Try Better Tuesday: Leaders as Listeners

It’s Try Better Tuesday and my focus is on leaders as listeners.

We need far less talking and far more listening.

Listening to an idea that has been shared and overlooked many times because it didn’t come from someone you expected.

Listening for the “what” without consideration of the “how”.

Listening to a perspective from another’s lived experience that is as real as yours and more important to the discussion underway and decisions to be made.

Listening to a child speaking their honest truth and asking their honest unjaded questions that make us think.

Listening to hearts being ripped open with stories that matter more to folx lives and less to their jobs.

Listening to the anxiety that is just beneath the surface of a quick “I'm fine”.

Listening to the fear we are carrying for ourselves, family members and friends under attack from people and places that used to be safe.

Listening for the sound of silence with no gadgets interrupting.

Listening to your inner voice encouraging you to be calm, for you and everyone who counts on you, and reminding you to breathe deeply.

Leaders, let’s listen. Let's try better.