For 20 years, Joe Grimm has been paid to listen to people. It started when the Detroit Free Press named him the youngest reader representative in the country. His teachers were the thousands of people who called him or met with him, largely to complain about things in the newspaper. He was yelled at, cursed at, hung up on, threatened and thanked. When Detroit’s newspapers formed a joint operation for operations such as newspaper delivery, complaints and calls amount to hundreds in a day and he created a temporary help desk of 10 people. Through those thousands of calls, Grimm destroyed a telephone. Proudly, he said, he destroyed only one. Clearly, he had more to learn about listening. Good listeners do not destroy inanimate objects.
In 1990, good became the newspaper’s full-time recruiter. In that position, he again has listened to thousands of people from many regions, backgrounds and personalities. He considers it a deep privilege that people will trust him with their dreams and apprehensions.
In the newsroom, he is the unofficial listener.
The evening before the paper was purchased, the publisher asked him to put off a recruiting trip because, “We need you here tomorrow. There will be an announcement that will upset some people. I need you to walk around and hear what they are saying.”
Another time, a managing editor had him cancel a recruiting trip specifically so he would be available to listen to one of the top editors who was having a tough time and who needed someone to talk to. That editor knew that she usually chose Joe.
One editor called Joe a sounding board. Another called him the newsroom confessor. And another called him “our chaplain.” Joe has not destroyed any more telephones, but knows that he still has a long way to go to become a truly great listener.
Every year, he misunderstands or simply misses something. That reminds Joe that he has more to learn.
This feature contains observations from that that journey. There are no lessons about telephone repair. Ideally, you won’t need them.
Join the project by posting your own comments and observations, whether you are a great listener, or one who is still learning, also.
