Listen like you mean it : reclaiming the lost art of true connection

"Full of revealing, instantly applicable ideas for leveraging your strengths and overcoming your weaknesses.” —Adam Grant, author of Think Again and Originals, and host of the TED podcast WorkLife For many of us, listening is simply something we do on autopilot. We hear just enough of what others say to get our work done, maintain friendships, and be polite with our neighbours. But we miss crucial opportunities to go deeper—to give and receive honest feedback, to make connections that will endure for the long haul, and to discover who people truly are at their core. Fortunately, listening can be improved — and Ximena Vengoechea can show you how. In Listen Like You Mean It, she offers an essential listening guide for our times, revealing tried-and-true strategies honed in her own research sessions and drawn from interviews with marriage counsellors, podcast hosts, life coaches, journalists, filmmakers, and other listening experts. Through Vengoechea’s set of scripts, key questions, exercises, and illustrations, you’ll learn to • Quickly build rapport with strangers • Ask the right questions to deepen a conversation • Pause at the right time to encourage vulnerability • Navigate a conversation that’s gone off the rails Now more than ever, we need to feel heard, connected and understood in a world that keeps turning up the volume. Warm, funny, and immensely practical, this book shows you how. For many of us, listening is simply something we do on autopilot. We hear just enough of what others say to get our work done, maintain friendships, and be polite with our neighbors. But we miss crucial opportunities to go deeper--to give and receive honest feedback, to make connections that will endure for the long haul, and to discover who people truly are at their core. Fortunately, listening can be improved--and Ximena Vengoechea can show you how. In Listen Like You Mean It , she offers a listening guide with tried-and-true strategies honed in her own research sessions and drawn from interviews with marriage counselors, podcast hosts, life coaches, journalists, filmmakers, and other listening experts. Through Vengoechea's set of scripts, key questions, exercises, and illustrations, you'll learn to: Quickly build rapport with strangers Ask the right questions to deepen a conversation Pause at the right time to encourage vulnerability Navigate a conversation that's gone off the rails. "Listening, like any communication skill, can be improved. Drawing from her own research sessions, as well as from stories and interviews with marriage counselors, life coaches, filmmakers, podcast hosts, and other listening experts, the author of Listen Like You Mean It discusses how to quickly build rapport with strangers, which questions help people unlock what they need to say, when it's time to throw out the script entirely, and how to recover from listener's drain, among other skills. Includes original illustrations by the author."-- Provided by publisher