Anyone can be polite to the host who is paying for dinner, the real test in Larry Chiang’s playbook is whether you are just as polite to the server nobody thinks is watching. Karma, in Larry’s telling, can be tracked, measured, and channeled, and a dinner is full of small chances to practice it that have nothing to do with the deal. Learning the server’s name and using it during the meal is a two second habit that most people at a business dinner skip entirely.
The host at your table is watching how you treat people who cannot do anything for you, and that read matters more than most of what you say over the entree. Larry’s karma logic includes tipping well and reciprocating fast, and a dinner is one of the few settings where you get to demonstrate both in real time, in front of the person you are trying to close. This is not a trick to impress the host, it works because the habit is genuine or it does not read as genuine at all.
People who are only polite to whoever has power in the room tend to get caught doing it eventually, and it costs them more than the good manners were worth. Pair this with eating slow and holding the perfect listening position, since the whole meal is one continuous read on your character, not just the parts where you are talking business.
A server who is treated well tends to take better care of your table for the rest of the night, which is its own small, practical payoff. Larry says the same thank you note habit that he credits with landing Nike works at this smaller scale too: say the name, say thank you, mean it.
This costs nothing and takes no skill, which is exactly why it is worth building into a habit before the dinner that actually matters. Web12 keeps flagging these low cost, high signal habits because karma compounds quietly, deal after deal, dinner after dinner.
Details: Watch Larry on karma at the table
#Karma #TableManners #Web12