9/27/2019 0 Comments ListeningListening, perhaps more important than ever in today's society. Lets be honest, how many of you post something on social media and then not read the comments or even worse, look for specific responses to either argue with or confirm your own opinion?
"When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But when you listen, you may learn something new." -Dalai Lama It seems with all this technology to help us communicate, we are getting worse at it. We are not listening to others opinions to learn, think differently, assess the situation, but rather, only as means to confirm what we think we already know. It is not only social media, it is your personal relationships, it is your boss, it is the random checkout person, IT IS YOU! It is certainly me, especially when I feel crunched for time with what seems to be a never ending task list. To be better leaders, spouses, subordinates, human-beings, we must stop and listen, forget all the other things going on in life, and focus on that person in front of you. You may learn something, you may change the way you think. Prime example, rewind 10 years. I would have laughed at you if told me to do you yoga. I would have laughed at you if you suggested I eat Paleo or Keto. But I opened my eyes and gave them a try and became on convert. I took my wife several tries, but she was relentless and I finally LISTENED! So if you strive to be a better boss, a better leader, a better follower, start listening. Dale Carnegie wrote basically a whole book about it, which is ageless. Here are his principles summarized with my comments
Okay, okay, so I do that and I am now a good person, so what? What does that have to do with leadership? First of all, go back to my post on empathy. Had I not listened, I couldn't have been empathetic. Second, I am a servant leader, and in order to serve those you lead, you need to listen to them. Employ their ideas, take care of them (goes back to my Bill Belichick leadership post), value opinions to generate the best outcomes, the list goes on. Any Stanley says it best, "Leaders who don't listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say." Now you have only one track thinking, which even if you are machine running on lean six sigma principles, there are still wrongs and errors, but chances are, without other people's opinions, you are going to be wrong a lot more often. Furthermore, you will begin to corrode other leadership principles such as: Trust, work ethic, motivation, drive, responsiveness, etc. By not listening, you will create your own cancer. So I am going to leave this post shorter than most...because rather than continue to share my thoughts, I am going to go out and listen to others!
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