The Art of Listening

May 30, 2008 | blog, leadership

Listen To MeSometimes it’s good to just sit back and listen to the conversation around you. There are many voices out there, and many stories to be told by those voices. One of the best skills to have is the ability to listen.

It’s a hard skill to learn too. How often do we jump into a conversation, with the intent to add our experiences and perspectives? Its human nature to share, to participate, to interact. So it’s important to make sure that you take the time to listen to what people are saying.

The benefits of becoming a better listener are not simply limited to hearing what people have to say, it’s letting them to tell their stories in their own words. It’s the people and their stories that are important. Learning about them and what they need is how you can better offer services and products to them – if at all. After all, not everything we do, or service & products we offer are needed by everyone.

Taking the time to learn about people, their stories, their needs, concerns, and wishes help us build not only a better community, but a better understanding of what we can do to be a productive part of that community. All that can comes from listening.

Photo credit: JosephGilbert.org

Happiness CXCV

May 30, 2008 | happiness

Finishing an eight month consulting gig, knowing that you’ve accomplished what you set out to do.

Google’s Missing Sync: Contacts

May 29, 2008 | blog

Google Calendar Sync Ok, I’m quite happy that Google released a Google Calendar Sync tool for Microsoft Outlook.  Really happy.

Sure, I’m a Microsoft guy and have been for quite awhile.  Because of that I’ve got significant investments in money & time in the mainline business products, namely Windows, Office, and Windows Mobile.

On the flip side, I’ve moved a number of tasks and work that I do to web based systems.  GMail is obviously one of those, and earlier this year moved my calendar to GCal.

Since late March it’s been great to sync GCal with Outlook – works darn well.  Now, since I use GMail (and Google Hosted Domains), I need to have all my contacts there & up to date as well.  Also, there are dozens of contacts in GMail that I would like to sync to my Windows Mobile phone via ActiveSync.  Currently, there is no easy way to do that.

Nearly the same time that Google released it’s GCal-Outlook sync tool, it announced a Google Contacts Sync API.  I’m sure there are good things coming for everyone on nearly every platform for syncing Google Contacts with the major mail clients – at least I hope there is!

So Google, can you drop a few hints, or some info on plans to release a Google Contact Sync tool?  We’d be very grateful.

Happiness CXCIV

May 28, 2008 | happiness

Coffee is a wonderful thing. Good coffee, free coffee, warm coffee, cold coffee – any way you brew it, it stimulates the senses.

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