Listen and Hear - It Matters

A well-respected and admired local news anchor here in the Tampa area recently committed suicide. The coverage has been touching to say the least. But Steve Otto's column about this tragedy in the Tampa Tribune this morning contained some very wise words for all of us. He wrote:

"Sometimes I think we only let others speak in order to catch our own breath and get on with what we want to say when there is a pause.
It wouldn't hurt to actually listen to what people are saying and then think about what it is they said before continuing with whatever it was we were talking about."

I will be reminding myself of this in both my personal and business communications because I think it's an easy habit to fall into and we end up missing out in many ways.