The Art of Meaningful Conversations

Joe Hart: Take Command Joe Hart began his career as a practicing attorney. After taking a Dale Carnegie Course, Joe reassessed his career path and future, ultimately leaving the practice of law, going to work for a top real estate company, and then founding an innovative e-learning company and serving as president of health and wellness company. In 2015, Joe was named president and CEO of Dale Carnegie. The CEO Forum Group named Joe as one of twelve transformative leaders, giving him the Transformative CEO Leadership Award in the category of the People. He is the host of a top global podcast, Take Command: A Dale Carnegie Podcast, and he speaks around the world on topics such as leadership, resilience, and innovation. He is the author with Michael Crom of Take Command: Find Your Inner Strength, Build Enduring Relationships, and Live the Life You Want*. In this conversation, Joe and I explore how to discover another person’s values through meaningful conversation. We examine three types of questions to ask that gradually illuminate what’s important to another person. By knowing what to ask and what to listen for, we can uncover values without asking a more awkward question like, “What are your values?” Key Points Dale Carnegie invited us to, “Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.” Use three types of questions to frame a conversation that uncovers another person’s values: Examples of factual questions: How did you first find out about…? What keeps you busy during the week? What do you like to do for fun? What hobby or activity holds your interest? Examples of causative questions: What got you interesting in doing this kind of work? How did you get involved in that hobby? What do you like about…? What caused you to enter into this industry? Examples of values-based questions: Tell me about someone who’s had a major impact on your life. If you had to do it over again, what — if anything — would you do differently? Tell me about a turning point in your career. Tell about about something that you look back on as a high point or moment of pride. How did you get through a major challenge in the past? How would you describe your personal philosophy in a sentence or two? Resources Mentioned Take Command: Find Your Inner Strength, Build Enduring Relationships, and Live the Life You Want* by Joe Hart and Michael Crom Related Episodes Three Steps to Great Career Conversations, with Russ Laraway (episode 370) Discover Who You Are, with Hortense le Gentil (episode 459) How to Genuinely Show Up for Others, with Marshall Goldsmith (episode 590) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.