We’ve written about Happy Ears before. It’s what you get when you’re in a meeting, a pitch, or a one-on-one, and someone says something that you immediately know the answer to.
Your brain farts a super-smart reply before the person you’re with has had a chance to finish their train of thought.
Physically, it can manifest itself as nodding (mostly in agreement with your own brilliant thoughts), or involuntary mouth movements that show the other person that they need to be ready for your indispensable smarts. Or worse - both.
Stop! That’s big, flappy, happy ears folks. You’re closing down the art of good communication, and kicking it while it’s down.
It happened to me this week. I was in a meeting with an investor who told me something that I knew the answer to - and boy, did I know! I nodded, respectfully as he spoke, but I didn’t really listen. I was readying my reply.
If I had really listened, I would have picked up on the big nugget of gold he had thrown at me. But I didn’t hear what he said, so I didn’t see it. Luckily, we have a great relationship. He brought me to task on my Happy Ears a few sentences later…
”…you didn’t actually listen to what I just said”.
Ouch. If he hadn’t have pulled me up on it, this big insight would have slipped through the Zoom and out of my conscience forever.
We both laughed. Sort of.
If there’s one thing all of us at The Jolt wished we’d learned earlier, it’s the skill, art and power of really listening.
So take off your Happy Ears over the break, and see how it goes. Try it when you’re out for drinks. See if you can bite your wagging tongue and really listen. Every word. Every nuance. I’m going to!
We’ll close 2023 with a final thought…
…a meaningful and purposeful career is 100% within reach of everyone of us. Self-help books and motivational speakers might want to sell you the tricks, secrets and powers of the wildly successful, but when you dig into it, it’s mostly down to a handful of common sense skills that anyone can use.
And a little bit of luck.