Roger is a new friend. At this point I’ve known him for 2 days, so he’s like a best buddy and the chat is effortless.
Then Roger asks me a question, ‘So what are you doing next?’
My answer involved a full description of my diary for the next few weeks, clients, talks, where we’d be travelling and what else I’d be up to. And because we’re now best mates, I even shared a few personal goals which I hoped to achieve.
Roger is a good listener, nodding, smiling and offering the odd, ‘Really?’
It was only when I’d exhausted my diary diatribe that Roger said. “After the walk. I asked, ‘What are you doing next, after the walk?’”
Oh.
Roger is polite so he didn’t interrupt, and he was kind enough to gently point out how interesting it is that people often start an answer before they’ve fully listened to the question.
I made a mental note to self – always listen carefully to a whole question before answering.
I was on a course, so I thought it would be interesting to observe how many of the other delegates answered without listening to the whole question. I was amazed!
The moment the brain gets enough information to give a response – BOOM! It fires. It doesn’t have all the coordinates, it may or may not be on target, but who cares. Boom! There goes another random response.
Is it time for you to slow down, really listen and only answer when you’ve got the full question?
Be Brilliant!
Michael
PS I’m really excited to announce that I will be speaking for the London Business Forum again on 17th January 2017. You can find out more and book your tickets here https://www.londonbusinessforum.com/event/How+to+Be+Brilliant+2017
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