Esquire Article

For photo illustration we have to illustrate this article from Esquire magazine. I’ve been having a lot of trouble trying to figure out what to shoot because I know everyone is just going to shoot a person, just like the one I shot, so I’ve been trying to think of something else to do. Here is my photo, followed by the article. Let me know if you have any ideas! (also thank you for modeling for me sloan!)

How to Listen

Somewhere along the line, someone decided we could all be experts. On everything.

By Tom Chiarella

The market. The Yankees. The Euro. Dick Cheney. Reverse circumcision. There’s a lot to talk about these days. And everybody is more than willing to tell you how they’ve got it figured.

And you? You’re a problem solver. People come to you. They want to hear what you think. But if you don’t shut up once in a while, you’ll just become part of the white noise of opinion, and opinion is cheap these days. You need to learn how to listen.

Not like Oprah, not by showing you care. Just do it by shutting the fuck up. Don’t let the babble of the kids in the backseat drift by. Let them ramble on. Encourage them. Ask questions. And don’t flip through a magazine as your wife talks for the umpteenth time about her shitty boss. Listen to the tone and timbre of her complaints, to her little surprises. Let her tell you stories. Don’t quit. Don’t cut her off. Most of all, don’t wait for your turn to talk. Listen. For once.

Make it a point to treat the people you run into like literary characters. Assume they have dignity. Ask questions at points where you’d usually weigh in. Look them in the eye, and let them have the last word on Hillary Clinton. When you feel you may be able to trump someone on the subject of off-season free-agent acquisitions, don’t.

Push this listening thing. Even for a day. When asked for your opinion, say, “I don’t know.” You’ll baffle people, sure, but maybe that’s a good thing. You can be the Quiet Man. Let them try to figure you out.