Often the greatest gifts we can give another is to listen to them. Just listen and give acknowledgments (nods, “yeses,” and occasional brief recaps of what you heard). No advice, no direction, and certainly no oh-yeah-let-me-tell-you-what-happened-to-me. In your corner, Mike PS: This is a leadership power tool. Listening can melt tensions, heal worries, and […]
Leading, selling, and influencing are not about what we say, our leadership models, our authority, or our unique selling propositions. It’s not the technique. It is our intent that matters. We lead, sell, and influence by listening then merging our goals with theirs. We win as they win. In your corner, Mike Today’s photo credit: […]
In an argument or negotiation, we often resist hearing the other person’s point of view. We are too busy formulating our responses. And we fear that if we acknowledge their perspective, we will be giving in, agreeing, losing. Nopitty nope. By listening and even acknowledging that they have a good point, we are only saying […]
We are here, we need to be there, and we need to take these steps to get there. It’s the straight line, the shortest distance. Yet other people not only can’t see it, they get in the way. They don’t do their part. They engage in politics, passive or aggressive resistance, and interference. Why can’t they see it? Why […]
We leaders (with or without title) have some significant and often unmet needs. We need to know we are making good decisions. We want to work through our thoughts and options. We need an unbiased sounding board. In other words, we need a coach. Without this support, we can feel a little or a lot […]
We sometimes get trapped thinking that in order to be the one chosen (for the job or by the client), we need to be seen as being smart, hip, credentialed, correct, professional, hungry, not too cheap, sophisticated, anointed, rich, decorated, not too expensive, on trend, published, number one, the hottest new thing, well established, the […]
Why don’t people listen? Oh, that’s easy: They start defending against what we say–often before we speak–based on how we say it, We tend to frame our messages in terms of what’s important to us: they listen in terms of what’s important to them, We speak past each other instead of taking time to understand, […]