How I Learned to be a Good Listener

Out of respect for the Passover and Easter holidays, there will be no article published next week. I wish my subscribers, readers, and their families a joyous holiday.

As the saying goes, I do not suffer fools well. I have no patience for people who don't listen and then complain that they don't know what they were told.

One day my boss called me into his office. Knowing that I don't appreciate "beating around the bush" and prefer that people be straight with me, he said, "You talk too much in meetings. Your comments are pertinent, but you still talk too much. You have to listen more. Good listeners produce good results."

I always remembered that but, as I said, "I do not suffer fools well." I still had the bad habit of tuning out comments by colleagues I did not respect. I kept my mouth shut, but also my ears! When that would happen, I would remind myself what my former boss had told me and resume listening, realizing that I had missed whatever had been said previously, so I definitely did not want to comment.

In other words, I had improved, but not enough. I was still not a good listener. Everyone, even fools, deserve to be heard.

Then one day I discovered the Radio Classics channel on SiriusXM and later RadioSpirits.com - an app that features popular radio shows from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, including my favorite, detective stories. The beauty of hearing the stories on "radio," as opposed to watching them on television, is that your imagination does a far better job of describing in your "mind's eye" what is happening than the director, scene builders, and costume designers do on television. Hearing the story makes it more personal.

But, more importantly, you have to pay attention. There is always a clue in these mysteries. If you stop listening, even for a second, you'll miss it so you will guess incorrectly "who done it." (Spoiler alert, it is never the butler!)

My listening skills have improved dramatically ever since I started listening to these "oldies but goodies." It is, to say the least, a rather unique way to improve what is perhaps the most important skill a professional needs.

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Future Articles:

• Take Your Child to Work
• Hire a Child VP for Good Behavior
• The Woke - Robot Continuum
• The New Cover Letter
• Emotional Intelligence
• Quiet Hiring
• Explaining Why an Employer Should Hire You
• Making a Career Change