Raising the Bar on Leadership Listening
Think about a conversation with someone who gives you his full attention, is genuinely interested in what you say, and doesn’t talk about himself all the time. These conversations leave you energized and willing to do your best to help that person.
Compare that to a conversation with someone who is all about his own agenda and knows you need his wisdom and stories. Your energy and commitment to help him succeed is diminished. Continue reading Influential Listening
from other staff members. So he made it a standing agenda item at his weekly staff meetings to remind everyone to consider the impact on the other person before interrupting. Was the issue urgent enough to justify the disruption? He offered tips each week, like collecting non-urgent disruptions and handling them all at once instead of interrupting for each one; or using email instead of text messages if an immediate response wasn’t necessary.
There is a sense of spontaneous flow that somehow fits together to generate a unique and powerful experience. Jazz musicians can teach us several important leadership lessons: 
it would grow to house over a hundred people at a time and provide meals and showers for thousands more. He didn’t expect to have a staff of eighteen people and numerous volunteers. But his passion for helping the homeless was contagious. He discovered he was good at raising support, launching creative programs, and recruiting people.