Communicating Trust and Curiosity

In 805conversations by Mark Sylvester

“Awareness is the beginning of change.”

Lois Phillips, Ph.D. has accomplished a lot since she moved here in 1972. Mark and Patrick had an insightful conversation with this Communications guru. This wide-ranging conversation covered a lot of ground including:
  • Great companion reading for this episode is her blog post, Are You Ready?
  • How do people reveal themselves?
  • How you build trust as an interviewer (or anyone asking questions)
  • What’s the secret to good interviewing?
  • – Listening
  • – You make the guest think
  • – You are genuinely interested (in the subject)
  • “When I don’t breathe, I get dumb.”
  • What’s your Sparkle Factor? Great way to describe charisma
  • She’s focused a career and lifetime on gender issues and communications
  • Studying cultures that empower women that are coming up through the ranks
  • “What happens in the moment of interruption?”
  • Her thoughts on millennials and their communication skills
  • What’s most fun about her work? Writing
  • Networking tips for Mixers (here’s Sparkle again)
  • – Start with a question
  • – “What are you excited about?”
  • – “What brought you here?”
  • – Be curious
  • How you find the thread in a conversation, then pull it
  • Her favorite Maya Angelou quotes: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
  • The importance of Likeability
Note: Lois has added a tremendous amount of value to the community, and we didn’t talk about these accomplishments:
  • Got her Ph.D. from UCSB
  • Started Antioch University
  • Founder of AWCSB