Chad Silverstein argues parents should teach values early, then listen more as kids grow. He applies the same principle to leadership: model and advise at first, but shift to listening and empowering others. One concrete habit: wait before speaking in meetings.
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I definitely got good guidance early on about parenting. This was a great nuance. The teach, teach, teach, teach, teach. Listen, listen, listen, listen. I love that as kids progress and it's important to teach your kids the staples of your core values and what you want to instill in them when they're little and as they get older and they start talking to listen to them. And then by the time they become young adults, you want to just listen to them, be there for them, make them feel loved. And you can do this for people in your life that are not family as well. And you have to know who you're with and when you're with them and what. What time frame you're with them, if it's a new relationship or someone that you've been building, you know, a relationship with for a long time. And, you know, if you're a leader, you're guiding people, you're not only modeling the way, but you're also probably advising people when they come to you and they talk to you, and hopefully you're empowering them that they can think for themselves and come up with an answer for whatever it is. Or sometimes, you know, you step up and you do give them what they're looking for because you care enough about them. And as a leader, you have to feel that responsibility. So you have to be careful not to preach when it's not appropriate. And you have to really focus on practicing and building the skill to listen. It's where most of us fail, and it's probably where you can build a lot of productive actions in to practice doing little things. One of my favorite ones was to walk into meetings and make sure that I was the last to spe when an issue came up. And I had really practiced doing that because I wanted to share an answer that I knew. But hearing everybody speak and give their thoughts and the nuances that came from those. Those disciplines and that productive action was magic. So I did that a lot. Little things like that you can come up with your own. And don't. Don't lose touch with the fact that you have to practice being a good listener.
