Here’s an example.  Not long ago, the two of us were in Dallas together to speak at a conference.  The host assigned to pick us up at the airport was waiting outside security with our names on a placard.  “Howdy, my name is J.T.,” he said as he reached to carry a suitcase or two.  We hopped into his vehicle and were on our way – until we hit rush-hour traffic.  We were at a near standstill for nearly two hours, and that gave us plenty of time to talk.

“Tell us about your hobbies, J.T.  What do you do for fun?”  we asked.

He became animated as he told us about playing racquetball.

“Sounds like you really enjoy it,” one of us followed up, “and I bet you get plenty of exercise.”

“Oh yes,” he replied, and then he went into describing the competition he entered last year and how he fared.

“You really love it, don’t you?” we said.

“It’s not only fun; you’re exactly right about it keeping me in shape.”  J.T. then told us about his father’s triple-bypass surgery two years ago.

As the traffic crawled, we asked J.T. about his work.

“I love computer programming,” he told us.

“I bet there’s a story behind you getting into that field,” we said.