Leadership and Listening

Scott Sterner reports on a recent message from George Barna at the RightNow conference going on in Dallas, Texas. I appreciated this point about leadership and listening:

3. One of the most under valued and least common skills among leaders is listening.

• Ken Blanchard, “When we try to lead, we need to lead with our ears... You cannot listen effectively unless you are willing to have your mind changed.”
• If you want to solve problems you’ve got to listen. Many leaders think leadership is telling other people what to do instead of gathering as much intelligence as possible for the people with whom we work. Consistently listening shows our humility and respect for others.
• Lou Holtz said, “I never learned anything by talking.”
• Bad listening leads to bad leadership. Not listening undermines creativity and destroys enthusiasm. We need to listen, think, and then decide.
• Can you repeat back to others their message so that you can seek clarification? Do you see the value their message has for your goals? Do the people who work with you feel safe about telling you what is on your mind?

Read the rest.