The Rule of Awkward Silence

When faced with a challenging question, instead of answering, you pause and think deeply, 10, 20s or more, about how you want to answer.

Lots of top execs are doing it:

• At Apple, Tim Cook is famous for long, uncomfortable pauses. Steve Jobs was the same, taking 20 seconds to think before responding to an insult.
• At Amazon, Bezos takes up to 30 minutes, to read printed memos in silence before meetings.