Create Requests, Not Demands

Needs are the missing pieces. Requests are what you use to get them.

Usually, you are looking for something from another person that will enrich your life, your work or your experience. Accordingly, you want to take their feelings and needs into account. The best way to do this is to...

At a certain point in the conversation, it’s time to ask for concrete actions that would help satisfy a need.

These requests will arise organically when both sides are openly connecting. But the ask has to be in a moment of understanding between the parties, or else it risks falli...

Using categories is a great way to organize information when it needs to be sorted by similarity or relatedness.
But keep in mind that this has a certain degree of subjectivity in it: people don’t always group things the same way. Also, be careful with the number of sub-categories that might a...