You know the old saying God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth on purpose.
When you Listen more than you Talk you Learn.
How much talking do you do on an average day, and how much listening? What I mean is real listening where you focus on what the other person is saying and take it in, instead of planning the brilliant or novel thing you’ll say the moment the other person finishes speaking?
If you’re like many of us, the answer is: Not enough. Most people tend to treat a conversation like it is a competitive sport, in which the person who says the most, makes the funniest or useful point, persuades others your opinion is right, or even speaks the longest and loudest is the winner! We all are guilty. All of us find ourselves at some point interrupting, promoting or “trumping” the other person, –all to support our point of view, our product, service, opportunity or to just display our superior knowledge about a topic.
If you stop and think about it, though, this approach is the opposite of the one we should take. In most conversations, the person who speaks least -benefits the most and the person who speaks most benefits least.
Here’s why:
Knowledge is power.
In our information-driven and networked world, how much you know about people’s why, what concerns them, what fuels them makes more difference to your long-term success. A person who’s talking is giving away information–often more than he or she intended. A person who’s listening is receiving information. Who gets the best deal in that exchange? When you understand someone by listening, you understand them and then you know how you can share your information with them in a way they will be opening to receive it. The old saying is so true when you listen you show you care and no-one wants to know how much you know until they know how much you care. So take care, listen and learn.
