The Art of Active Listening ✍️ 🧠

How to: Read between the lines.

There aren’t many ways I can craft this piece that don’t sound condescending asf. I can channel my most genuine Ms. Frizzle, but it’s all gonna sound ‘communication-’splainin’ to even the most humble amongst us. And yet, I am compelled to write about it, because active listening is one of the most powerful unique differentiators in the quiver of my personal brand. 

TL;DR | A case for active listening and how it can expand your mind, make you a more compassionate and kind person and transform the way you ‘do’ conversations.

By leading every conversation with intense curiosity and focusing fully on the answers; by creating a safe space for genuine (and sometimes vulnerable) communication; by making the most out of understanding and empathy, I can thereby do that voodoo that I do so well.

It is how I can ghostwrite like a mthrfuck’r. 

And so, at risk of sounding smug, I implore you, friend, to lean into active listening in your own line of work. It is the foundation of all pattern recognition, holistic problem-solving, and empowering all continuous cycles of self-improvement. 

Now that I have had my Mel Robbins moment.... 

What it sounds like when you are having life-altering conversations. 

I recently ‘ghost-wrote’ a poignant piece for Jen Thornton’s delightful ( if-I-do-say-so-myself ) weekly email-slash-newsletter to her highly engaged list at 304 Coaching promoting a Let’s Fix Leadership podcast episode called Turn An Uncomfortable Conversation into a Heartfelt Dialogue About Disability w/Jen Griffin 🎧☝️listen in which we hear the story of how our colleague Jen Griffith woke up one day to find herself irrevocably changed, an overnight quad-amputee at the age of 36. 

I was on the edge of my active listening seat. 

This conversation profoundly changed the way I think about hard conversations—and the fear that makes us avoid them.

I had to set aside everything I thought I knew about how the workplace accommodates and treats disability and hear Jen’s rallying cry: Let’s just talk about it. 

And thus, a case for active listening and how it can expand your mind, make you a more compassionate and kind person and transform the way you ‘do’ conversations.

It will change the way you show up for people--and for yourself.

 🍑

More personal hot take? Read What a Difference a Day Makes on Truth Pudding. 

Listen to Turn An Uncomfortable Conversation into a Heartfelt Dialogue About Disability w/ Jen Griffin