The average person listens
at a very shallow level.
Want to be above average?
Listen deeply.
In the midst of a very busy day
yesterday,
I received a call from a 9 year old loved one.
I set everything aside
and concentrated 100% on her conversation.
She talked about seemingly
superficial things.
She told me about a boy Ely
and about how he was bad.
He pushed her into her locker.
He called her and other kids names.
He was mean to the teacher.
I asked her why she thought he did things like that.
Was he mad or sad or scared
or simply a bad boy?
She told me that no,
he wasn’t a bad boy,
that he was sad
and
sometimes when you’re sad,
you do bad things.
We talked about other ways
he could deal with his sadness.
Of course,
this discussion wasn’t about Ely.
It was about my loved one.
She is nine years old
and didn’t address her sadness directly.
Do you think your much older customers
will address their own issues openly?
If you want to solve problems,
you have to listen deeply.