Are You Listening?
Published on August 25, 2014
We often are reminded of how important it is to listen. Statements like "we have one mouth and two ears so you should listen twice as often as we talk" are common place. Listening is not only polite and thoughtful, it's also potentially life changing. At a meeting I spoke at today the regional manager shared a story that changed his life. As a boy growing up in a small town in India he was told again and again that it didn't matter if you went to school or not you would still end up as a farmer and broke. Considering this he decided to drop out if school and just play soccer. One day a gentleman who lived in the area stopped him and asked why he was not in school. When he told him about the belief he would be poor and a farmer anyway the man replied. "The others are wrong. Never listen to them. You are the only one you should listen to". The man who told him that passed away last year. Here he stood telling the story, on the other side of the world as a business leader a million miles away from the lies the world told him about what was not possible. I asked him later what would have happened if he was not told by that all those
years ago. Very matter of factly he replied. "I would be a poor farmer". A very powerful and a very real story of a very normal little boy who heard the words of support given to him all those years ago. Here is what this all means I guess. The voices are there for us all. The voices we need. The voices that can change our lives. Just ask this question. "Are you listening?" Have an excellent day.
Randy Taylor
