The four essential tenets to a happy and successful existence.
Simple as.
While I was walking an inordinate number of miles yesterday – sub-divided into ‘brisk promenade’ and ‘trudging’ dependent on the time you would have caught me doing so – I cracked a nut I’d been mooting around for a while.
The reason the likes of Bob Scoble and Seth Godin are so damn incisive, the reason the likes of Chris Brogan and the might Om Malik have exactly what it takes to hit you between the eyes with razor-sharp business acumen, is not that they possess 175+ IQs – it’s simply because they have trained themselves to become phenomenal listeners.
Anything they say will have been said before. They are among the finest observers anywhere in Web 2.0-land. And they have developed this skill through years of practice.
Best of all, you can be as well regarded as these four horsemen harbingers by spending 90% of your time listening and learning from the experiences of others, and the balance sharing and educating others through the treasures you’ve summonsed to your table.
It takes patience, for sure. I think it was Tom Peters who said that listening is more than an art form, it’s more than half of your business. In a successful corporate environment, listening is much more even than that. And it’s a precious commodity shared by only few. This is why the CEOs and presidents of Fortune 50s are so coveted – they have an imperial knack for listening to their staff and acting on both recommendations and their instincts.
Spend next week listening to what it’s all about. Don’t judge – just jive. Enjoy the world and your life from a totally different perspective. It’s disarming and invigorating. And the results? They speak for themselves…