Sharing some advice this week that Mark Cuban received at age 22, which changed his career trajectory forever. He got direct feedback that he needs to "listen more, talk less." I think a lot of us could do with hearing this advice. Me included.
The specific advice Cuban got was, "This guy who was trying to be my mentor [said], ‘I’m going to give you a tool that you can use: Every time you go into a meeting, I want you to have a notepad, and the minute you sit down, I want you to write the word ‘Listen’ right there on your notepad. You need this because you don’t listen.'"
We too often see meetings coming up and think, what do I need to prep, say, contribute, or show. We spend a lot of our time making the materials and talking points perfect. We worry about what questions we might get asked and run through responses in our head.
When the meeting starts and people are tossing out thoughts and ideas we think, what should I say? How can I contribute?
We don't often think about what we want to hear and learn. We don't prioritize just listening.
Decide what you want to learn, not just what you plan to say. Then decide when you will go into listen-only mode in upcoming meetings.
Try this: look at the meetings you have coming up this week. Pinpoint the ones where you need to listen and learn from others more. Then add to your Not Doing List #NDL talking, sharing, or showing information in the meeting. Use your NDL as a reminder for where you should NOT talk, but instead listen more.
Instead of burning mental energy on playing out everything you might say in the meeting, channel that energy into other harder problems that need to your attention.
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