Skip to main content

LISTENING....

Image
By



We all need to do a better job of listening.  Whether it is a political matter, a business matter, a personal matter or something in the news, we all need to do a better job with this important topic.

The recent issue of listening certainly came into being with the CEO of the Crossfit brand.  He spoke with numerous people in this business and apparently did not hear, did not listen or did not want to hear what they were saying.  I wasn't there so I don't implicitly know.  But since then he has resigned as the CEO.  Why?  Basically all because he was not listening.

My sister and I are basically polar opposites when it comes to politics, but over the last few years we have both tried much harder to listen to the other's thought and ideas on many topics.  Some we will never agree upon, but some, interestingly enough we found that we could agree on with each other.  All it took was some listening.

I was recently going through my archive of articles that I thought were important.  One caught my eye in the context of this subject.  It is an Opinions piece by Kate Murphy from the New York Times newspaper.  In the actual paper version, i is called "Lessons in the Lost Art of Listening."  It has a slightly different name in the digital version but they are both the same article.  I have included the link for you to review.  Please do it as it may help all of us.


https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/opinion/listening-tips.html?searchResultPosition=1

Enjoy!

Bob Jacobson, MPS, CSBC

Comments

  1. SusanOctober 23, 2020 at 10:15 AM

    My brother and I work hard to avoid losing our connection over our differences. I love this from the NYT article..."We are, each of us, the sum of what we attend to in life." The quote reminds me to listen more carefully to those that disagree, ask more questions, and thoughtfully choose "what (I) attend to in life."

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What are the most In-Demand Skills and Traits that a CEO should have?

By
  Recently I have been doing a great deal of research for a Zoom Class that I am doing relative to the CEO role.  Having reviewed literally hundreds of articles, I came up with the following list of Skills and Attributes that all CEO's should theoretically have.  This list came from me and the authors of the various articles I have read.  The compiled list of 23 traits or skills, in no particular order, are: 1)    Active Listening 2)    Empathy 3)    The ability to share messages and make complex ideas understandable to everyone (storytelling). 4)    Strategic Thinking Skills 5)    Creativity 6)    The ability to inspire and convince others. 7)    Flexibility 8)    The ability to turn information into action. 9)    Project planning 10)  System development 11)  The ability to assess an employee's strengths and weaknesses. 12)  Time Management 13)  The ability to build and inspire trust. 14)  Strong communications skills 15)  Positivity 16)  Reliability 17)  Management skills (Fi
Post a Comment
Read more

Do You?

By
 Do you procrastinate?  I know I do it more often than I would like to admit.  We all have a tendency to procrastinate.  Very recently, I saw this photo in a LinkedIn post.   To be legally clear, this is a billboard type advertisement by Nike. They are very famous for their "Just Do It" slogan.   Now they have two and they have combined both into an even more powerful expression. The definition of "procrastinate" from the Oxford dictionary is: "to delay or postpone action; put off doing something."  It is like the old colloquialism "Manana."  Mañana is tomorrow in Spanish.  We all do it to one degree or another.   From a business perspective, to procrastinate is a terrible situation if you or a great many people in a company or organization do it.  If it occurs too often or too much, then what does it do:  it has the probability to DELAY MOST EVERYTHING.  Is that what you really want?  No, I doubt it.  It very well may hurt you, your colleagues,
Post a Comment
Read more

POSITIVE CONFRONTATIONS!!

By
I have for the longest time been a believer in positive confrontations.  All too often, supervisors, managers, and yes even some executives only use or know how to use negative confrontations.   That is a tragedy and travesty.  This is not just using them in a business environment, but also in our own personal lives.  We are quick to send reviews or complaints to companies or businesses but all too often we seem to feel we do not have the time to say a good word when it is deserved.  The problem is all around us.  We are just too quick to correlate the term "confrontation" with the word "negative."  It shouldn't be that way Positive feedback and confrontation should be important and necessary for any successful person.  I found the enclosed brief post when looking at a particular blog.  It summarizes much but not all of what I believe in positive confrontations .  Take a look and let me know your thoughts. Have a great week. Bob  July 26, 2021
Post a Comment
Read more