What about the quieter guy in the room?

In this post I talked about the movie, Shattered Glass. This movie was the true story of a journalist who wrote a whole bunch of stories and passed them off as fact. The magazine he was working for published these stories and everyone was entertained by them.

In the following video clip from the movie, we see the editor, Chuck Lane arguing with the character, Caitlin Avey who is loosely based on a real life person. Because Caitlin likes Stephen Glass he wants him not to be fired and challenges Lane's decision. He says the other staff don't want Glass fired because he is entertaining.

Here is another example of the 'entertaining' stories from Stephen Glass:

The first part of this video is a good example of someone who is a great talker and because people will listen to them they keep going and they love the attention.

What is the point of all this?

Try not to judge a book by it's cover. The person you are talking to may well be entertaining. They may well be a great communicator and have you in the palm of their hand but what are they actually saying?

Just because they are a 'nice guy.' Just because they can 'spin a yarn' with the best of them. Just because they can talk you ear off doesn't make them the authority on everything.

Here is another way to look at it. The following video applies to women but it is equally as a applicable in this post as well. In the video, the presenter says that women will only be approached by 'the loudest guy in the room.'

That is so true. He has the confidence and the balls to approach. 99 times out of 100 the guy  that is not loud doesn't have the confidence. He doesn't have the balls.

The same applies to the Shattered Glass example. He was comfortable to get up in front of his peers and basically talk shit. Because he was delivering it in such a cool fashion, the people around him liked it. We know from the film that he seemed to lack self-esteem but that is not the point.

Just because the person is out there and is entertaining doesn't mean you should listen to them (or go out with them). Give the quiet person a chance from time to time. They might surprise you with their intellect and wit.

You don't have to follow the loudest guy in the room. The quieter one might be better.

What is the famous quote from Robert Frost?

"Two roads (Two people) diverged in a wood (walked into a room) and I took the one less traveled by (and I met the quieter one), And that has made all the difference (And that was a great choice) ."