Listen Twice; Speak Once

Have you ever heard the saying,

"with two ears and one mouth you should listen twice and speak once." Anytime I hear someone speak on listening, I perk up.

Recently, I heard an attorney speak on the topic of synergy. Okay, sounds like an interesting topic. Synergy makes the world go round. But it wasn't the topic that impressed me, it was what he did. He walked into the room, introduced himself and then had all of us tell him our first names. Okay. Polite guy. Like him already. However, what he was doing was showing us what real listening is like.

He proceeded to teach his material all the while using our names throughout the time. Whoa! How did he do that? Does he have some magic trick that helps him remember stuff?

How about this. He listened. He was focused on us. He wasn't just giving the appearance of politeness. He was engaged. He was humble.

"It's the arrogant person who thinks they are picking up everything someone is saying."

He said that we all tend to wander off but says the remedy for that is to acknowledge you are doing it and then apologize for it.

"I'm sorry but I was distracted while you were speaking and really wasn't listening. Would you please repeat what you just said?"

Thanks Albert. I'm all ears.