BLOG

Life skills for the entrepreneur – listening and taking notes

by Rajesh Nair

We spend time to learn from the ‘My stories’ of great entrepreneurs. Often what we take away is the ‘romantic’ tryst they had with their ventures, the thrilling ups and downs they faced in the business scenario and the stupendous success, especially from when it is a ‘rags to riches’ story. They are all often true and that is the essence of celebrating entrepreneurship. But what we miss is some of the other habits of the entrepreneur which got her or him thus far. And in this array of habits  lie two non-glitzy and less alluring ones – listening and taking notes.

On listening: It is a silent truth is that one of the key aspects of persuasion is the ability to listen and understand. This is often neglected when we rate articulation much higher than listening and as they say – We refuse to put listening on the same pedestal as ‘speaking well’.  One of the most undervalued of skills, it is also still in an nascent state as a business competency. As an entrepreneur, our minds perceive that the biggest challenge is to explain our idea, product or service to others. It needs to be mentally reinforced that our pitches become much more refined when we listen to the stakeholders around and their questions. It could be the insightful suggestion of a junior team member, an acerbic comment of a customer, the pointed query of an investor – all of them help you build your repertoire of responses. We are also driven by the need to feel that what we hear confirms to our beliefs and ideas what Dan Kanhemann calls the ‘confirmation bias’.

On taking notes: I normally tell my junior colleagues and the young entrepreneurs who meet us – “Take notes, as if your life depends on it”. Your memory is cluttered by a zillion ‘to dos’ related to work and your personal life.  Every interaction with a business stakeholder becomes a failed opportunity if one cannot take a set of actions and benefit from the interaction, if we just forget what we heard and talked about. You would also be surprised when we take notes and capture important points verbatim. On reminiscing on reading the notes later, we tend to get better and different insights too. It is also useful to understand and learn from presenters who lack the showmanship on a podium and the art of modulated and forceful speeches.

We are all inclined to listen and learn selectively. Listening and taking notes helps us neutralise our biases and get insights to take course corrections and make intuitive resolutions. But the best part of both these skills is the ease with which you can cultivate them. You can see the positive changes in an instant with a conscious first step. So, all young and old , existing and potential entrepreneurs, start listening and taking notes.