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by David Gillespie

on Jul 23

Want to be interesting? Try being interested.

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Friday night in your Argentinean bar of choice is, I feel, the best time for hard-hitting discussion and thought-provoking insight. Which is why I am to be found most Friday nights in such establishments. Last Friday with one of the editors of this fine publication, we were discussing interests and, as much as I'd like to claim this insight my own, I cannot.

Scott and I were pontificating on levels and ranges of interest in the various things around us. It occurred to him sitting there talking that the more one was generally (and genuinely) interested in, the larger the percentage of the population you could likely have an engaging conversation with, the more common ground you could find, and the further you could extend the patterns of behaviour you recognised across the world you knew.

Let's use an example: take two people, both of whom would say they were interested in fashion. One however is interested in fashion merely as an end product, something created solely to make them feel good about themselves and hopefully desired by the opposite sex. The other takes an interest in fashion both in terms of what it does for them, but what it does for others.

The conversation about the clothes a person wears only extends to that moment, to the outfit which is noticed and commented on. The conversation about others involves the designer (say Chistopher Bailey at Burberry), their own path to where they are (working under Tom Ford at Gucci), the campaigns around the revitalisation of that brand (Kate Moss), how it ties in to classic British fashion and the campaigns hark back to great David Bailey photographs of British icons. It extends to the quintessentially British elements of fashion, the things unique to that most unique of isles.

And now we're on to David Bailey and photography. Or other quintessentially British things. Or Tom Ford's new line of clothing. Or the revitalisation of men's wear and how much other designers can claim responsibility like Hedi Slimane's tenure at Dior. Or the role that luxury has to play and how it is marketed in a world where it seems everyone want to have a conversation, and so much of luxury is about being inaccessible. Or Class-A substances and whether there is any truth to the ubiquity of cocaine being partially responsible for the decline in street value in England, brought about by a ceaseless fascination with Kate, her former boyfriend Pete an the antics spread across the tabloid papers.

None of those are massive leaps to make, but the conversation doesn't get there if your interest only goes as far as what clothes do for you. The thinking can be applied to any field or any subject, and it stems not from any robust concoction of intelligence, merely a curiosity in the world around you. It broadens the scope of potential conversations and increases the opportunity to finds common ground, to make a connection. It will make you a better marketer and a better sales person. More importantly, it will make you a better human being. Of course the above could just be the rambling of a madman, so for vindication, I turn the one of the maddest:

"I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious." Albert Einstein

For those needing a boost to their curiosity, try turning the TV off this evening and indulging in www.ted.com; you'll be amazed at what you find.

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