The Sage Leader Listens From Within

There has traditionally been a lot of talk and development about leaders developing good listening skills. It's seems obvious and basic that this a requisite skill for a leader to be effective - to listen to their constituents in order to best meet their needs. It's necessary to listen to your customers, to listen to your peers, partners, suppliers, and employees.But first, and foremost, you need to listen to yourself - that inner voice that is constantly in the background. What is it saying? Is it a constant chatter, a chaos of noise, or a focused subtle drumbeat? We all have our inner voice - critic, partner, confidant.

Our "inner" constituent is our most important one. Unless we exercise tools and strategies to pay attention to what it is saying and quiet it, pay attention to it and/or direct it, we can never be fully present and able to listen to those constituents in front of us.Just for today, take a deep breath in, count to 10, and exhale to a count of 10. Do this 3 times.  You have just created space in your head and in your day. What did you hear?

To help with understanding your inner voice, I highly recommend The Voice of Knowledge by Don Miguel Ruiz.