Inspire and Influence through communication

What is the ingredient that allows us to inspire and influence others? For a start people have to want to listen to us in the first place.

We all have an assumption that actually people do want to listen to us. Think of the last time you were in a social situation. How much of the time were you listening to others verses talking yourself? How many times have you spent hours sharing your views, not taking a breath to listen to others?

Often we are so passionate about getting our view across we don’t even think about stopping for a moment and actually asking the other person a question. We also have a terrible habit of interrupting others as we are desperate to say the next thing with little true acknowledgment of the other person.

Think for a moment how do others really see you? Do you genuinely care about what others views are or are you more interested in getting your point across? Are you interested or curious in others? The most effective and influential people are NOT those that push their views and don’t take time to listen but those that are genuinely interested and curious in others. It is your genuine interest as well as the fact you actually care about the people that you are communicating with that makes the difference, not how much you can talk or how loud you can project your voice!!