My birthday is this week and it’s hard for me to believe that I started delivering public speaking program for academics (engineering, biotechnology, and medicine) in 1992 — over 20 years ago! When I first started all of the faculty and even the students were older than me, now, as much as it pains me to admit this, I am older than the postdocs and even sometimes even older than the faculty!
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I think I may need some brain training! Some mornings it feels like my body gets out of bed, but my brain slept in. I’ve gotten dressed with my shirt on backwards, I’ve worn two different shoes to delver a presentation (in my defense they were very similar), and I’ve forgotten to take my phone with me –so many times, I can’t count.
Listening is of the most important skills we need to develop as a leader. Accurate and careful listening to others and quiet, listening to ourselves. It’s funny we teach speaking skills, but we usually don’t actively teach listening skills, well at least most people don’t. In our house, listening was an emphasized skill.
Growing up, family dinners were the norm.
