This content was created by Gregory Shepard. This content was uploaded by Gregory Shepard. This is a YouTube video titled "Active Listening is a Skill! | Gregory Shepard | Minute Mentor" (published 2021-07-30) featuring Gregory Shepard giving a short mentor-style talk for entrepreneurs about active listening. Shepard advises listening before reacting, avoiding rehearsed/default answers, and earning three essentials with customers/partners/investors/employees—understanding/liking, trust, and respect (described as a three-legged stool). He references the brain's "front" or "crocodile" gatekeeper (citing Oren Klaff) and explains the need to communicate in a way that reaches the neocortex. Single-speaker instructional piece.
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One of the things I think is important as an entrepreneur that I've thought about a lot is the concept of listening before you react instead of listening, but you're not really listening because you're thinking about what you're going to say. And I run into a lot of entrepreneurs that are so excited about their business that they're talking about their business, and then you ask a question and the answer isn't really thought through. It's more like a default answer. Like, well, yeah, you know, this kind of thing, instead of really thinking it through and making sure that you understand what the investor is actually trying to ask you. There are 3 things you have to have, and this is the same for customers, partners, investors, and employees. And that's like, trust, and respect. It's a 3-legged stool. Like, they have to understand you and like working with you. Trust, they have to be able to know that they can trust That you're going to deliver and execute when need be, and that you're going to have, you know, your compass on right, you know, your mental compass on right. And then respect, and respect comes over time, but you earn that with the other 2. The front of the brain is like the gatekeeper, and Oren Klaff does a really good job talking about this, where you have this crocodile brain at the front of the brain. And every time you say something, the front of the brain says, oh, I've heard it already. Doesn't go back to the neocortex where all the processing happens, where decisions are made. And so when you say something, you have to remember that there is a process to get by the front of the brain to get back of the frame. This is the same thing with you know stuff like like trust and respect. It's the same thing when you're answering a question. You have to ask like you act like you've never heard that question asked before. Earning like trust and respect and. Making sure that you're communicating to somebody in a way that is different, that attracts the brain to say, oh, this is different, and then it'll send it back to the neocortex. This is extremely helpful for me, and I hope it helps you.
