How to Talk to Anyone at Work: 72 Little Tricks for Big Success in Business Relationships

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A Crafty Way to Calculate Their Confidence—and Convince Them of Yours

On your way to the top, it’s important to know how sure of themselves the people you work with are so you can deal with them more effectively. This next little trick gives you rare insight into that.

You’ve fed pigeons in the park, right? After tossing a few breadcrumbs on the ground, hungry little birds magically appear from nowhere and apprehensively land about 10 feet away. In time, one brave bird bolts at a crumb, grabs it in his beak, and makes a quick getaway. His fellow pigeons, pleased to see their bold feathered friend survived, follow suit and scurry toward the crumbs. As they become confident that you won’t hurt them, they come even closer, and soon you’re surrounded ...