minds, metaphors and (ethical) manipulation
Posts tagged knowledge
Harnessing the power of your attention
Feb 6th
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I wonder if you realise just how valuable your attention can be? As Nancy Kline puts it: “The quality of your attention determines the quality of other people’s thinking.”
If you’re an expert in a particular subject, it’s easy to believe that people pay you for your expertise, your knowledge, your advice. But in fact there’s more to it than that – they may well prefer to pay for your expert attention.
- Yesterday I visited an expert in gait and gait-correction, hoping to resolve a nagging running injury. She paid full attention to the shape and movement of my feet and watched closely as I walked and ran up and down the corridor. But she paid no attention to me – she didn’t introduce herself, asked only closed questions, and actively discouraged conversation. I ended up thinking: “Can I really trust this woman to make intelligent recommendations for my body? She knows nothing about me or my life.”
- At a Learning Technologies exhibition recently, I led a friend over to a particular company’s stand, knowing that one More >
Quotes about listening
Aug 26th
“A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something.” Wilson Mizner
“Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery.” Dr Joyce Brothers
“Wisdom is the reward for a lifetime of listening … when you’d have preferred to talk.” D.J. Kaufman
“To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.” Francois de La Rochefoucauld
“Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble.” Frank Tyger
“You learn when you listen. You earn when you listen—not just money, but respect.” Harvey Mackay
“The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.” Ralph Nichols
“Bore, n.: A person who talks when you wish him to listen.” Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary
“One advantage of talking to yourself is that you know at least somebody’s listening.” Franklin P. Jones
“One friend, one person who is truly understanding, who takes the trouble to listen to us as we consider a problem, can change our whole outlook on the world.” Dr. E. H. Mayo
“There is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided More >
