Listening to Learn
Learn, Be Curious, and Listen. Last week I spent time at the AWS Public Sector Summit in Washington, DC with one goal: to observe how people interact — myself included.Moving from partner booth to partner booth, I noticed a pattern.Lots of talking about features and benefits. Very few questions anchored in the prospect's actual needs — short term or long term. Plenty of pitching. Not a lot of listening to learn and understand.And here's the humbling part: I caught myself doing it too.
We spend 45% of our communication time listening. It's also the skill we practice least.In a world of hybrid teams, AI-drafted emails, and conference floors full of polished pitches, the ability to truly connect with another human being has never been more valuable — or more rare. Technical skills may get you in the room, but communication is what moves people, builds trust, and drives results.It's a challenge
I've spent a lot of time thinking about — and here are a few principles from a workshop that I lead that can shift any conversation from pitching to connecting:
🌱 Embracing a Growth Mindset — reframing how you approach challenge, effort, and feedback. "I can't do this" becomes "I can't do this yet."
👂 The Power of Listening — moving from listening to reply toward listening to understand. Imagine how different those booth conversations would be if they started with curiosity instead of a pitch.
🧭 Exploring Communication Styles — diagnosing whether you're an Amiable, Expressive, Analytic, or Driver, and learning to flex your style to meet others where they are.
The most successful people I've worked with aren't necessarily the smartest in the room. They're the ones who ask about needs before presenting solutions, read the person in front of them, and make others feel genuinely heard.Those aren't soft skills. They're power skills — and they can be developed.Interested in bringing Communicate with Impact to your team? Send me a message — I'd love to talk. And I promise to do more listening than talking. russell@talentself.com
