The Hidden Art of Virtual Coffee Chats and What You Can Learn from Talking to One Stranger Per Month
When I ended up in that line of work, I knew that I had to get over my fear.
“Go out and talk to people,” my mother used to tell me. She was my first teacher on the art of striking conversations with strangers on the streets. From time to time, she engages a total stranger, and that amazes me. People like her exist. I’m not one of them — unfortunately.
Talking to random strangers scares me. What shocked me when I first started working was that my job would demand me to talk to strangers most of the time.
You’ll think that becoming an accountant would lock you in cubicles and limit your interactions with people. Some accountants still find themselves in the same situation. But several other accountants perform on-field assignments (e.g. external or internal audits) wherein talking with strangers and building client relationships are must-have skills.
When I ended up in that line of work, I knew that I had to get over my fear.
When you’re also forced to talk to strangers because of your work, overcoming the fear becomes a natural process. It’s painful at first. It becomes relatively easy as you get used to the experience. But…what if you had to talk to strangers, not due to…
