Help Me With Questions

Ed Batista has a wonderful post today on asking questions. 

It’s easy to forget in our age of fast marketing and quick hit wonders, that asking questions implies you have a desire to listen.  I once read a column by Marshall Goldsmith where he put a couple of individuals to the test on listening.  Basically, he asked them to be silent for thirty seconds and not think about anything.  As you would imagine, it was a difficult test to pass.  But it revealed how effective they would be at listening to another human being without being distracted by a competing set of agendas.

I believe you must examine your heart motivation to determine whether you’re truly listening. Leadership development, career development, and people development flow from this river.  If this quarter’s numbers are all you care about (your choice, good or bad), then either tell the speaker its not a good time.  Anything less is counter-genuine.

The idea is to be authentic in the moment, your speaker expects that of you.