To "talk turkey" is to speak frankly about an awkward or difficult subject. Just the facts, no fooling around.
So, over Thanksgiving dinner, did anyone at your table "talk turkey" as opposed to talking about the turkey?
Sometimes Thanksgiving dinner can be a boring situation where everyone plays it safe and sticks to insignificant topics, easily forgotten the minute you leave the table. But other times Thanksgiving dinner can provide the forum for a terrific discussion about something of importance to everyone at the table, and so long as the discussion is a free and open one, it can be made especially interesting by having people of different generations taking part. It could be politics, education, global business, Generation X, Y, or whatever else, the proliferation of technology, Wall Street bonuses or anything else. The key is that everyone cares to some extent about the subject matter ans has not become so entrenched in their viewpoint that they can no longer be open to have their mind influence--even changed--by others' opinions.
How about your Thanksgiving? Did that happen? If not, why not? Is there so much focus on one person or subject that it isn't possible to introduce a subject of importance? Is it because most of the people around the table are family members who long ago each took on a certain role in the group that tends to make everyone assume they can predict--before anyone opens their mouth--what will be said and what level of credence to give whatever they say?
It is often true that when we go home, we regress to the behavior of our adolescent or pre-adolescent years, so the adults around may appear to be fully grown but relate to each other as if they are still school-age. If that's the case, it's tough to have a serious conversation. People may regress to the topics that occupied them "way back then," for example, sports or the people who lived next door or long-ago rivalries.
What happens at your house? Did you talk turkey? Or feel like most people around the table were acting like turkeys...
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
Comments