Presentation Skills That Will Take You to the Top (Collection), 2/e

21. Having a ’versation

“I” Versus “You”

There’s an old joke about the opera diva who receives an adoring fan in her dressing room after a performance. The diva goes on and on about how magnificently she sang her arias, about her dramatic acting, her expressive gestures, and her fabulous costumes. After about half an hour, the diva says to the fan, “But enough about me, what did you think of my performance?”

Cartoonist Joe Dator did a variation on the diva joke for New Yorker magazine. In the sketch, a man is speaking to a woman seated across a table. The caption reads, “Enough about me, but nothing about you just yet.”¹

This is no laughing matter in most other walks of life, for self-centeredness creates a high obstacle to all communication. ...