When I worked at Leo Burnett in the early 2000′s I found myself in an elevator with Andrew Daniel the creative director running Army.  I said to him something to the effect of, “man, it has been crazy cold the last few days.”  He turned to me with a look of disdain and sharply said, “never talk about the weather.  All it proves is that we have nothing to talk about it.”

His point was that people should simply feel comfortable being in a room with one another and not saying anything.  Too often people fill the silence void with idle chit chat that adds no value.  Don’t talk to talk.  Don’t talk to eliminate silence.  Talk when you have something of value to add.