Category: management

The Art of Listening: Talk Less

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

Christian Fahey's avatarThe Upside

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

M. Wiley Wilson's avatarDigital 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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Goals: How to set good ones (Blog and Podcast)

Brendan Burchard, Eddie O’Connor, habits, High Performance Habits, The psychology of performance

Big Happy Life's avatar

This podcast episode is the first in the “Goals and Habits Series”. Listen here.

It’s that time of year again. Most of us have fresh goals and great hopes for achieving them.

I have set myself some lofty goals and am using the process described here to give myself the best shot at success.

In short:

  • Set 3 levels of goals:
  1. Outcome goals – the big idea
  2. Performance goals – developing the skills required to achieve the big idea
  3. Process goals – creating opportunities to develop the necessary skills

A great goal is made up of an outcome goal, supported by one or more performance and process goals.

In detail:

Set three levels of goals.

  1. Outcome goals

These goals describe the outcome you’d like to achieve. If you’ve ever heard of SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound), these are outcome goals.

Examples:

  • To lose 20 pounds by…

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