This book is from the 70s, but so intriguing and helpful for anyone wanting advice on interpersonal relationships both in business and personal life. I so wish Barbara Walters would do an updated version just to get it out there again! ( )

Walters shows geniune leadership as a public figure. Her interviews are not just about herself, but about bringing out people, and especially ones with something to say.

Many of the suggestions are banal. For example, using "conversational ploys" that are "guaranteed to stimulate conversation" like "If you could be any person in history, whom would you like to have been?" [170]. What kind of question is that? However, even the banal is promising in this arena. And so many of her suggestions are real gold -- for all of us. I do particularly like her suggestion that we broaden and deepen conversation, and that we genuinely interview and poll each other for ideas, opinions, and insights.

"The best ice breakers are genuine interest, a warm introductory compliment, and smiling as you clearly say who you are and something about what you are." [172] There you go.