Today I read these words of Larry Barker:
“Effective listeners remember that “words have no meaning – people have meaning.” The assignment of meaning to a term is an internal process; meaning comes from inside us. And although our experiences, knowledge and attitudes differ, we often misinterpret each other’s messages while under the illusion that a common understanding has been achieved.”
We are the product of an inner world that is created based on the images we ‘see’ out of the words we listen to.
We are influenced by our own interpretation of the thoughts of the people we meet. Listening is a master skill for creating a powerful inner world.
Yes, Listening is an internal happening.
When we go deeper into listening to the person we are communicating with, we are actually getting behind our eyeballs and uncovering something which already rested there.
Leaders put-in deliberate efforts to listen. They use listening as a tool to re-engineer their internal thoughts.
And better use of listening leads to better execution…and thus, better results.
