Leaders who excel know how to listen, they know how to listen before they speak.
One of the best pieces of advice my mum gave me is this, “you have two ears and one mouth, so listen twice as much as you speak.” To this day, I try to follow her advice – though I have to admit it is not always easy to follow this simple, yet profound, piece of advice.
How would you rate your listening skills?
To excel as a leader, it is crucial to ‘feel the pulse’ of those you are leading. What better way to do this than to listen to them. John C. Maxwell sums it up, âLeaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.â
One of my favourite quotes by Jim Rohn is, âThe challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humour, but without folly.â
A final word of advice from Peter Drucker, âThe first secret of effectiveness is to understand the people you work with so that you can make use of their strengths.â
To understand your team members you may have to take on the role of project psychologist, in addition to being the leader.
By Dayo Sowunmi II 
GAICD, M.Comp (Monash)
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