How to Speak

BY JUSTIN BARISO, AUTHOR, EQ APPLIED
@JUSTINJBARISO
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Earlier this year, I came across a lecture by former MIT professor Patrick Winston called "How to Speak." The lecture was posted on YouTube a few months after Winston's death in 2019, and has since been viewed over 4.7 million times.


Winston, who taught at MIT for almost 50 years and was one of the school's most beloved professors, knew how to captivate an audience. His style wasn't flashy, but it was extremely compelling--even more noteworthy when you consider he worked in the technical field of artificial intelligence.


If you watch the full lecture, and I highly recommend you do, you'll learn some invaluable tips that will make you not only a better speaker but a better communicator. However, you'll also discover a priceless gem in the first five minutes of the talk, when Winston describes what he calls the "rule of engagement." It's a simple, non-negotiable policy, and it's only five words long.


Winston's classroom rule? No laptops. No cellphones.


Although simple, this is a rule that almost no one today follows, and that makes it extremely valuable. Winston's rule of engagement is also a perfect example of emotional intelligence in real life: the ability to make emotions work for you, instead of against you.


How the 'Rule of Engagement' makes you a better listener


Winston goes on to explain the reasoning behind his rule of engagement.



"Some people ask why [no laptops, no cellphones] is a rule of engagement," says Winston. "The answer is, we humans only have one language processor. And if your language processor is engaged ... you're distracted. And, worse yet, you distract all of the people around you. Studies have shown that."


He continues, "And worse yet, if I see an open laptop, somewhere back there, or up here, it drives me nuts!"  TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE...