Insights from Remarkable Business People (Collections)

Listen Up!

Captain D. Michael Abrashoff

NONE OF US WILL EVER ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING EXCELLENT OR COMMANDING EXCEPT WHEN HE LISTENS TO THIS WHISPER WHICH IS HEARD BY HIM ALONE.—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Two of any leader’s most valuable assets hang on the sides of his or her head. And a leader who hasn’t learned to listen is working under a huge handicap. It may be possible to lead without listening, Douglas MacArthur–style, but that approach is twice as hard, half as fast, and prone to disaster.

Even as I rose through the ranks of the Navy, I found that listening didn’t always come naturally to me. Often, I merely pretended to hear people. How many times ...