How do you become a great conversationalist without talking too much?

When it comes to developing critical listening skills, we can learn a lot from great leaders in history.  For example, consider what President Harry Truman said about George Marshall, the World War II hero who became a five-star general and came up with the Marshall Plan, an economic approach designed to keep Europe from falling under communist domination.

    

In his memoirs, Truman wrote of Marshall: “Marshall’s report confirmed my conviction that there was no time to lose in finding a method for the revival of Europe.  General Marshall is one of the most astute and profound men I have ever known.  Whenever any problem was brought before him he seemed to be able to put his finger at once on the very best solution.  He talked very little but listened carefully to everything that was said.  Sometimes he would sit for an hour with little or no expression on his face, but when he had heard enough, he would come up with a statement of his own that invariably cut to the very bone of the matter under discussion.”