You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters

• • Author: Kate Murphy

  • Summary: At work, we’re taught to lead the conversation. On social media, we shape our personal narratives. At parties, we talk over one another. So do our politicians. We’re not listening. And no one is listening to us.

Despite living in a world where technology allows constant digital communication and opportunities to connect, it seems no one is really listening or even knows how. And it’s making us lonelier, more isolated, and less tolerant than ever before. A listener by trade, New York Times contributor Kate Murphy wanted to know how we got here. In this always illuminating and often humorous deep dive, Murphy explains why we’re not listening, what it’s doing to us, and how we can reverse the trend. She makes accessible the psychology, neuroscience, and sociology of listening while also introducing us to some of the best listeners out there (including a CIA agent, focus group moderator, bartender, radio producer, and top furniture salesman). Equal parts cultural observation, scientific exploration, and rousing call to action that's full of practical advice, You're Not Listening is to listening what Susan Cain's Quiet was to introversion. It’s time to stop talking and start listening.

Listening Skills Training: How to Truly Listen, Understand, and Validate for Better and Deeper Connections (Communication Skills Training, Book 8)

• • Author: James Williams

  • Summary:Did you know that you could change the entire quality of your life just by focusing on one simple action you do every single day? You’ll progress quicker in your career. Your relationships with your coworkers, friends, lovers, and parents, and even with passing strangers, can improve dramatically. You can open your mind to learn new skills and information in a way you’ve never experienced before. What is this change? It’s the change of learning how to listen to others properly. Listening Skills Training: How to Truly Listen, Understand, and Validate for Better and Deeper Connections dives deep into the art of listening, a seemingly long-lost skill that so many of us have forgotten how to do properly, despite it being able to bring so many benefits into everyone’s lives. After all, there’s a reason the experts claim that the most important element of any successful relationship is being able to communicate properly. James will take you on a journey into the science and psychology that goes into listening while providing you with powerful, actionable tips so that you can develop the skill as fast and as effectively as possible.

Listening: The Forgotten Skill: A Self-Teaching Guide

• • Author: Madelyn Burley-Allen

  • Summary: A proven program for turning effective listening into a powerful business tool Managers and other employees spend more than 40percent of their time listening to other people but often do it so poorly that the result is misunderstood instructions, misdirected projects, and erroneous actions--millions of dollars' worth of mistakes just because most people don't know how to listen. In this new edition of her classic guide to the art of effective listening, Madelyn Burley-Allen shows you how to acquire active, productive listening skills and put them to work for you--professionally, socially, and personally. With her time-tested techniques, you'll learn how to:

    • Eliminate distractions and improve your concentration on what isbeing said

    • Locate key words, phrases, and ideas while listening

    • Cut through your own listening biases

    • Interpret body language clues

    • Ask constructive, nonthreatening questions that elicit realinformation

    • Get others to listen to you

    • Master a whole range of listening skills that you can use on the job and in your personal life