I’ll tell you one of the most important & introspective lessons I’m learning: it’s listening to what people say. It’s a critical one that many of us find ourselves in the middle of when working on our personal improvement strategies.
While I’ve only really become aware of my own efforts to improve my listening abilities, I figured out that I’ve been subconsciously working on this for some time. Don’t know exactly what triggered it to come to the surface, but it did – and makes a great deal of sense.
What’s also interesting to me is the effort involved in learning this skill. It’s so at odds with how we’ve I’ve processed information when listening to others in the past. To actually absorb the real meaning, the underlying urgency, the true understanding is what I’m after. Whether it be a friend, coworker, or spouse it is crucial that we really understand what is being communicated.
It may be one of the most difficult things a person can undertake to improve their "soft" skills. It also will go a long way to help you reach your goals. Just like many other aspects of personal improvement, this skill is also critical to you if you’re working on your personal brand.
The ability to listen is a trait that people remember. This is an important piece of your reputation and is part of what makes up your brand. You want people to remember things about you, and having people remember that you listen to their requirements, listen to what’s important to them, listen to their concerns is a big one.
How else can we provide value to others when only a portion of what they’re talking about is listened to?
I mentioned at the beginning that this is a skill that I’m "learning" – I’ll never learn it all. I’m constantly finding out how to listen better, and I’d like to know your tips. What more is there to this – I’d love to hear from you. Do you have tips, stories, or examples of how to improve one’s ability to listen? I’m all ears. 😀
Sorry for being a day late, I ran out of time yesterday!
Today was the wrap-up of the main conference, as only the post-con sessions are left. It’s always kind of a let-down because you know that its almost over. Alright, there actually were several good sessions today. Here’s my recap.
Session one was The File Server Is Dead: Implementing Windows SharePoint Services Document Libraries with Dan Holme of Intelliem. Obviously, the main point of Document Libraries is to store documents from the Office Suite since Office 2003/2007 can publish directly to the DL. Other uses are searching documents, wikis, lists, RSS feeds, email notification, email publishing, collaboration, document visioning, the list can seem endless if you want to add 3rd party extensions. Very good session.
Session two called Goodbye RIS, Hello WDS presented by Jeremy Moskowitz of Moskowitz, Inc. covered Windows Deployment Services. Jeremy delivered a heck of a session diving into the differences of RIS to WDS, and how to leverage WDS for not only Vista and Longhorn, but also XP and 2003. Topics covered ranged from creating and managing boot images, to images, image groups, post install configuration, answer files, WinPE, BDD, and a smattering of useful tools for the enterprising admin.
After the coffee break, I went to Volume Activation 2.0 in Vista and Longhorn Server, hosted by Sean Deuby of Intel. A very interesting and very misunderstood feature of Windows Vista and Windows Longhorn is the activation schemes used by Microsoft. Sean demystified the process and the technology involved. There are several methods used for system activation and a good system architect will need to understand the needs of the business to decide on the best option. One learning from this – Volume Activation will be as important to your infrastructure as DHCP – prepare now. This was one very educational session, whether anyone wanted to hear it or not. Thanks Sean for delivering on a very difficult topic!
After the lunch break it was on to session four of the day. Cracking the DaVista Code: The Best Things You’re Not Using in Vista with Mark Minasi. This session delved into the hidden (or little-known) features of Windows Vista. Mark talked about things like the take ownership tool, elevated explorer, use of ALT in explorer, backup tools, using WinPE to backup systems to a network, tags & indexing, new built-in tools like RoboCopy, restoring missing UI features, new Windows Logo key shortcuts, resizing partitions, WAIK. All that and much, much more. If you ever get a chance to attend a Mark Minasi session – do it, he’s entertaining and educational. A hard combination to find in many seminars.
Finally, after another break, this time for ice cream :), it was the final session of the day (and main conference), the Q&A Closing Session. Here, all the speakers were available for any question (and many debates!) on attendee questions. As usual, there was several lively discussions on many topics, with much input from the presenters as well as the attendees because of so many ways business use technology, and simply perceive certain issues. Very fun!
Tomorrow is the post-conference session Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007 (MOSS) Web Content Management with Bob Mixon.
Update: Bob Mixon had broken his ankle earlier in the day and the session had to be canceled. I transferred in to a different session on IT Provisioning with Dan Holme – more tomorrow.
@MAC_Arms Pay taxes when you make your money, pay taxes when you spend your money, pay taxes when you successfully invest your money, pay taxes when you save enough taxed money to afford a house, pay taxes to live in your house, pay taxes when you sell the house that you paid taxes on to
Yup, taxes are criminal and we need serious reforms. I've always said that if you want to see a tax revolt, make withholdings illegal and have Americans write a tax check every payday. They'll revolt for sure. You don't miss what you never had.
Sen. @berniemoreno says voter ID and proof of citizenship are simply common sense.
“We’re talking about a very low threshold — identify who you are and prove you’re a U.S. citizen when you register to vote. I think we’re getting closer to
