1. Was this discussion different from the way you normally discuss contentious topics with other people? Why or why not? Being a good listener is a critical part of effective communication. Without it, you’re unlikely to be a good manager. Therefore, the purpose of this assignment is to help you develop your listening skills. And there’s no better way to do that than to talk to someone whose views are quite different from yours. In the best of situations, being a good listener is diffi cult. Because of perceptual fi lters, distractions, or daydreams, we retain only about 25 percent of what we hear. When we’re talking with people who have very different views and opinions, it can be almost impossible to be good listeners. We tend to interrupt, jump to conclusions about what they’ll say, and hurry them to fi nish their points (which we don’t want to listen to anyway) so that we can “correct” their thinking with our own opinions.

To complete this assignment, you’ll have to fi nd someone who has different views or opinions on some topic (handgun control, abortion, capital punishment, and euthanasia are just some of the topics on which you can always fi nd someone with a different viewpoint).

Once you’ve found someone, conduct a 10-minute listening session, following this simple rule: Before stating your opinion, you must fi rst accurately refl ect or paraphrase the statement that your listening partner just made (be sure to reread Subsection 3.2 on listening).