or "in a rush", go to the last paragraph of this text for a fast answer.

In times of immediate responses and connection 24 hours a day, talking about long-term transformation is a risk! But… we believe you can (and must!) dream big, and make a daily effort to get better every day. This is our mission - seeing you speaking English and being a Leader wherever you go. "The 5 Essential People Skills" was written by Dale Carnegie and its goal is to improve your people skills. In other words, to improve your relationships at work and at home.

Today we start a new chapter, talking about assertive curiosity. This is an essential people skill, and the author presents 3 points so we can put it into practice. Point 1 is about making assertive curiosity an emotional experience. "If there's one word that describes this special kind of energy, the word is passion". Assertive curiosity is more about energy/passion than about simply gathering facts.

Point 2 is seeing yourself as a student. We must be humble and open to learn new things and accept we don't know 100% of anything. "If a person has the answer to every question, if there's seemingly nothing on a particular topic that they don't thoroughly understand, then you know you've got a phony on your hands". Some people can't just say "I don't know". And you?

The third point is interactive listening. When people are speaking to you, do you listen with full attention or are you distracted by their appearance, their phrasing, or other details? Are you always waiting for the other person to stop so you can start talking? We must improve our listening capacity.

Put energy in your conversations, be open to learn and listen better, my friend. "Assertive curiosity doesn't mean just finding answer to problems. It's about finding out what people think". And you? What are you thinking right now? Comment here and see you next class!