The Only Icebreaker You’ll Ever Need

Terry Gross, the host of NPR’s “Fresh Air”, has interviewed thousands of people in her career and has figured out one magical sentence:

“Tell me about yourself.”

Those four words work because they let person choose how to tell you who they are. The person can bring up whatever is most interesting to them — their teaching career, their new kitten, a recent move, their obsession with finding the best carrot cake in the city.