Listen and Lead

TedX talk on listening

Listen as UK sound consultant Julian Treasure addresses a TedX audience about how important genuine listening is to understanding and peace.

 

An Editor Who Listened

When Sandy Rowe retired as editor of the Oregonian,one of the many who considers her to be a mentor passed along six lessons she learned from Rowe.

The first was how to listen.

In a News Leadership 3.0 posting for the Knight Digital Media Center, Michele McLellan wrote:

"I remember when Sandy first arrived at The Oregonian in 1993.  She scheduled one-on-one interviews with pretty much everyone in the newsroom staff.  When my turn came, I was struck at how intently she listened. No fidgeting, no looking around or peeking at the clock. Total focus. Eye contact. No speeches. Lots of questions, many of them gently challenging.

"I was astonished. A new forty-something editor who had just crossed the continent to take over a flailing, demanding newsroom in a strange town. Total focus. My 15-minute interview turned into an hour-plus conversation."

Read Michele McLellan's lessons from Sandy Rowe.

Obama and Lincoln; Oratory and Listening

President-elect Barack Obama rides to history today, traveling to his inauguration on the same train route taken by Abraham Lincoln, a historic touchstone for Obama.

The similarity will not end when Obama arrives in Washington, D.C.

U.S. News & World Report says, "it is Lincoln who has captured Obama's imagination. The new chief executive will take his oath of office on the same Bible that Lincoln used in 1861 ...  Obama's aides say he will borrow from Lincoln — whose 200th birthday is celebrated this year—some fundamental concepts, notably that America does in the end listen to its 'better angels,' and that anyone in the land of opportunity truly can rise to the top and even become president. The theme of the inauguration, 'A New Birth of Freedom,' is taken from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in 1863."

Indeed, the comparisons between Obama's address and those of hios predecessors will be inevitable.

But let's also pay attention to how well he listens, a trait that Lincoln has been more noted for than most other presidents.

Listening TO Lead

We call this space Listen and Lead because we believe great listening can be the hallmark of some great leaders.

But the trend in American politics is to tell people you're listening when you want something.

It happened again today when Caroline Kennedy launched a listening tour in New York and announced her campaign to be selected as Hillary Clinton's successor in the U.S. Congress. It will be a one-vote race as New York's governor gets to select the new senator. A listening tour is just how Clinton began her quest for the Senate about eight years ago.

So, we know what Kennedy said during her listening tour. But what did she hear?

 

Dan Mulhern on Why Listening is Difficult

Why don't more leaders listen more?

Dan Mulhern has some ideas.

 Mulhern is an executive coach, inspirational speaker, writer and podcaster. Over lunch at Troppo restaurant in Lansing, Mich., he also shows himself to be a listener who asks a lot of questions.

He understands the importance of active listening. In his book, "Everyday Leadership: Getting Results in Business, Politics, and Life," Mulhern wrote, "Leaders thus share their visions and values and then listen hard so that their teams can share theirs in return. When each buys into the others' vision and values, commitment rises all the way around."

Yet, we all know of organizations where listening seems not to take place.

He has a few theories about that, too.

Mulhern says listening is hard work. "It's because the mind is so noisy. It's processing ideas and impressions at a really fast rate."

He cites "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking." In it, author Malcolm Gladwell writes that "Blink" is about the first seconds of an exchange -- when so many impressions are made. It is all about about how fast we form judgments -- in the blink of an eye.

Mulhern said, "When you say five words, I think I already know what you're saying and that throws me into my mental box of ideas." It takes discipline to stay out of that box, to not have our minds made up so quickly and to take the time to peel back the layers of what the person can tell us.

So, that is one obstacle to listening. Another can be ego. "We want to project ourselves," Mulhern said. "We want to prove something." Business can be competitive -- brutally so -- and people want to show what they bring to the table. They think that you do that by talking, not listening.

And, a third barrier, which is especially acute during the business and economic decline of 2008: listening can be expensive.

"When people are under great pressure to produce, listening can seem very expensive. There can be a tremendous feeling that they are wasting time. The apparent situation is that it's costly to listen."

No doubt, listening inefficiently or listening without hearing can be very costly. There is the waste of time, that increasingly valuable resource, but poor listening can lead to even greater losses for a company or organization.

"In reality, listening can save money," Mulhern said. "If they run off in a direction that you're ultimately not going to go in, or run off in eight different directions," then hearing them out and redirecting them can save a lot.

Mulhern pulls another volume from his mental bookshelf, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," by Stephen R. Covey. Mulhern cites the Fifth Habit: "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." That approach -- the quest for understanding -- seldom wastes time, if people would just carve some out to do it.

Mulhern admires good listeners and has seen several in action. His top-of mind examples are in politics. "Lots of powerful, charismatic leaders draw their power from listening -- or appearing to listen -- intently. Don Reigle (a former Democratic Michigan senator) is one. Bill Clinton another. When you are in the presence of these listeners, the world gets real quiet."

"An extraordinary listener elevates the quality of a conversation so that you say things you didn't even know were in you."

That kind of listening, brought about by disciplined silence, keeping the ego in check and seeking true understanding, will seldom be a waste of the organization's resources -- people's time.

Mulhern's Web site includes some of his writing, links to his podcasts and news about a couple of Align for '09 leadership workshops he has coming up in Las Vegas and Detroit.

Brenda Ueland's The Art of Listening

Today, the National Day of Listening, is a good day to listen -- and to read The Art of Listening, an essay by Brenda Ueland.

After a couple excerpts, I will give you a link to the whole essay. It's not long, but it says a lot.

"Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. Think how the friends  that really listen to us are the ones we move toward, and we want to sit in their  radius as though it did us good, like ultraviolet rays. This is the reason: When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and  expand. Ideas actually begin to grow within us and come to life.

"Who are the people, for example, to whom you go for advice? Not to the hard,  practical ones who can tell you exactly what to do, but to the listeners; that is, the  kindest, least censorious, least bossy people you know. It is because by pouring  out your problem to them, you then know what to do about it yourself

"I think women have this listening faculty more than men. It is not the fault of  men. They lose it because of their long habit of striving in business, of self-assertion. And the more forceful men are, the less they can listen as they grow older. And that is why women in general are more fun than men, more restful and inspiriting.

"We should all know this: that listening, not talking, is the gifted and great role,  and the imaginative role. And the true listener is much more beloved, magnetic than the talker, and he is more effective and learns more and does more good. And so try listening. ..."

Her complete essay is here.

President-Elect Obama Listens

Celebration and speculation surround this week's election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. Part of his past success -- and a key to his future success -- have been tied to his listening.

Chicago Sun-Times reporter Abdon M. Pallasch did an article on Obama's law students at the University of Chicago and quoted Thomas Fitzgibbon, '04: "Classes were often just a forum for the professor to express his or her opinion about these issues and for the students to agree with everything the professor says. But his wasn't that kind of class. He is much more interested in hearing what the students have to say."

During the campaign, supporters credited him with assembling a team of advisers -- and then listening to them.

A few days before the election, the New York Times' Jodi Kantor wrote, "From his days leading The Harvard Law Review to his presidential campaign, Barack Obama has always run meetings by a particular set of rules.

"Everyone contributes; silent lurkers will be interrogated. (He wants to 'suck the room of every idea,' said Valerie Jarrett, a close adviser.) Mention a theory and Obama asks how it translates on the ground. He orchestrates debate, playing participants off each other -- and then highlights their areas of agreement. He constantly restates others' contributions. But when the session ends, his view can remain a mystery, and his ultimate call is sometimes a surprise to everyone who was present."

Time will tell whether he continues to be a listener -- and how well that helps his presidency.

Japan's Asahi Shimbun wrote, "In his victory speech, Obama also said, 'I will listen to you.' We hope that he really will listen to a range of voices around the world and revive a United States that is trusted and respected around the world."

(Photo courtesy www.barackobama.com)

Shipshape

Michael Kinsman has a piece in the California Job Journal that recalls some of the wisdom of D. Michael Abrashoff, who found himself in charge of the guided missile destroyer Benfold -- and its unhappy crew.

Seeing how openly hostile the crew was to its previous commander, Abrashoff took command by listening to everyone on that ship and getting to know them as people and as crew. He met a bunch of people who didn't know or trust the previous commanding officer and who had learned to keep their heads down and take orders.

Abrashoff wanted a complete turnaround so that the crew would be making suggestions for increasing efficiency and improving morale and teamwork. He was rewarded with an engaged and motivated crew, a smoother running ship and, later, a second career as an author and management consultant. His 2002 book is called "It's Your Ship."

Construction Firm Owner Leads by Listening

This month's issue of Smart Business has an interview with Mike Bolen, CEO of McCarthy Building Cos., who attributes much of his success to early bosses who taught him to "keep my mouth shut and listen to the smart people around me." The lesson stuck.

Today, Bolen runs a $2.3 billion company as much with his ears as with his month.

He told writer Mark Scott, “You have to be able to effectively communicate downstream to your people and, maybe more importantly, to effectively hear things that are coming upstream or sideways at you."