Let’s say you want to do a better job of listening. It’s possible that a coach can explain to you how to be a better listener. The advice will be true, supportable, and impossible to dispute. But it will be generic. It’s much better to ask the people around you, “What are some ways I can do a better job of listening to you?” They’ll give you specific, concrete ideas that relate to them—how they perceive you as a listener—not the vague ideas a coach would give. They may not be experts on the topic of listening, but at that moment in time, they actually know more about how you listen, or don’t,
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