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What Happens When You Choose To Stay Silent In a Conversation
The Answers You’re Looking For Lies In Your Silence
I don’t know if it was my very first one, but the Psychological Trick that blew my mind was, The Power of Silence.
A couple of decades back, I worked with a very privileged but brilliant woman. In some ways, she was the most intelligent person I ever met, but her privileged background and odd personality limited her effectiveness. She was also an extreme Control Freak, which is why my company's CEO back then used her for difficult to manage projects. I was linked with her since I tended to be successful, but where she used Control, I would normally use Persuasion.
The Trick I Learned From Her Was The Power Of Silence
The first time she did it to me, it was on a project status report.
She: So, Divya, how is the BI implementation going?
Me: Great, we are Green on all the milestones, and there are no immediate risks.
She: Fantastic, so nothing to stop me from telling the CEO that we will Go-Live next month?
Me: Nope, all is looking great!
She: ….
Me: John has been doing a good job with all the technical problems.
She: …
Me: We had run into one technical issue with how the divisions calculate Net Sales … John…
