You can learn to be a better listener. Here’s how

Few Zoom calls have made me quite as self-conscious as my chat with Robert Biswas-Diener. An executive coach and psychologist, he recently coauthored a book on “radical listening.” Like many people, I’d assumed that I was a pretty good listener, but what if I’ve been doing it all wrong?

By the end of the conversation, my fears have been confirmed—of the half-dozen skills he describes, I demonstrate only half.

The good news is that we can all improve, and the advantages appear to be endless.

By lending a more attentive ear to the people we meet, we become better negotiators, collaborators, and managers, while enhancing our own mental health. “It can be an antidote to many problems,” says Biswas-Diener.

Better listeners = better on the job

Being a good listener is a lot more than stayin