Today I tried this new feature (new for me anyway) called Quickpost – you open a website and if you find it interesting, jump to the Quickpost website and it automatically generates a blog entry with the title and the hyperlink for that website. All I have to fill in is the additional comment so here I write.
In thirty minutes I will have this weekly conference call which I still don’t get used to after three weeks. I am a rather slow starter regarding the conversation – listen, listen, listen, comment, listen, listen, comment, listen, comment & speech, listen, comment & speech & rant & shout.
After a while I realize everybody else but I get turned off. I assume I have to listen more carefully and the next time one more listening period is added..
But maybe that’s actually backfiring. Maybe I am not getting a better listener, just getting better at squeezing my energy into the listening mode, while compressing my speaking desire to the limit. So in the long run I will end up like this: listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, speech, rant, rant, rant, shout, disgusted, disgusted.
How can I take a more balanced way of communicating? One key might be in learning how to start conversation with a natural flow. One of the reason I keep listening is I need to feel the air and read between the lines, or I think I need to do that. Catch the wave!
Hm, this conclusion is as encouraging as our prime minister’s rants on changing our constitution or sending our troops to Iraq. Or the those pseudo-psychiatrists who appear in the TV saying “Build your self-esteem” to the depressing middle-aged men who are about to throw themselves into the commuting trains.
Thank you Jeff, for sharing your accumulated insight. I do not believe anybody saying he or she is doing something entirely for others. Your comment, ” create value for others in order to continue doing what I want to do” – affected me in a deep way, even though it doesn’t sound “high”. That selfishness (kind of) is an inevitable part of being a real human and it gives us joy as well as sadness.
If we look into value creation from this perspective, I start to see why it’s so messy and complicated – everybody has their own image of value. Maybe the right question was “Why do we need to create value?” – then it becomes warmer, I guess.
Hi Isao,
I just saw your blog and thought I’d add my comments. I’m not sure there is a universal answer to the question of what it means to create value. In my opinion, value exists or does not exist in the “eyes of the beholder”. It is a very personal thing. Therefore, I don’t think the concept of value creation lends itself to a simple common answer. It is messy, complex and extremely subjective.
I am a serial entrepreneur. I like to pull resources and smart people with lots of initiative together to create new ventures. I enjoy working with these people toward a common goal and find this extremely rewarding (professionally, intellectually, and sometimes, financially). I view this as value creation from a very selfish viewpoint. Luckily, other people seem to value this as well, and I am therefore, able to continue doing this. In my case, I guess it is true to say that I create value for others in order to continue doing what I want to do.
Jeff