BY: DAVID LIPMAN, Co-Founder, WEW Llc
Which is harder to master and which is more important? Talking or Listening?
Listening, truly listening is not only much harder but requires special skills and years of practice to be effective at it. You may listen to two people say the exact same thing but both mean something very different. The art of listening requires one to master the ability to hear what people are saying through their eyes, ears and mind. No, that does not mean you have to become a mind reader but you do have to master the ability to be empathetic and attentive to the person making the statements and talking.
As we experience the ability to listen intently and the ability to understand the mindset and personality of the speaker, it become evident to other people and results in a very effective form of making your point more meaningful to everyone.
When I first started out in my career I listened much more than I talked, mostly because I was young and somewhat introverted and afraid of saying the wrong thing. As I gained confidence and realized that listening was truly an art and in many cases intimidating to people it became an effective tool. The ability to listen becomes powerful when you accompany it with meaningful short statements that display not only your knowledge but the fact you were being very insightful based on what you not only heard but what they were trying to really convey and accomplish for themselves.
As time went on people would be concerned about what my opinion was just by my having established that I listened to the true meaning of what was said and this became a powerful
Weapon in my career.
I urge everyone to became intent listeners and try to imagine why and what people were really trying to say and accomplish. This will make your career and life much more meaningful and successful.
