Empathic Listening Ability

 (Previously posted.)

There are certain people who have an ability to consistently stop me in my tracks and make me look upon them with a sense of awe and admiration. You see, I really admire ethical people who have a strong sense of fair play. It isn't always easy to determine the ethical choice in a given situation, and many times such things seem to be subjective. The study of ethics tells us that while it is not always easy to determine what is “right,” ethical behavior is not by any stretch of the imagination “just in the eye of the beholder.”

A second trait that really blows me away is when someone exhibits empathic listening ability. Empathic listening is the ability to understand another person from that person’s own internal frame of reference rather than from your own frame of reference. This level of listening can be so hard to reach, because most people naturally tend to tell, advise, agree, or disagree based on their own view, rather than really understanding what another person is saying and feeling.

It is a simple fact of life is that most folks are like sheep in that when left to their own devices, they will generally follow each other. (Someone else said that first, but I’m not sure who…)  So, girls and boys the moral of the story is, if you want to be an effective leader, learn how to utilize empathic listening to achieve a positive outcome, and don’t ever forget the importance of the ethical obligations that is (should be) inherent in learning to influence other people’s actions. If you are among those who wish to be led, then please do think about considering these qualities when deciding the type of person you will allow yourself to be led by.