In the Line of Fire, 3rd Edition

Chapter Seven

Active Listening

Case Studies: Epictetus • Satya Nadella, Microsoft • Elon Musk, Tesla • Bill Clinton • Ross Perot • David Rubenstein, The Carlyle Group • David Brooks

Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.¹

Epictetus

■ Yield the Floor ■

Let’s flash forward to the end of your next high-stakes presentation and assume that it was the performance of a lifetime. Everything went perfectly: your narrative was crystal clear and eloquently expressed, your slides were of professional caliber, your delivery was authoritative, your audience sat in spellbound admiration, and for the first time in the history of presentations, no one interrupted you.

Now you open the floor to ...