My first business meeting.

My first business meeting took place November 11-12. There was this communications expert, who lectured on the four essentials to establishing an excellent partnership (he spoke in the context of health care provider with patient, but it can be applied to any relationship, really):

• Status - give the right sort of praise to elevate someone's status. It gives them a sense of validation.
• Autonomy - always give whoever you're with an option -- avoid mandating things or else you're seen as an authoritative figure more so than someone they are on the same level with.
• Certainty - be confident in what you say and how you behave. This will reassure people.
• Relatedness - empathize. Make the person feel like you understand them.

Apparently, it's all about increasing the person's dopamine levels such that they'll return to you because you make them happy. That last point (i.e. relatedness) also has to do with oxytocin (the hormone related to bonding).

The rest of the meeting dealt more specifically with the research I'm involved in and would not be of interest to anyone besides a study coordinator, so I'll end it here.