On Leadership, Listening and Leaving an Imprint

As humans we are always learning, adapting and evolving — finding better ways to communicate, collaborate, and connect on a deeper level with the people around us! A statement I made in a recent article I posted.

As I thought about this more, I realized what I always believed to be obvious is unfortunately, not the norm as I would soon come to find out.

It Starts with Listening

Be yourself, be who you are, be more than just available to others — take time to learn more about the people you spend time with every day. It starts with listening!

The outcome of the story I’m about to tell helped me realize that what I was doing instinctively my whole career was not only impactful, but it left an imprint on people — so much so that today I can still connect with my friends and colleagues months and years later, and it’s like time stood still. We just picked up where we left off.

It's Who I am

The heart of who I am as a human, a dad, a brother, a son, and a leader is to work with. For me it has always been Instinctive to genuinely learning more about the people we spend the most time with in our lives. It builds strong relationships, and the learnings translate into a deeper understanding of who they are, which in turn helps you take care of their needs.

This is just who I am — I’ve always been this way. So here’s the story that made me realize the impact I was having.

The Story

I had just started a new job running a global product team, and on the first day in the office I was meeting my directs. Steve walks in, sits down, and opens up his laptop prepared to give me the complete rundown of everything he is working on. I stopped him midstream and said, “Steve, close your laptop. What I would really like to do is get to know you as a person — what your favorite hobby is, what kind of music and movies you like, and anything else you’re comfortable sharing.”

I did the same for him, and the rest is history, as they say. The eye-opening and heartbreaking part of this story is that a month later he came back to my office to share with me that in his entire career nobody had ever taken an interest in him as a human being — they never put me first; it was only about the work.

The Realization

The most important piece of this story in my mind is listening to their story first, then sharing your story — because connecting on another level doesn’t happen unless you are you and you express genuine care. And that can’t happen effectively without putting others first.

When you build and establish relationships in this manner, it is the ultimate compliment when you learn that you have left a lasting, but genuine imprint with these humans — and if you are fortunate, the same thing happens in return.