dread walking into a room of strangers?

I used to dread walking into rooms full of strangers, Reader. Whenever someone asked, "So, what do you do?" I'd tell them I worked at LinkedIn, we'd exchange a few polite comments, then we'd quickly run out of things to talk about. I assumed I needed a more interesting answer. Turns out, the real fix was asking better questions. Here’s the walk-through I use now, in order: 1. Drop the goal of “making a good impression.” Replace it with one goal: leave the conversation knowing one genuine...