Dave KashenStartup CEO Coach / 2x founder

The Power of Conscious Listening #startups #consciouslistening #mindset

19 Aug 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:49

In this short monologue, the speaker explains the concept of conscious listening, illustrating how the way we listen to others determines how they present themselves to us. He describes an exercise that asks us to imagine swapping the level of attention we give to the person we most enjoy talking to with the person we least enjoy, revealing that giving high-quality, curious, and goodwill‑filled listening to the latter dramatically changes their behavior toward us. The speaker now teaches clients to examine and adjust their listening habits, emphasizing that the quality of listening directly shapes interpersonal dynamics and outcomes.

Chapters

People don't show up for us as they are. They show up for us as we listen to them. And he had me kind of think of a spectrum of, like, who's the person that I most would not be excited to talk to, and who's the person that I most would be excited to talk to, and notice how different I listened to those 2 people. And then he was like, well, what if you got confused and you accidentally switched, right? And your, like, 10 out of 10 listening you gave to your 1 out of 10 person? And it really struck me like, wow, I would listen to that person so differently, so much more curiosity and goodwill, and how that shapes how the person shows up for me. So that's something I teach to clients now is really look at how are you listening to the other people and notice how much that shapes how they show up for you.