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James T. Scarnat iBeyond technicalcompetence: learning
to listenCareer DevelopmentInternational3/ 2 [1998] 7981
brief. The l istening gap r esults in l isteners
for getting up to 75 percen t of wha t they hea rd
within a 24 hour period. Listening is a com-
plex skill that m ust be given constant a t ten-
t ion if we are to master th e skil l and assu me
the label of leader.
List ening, an essential customerskill
In th e futur e, The su ccessful leader wil l have
not the loudest voice, but th e readiest ear
(Bennis,1993). Em path etic, active, and inter -
ested l istening is a key to success. Empathy
mean s l istening from the other persons point
of view and a ctive l istening m eans being
involved in the listen ing process. This is
highly recognized but not u niversally valued
by all levels of our society.
The busin ess world al locates a vast am ount
of finan cial and hum an r esources for l isten-
ing to customers. Marketing firm s are contin-
ually conducting customer sur veys and opin-
ion polls in the hope of identifying futur e
needs and pu blic trends. Listening to the
customer and t ra nsla t ing what i s heard in to
an action plan is a m ark of a successful orga-
nization . The customer s point of view is the
only point of view if success is to be achieved.
The pu blic sector m ay believe it has differentpar ameter s,
but in fact , i t does not . Public
officials must work even ha rder at l istening
than their pr ivate industr y colleagues.
Our society is in a constan t state of flux an d
leaders mu st learn to l isten closely to the
changing needs of their customers. Adminis-
tra tors should heed Tom Peters as he pro-
vides a special note about l istening:First am ong equals is l
istening to
customers , wi th an ear to th e i r prac t ica l,
application-oriented needs . Since it mu st
be pra cticed if we are to sur vive, i t will
become a m indset an d a way of l ife for every-
on e or els e (Peter s, 1987).
His message is relevant and m ust be
ingra ined in every adm inistra tor. Ross Perot
reinforces the m essage on how to posture for
the fu ture
The w atchword w ill be: Listen, l isten,
listen to the customers an d the people who
ar e actu ally doin g the wor k (Perot, 1988).
It doesnt cost a cent to listen an d while in th e
process of listening the outcome may be
learn ing something that wil l impr ove the
product or the or ganization. Ignore your
customers and you ignore your bu siness. If
you do not l isten an d are n ot responsive to
custom ers needs, someon e else will quickly
fill the void. The voice of the cu stomer in both
the private sector a nd the pu blic sector m ust
be the center of your un iverse.
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