What They'll Never Tell You

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Good lawyers know how much you can learn about jurors if you ask the right questions in voir dire. Really good lawyers know how much you'll never learn, no matter how perfect your questions are. Often — maybe always — the experiences that most shape our personalities and attitudes are our secrets.

"We all carry a secret that would break your heart if you just knew what it was," Frank Warren tells Guy Kawasaki in an interview on Kawasaki's blog today. Over 150,000 people have sent Frank Warren their secrets, on anonymous handmade postcards. He gets 1,000 a week, and each Sunday he posts 20 of them at www.PostSecret.com. Today, the site includes :

"[I]f we could remember that," Warren continues, meaning the secrets people bear, "there might be more understanding and peace in the world."

Jury selection is as good a place as any to begin, with a deeper awareness of jurors' unspoken experiences, and the peace that comes with expecting less of yourself. There are critically important things that you will never learn.

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Note: Frank Warren has a new book, A Lifetime Of Secrets.