Welcome to the Daily Quote, the podcast designed to kickstart your day in a positive way. I'm your host, Andrew McGivern, and this episode is brought to you by the Great News podcast. Because great news should be heard, and the link is right here in the show notes.
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Today’s quote is from Stanley Horowitz. He is an American writer and speaker whose work has focused on communication, dialogue, and human interaction.
He once said…
“Nothing lowers the level on conversation more than raising the voice.”
Have you ever been in a conversation and someone disagrees with you and instead of calmly presenting a logical argument they raise their voice thinking it makes them more persuasive or somehow superior? Maybe, you’ve done this yourself too? I know I’m guilty of it at times.
Raising my voice doesn’t make my reasoning stronger or my statements more valid. It just makes the conversation louder. And makes me less effective at convincing anyone of anything.
That doesn’t mean you should be passive either. You can be firm, passionate and compelling while completely disagreeing with someone without yelling.
The loudest person isn’t the most convincing. Often the person who remains calm and listens carefully has much more influence than the person dominating the conversation by relying on volume.
So here’s the question:
When was the last time you changed someone’s mind ( or had your own mind changed ) because you had a genuine conversation? And how many times did yelling work? Exactly.
So before responding with anger or by raising your voice, ask yourself… Am I trying to understand this person or am I trying to defeat him?
Because if you are trying to understand then why not listen carefully and respond calmly. It works better almost every time.
Unless you’re Italian… then maybe yelling is just the way things are. I know it can be like that in French and Irish families too. The right context and situational awareness is important.
That’s going to do it for today. I’m Andrew McGivern signing off for now, but I’ll be back… tomorrow! Same pod time, same pod station with another Daily Quote.
