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Casual Articles - Why People Don't Listen... and Some Fun Things You Can Do About It
Imagine you are a finance provider and you are approached with this proposal seeking investment:We are based in India and import cashew nuts. Sales last year were ?1.7m ($3m) on which we made a pre-tax profit of 1.31% of sales. We have a vision to become the first global, fully integrated supply chain manager for commodity agricultural products and food ingredients and we are seeking investment to enable us to realise that vision.Would you invest? - commodities, Indian, tiny profit margins - it would be very easy to decline the proposal wouldn't it?I was privileged recently to share a platform with Sunny Verghese, the very impressive CEO of Olam
“They say my r?sum? should be only one page long. Is that correct?”Not necessarily. Many r?sum?s are rightly two, three, or even more pages in length.On the other hand, many r?sum?s are far longer than necessary. Carelessly written, they contain “TMI”—“Too Much Information”—and that mind-numbing surplus can damage or destroy a r?sum?’s ability to generate a job interview.Here are some tips to help you avoid that possibility:Eliminate “fluff.” Some of us use bloated, hackneyed, or empty phrasing that just takes up space. For example, a r?sum?’s objective might say something like “Accomplished Mechanical
1. Short Attention Spans
When asked to guess the average adult attention span, most people say around thirty minutes. According to statistics, however, the average adult attention span is actually only seven seconds. That's right! Every seven seconds you go away somewhere. You think about something else. In fact, you could actually be taking a mental break right now! It is a normal part of how the brain integrates external stimuli like when your computer starts defragging for a moment while you type. It helps to pause from time to time when you speak. This allows people to integrate your information or ask a clarifying question. Also, include examples to anchor your concepts. For example (see--I'm doing it now!), a concept without an example is like tree without roots, a house without a foundation, or Sonny without Cher. It just doesn't have as much staying power.
2. Too Many Distractions
I was in a meeting the other day and five people coughed, four people side talked, three cell phones rang, two people went to the restroom, and a partridge did email on his PDA. Distractions are a big part of modern life. Your best bet is to acknowledge the distractions in a playful way such as a manager who recently led a meeting I attended. When a cell phone rang, he grabbed for it and said, “Oh, that's for me….my mother likes to check in on me from time to time”. That prompted everyone to turn off their phones.
3. Lack of Training
Few of us were formally taught how to listen. While you probably took Reading 8, Writing 11, did you ever take Listening 10? It's little wonder listening is challenging. Quite accidentally, I learned how to listen by practicing meditation. After a five-day retreat, I felt very light-hearted and so went to visit my aging father who was hard of hearing. My habit was to sit vacantly for hours while he complained about his arthritis, the error on his bank statement, and how hard it is to find good slippers. After this retreat, I surprised myself by totally paying attention to him with patience and compassion. After about ten minutes of complaining he suddenly changed tracks and started telling me fascinating and funny stories about his childhood. Then he cranked up his hearing aid and asked about me! Learn how to be present with people, give them your full, undivided attention and be ready for some pleasant surpris
Conversation starters are not much good unless you understand the techniques for becoming a good conversationalist. But, with the right frame of mind and a commitment to practice, learning how to make good conversation can be both fun and easy.Research shows that developing good communication skills is far more important than getting good grades in school. According to a study at the Stanford University School of Business, the most successful graduates were not the ones with the highest grade point averages. They were the ones most comfortable having friendly conversations with others, particularly strangers.When you start a conversation with someone you d
2. Too Many Distractions
I was in a meeting the other day and five people coughed, four people side talked, three cell phones rang, two people went to the restroom, and a partridge did email on his PDA. Distractions are a big part of modern life. Your best bet is to acknowledge the distractions in a playful way such as a manager who recently led a meeting I attended. When a cell phone rang, he grabbed for it and said, “Oh, that's for me….my mother likes to check in on me from time to time”. That prompted everyone to turn off their phones.
3. Lack of Training
Few of us were formally taught how to listen. While you probably took Reading 8, Writing 11, did you ever take Listening 10? It's little wonder listening is challenging. Quite accidentally, I learned how to listen by practicing meditation. After a five-day retreat, I felt very light-hearted and so went to visit my aging father who was hard of hearing. My habit was to sit vacantly for hours while he complained about his arthritis, the error on his bank statement, and how hard it is to find good slippers. After this retreat, I surprised myself by totally paying attention to him with patience and compassion. After about ten minutes of complaining he suddenly changed tracks and started telling me fascinating and funny stories about his childhood. Then he cranked up his hearing aid and asked about me! Learn how to be present with people, give them your full, undivided attention and be ready for some pleasant surpri
The fundament of any corporate culture is based on productivity. So it is the main productivity focus of a company that influences much of the corporate culture.To see this relation, just imagine an investment company. A company that is dedicated to investments either in mutual funds, venture capital or managing third party investments. The company’s main productivity focus is in dealing with risk -- exchanging risk between different partners. And this main focus will influence the culture of the organization. "Take risk, but in a calculated way," could be a organizational rule.Now think of the same company and the decision of the company to handle insuran
2. Too Many Distractions
I was in a meeting the other day and five people coughed, four people side talked, three cell phones rang, two people went to the restroom, and a partridge did email on his PDA. Distractions are a big part of modern life. Your best bet is to acknowledge the distractions in a playful way such as a manager who recently led a meeting I attended. When a cell phone rang, he grabbed for it and said, “Oh, that's for me….my mother likes to check in on me from time to time”. That prompted everyone to turn off their phones.
3. Lack of Training
Few of us were formally taught how to listen. While you probably took Reading 8, Writing 11, did you ever take Listening 10? It's little wonder listening is challenging. Quite accidentally, I learned how to listen by practicing meditation. After a five-day retreat, I felt very light-hearted and so went to visit my aging father who was hard of hearing. My habit was to sit vacantly for hours while he complained about his arthritis, the error on his bank statement, and how hard it is to find good slippers. After this retreat, I surprised myself by totally paying attention to him with patience and compassion. After about ten minutes of complaining he suddenly changed tracks and started telling me fascinating and funny stories about his childhood. Then he cranked up his hearing aid and asked about me! Learn how to be present with people, give them your full, undivided attention and be ready for some pleasant surpri
In a rapidly changing technological landscape, some high profile brands are facing the challenging decision of whether to embrace 'viral' marketing campaigns. As there can be no assurances with each viral project, executives do not have the 'usual' facts and figures to make a well-informed and substantiated decision.By its very nature a viral project must be unlike anything that has been done before.This means there is no formula, no statistics, nor guarantees. Results can only be proven retrospectively, by which time it can be too late for those results to have any more meaning than the knowledge that viral marketing works in principle. Even the
3. Lack of Training
Few of us were formally taught how to listen. While you probably took Reading 8, Writing 11, did you ever take Listening 10? It's little wonder listening is challenging. Quite accidentally, I learned how to listen by practicing meditation. After a five-day retreat, I felt very light-hearted and so went to visit my aging father who was hard of hearing. My habit was to sit vacantly for hours while he complained about his arthritis, the error on his bank statement, and how hard it is to find good slippers. After this retreat, I surprised myself by totally paying attention to him with patience and compassion. After about ten minutes of complaining he suddenly changed tracks and started telling me fascinating and funny stories about his childhood. Then he cranked up his hearing aid and asked about me! Learn how to be present with people, give them your full, undivided attention and be ready for some pleasant surpri
When developing sales teams is important to motivate them to the point that they are not intimidated by buyers or hostile potential customers. Over motivate a sales team and putting unrealistic goals on to them can cause a train wreck with your sales force.It is important for you as a salesperson to understand that you need to push yourself to strive for more success in your sales, yet be careful to adopt unrealistic sales goals that may cause you pain or too much temptation to cross the line in your ethical sales processes.There is no way that you can run a successful set of sales goals if you are hyperventilating. You need to find a way to motivate your
4. Language Barriers
It is no secret that the world of business is fast becoming a multicultural world. Although English is the default language of commerce, many people in your audience may speak English as a second language. Last month I was addressing a large insurance company where most attendees turned out to be new immigrants from China. I used the expression “getting jiggy with it”, and I saw people rifling through their dictionaries. This prompted me to say “I'm sorry, that went way over your head”, and a number of people looked up at the ceiling! If your listeners are ESL or have a more basic educational background, you need to simplify your language. Use much more literal descriptions rather than cultural expressions. Use facial and body language to express humor, and fewer words.
5. Unchecked Assumptions
Back in the 70s, Gilda Radner a comedienne who regularly performed on Saturday Night Live was well known for her popular character Emily Litella, a social activist with a hearing problem. Her causes included such important issues as violins on television, soviet jewelry and endangered feces. Believe it or not, those Emily Litella types can be found in your audiences. For example, I once told a story about my mother who was a secretary for the British Civil Service in WWII. She spent most of her time daydreaming that her boss would burst into the room and ask her to spy against the Germans. She could leave the nasty paperwork behind, don a disguise and become the next Mata Hari. Needless to say, one day her boss did burst into the room but instead he fired her for daydreaming all the time. A woman approached me after this story and told me that she used to be a Hari Krishna, too. One way to clear up false assumptions is to state your point in many different ways.
6. No Reason to Listen
Finally, the main reason people don't listen is because you haven't answered their favorite question: “What's in it for me?” Before you start a long-winded monologue, tell your listener why you need their attention and make sure they understand how it will be bene
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