#89 The Good Listener

Hello, friends.

What I’m Learning/Doing

I’m working hard at being a better listener. The people and leaders I admire most are great at it and so few people are (even good at it).

Listening is hard because it forces us to minimize ourselves. I read this recently and it pegged my experiences perfectly:

When someone starts talking, our minds listen to/for:
  • Reasonably guess what they are going to say. (E.g., "I know what you are going to say.")
  • Identify a pattern. (E.g., "I know where you are going with this.")
  • Something we disagree with (E.g., "That's wrong.")
When one of those things happens, we stop listening and our mind starts preparing our response. At the moment, the conversation becomes about us. When the other person does the same, gold becomes lead.

One of the books I read last year talked a lot about “active listening”. This is when you are listening in order to understand the other person and explore their mind, not make the conversation about you.

Even though I’m not a world class listener yet, I am encouraged because it’s a skill that can be developed.

Changelog

Honestly:

  • Transitioning team members into new roles
  • Investing in marketing for Honestly for the first time.

LOFT:

  • Continuing to invest in caring more about our clients than any of our competitors
  • Ramping up sales activities

CrewPay:

  • CrewPay blog development and article writing
  • Handling “catch up” 1099s for businesses that missed the deadline

Pttrns:

  • Had a half-day work session to identify MVP of Pttrns.studio. Really excited about the progress we’re making and look forward to sharing soon.

Until next time.

-David

P.S. Fun and interesting article about a Pepsi promo gone wrong and how bad humans are with big numbers: https://lithub.com/when-a-man-took-a-joke-in-a-pepsi-ad-seriously-chaos-ensued/

P.P.S. What are marketers going to do when the cookie crumbles: https://digiday.com/marketing/cookies-way-advertisers-turn-old-school-measurement-methods/

P.P.P.S. Looking forward to this documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aCBDL1sUY8&feature=emb_title

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