The Art of Listening: Talk Less

Ernest Hemingway, listening, Michael Card, talk less, William Lane, word count

the art of listening - talk less

Hi. My name is Christian and I suck at listening.

There, I said it.

The late biblical scholar William Lane used to say, “The best way to show someone you love them is to listen to them.” One of his protégés, biblical scholar and music artist Michael Card, certainly remembered that one.

He was right, of course. You show you care about another person by listening to them. By hearing them. When people feel they’ve been heard, they feel valued and validated.

Maybe you’re like me and lots of others. We get a little too thrilled by the sound of our own voices. A little too impressed with our brilliance. So, of course, we must turn such brilliance loose on the world. We do this with lots of words, domination of our conversations, pontificating ad nauseam, etc. We interrupt, assemble responses while the other is talking to us, talk over…

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Should You Always Listen to Your Customer?

Customer Service, Digital Business, Listening

Digital Business

Is the customer always right? Not always. While listening to customer feedback, taking in reviews, and building off of complaints is helpful, it isn’t everything for your business. You can learn and understand what may be broken or what needs to be fixed – but is your company growing?

As a business owner or entrepreneur, it’s essential to keep pushing forward. By only listening to what your customer has to say, it’s easy to get stuck in a cycle. You may be missing opportunities to innovate, shock surprise your customers, or challenge the norm.

While listening to your customer is essential to your business success, check out this infographic by Valpak for a new perspective on the topic. It includes scenarios, tips, and customers you’ll come across in the journey.

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Commit to Knowing Yourself and How You Achieve Goals

customer success , customer experience , goal setting , setting goals , goalsetting , personal development

Chicago Customer Success

In the world of customer success, we find ourselves speaking with our customers starting off by asking one big question, “What are your goals.”

This singular question is the basis of the partnership between customer success and client. By understanding the customer’s goals, we are able to create a strategy to achieve this, whether it be through metrics, education plans, resources, etc. Without asking this question, we are not able to fully understand our customer’s needs and know what we can do to drive success. The more I hear this question, the more I wonder, what are we doing as professionals to understand our goals, whether it be professional or personal?

Something that keeps popping up in my mind is RuPaul ending every episode of Drag Race saying, “If you don’t love yourself how in the hell you gonna love somebody else”. This should be the mantra of all customer…

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For the love of the game

entrepreneur, goal setting, paperoligarch, start-up

The Paper Oligarch

Recently I suffered a small injury that initially seemed harmless enough however things escalated quickly at a point where, for a brief moment in time, I thought that my life was in danger. Since the injury confined me to my bed for a month I had a lot of time to think about life in general, and what I wanted to do from now on in particular. Nothing motivates you like the prospect of dying…

“Life and time are the same thing. If you’re wasting your time you’re wasting your life.”

ronin_sepia

This unfortunate episode helped me accept that most likely I am exactly who the fuck I am going to be for the rest of my life and that is not a bad thing! I will soon be 36 years old and the time to “find myself” has passed, and if there is something that I don’t like about me…

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Free Lance

fantastic art , freelance , freelancer , gig economy , Ivanhoe , mercenary , quotes

Curiomancy (fantastic art + fiction + thought)

taras-susak-deep

Not to glorify the gig economy, but if you are a freelancer, you are a mercenary.

The earliest recorded use of the term (so far discovered) comes from Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, in which a feudal lord declares, in reference to his paid army:

I offered Richard the service of my Free Lances, and he refused them—I will lead them to Hull, seize on shipping, and embark for Flanders; thanks to the bustling times, a man of action will always find employment.

cover image by Taras Susak

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