9: Listening Through Discomfort: What’s Here for Me to Learn?

We’ve received some great feedback on our recent episode, Becoming A Deliberate Listener, where we spoke about the importance of listening and really being present with people. Today we’d like to take that conversation just a little deeper, and talk about the need to suspend judgment and focus on what we can learn from the person in front of us, even if we don’t agree. We explore examples of high profile individuals who have spoken out in a way that some find offensive and whether there is learning to be gained from those who make us uncomfortable. As always, we have more questions than answers and we’d love to hear your takeaways from this episode.

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In this episode you’ll hear:

An opportunity that we may be missing when we fail to suspend judgment or go on the defensive when in conversation with others [3:39]
The different aspects involved when you’re being triggered by something that is said to you [7:01]
AJ’s take on the motivation behind certain actions, and why some of these actions actually may not be intended to harm you [12:21]
The responsibility that leadership has to create an environment where all people feel comfortable [15:40]
Our responsibilities as individuals to recognize and address our own trigger points [17:15]
How biases come into play when one party is triggered [22:21]
Our biggest takeaways from the conversation on listening without judgment [23:49]