This week in the world’s #1 newsletter on leadership communication:

• Strategic Listening: The Secret Weapon of World-Class Leaders
• Missed Our Previous Presentation Secrets Workshop?
• Radical Candor CEO: Don’t Avoid The Tough Conversations
• Selling With Stories

Strategic Listening: The Secret Weapon of World-Class Leaders

There are only two sides to a conversation: either you speak, or you listen.

Both are crucial, and you want to achieve excellence in both.

If I am honest, I used to be a terrible listener. For a long time, I fell into the trap of waiting for my turn to speak instead of listening to understand.

But I learnt this the hard way: You build your life and business one conversation at a time. And you can’t build deep relationships without truly listening.

And you build your life and business one conversation at a time.

As Kevin Kelly, the co-founder of Wired, put it: “Speak confidently as if you are right, but listen carefully as if you are wrong.”

It’s also necessary to understand the distinction between listening and hearing. Think of hearing as collecting data with your ears. Think of listening as the analysis that happens in your brain.

Hearing is passive. Listening is active.

Listening is the result of curiosity, a crucial trait for any problem-solving leader.

As leaders, we often talk about the 3 levels of listening:

“Me,” “You,” and “Us.”

1. "Me" Listening: You're waiting to speak, not listening to learn. This is the default mode of untrained listeners. It is bad, and we are good at noticing it.
2. "You" Listening: You're having a conversation, and you are present and intently focused. You're not waiting to speak, you're actively listening.
3. "Us" Listening: You're listening to understand, taking in non-verbal cues as well. You want to gauge how what is said affects your relationship.

But have you heard of the 4th level?

It is practiced by world-class leaders.

I call it Strategic Listening.

Here’s how you do it:

• Impact on your team: You’re listening to understand not just the other person, but what it means for your team.
• Impact on your organization: You’re gauging what the conversation says about your company.
• Understanding a culture: Conversations help us develop a deeper understanding about the different cultures, backgrounds or generations we deal with as leaders.

The upshot: Every conversation helps us to understand not just the other person, but also to grow as leaders – if we apply Level 4 Strategic Listening.

OLIVER'S RECOMMENDATION CORNER

Missed Our Previous Presentation Secrets Workshop?

I have been overwhelmed by your interest in this free workshop. Due to ongoing interest, I will host two more sessions, one in November and one in December.

Now's your chance to join for free and discover the Presentation Secrets I’ve already shared with over 500 attendees.

In this workshop, you'll learn the proven strategies used by top CEOs and keynote speakers to deliver unforgettable presentations. Whether you're looking to boost your confidence, engage your audience, or refine your message, this session covers it all.

Dates:

📅 November 8th, 13pm CET (7am ET)

📅 December 13th, 13pm CET (7am ET)

PODCAST

Radical Candor CEO: Don’t Avoid The Tough Conversations

I do a podcast to help you become a top 1% communicator. Please subscribe on Apple or Spotify.

Positive feedback is easy. But if you’ve ever struggled with having tough conversations at work, this week’s episode of Speak Like a CEO is for you.

I’m joined by Jason Rosoff, CEO of Radical Candor, to discuss why radical candor – a balance of caring personally and challenging directly – is the key to creating a thriving workplace.

Jason shares how radical candor can prevent small issues from becoming big problems, create a feedback culture, and ultimately change your team’s dynamics for the better.

Tune in to learn how to be honest without destroying your relationships.

Listen on Spotify and Apple:

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BOOK

Selling With Stories

“A story is a tale of transformation” – that’s Matthew Dicks definition, and it has stuck with me. No transformation, no story.

In Dicks’ new book “Stories Sell: Storyworthy Strategies to Grow Your Business and Brand” the all-time champion storyteller presents a guide to using the power of storytelling for success in business of any type or size.

He shows that the basic principles of effective storytelling are universal, teachable, and more crucial than ever for business communication.

Jam-packed with Dicks’ own captivating stories, Stories Sell reveals the ingredients of a compelling story and demonstrates how they can be incorporated into persuasive marketing copy, face-to-face conversations, effective sales pitches, and presentations that people actually want to hear.

One of the best books on storytelling – hands down!
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Have an inspired weekend,

Oliver

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