Listening well would seem like something natural to us, what with the two ears and all. But if your habits are anything like mine, you know how easy it is to listen instead with the intention of speaking or solving rather than with a genuine desire to understand what the other person is trying to say.
Three books on this subject have changed my understanding of the unnaturalness of asking meaningful questions and the power of applying particular methods to listening and not just hearing, and thereby to opening paths to a deeper understanding. More to the point, these books have become my guides for seeking perhaps the most seminal element of communications work: uncovering the heart of institutions—who they are, what they really stand for, and how they should express it. The three books are:
Humble Inquiry, by Edgar Schein
A More Beautiful Question, by Warren Berger
Six Thinking Hats, by Edward de Bono
In their combined 450 pages, I’ve found a blend of wisdom and methodology that has changed how I work and, actually, how I try to think in life and professional service.
Schein starts from the presumption that “humble inquiry” is fundamental to being a good human. Berger takes it a step further, showing how good questions lead to creativity and institutional productivity of extraordinary kinds. And de Bono adds to these contributions a methodology for dividing up our entangled ways of thinking about tough problems and turning listening into a deliberate management tool.
In three ensuing blog posts, I’ll share more on each of these three books and explain why they’re so crucial and worth reading.