Scaling Conversations

CHAPTER 1What's a Conversation?

MARGARITA THOUGHTS

A waiter asks a group what they'd all like to drink. First person answers: A beer. Next person: Sure, me too: a beer. Next few people follow suit and order a few more beers. One person orders a glass of wine.

Then, the final person says to the waiter: “A friend of mine said you make one of the best margaritas in town…and since it's the first hot day of summer, I'll take one of those.”

Everyone else at the table considers this critical new information.

Then the first person says: “If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to change my order. I'd also like one of those famed margaritas.”

Second person: “Me too.”

Third: “Yep, me too, and unless I'm mistaken, make it a pitcher so we can just do a round of margaritas?”

The wine‐ordering person is the only holdout. “I'll stick with my wine,” they say.

This type of interaction is at the core of human communication. We share ideas, listen to one another, change our minds at the drop of a hat, and ultimately forget which idea belonged to who in the first place.

• “I'm glad I thought to order margaritas!”
• “That wasn't your idea, that was mine…”
• “Was it?”

In any conversation with fewer than 10 people, this is, in a word, natural. Small meetings create dialogue and interesting solutions surface. A single idea can become the most important idea in a heartbeat. During small focus groups, or in small chats online, discussions take place and people change their views, combine thoughts, explore ...