Who’s listening? There’s a lot of talking but little listening going on today. The TV media knows that we are not listening, they do everything in sound bytes. Politicians know we are not listening, that’s why they can promise the sun and moon and never live up to anything. Parents don’t have time to listen to their children and children are too busy playing games, texting and watching TV to be able to listen to anyone. Women complain about not being listened to by the male population, and children say that no one listens to them. Go to any networking event, get there early and listen. What you will hear is the room get louder and louder as everyone attempts to talk over one another. We have become a nation of TV’s talking to one another.

Last week I had the opportunity to have two meetings with two different people, Duncan and Allison. I turned my phone on silent, turned it over and was completely engaged in listening to both people. They were great conversations and both parties were engaged in the give and take of the conversation, I learned a lot about them and look forward to future opportunities to meeting with them both.

Often when someone calls my office upset, I just put my headset on and allow them to vent, to tell me the whole story uninterrupted. At the very end, I ask, “How can I help?”  What I get back from them most of the time is this, “Nothing, I just wanted someone to listen to me.” People want to be heard, when was the last time that you felt that you were really listened to?