Listening Leaders Archived Edition

July 26,

LISTENING LEADERS INVEST IN INTUITION

Listening Leaders® invest in the power and practice of intuition.

Intuition is defined as the important power to discern the true nature of individuals, situations, and messages. Based on the instinctive natural tendency to perceive messages and meanings, some listeners seem to be more intuitively blessed than others. Intuitive cognition often comes from the instinctive feelings of the heart. For as the early American Feminist and Writer, Antoinette Brown Blackwell observed, “The brain is not, and cannot be, the sole or complete organ of thought and feeling.”

Listening Leaders® listen carefully to their “gut feelings” and in the process invest in following their instincts. When leaders listen through the combination of both logic and feelings, they seem to thrive. The former is obvious; the latter requires the investment of special thought. Intuition is instinctive and seems natural. Yet, listening to the intuitive voice can be challenging for some as it is based on feelings rather than clear-cut facts. Investing in the instinctive voice requires a special faith and willingness to travel beyond logical conclusions.

Nevertheless, the return on investing in intuition can be great as discovered by Helen Hayes, the great American Actress, when she wrote: “Yes, I have doubted. I have wandered off the path, but I always return. It is intuitive, an intrinsic, built-in sense of direction. I seem always to find my way home.”

In like kind, Malcolm Gladwell’s powerful book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking highlights the value of intuition and decision-making. Arguing that “analytical versus intuitive decision making is neither good nor bad” Gladwell suggests the critical key is to not “use either of them in an inappropriate circumstance.” In short, there is a time and a place to listen to both the said and the unsaid and activate one’s instinctive and intuitive senses.

As a result, “Golden Circle Listening Leaders®” selectively short-circuit the listening process and go with their “gut-instinct.” In the process, they consciously follow their “hunches” based on their knowledge and experience. Some call it ESP, some call it instinct, and some call it intuition, but one thing is obvious: skilled listeners listen beyond the obvious. Or as the French writer, Anis Nim reminds us, “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” Three steps serve intuitive Listening Leaders® well.

First, they prepare themselves to listen for unexpected or unnatural signals. In preparation, they establish a “ready ear” for verbal and non-verbal messages that seem to fit outside of the expected norm. Such preparation becomes imperative for leaders at all levels, for as Alden Hayashi discussed in a recent Harvard Business Review, “The higher one goes in an organization, the greater the need for intuition.”

Second, skilled listeners invest extra time and special energy to understand the depth of their personal power of intuition. Although many seem blessed with the powers of a sixth sense, all listeners will profit by investing in greater attention to the special intuitive feelings that should raise the attentive listener’s intuitive application. For as Gary Klein explained in his groundbreaking research-based book, Intuition At Work, intuition “is an essential, and learnable, skill.”

Third, great Listening Leaders® mix their instinctive and rational processing of the thousands of daily messages in a manner that result in more productive and meaningful actions. They listen to the logic of what is said, and at the same time they listen to what is not said. They listen to the lines and between the lines. They listen to their head, heart, and gut. Explaining actions taken as a result of logical listening is easy to explain and defend. Explaining and defending proposed actions based on instinctive and intuitive listening becomes more difficult. Yet, Listening Leaders® who constantly and unconsciously listen through their hunches find their ultimate choices and actions leads to great payoffs.

Ultimately the key in following one’s instincts and intuitions is based on the process of awareness, practice, refinement, and application. Intuitive Listening Leader’s® who rely on unexplainable instincts will always sense more than others sense. For as Nietzsche observed, “The man who sees little always sees less than there is to see; the man who hears badly always hears something more than there is to hear.”

LISTENING LEADER KNOWLEDGE NUGGET: Listening Leaders® invest in refining their powers of intuition.

Leaders everywhere can share numerous stories with positive end results that occurred because they followed their instincts and intuition. Of course when pressed, they will also tell the negative and costly stories that resulted when they followed their instincts. As human nature tends to suppress the negative and accentuate the positive, it is important to remember that the ultimate key is to focus on the end results of intuitive listening. The task is simple and calls for the systematic measurement of how often the end result of listening through your instincts is positive versus negative.

As has been said, “When it comes to intuition, nothing measured, nothing known, and nothing gained.” History leads to the intuitive belief that dependence on instincts and refinement and practice of each leader’s intuitive listening will result in more positive than negative actions. Follow your listening instincts and record where they lead you.

LISTENING LEADER TIP OF THE WEEK: Measure the rewards of intuitive listening.

GOLDEN CIRCLE LISTENING LEADERS QUOTES OF THE WEEK:

Resemblances are the shadows of differences. Different people see different similarities and similar differences ~ Vladimir Nabokov
It is the heart always that sees, before the head can see ~ Thomas Carlyle
Where the heart lies, let the brain lie also~ Robert Browning
Let my heart be wise. It is the god’s best gift~ Euripides
The heart has its reasons which reason does not know ~ Pascal

A LISTENING LEADER GIGGLE:

Instinct and intuition play out in many ways, and in the process unclear messages may become clear. A story is told about a wealthy married man who had a long-term affair with an attractive young Italian woman. One evening, during one of their clandestine meetings the man intuitively guessed that something in their illicit relationship had changed. When he asked what was wrong, his Italian lover admitted she was pregnant.

Realizing the errors of his ways and not wanting to ruin his marriage, the wealthy man offered to pay her a large sum of money, if she would quietly go home to Italy and secretly have the child. In addition, he also offered to provide complete child support until the child was 18, if she would stay in Italy to raise the child.

Knowing that this would be best for her and her unborn child she quickly agreed, but wanted to know how he would know when the baby was born. To keep everything discreet, he suggested that she should simply send him a post card with the word “Spaghetti” written on it. Upon arrival, he would arrange for the child support payments to begin. Instinctively he knew everything would work out for everyone, for he was a man of his word.

Then imagine his surprise 9 months later when he came home to a very confused wife who said, “Honey, you received a very strange post card today from Italy.”

“What did it say?” he inquired.

As she handed him the post card, she replied, “Well it makes no sense. It says, ‘Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti - two with meatballs, one without.’” With that, her husband turned white and feinted dead away.

Intuition and instinctive assumptions have there limits.

LISTENING LEADERS KUDOS:

Kudos and Congratulations to Manny and Dee Steil as they celebrate 43 years of married bliss. Congratulations and kudos to Manny for having the intuitive instinct to marry a true gem of a lady, and congratulations and kudos to Dee for taking a lump of coal and assuming the ongoing task of shaping Manny up. Their marriage is truly based on the mutual and daily practice of love, listening, and intuitive caring. May they enjoy many more years of devoted love and listening.

Kudos to Vicki Lavendol, Director of Leadership and Training, of the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, who launched the Listening Leadership movement within her organization on June 25, 2006 by facilitating the Listening Leaders Workshop. Vicki will be bringing Listening Leadership to approximately 200 leaders at all levels within Gaylord Palms.

BECOME CERTIFIED TO TEACH LISTENING LEADERSHIP IN YOUR ORGANIZATION. For certification details, go to www.ListeningLeaders.com

WE ARE LISTENING and invite your action:

Together, we can change the listening attitudes, skills, and knowledge of leaders throughout the world. We appreciate and invite your assistance in expanding our listening leader’s connections. Eight simple steps in advancing this important movement include:

Invest in your instinctive intuitive feelings.
Forward this newsletter to your children, grandchildren, friends and colleagues. More important, invite them to Subscribe to the “complimentary and weekly” newsletter by going to www.listeningleaders.com
Send us your listening leader insights, examples and stories.
Start a Listening Leaders Reading and Discussion Group. Invite your Librarian to purchase our Award winning LISTENING LEADER book.
As meeting, conference, and convention attendees spend the bulk of their time listening, please let others know of our availability to Keynote Conventions and customize Listening Leader Workshops.
Invite us to identify specific needs for listening development of leaders in your organizations.
Ask about our proven listening leader training programs and our customized in-house train-the-trainer strategies and our new Certification program.

We can help, we are committed, and we are listening.
Listen, Lead On & Make Today Count! – Manny & Rick
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LISTENING LEADERS: THE TEN GOLDEN RULES
TO LISTEN, LEAD & SUCCEED

By Dr. Lyman K. Steil
& Dr. Richard K. Bommelje

Publisher: Beaver’s Pond Press
(ISBN 1-59298-073-2)

A pioneering book that directly connects listening with leadership.Based on more than 50 collective years of work with listening leaders throughout the world, Dr. Steil and Dr. Bommelje have created 10 practical, proven, and priceless rules to enhance everyone's listening and leadership success. Although outstanding leaders are outstanding listeners, most leaders have neglected the development of their listening attitudes, skills and knowledge.

“This is the most significant book ever written on listening and leadership and will profit leaders at all levels in all types of organizations and enterprises.” Dr. Ralph Nichols, Father of the Field of Listening

ORDER YOUR COPY at www.ListeningLeaders.com or www.amazon.com

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Dr. Lyman K. (Manny) Steil
25 Robb Farm Road
St. Paul, MN 55127
651-483-3597
LKS@ListeningLeaders.com

Dr. Richard K. (Rick) Bommelje
8530 Amber Oak Dr
Orlando, FL 32817
407-679-7280
RKB@ListeningLeaders.com

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