How to Talk to Anyone | Joe Lee | Episode 583

Joe Lee | Episode 583

Joe Lee is a ceramic artist living in Irvine, California. Joe has been doing pottery for 10 years and he likes to throw vessels and cover the surfaces with intricately carved patterns.

SPONSORS

You can help support the show!

GRPotteryForms.com

Number 1 brand in America for a reason. Skutt.com

For all your ceramic needs go to Georgies.com

Do you tend to ask people question about them so that they get talking about themselves?

Yes, that is definitely something that I have noticed myself doing. In general I am interested more in the other person than me. I know all the answers of me, but if I am talking to other people I am trying to find out more about them as a human being in general. So I will tend to throw the question or the ball back into their court so I can find out more about them.

How important is it to try to set the ego aside of “me, me, me” and become more interested in that person?

I think for me it is pretty easy. I listen for cues and for their answers and just kind of follow up and let the conversation go wherever they want to go. If they sound interested in something then I will kind of probe and ask questions about that and really get them to shine. Everybody is an expert at something. Everybody loves something, everybody is passionate about something and if you can just have them talk to you about that you learn a little bit about what they are an expert at, and they get to shine and show off what they like. So you put your own interests aside so you can listen to them and let them explain what they are interested in.

What kind of cues do you give to make sure they know you are listening or paying attention to them specifically?

In general I think the easiest thing is eye contact. When someone is looking directly at you it is because they are paying attention to you. But you know, really listening, you try your best to actually listen to their answers and you are picking them apart for little kernels of information and to follow up on. Ask them further questions. If you are not listening at all you won’t be able to do that. Keep the conversation going.

Do you find yourself looking for common ground with the person so that you can have an affinity towards each other?

I think the best conversation are when you have some overlapping interests so that you can share some of those and expand from there. Some conversations when you have nothing in common, they are very, very difficult to continue and you find that out very quickly and you just kind of say okay that is as far as we got and that’s okay too.

Do you find that questions are the most powerful way to open up conversation?

I feel that sharing a little bit about yourself, it is a little bit of a give and take. You listen to what they said, and then maybe you share a little tid bit of information that you know, and you share something personal from your experience but then you kind of ask them a question and then throw it back to them. But you are also giving back and giving into the conversation.

Okay, so now you have someone coming into your booth. How do you get them talking about your products or get yourself to talk about your work?

Usually I just kind of watch them at first and see what they gravitate towards. And then if they maybe even touch something that means they are really interested in that when they pick it up and look at it. I just come over and say, Oh yeah, I really like that glaze. or when I made that I used this kind of clay. Just give them a little fact on how this object was made and that kind of engages a conversation about the piece itself. So I give them a little bit as a maker how I made that object and maybe they are interested in that and we will see where that goes.

As the artist do you feel like it is important to get them to know your story?

In my life experience, I speak Spanish fluently, so I will kind of bust that out every once in a while. I have an interesting background where I have lived in various places so there is always this moment where I have to give my whole back story very often to a lot of people, just throughout my whole life. I am not necessarily always eager to do that, so I don’t think I really have to go all the way back and tell my life story to every person. But if they ask I am more than happy to engage in that.

My last question for you is: What is your favorite family activity?

Well, I have two girls and we love playing board games. We have so many board games and card games, and just teaching them different board games and playing games at home. It is definitely my favorite thing.

What is the favorite family board game?

Right now we have this card game called Bold. Where you find matches and get points. But we definitely play Uno pretty competitively.