Brain Food for Pioneering Spirits: How does reflection improve our communication skills? Recorded live from Istanbul, Marc, Stefan and Jürgen join Dr. Yasemin Yazan to explore Watzlawick’s “you cannot not communicate,” the concept of added value in conversation, and why the body itself is part of the thinking process…
Note: This session was recorded live in German as part of the Deep Talk Club, so the video above is German-language audio only. What follows is an English translation of the conversation, lightly edited for readability — the back-and-forth between the moderator and participants is preserved, but the original timestamps and speaker names have been left out.
A very good morning to you all. So, we’re starting a bit later today. Well, as life sometimes goes, some unplanned things happened yesterday on the trip, which led us to decide to spend the night in Istanbul after all. We called a friend on short notice, who was thrilled we were staying. And as it turned out later, that was probably a good thing too, because the borders in Bulgaria were really, really packed, and people apparently waited there for hours overnight. And for us, it ultimately led, through interesting coincidences, to us saying, okay, we’ll stay in Istanbul after all, without knowing why, but it’ll be good for something. And so, accordingly, a slight delay this morning, to really make sure the technology and everything works — wonderful, everything works, you can hear me, as far as I can see and tell. So I’d like to warmly welcome you this morning to reflection and communication, with warm greetings from Istanbul. Today we want to engage with the question of how reflection improves our communication skills. I’m really, really curious what comes together here. So you’re all very warmly invited to join in and bring in your contributions, thoughts, first impulses, so we can open a reflection room together today. For those joining for the first time today, another quick note or reminder — we record the entire time, and the whole thing gets published later. So anyone who joins automatically agrees that it will be published too. And we have three small room rules: a profile picture you can be recognized by, first and last name, and at least one sentence in your bio. Anyone who doesn’t agree with that can of course just use the chat, so we have the chance to pick up on one thing or another in the course of the conversation. And with that, I’d like to warmly welcome Marc at my side. A very good morning, dear Marc. What are your first thoughts?
Merhaba to Istanbul, and hello everyone. Yes, let me start right with reflection and communication. Reflection and communication actually begin before the communication itself. And specifically with the point that you’re here now, dear Yasemin. If I make an appointment, or plan to attend, like today in your Deep Talk Club, then I know exactly — because we’ve known each other for so long — even if you hadn’t communicated yesterday that there was a delay, or whatever, I know you well enough by now to know it makes no sense to announce a room you don’t attend yourself. If it had been known beforehand for some reason, Yasemin would have communicated that. And without you having communicated anything, just through reflection, just through evaluating and observing a person, how they’ve behaved in the past, I’d know it would sort itself out. So I don’t have the answer yet for why something is happening later. But I’d know for certain it wasn’t intentional, and I could already assess the situation, and would have known, without you having to communicate anything, that Deep Talk Club would either happen later, because of some technical mishap, or that at some point an explanation would come — something really, really terrible happened, which, thankfully, rarely happens to anyone, that you have no way to communicate at all. But first I would have assumed everything just gets pushed back and will sort itself out. And that means, for me, reflection and communication actually start much, much earlier, before anyone has even said anything, namely through observation and through empathy.
Yes, wonderful, thank you so much. And what’s interesting in this context is that prior experience, in this case with a specific person, quite obviously plays a role too. That means, based on prior experiences we’ve had, say with a person, or with a thing — you could adapt that to things too — we can definitely use those prior experiences we’ve had, for example to evaluate the situation or the events through a reflection that’s already taken place beforehand, in order to then arrive at certain thoughts, evaluations, or also to derive corresponding actions, decisions, etc. And what’s interesting here is this aspect, because communication — we already had this in the room where we talked about communication — “you cannot not communicate,” a very well-known phrase from Watzlawick. That, despite the fact that, for example, no communication is taking place, still a kind of prior experience, in this case connected here, through reliability, through this “it always normally happens,” and this has a certain regularity, it’s never “been cancelled,” so that you can actually rely on it, “without having spoken to each other,” that it will also happen again today. And that’s quite astonishing at this point, that essentially non-occurring communication, based on prior experience combined with reflection, so to speak, leads us to certain conclusions too. And I find that quite exciting. Thanks, Marc. Would you like to build on this further? Do you have more examples you brought along?
Yes, I brought an example that I hope you don’t have, because of course I now also use technical tools and look at what I can find on certain topics. And I noticed that ChatGPT didn’t come up with an important feature at all for the input reflection and communication. And that’s the invisible. And I find that much, much more exciting. I only found the visible. So ChatGPT said things like how I reflect in conversation, how I listen, and so on. And I brought an example for that too, something I learned from Clubhouse, which really led to my deleting my entire website that same day — and it’s one word: “added value.” What added value do we offer our counterpart in communication? And an example for that was my website, where I quite classically presented my products, and I then asked myself, what added value am I actually offering my future customer there? If I’m a specialist for a product and then just present my products, I assume — I don’t need to go further into that, because I first assume the market doesn’t lie to me. And the added value I then highlighted was to stop talking about my products at all, but instead to say, more generally, what function promotional items have, what advantages you get from them, how they’re used, so that when someone reads this website, they know, oh, I learned something there. I got some added value. And now, to get to our communication topic, by added value I also mean, for example, I can say — what you reflected on — but if we now meet in Frankfurt, Yasemin, and you’d said before, in the room, that you might prefer — this is hypothetical now, I don’t actually know — that you’re a total nature freak, that you love being out in nature, and I come back from London and you ask me, Marc, how was your London trip? Then I have to weigh it and say, even though we know each other well, Yasemin probably isn’t interested at all, because I don’t offer her any added value, because Yasemin can’t relate to cities and buildings and such at all. Then I know Yasemin is being nice to me, and I appreciate that too. She asks how it was, and I’ll answer briefly and concisely. Great, super, wonderful city, and I’ll keep it as short as possible, because the added value I can offer you with my answer is close to zero, because it doesn’t interest you at all. And that also has something to do with respect in communication. But if I notice, in the same conversation, we’re talking, and you say, hey Marc, I’m considering with my family, I’d really love to go to London, I’ve always wanted to go there and I find it fascinating, then a completely different conversation develops, then I can give you the added value with my experiences and say, oh Yasemin, call me before you do that, because I might have one or two points you wouldn’t think of, because I’ve visited this city so often. And what I wanted to say with that is, finding the invisible is sometimes really hard with every topic, because ChatGPT — these experiences that happen, that people maybe only answer out of politeness, or all these tools we’ve been given, how I reflect and how I respond to you — so much of that just doesn’t get said or shown. And this morning, while making coffee, I thought, I’m grateful, I’m actually grateful that so many people don’t engage with the topic of reflection. I’m really grateful, because that’s exactly what helps me move my business forward better, because there are so incredibly many unreflective people. I’ll emphasize unreflective people. Unreflective people doesn’t mean these people are dumber, that these people aren’t educated, that these people aren’t specialists. They’re simply unreflective people who don’t engage with their counterpart, and through this lack of reflection they waste an incredible amount of business potential. One more example, then I’m done, dear Yasemin. I get requests from producers, unsolicited of course, hoping for a collaboration — if they’d ever been on my website, they’d know I only make baseball caps. But they offer me sweatpants and t-shirts and so on. That means they don’t even engage with their counterpart at all, and thereby give away a lot of potential, and a main part of my job is, I earn my money by talking and by reflecting. And most of my work happens in the invisible, because a huge amount of time goes into reflection, because in a conversation — and this is another thing — a conversation happens in the counterpart too. That means, if we meet in Frankfurt, I immediately see, when I approach you, whether you’re laughing, and I can open my arms, and so on. Or do I only have the option of contacting a person by phone? That works completely differently. There, the time I usually have, for a first contact, is 60 to 300 seconds. So I have to reflect and prepare very carefully, so I can use those 60 to 300 seconds effectively.
Yes, wonderful, thank you so much. And there were quite a few things in there. Especially the example with the London trip etc. that you opened up, where you also base the decision on what you assume, how deep your counterpart’s field of interest is, to then go deeper, for example, short or long, superficial or deep, etc. That means this also has something to do with situational awareness, really looking again at the situation itself. And that’s of course something where, in this context, the prior experience of a tool like ChatGPT with a specific person is missing, so it can only really answer general questions, might comprehensively cover many aspects, but then deciding what fits in this particular situation, with this conversation partner etc., is something we can draw on based on certain prior experiences of a general nature, and then also prior experiences with this specific person, and apply and use against the backdrop of a certain reflection. What I also find quite interesting now, regarding communication skills per se — so not just how it influences the communication with my counterpart, but also my own communication abilities, so to speak, at that point — I’d like to bring in this aspect of clarity again in this context, we’ve already touched on this term several times. Because, having gone through a certain reflection, having reflected, I then of course also have the opportunity to gain clarity, so to speak, and this clarity then helps me apply this situational awareness accordingly, to use it. And we see that in many, many different places, including with the customer inquiries you mentioned, for example. The more intensely I engage with certain aspects, for example, what expertise my counterpart brings, by the way we also experience this very often, that we get various messages asking, would you also like XYZ or whatever. And it’s often the case that already by the first or second sentence it becomes clear that this person hasn’t engaged with me at all, otherwise one aspect or another simply wouldn’t even be formulated as a question, because it would simply be moot. And those are, of course, signs for our counterpart at that point, but here really to look again too, our own communication skills, meaning, through the fact that a reflection has taken place, how does that change, on one hand, my communication with my counterpart, and also the ability of my communication, so we can maybe differentiate that a bit more and look at it more concretely. With that, I’d like to bring in Stefan first, and Jürgen will join in shortly too, and then we can gladly make cross-connections. Stefan, a very good morning.
Yes, a very good morning to you too, dear Yasemin, dear Marc, and everyone else here in the room. First of all, generally, great respect, Yasemin, that despite all the adversities we sometimes experience in everyday life, you’re still always a rock when it comes to how seriously you take shaping good rooms on Clubhouse, and that, no matter what, you really do show up here. That’s just great. On the topic itself, there were a few points, also that Marc, for example, brought up regarding business and communication. Whether that’s through a website, or even just through a business card — how I present myself, even when I’m not in direct communication, indirect communication is also very important in reflection. It’s not just, I think, about finding the right level of communication with my counterpart, or making an optimization there and seeing how the conversation is received. Am I successful with my closing? If it’s about business, is trust there? Did I say the right things, and so on? So this self-reflection in communication, at the business level, is enormously important. Of course we often do this professionally too, that we always look at companies to see what kind of communication is currently there and where the problems are — yes, so a strengths-weaknesses analysis. I know the word “weakness” isn’t particularly popular, but that’s just how it is. And I think dealing with weaknesses also makes you strong. So I actually find that quite positive — somehow you have to be able to name it. And I think it’s really important to look in both directions there, namely direct communication. When I talk with people, do I put on an act or run through a program that’s actually completely uninteresting to my counterpart? I do think you can train yourself to present properly, say the right things, get to the point, and ultimately also score points through empathy. That’s important too. Trust often comes about through empathy, through a well-groomed appearance. There are many components. Trustworthiness is a really important factor in communication. And so I can relate to these points. And self-reflection in communication indirectly through a website, as I said, or various other elements, is also enormously important. I should keep an eye on that too.
Yes, wonderful, thank you so much. Then let’s bring in Jürgen directly too, and then, as I said, make the cross-connections. Jürgen, a very good morning to you too.
Yes, a very good morning, dear Yasemin and dear Marc, Stefan and everyone else in the room. It might be that I’ll meander a bit with my thoughts, but I was, or am, primarily prompted by this Watzlawick quote you brought up, dear Yasemin — you cannot not communicate. That was exactly the hook for me. I’m sticking quite closely to the conscious orientation of communication now toward reflection, and not so much toward general things about communication. So I asked myself, does reflection actually necessitate communication? I can’t avoid communication, meaning, this reflection, this inward view I’m taking up, with primary focus on myself, possibly also with someone else — does that presuppose communication, if I don’t stop at this sentence from Watzlawick? And then I asked myself, well, such communication isn’t simply there, it has to have an initial spark. And just as with reflection — I see both as separate, in my view they’re both separate — what the connecting link is, in my view, between the two, is the need that drives us to reflect at all. That means, even with the communication with myself, in my isolated inward view, without wanting to exchange with Marc or Stefan now, I want to stay within myself and reflect, I do have a counterpart, namely myself, as a reflection level, which says a lot about reflection. So, and now I’ll go up one level and transfer that to a reflection with, say, Marc. Then, in my view, the prerequisite for communication is that I communicate my need to Marc, or give my need a name, give this communication a heading. And if the arc was maybe a bit too wide for Marc’s example with London and “how are you doing?” then I think that’s exactly the connecting point for a specific communication within the reflection process — namely, that the need for communication is quite clearly and distinctly formulated, and with that a goal of my reflection is connected too, and gives the entire communication beyond that a certain structure and logic. For me, this is a very specific kind of communication that forces us, those reflecting, into a stringent structure and into the necessity of giving this communication a term. That’s currently my state of “not yet insights” from this room. Thank you for listening, everyone.
Yes, wonderful, thank you so much. And I’d like to add another impulse or aspect, connected to what’s already been said, to check to what extent a reflection that takes place, for example, regardless of whether we communicate it verbally or not — but if we do go into verbal communication, then, through having gained clarity, for example, it also changes our communication. So just this alone — we might know this — when we’re thinking while speaking, and we haven’t thought through beforehand what we want to say, then our sentences usually sound quite different, or many more pauses arise, and so on. Whereas if it’s something I already had the opportunity to engage with, reflect on beforehand, then the sentences can be structured quite differently too, conveyed much more clearly, for example. And to check here again how the ability of communication, so to speak, the handling of language for example, changes at this point too. Maybe as another point, and with that I’m curious, Marc, Stefan, Jürgen, where would you like to follow up too, to make cross-connections?
Then let me just start, Stefan. You just said, dear Jürgen — you did something really great, exactly what I found too, on the topic of reflection. You reflected back what I said, and through that you show us in the room that you’re actively listening and trying to understand our message, and at the same time, through your feelings, expressing your own standpoint too, and that’s how communication works too. And a part before that — I’ll jump back a bit — you said, if I try to repeat this too, to see if I understood you correctly, that the need for communication has to be there too, and that’s extremely difficult. I’ll come back to Yasemin, seeing her in Frankfurt. I like Yasemin enormously and I’m really looking forward to seeing her. But whether I have the need to communicate with her, or whether she has the need to communicate with me, I can’t determine that until the moment we actually see each other, because so many things happen. Maybe I get a call, maybe I’m busy with my family, and maybe thousands of things are running through my head. I’m looking forward to giving Yasemin a hug. But that doesn’t mean the need to communicate with her is there, because maybe something came up a minute earlier that has me mentally somewhere else entirely, so the need to communicate with her drops to zero, because I simply don’t have clear thoughts, and so on. And that’s the train of thought that just triggered me.
Jürgen, because you say, before communication — we meet, you meet a person, and it just has to be clarified whether the need for communication even exists at all. And that requires reflection too, which we’re not talking about today, or, to the point you wanted to make about clarity and understanding and correcting misunderstandings — that’s part of reflection for me too, because based on, say, when I see Yasemin, based on her posture, or the fact that she’s repeatedly touched her hands, I might see, oh, Yasemin seems to be occupied with something right now, that has nothing to do with me, but she’s mentally in a different process right now. That’s of course the advantage when you can see your counterpart, because you can see, from the body signals, to what extent the other person is really opening up, listening to you, reflecting, and in a really relaxed position. I can’t see that on the phone, for example, what the other person is currently doing or understanding. And so that, for me, on the side, is also part of the topic of reflection and communication too — making the invisible visible.
Yes, wonderful, thank you so much. And then I’d like to first give Jürgen the chance to follow up directly, and then, Stefan, give you the opportunity too. Jürgen.
Thank you, dear Yasemin. To correct that, heartfelt thanks, Marc, for that pointer. I really did express myself too vaguely. It wasn’t solely about the need for communication, but what the term captures is the underlying need for reflection. That could well be — and this is something I honestly have to think about now — that could well also be this need for communication, namely from the outward view. But I mean, with need, ranging from the depths of the soul all the way up to heaven, rejoicing, this need, detached from the separate or specific need for communication, that drives us, that drives me internally, to reflect at all, to make that the topic. But thanks again for the pointer — expressed unclearly.
Yes, thank you so much. Stefan? As always, we have very complex subject areas here. And if I now, of course, look back at how communication happened in the past — if I look back to the neighboring Neanderthal, so to speak, how communication back then happened with hands and feet, at least as you imagine it, or through cave paintings, the first storytelling you could trace, all the way to communication situations when the first cities emerged, communities and so on — I think it’s really, really interesting to look at the history of communication. If we relate that now to our everyday life, that’s exactly what we’re trying to establish here too, reflection and communication, how they affect each other, so to speak. And I think it’s of course also important to always know what kind of communication situation I’m in. Do I need to teach my child something? Am I trying to explain and teach something depending on the age level? What’s very important to me, or what could be important in parenting for the child, is, do I have a conflict situation with friends, or with superiors, or with my team? How do I handle that? How clearly do I communicate? What methods, what behavior patterns do I display? Because, for example, gesturing is also a kind of communication. We know this from driving, when something doesn’t suit someone, and then communication happens there too. Either through aggressive behavior, meaning I use an element like my vehicle and somehow cut off a path, or brake someone out. That’s also a kind of communication, if you will, all the way to hand signals — it starts there. And at the same time, of course, no matter what situation I’m in, whether I’m ordering rolls at the bakery in the morning, or making small talk with the mailman, or whatever — I think it’s always important to keep the whole communication in view. How do I come across, what body language do I have, do I maintain eye contact, do I always have my arms crossed in communication? So body language, I think, is also a really important point in reflection, because you can communicate much more freely, much more openly, show more empathy, or however you want to present yourself, depending. It also always depends on the position and on the goals. So, quite a wide field, but very, very interesting, to question certain things there too.
Yes, wonderful, thank you so much. And I’d like to put forward a thesis: reflection makes it possible to communicate something at all. And especially with this aspect of communicating something, this aspect of communication might then also be picked up again. How do you feel about that? Jürgen, go ahead.
Yes, thank you for that opening, because I think, if you try to approach this topic — sorry, even if I come across as circling back again, but I’m trying, because this topic of communication has such a dimension, as we’ve already experienced in various rooms, to stay closely connected to this linkage. Reflection process and specific communication within this reflection process. Dear Stefan, clearly a highly complex topic, but maybe we can teach ourselves — and now I’ll pick up your opening, dear Yasemin — to ask, what for, actually. If you assume that this Watzlawick saying holds and can be considered true, we can’t communicate at all, we cannot escape communication — then isn’t it a really essential human desire to assign a benefit to this must, this thing I can’t avoid? What’s the benefit of communication? And I keep coming back to the same loop — if there were no communication, could I still reflect? And I believe, purely from the inward view, that Watzlawick’s sentence is correct, I can’t escape a conversation. But I also believe that, besides a term, if I sit down and reflect on my life and say, “I feel like crap right now, and I’m going inward, and I want to know why I’m in such a bad mood today of all days” — then I’m basically giving this reflection a term, and it has purpose and meaning, in my view, to streamline my thoughts. Not to meander, not to dodge left and right, but to make it a topic. And that, in my view, can, and this holds for all of us, not just stand there as a topic, but a goal gets connected to it, an answer to the “what for.” Namely in this case, I feel like crap, I want to come out of the reflection, in any case, understanding why I’m feeling so lousy today, and then say, now I need someone to talk about this with. Dear Marc, how do you see that? Go ahead.
That’s, for me, the essential logical connection now, of what you all contributed to my consideration, that I’d say, yes indeed, checkmark. I can’t escape communication. But I have to structure it, have to give it a title, and have to produce some kind of result in some form. Even if I find that I fail at it, or don’t reach a result. That too is a result. Please also remember quite different kinds of communication we maintain in the business world, that we go out and say, we communicated. But ultimately we got no result. That too is one.
Thank you for listening. Yes, thank you so much. I’d like to expand this aspect further, regarding this point of body language, which Stefan also brought in. That means, if I’m communicating with Marc, that’s not necessarily verbal. So it doesn’t necessarily have to happen through language. That means — since we said communication is very broad, and if we also go from this “you cannot not communicate,” we’re simultaneously at this aspect Stefan brought up too, about body language etc. That means, how does, say, my demeanor, my aura, or activities I might carry out, change against the backdrop of a reflection that’s taken place, without me even saying a word to my counterpart about it, but still unfolding something different in effect, so to speak, against the backdrop that a reflection has taken place. Marc, you wanted to say something, and then Stefan gladly.
I can’t answer that right now, Yasemin, because I’d mentally prepared myself for something else. Namely, I wanted to respond to Jürgen. Jürgen said a few minutes ago, what actually drives us, in communication. And I have two really, really short examples for that. One important reason why we communicate, which is really, really important, is convincing. And it occurred to me, I’d never become so aware of this before, that many people try to convince using really dumb techniques. And rhetoric helps me there, I just hadn’t thought of it. I heard from acquaintances, when it comes to persuasion, for example, as a department head protecting someone. And this recently happened, that someone said, “Mr. Müller never said that.” And then I said to my friend, that’s totally interesting, bringing that up in a discussion — how can I claim my partner never said that, because if we were in court, as the opposing lawyer I’d take that apart within a minute and say, listen, Marc, you’re not with your partner 24 hours a day, you simply can’t say with 100 percent certainty that she didn’t say that. You can think that, but that statement is scientifically and factually wrong, because you don’t spend 24 hours a day with this person, but it’s used as a rhetorical device — “he never said that” — to reinforce a point. And it’s the same in discussions. I only bring this up because I keep noticing this in politics and in every topic, how this chain of argumentation works, where we want to influence others, meaning we want others to adopt our conviction and participate in our reflection. When it comes to saying, all people are like this, all people of a certain group act this way, then it always gives me great pleasure to respond. I had a D in math, but what I really understood is that “all” always means 100 percent. If there’s just one deviation, just one, meaning out of 100 people one is different, then we can no longer speak of “all.” Please express yourself clearly and distinctly. And that’s often needed in communication. The art of communication is also about leaving out small words. And dear Jürgen, I’ve learned a lot from you, through looking at terminology, through really looking at every word and thinking about and reflecting on every word, we have completely different possibilities to achieve completely different results in communication.
Yes, thank you so much, Stefan. Well, we can always only address partial aspects ourselves, and generally it’s the case — what you just picked up from me too, with body language — for example, I also notice, even though I can’t see you, I notice whether you’re smiling right now, or whether you’re really, genuinely enjoying moderating this format, or whether you’re currently distracted, and so on. You can also hear that in a radio host, whether they’re really into it right now or just running through their program somehow. And it’s also important to perceive what I don’t see, in communication too. I find that a really interesting aspect too, to pay attention to that, with things I now, for example, on the phone — I mean, a lot of people now try to communicate only digitally. I find, for example, when I’m sorting things out, this email ping-pong really, really annoying, I have to say. Even when I formulate things clearly, follow-up questions still come, where I always think, okay, I formulated clearly what answer I’d like. I’ve also stated an expectation in the communication. So if we’re talking about written communication now, for example. A lot has really changed there too. Yes, so also generally, how we communicate, and also through the behavior in messenger services, how we reduce our language, how we only communicate with emojis and, let’s say, abbreviations — you see that in youth slang too, though I find it quite good that they bring in their own ways and, so to speak, new things to define things. That’s a whole language of its own too, if you will. And I find all of that so interesting about this aspect. And I appreciate Jürgen for his tendency, or what should I say, for what he often does, establishing a certain meta-level, or, as I said, what I also appreciate in Marc, examining terminology more closely, in order to better understand and then process the topic accordingly. But I’ve also had the experience that, when I try to teach people better communication too complexly, or at least offer help with it, many are quite overwhelmed, because it’s such a complex topic. And I think if you go too deep at first — that is important, you always need to recognize the root somewhere — but I also find it important that communication has an easy entry point, that you simply set goals to communicate clearly and understandably. Just pronunciation alone — do I speak my endings, am I understandable, yes, and things like that. So I think there are so many great aspects you can pick up on gradually. And you certainly can’t solve all of that in one day.
Yes, thank you so much. And with an eye on the time, I’d like to give Jürgen the chance again too, to follow up here or there, before we then move together into the closing round, to see how we can bring together again what we’ve somewhat unraveled here, to get some kind of subsumption or summary going, regarding the room’s question. Jürgen, would you like to follow up again before we move into this closing round?
Yes, thank you, but I’ll deliberately keep this brief, and address what you triggered in your second-to-last contribution, namely the connection between what we think, what we reflect on, and the body. We’ve had this topic before too — the body thinks along. The body is part of the thinking process. Everyone can observe this themselves, when they go into a reflection process. Let me stick with the example again — I feel really bad and really demotivated today, then it’s traceable in your own posture, how we go into this communication with ourselves too. Because the body picks up these signals, these emotions, and reacts on the psychosomatic level quite simply, by producing a corresponding hormone cocktail, which leads us, for example, into a more hunched posture, into a higher heart rate, and so on. Okay, and with this input, we start into this communication. That might be another topic in the area of methods too, dear Yasemin, because I think that if you know how the body influences the following communication, you can quite essentially influence the reflection process through that. Thank you for listening.
Yes, wonderful, thank you so much. Let me note that on your side too, dear Jürgen, so we can pick that up accordingly in the methods part, and keep an eye on that there too, so it doesn’t get forgotten. I’ve noted it too. And yes, then let’s move into today’s closing round. Marc, Stefan, Jürgen, in that order. What would you like to highlight again from this room today? Marc.
Yes, for me, a word I haven’t used yet today keeps coming up — self-knowledge. By reflecting on what’s been said here in this room, or also in a phone call with Jürgen, I can better understand my own thoughts and the feeling and the topic. And through this better understanding, through the exchange and through the reflection on it, a new self-knowledge arises for me. Thanks for the new self-knowledge today, with you all, and a good start to the day.
Yes, wonderful, thank you so much. Stefan?
Yes, as always it’s of course interesting to pick up the different remarks and see the perspectives on the topic of communication. But generally, I do think self-reflection is a decisive factor for effective communication, because it’s simply a conscious engagement with your own behavior, with your own thoughts, dealing with your emotions, and also generally defining goals more clearly. And so I think it’s quite, quite interesting to look deeper, of course. What does that actually mean for us? Do we have a negative everyday life because we don’t communicate properly? Or are we unsuccessful because of that? And so on. Or what makes our success? What causes it? Why do we find this kind of friends? And however. So I think it’s definitely still very interesting to take reflection and communication into account, and also, I’d say, to note things down. That’s also always, I think, very important, because millions of thoughts run through our heads and organizing them all the time. And I mean, we’re only talking about a partial aspect right now. We’ve basically been talking for months about how we can optimize ourselves and what methods exist for that and so on and so forth. So ultimately we actually have to optimize ourselves our whole life. And that’s a good thing too. But in the end we of course also need to proceed a bit in an orderly way, and set priorities, and also be taken by the hand a bit. How do we do that too, or how can we implement that in everyday life? And I think this mix of self-knowledge, emotional intelligence, and also formulating clear messages with empathy, but also allowing for feedback intake, that leads to better communication through self-reflection, or through reflection.
Yes, wonderful, thank you so much. Jürgen.
Yes, my call, or first my thanks, especially to you, dear Yasemin, at least for pulling off this room today too. And thanks to you, dear Marc and Stefan, and my call — let’s go together into reflection and into communication, definitely with ourselves too, on what this hour, “stolen from paradise,” brought us today. A lovely day to you all. Ciao, bye.
Yes, wonderful, thank you so much. Yes, and let’s really let this settle a bit too. One thing or another isn’t conclusively resolved in the rooms yet, to then see how the puzzle pieces, in quotes, as I like to call them, will fit back together, what insight then arises over the course of the process, with the various rooms on different topics, focus areas under the overarching theme of reflection, opening up again through the various perspectives and the various depths we look at specifically, and at one point or another maybe have the feeling, well, what’s actually the result of this? And really accepting this “what’s actually the result of this” question, that it’s allowed to stay open at this point, checking one thing or another for yourself again, letting your thoughts spin further, and on the other hand simply taking the time and giving it the space too, to let it mature. Because the moment we start engaging with certain topics, so to speak, we shift the focus of our brain, and simply through that, over the coming days, when we pick up the topics again, both in the rooms but also beyond the rooms, you might come across one thing or another where you think, ah, and here’s a connection, that’s very exciting, interesting, and suddenly you have examples you can pick up on, that you might not have seen before. So, I’m really, really curious how this develops further, and tomorrow we’ll definitely continue with reflection and innovation, regardless of where we are, whether we’ve managed to leave Turkey or not. I’m really curious. Basically we’ve been trying for two days now, so it’s really taken quite a while. Let’s see what the challenges of life bring in the next 24 hours until tomorrow. But one thing is clear in any case — we’ll manage again to open the room here and talk about reflection and innovation. And the sub-headline is “how can reflection foster creativity and innovative power?” Or can it at all? And I’m really curious about that. So you’re all very warmly invited to join again tomorrow morning at 8, and feel free to just check the main hall, in case I have to shift the timing somehow, then I’ll note that accordingly, but the room will definitely come together somehow, and we’ll be there to start the day with reflection together again. In that spirit, I’m looking forward to it, until then, ciao!
