Building a law practice is all about relationship building. If you want to build your business relationships, show interest in what other people do.
We recently had a guest staying with us who leads cemetery tours in New York and is writing a book about… body snatching. (Check out his website, NY Cemetery Tours, if you want to learn more.)
I have to admit that body snatching isn’t exactly one of my hobbies. But I found myself genuinely fascinated because he was fascinated.
It reminded me of a blog post I wrote several years ago: “If You Don’t Like Sports, Try Becoming a Sports Fan FAN.”
My point was not really about sports. It was about relationships.
You don’t have to share someone’s passion to appreciate their enthusiasm.
Whether it’s sports, genealogy, AI, behavioral economics, Broadway musicals, gardening, birding, or even obscure chapters of history, asking thoughtful questions about what lights someone up creates far better conversations than trying to steer everything back to yourself.
One of my favorite places to walk is the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. Jennifer Taddeo and I are regulars there and I’ve had a couple of outings at the Newton Cemetery in my home town with Bill Gabovitch.
They are both peaceful, beautiful, full of history, and have free parking.
So our guest’s stories fit the setting perfectly—even if I don’t plan to become an expert on nineteenth-century grave robbers.
People remember how you made them feel. When you show genuine curiosity about something they care about, they feel heard, respected, and valued.
I’ve found that some of the strongest professional relationships I’ve built started with conversations about topics I knew almost nothing about.
Curiosity may be one of the most underrated business development skills there is.
And if you want to hear some good parody lyrics that I’ve written, let me know. “Weird Al” Yankovic is one of my idols! If you want to talk about using ChatGPT to create images for your LI posts, I’m happy to discuss that too.