A selection of books recommended by Jane (no affiliate links attached) based upon her own reading which you might enjoy.
As a society, we’ve forgotten how to listen. Modern life is noisy and frenetic, and technology provides constant distraction. So we tune things out or listen selectively – even to those we love most. We’ve become scared of other people’s points of view, and of silence.
Now more than ever, we need to listen to those around us. New York Times contributor Kate Murphy draws on countless conversations she has had with everyone from priests to CIA interrogators, focus group moderators to bartenders, her great-great aunt to her friend’s toddler, to show how only by listening well can we truly connect with others.
How often do you interrupt? How often do people interrupt you? Can you remember the last time someone listened to you all the way through your thinking?
In a time when communication is more challenging than ever and relationships need to be nurtured, listening to one another could not be more important. In her new book, Nancy Kline, bestselling author of Time To Think, suggests that for us to radically improve our communication we should make the propmise ‘I won’t interrupt you’.
This promise matters because when we interrupt each other, we interrupt our thinking, and that interrupts the quality of everything we do. By making this promise to our colleagues and loved ones we can deepen our relationships, increase our productivity, and enjoy deeper, richer conversations. It may, in fact, be the most important promise we ever make.
To get the best answer-in business, in life-you have to ask the best possible question. Innovation expert Warren Berger shows that ability is both an art and a science.
It may be the most underappreciated tool at our disposal, one we learn to use well in infancy-and then abandon as we grow older. Critical to learning, innovation, success, even to happiness-yet often discouraged in our schools and workplaces-it can unlock new business opportunities and reinvent industries, spark creative insights at many levels, and provide a transformative new outlook on life. It is the ability to question-and to do so deeply, imaginatively, and “beautifully.”
Just Listen reveals how to:• Make a powerful and positive first impression• Listen effectively• Talk an angry or aggressive person away from an unproductive reaction and toward a more rational mindset• Achieve buy-in–the linchpin of all persuasion, negotiation, and sales• And moreWhether you’re dealing with an angry client, a potential customer, or even a friend or family member who isn’t seeing eye to eye with you, your goal is most likely persuasion. And the first make-or-break step to getting there is having them hear you out. The invaluable principles in Just Listen will get you through that first tough step with anyone.