"[Zuckerberg] has this weird thing where if he didn't have anything to say, he wouldn't fill the gap with passing conversation. He had no concept of small talk."
"It was surprisingly disconcerting. I didn't realize how important small talk was until I met the lack of it. But he would just stare at you if there wasn't anything [to say]."
"Graham quipped his first meeting with Zuckerberg was before he 'had learned to imitate a normal person,'-but the tech founder himself has acknowledged he has struggled with communication."
The 'Gen Z stare' is characterized by a blank expression often seen in younger generations. Paul Graham recounted his first meeting with Mark Zuckerberg in 2007, noting Zuckerberg's inability to engage in small talk and his unsettling silence. Graham realized the importance of small talk through this experience. Over the years, Zuckerberg's communication skills have improved significantly, evolving from a robotic demeanor to a more polished public speaker, which has contributed to his success and substantial net worth.
Read at Fortune
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