It would change the world if the person, whoever it might be, at the listening end of the conversation…actually listened.

Listening is hard. It’s very difficult to remove our egos and preconceptions out of the conversation. Whatever that conversation might be.

My wife was upset this morning (it takes a lot for that to happen) about a situation that has been going on with various gas companies for years. She’s very persevering, far more than I would be with this kind of thing, and I even get stressed watching from the outside.

It’s a ridiculously simple thing too, but it’s still not sorted, simply because of a lack of listening. And that’s not just in regard to the many people who answer the phone when Ineke rings. It’s even more the lack of listening on the part of those who set up the systems in the first place.

You will have experienced all of this at some point, I’m sure.

I tried to listen to my wife too, when she got upset this morning. And then I thought I’d try and help her look at the situation differently. But in her words “thanks for trying, but it’s not helping”.

It’s Hard To Listen well.