The Art of Listening, CCSU Seniors Respond

I recently had the pleasure to address Professor David Fearon’s Business Degree Seniors at Central Connecticut State University about the challenges they will face entering the current job market. The subject of my discussion with them was “The Art of Listening” and how, with some tools and concepts to help them, they can be better prepared to meet the challenges of the current state of business. After the lecture, the students were asked questions about the subject and their interpretations, and was I pleasantly surprised by how well they responded and how much they seam to have gotten out of it. Below are some of the students responses to the questions. Overall, we should all feel confident in our next generation of leadership!

Q: Fathom is their chosen name. If you asked yourself weeks from now to bring up this firm’s name, what might it help you recall about deeply resonant songs of Woe and Go?

A: Fathom’s name is so catchy in that when you hear it, I can distinctly remember Brent standing up in front of the classroom explaining exactly what his company stands for and what they do for their clients. They have the ability to listen to their clients; “the ability to abandon what you know;” “Learned the ability to enter a conversation pure of heart.” Not to many companies can fathom that this is all their companies need, is for someone to listen to them, as Brent said today, many people don’t understand how one charges for his services because he doesn’t come up with the Songs of Go for his customers, he helps his customers get to the root of their own solutions; they co create solutions to the company’s problems.

Q: Brent is a composer, arranger, and orchestrator of memorable Songs of Go for Fathom’s business clients. What are qualities that you “fathomed” in them that you are finding in yourself, as you practice becoming a composer, arranger, and orchestrator of Songs of Go?

A: First and foremost I believe we need to be master listeners. We need to be able to sit down and listen to what our customers want. Do they need to change the entire flow of the hospital in order to have a better patient-to doctor and/or nurse relationship? What is going to make that flow better? How are they going to accomplish that? What are their problems now? These are all things one should be thinking about in your head, listening for your customer to unearth, waiting to get to the root cause of things. I also think that to be a great orchestrator and composer you need to be a great strategizer as well as very well organized.

Q: We tuned in on this main question: How and why does this extraordinary promise to go deep, deep, deeper into the Customer Song of Woe resonate with Fathom composers? What is the profitable difference this makes? What are your answers?

A: How and why go deep?: The deeper you go into the Customer’s Song of Woe, the more you unearth the underlying problems. This is when you start to hear the “Aha’s” and begin to get somewhere with the client. Along with unearthing things with the client, you start to learn pertinent information about the company that you are working with that helps you to be more knowledgeable about the company.

A: Profitable difference?: There will certainly be a profitable difference in digging down deep into the root cause of the company’s problems because you are essentially building the company back up from its roots. Creating a new strategy, story, bringing thought to the company.

Score # 2 – How do I dive deep? Doc is conducting this concert by insisting that we all have the potential and the creative reasons to dive deeply into some, not all, thinking we do as we witness a customer woe situation and, then, as we open up our imaginations to compose a resonant song.

Q: Easy for him to write these words, but how? How do we do this? What have we learned from Fathom’s business story and Brent that encourages (or discourages) us about this ability?

A: It was a little confusing when I first began to listen because it was slightly different than what we first started learning on how to listen to customers, but this concept I believe is easier to grasp. I even think this concept will be more effective and will sustain longer because you are not cutting off your customers by saying, “I have a solution to your woe while they are speaking,” and they are not able to lay all of the work on your shoulders to come up with a solution. The ability to dive deep, once mastered, is essentially listening to see exactly where a customer is, and once you have done that and narrowed down where they are in the spectrum, you can get that persons mindset to the future, just as we have learned today. We just need to remember that the solutions need to be co created or the solutions will not be sustained by the company.

Q: This is about hearing Songs of Woe with more time and care to hear a person’s nuances of need and solution. Can you give an example of how you could tune your mind from a simple, superficial note to a full, deep, rich chord of an idea?

A: This is very hard to leap into. I think as of right now we are all taking baby steps into giving examples of hearing Songs of Woe. As Brent stated today, the biggest challenge is finding out where your customer is on the spectrum. Is it a long wavelength between past and present or is it a short one. After listening to them, that is when you being to co create and move forward with a Go. The hardest part is not to say, “I have the perfect solution.” You have to listen to your customers and dig deep to bring thought out.
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Okay, so we follow Doc’s lead and the example of our Fathom guests and listen deep, deeper, deepest to customer Songs of Woe. So what? How could this make us better composers of Songs of Go?

What I got out of Brent’s visit to CCSU was the ability to listen. Brent explained that if you can listen, you can enter a conversation without the baggage and you can frame it into something. By listening, you can go deeper into the song of woe. This is a strategy that we, as business majors, need to understand and execute. Brent also discussed that a relationship begins with one organization trying to impress its customers. Then maturation starts to set in, and both parties begin to communicate and listen to each other. This is critical because by listening, one starts to dig deep. Finally, opportunities come to the surface. Brent also explained that there is no such thing as present. He stated that time can only be defined as the past and the future. In order to go deeper, you need to close the gap between the two. By communicating, and doing so, you can create music with each other. This results in a well-rounded song of go, one that both helps you, and the customer. In the end, as you continue to go deeper, you are more apt to defining the problem, and finding its roots. Once you are able to do this, a composer is more able to develop that song of go customer’s crave.
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Q: Fathom is their chosen name. If you asked yourself weeks from now to bring up this firm’s name, what might it help you recall about deeply resonant songs of Woe and Go?

A: It would help me recall to be a better listener. When it comes to songs of woe, you need to listen, and as Brent Robertson says, you have to be able to abandon what you know. You need to open your mind to help the other person see his or her own brilliance. Fathom serves as a prime example of a company this listens to its clients. I should follow their lead.

Q: Brent is a composer, arranger, and orchestrator of memorable Songs of Go for Fathom’s business clients. What are qualities that you “fathomed” in them that you are finding in yourself, as you practice becoming a composer, arranger, and orchestrator of Songs of Go?

A: Brent has a passion for his clients at Fathom. He also explained that there is always room for improvement and its critical that he and his team are innovative in order to achieve results. After listening to him, I realized that I am becoming more innovative. I am starting to think differently and am starting to become more willing to be creative. He stressed communication and I think it will help me to listen and communicate effectively. It will also mold me into a person who uses strategy in order to reach my goals.

Q: We tuned in on this main question: How and why does this extraordinary promise to go deep, deep, deeper into the Customer Song of Woe resonate with Fathom composers? What is the profitable difference this makes? What are your answers?

A: How and why go deep?: If you can dig deep into the song of woe, you can hear what the customer wants. Putting yourself in the shoes of the customer can benefit you in the long run. If you can go deep, and are willing to go deep, you can find the roots of the problem. When you get to the roots you can develop an innovative solution, one that will make beautiful music with the customer.

A: Profitable difference?: Customers and clients obviously want you to feel passionate about them. If they see this burning passion, you can see profits. In order for your company to be profitable, your customers want someone who is willing to solve their problems. By thinking creatively, customers will pay the price for your goods and services.

Score # 2 – How do I dive deep? Doc is conducting this concert by insisting that we all have the potential and the creative reasons to dive deeply into some, not all, thinking we do as we witness a customer woe situation and, then, as we open up our imaginations to compose a resonant song.

Q: Easy for him to write these words, but how? How do we do this? What have we learned from Fathom’s business story and Brent that encourages (or discourages) us about this ability?

A: From Fathom’s business story and Brent, we learn that we have to bring ideas to life. Once we are able to dig deep, both in regards to the problems, and ourselves, then we are on our way. Once we “dig deep,” we can bring out that song of go and bring it to life.

Q: This is about hearing Songs of Woe with more time and care to hear a person’s nuances of need and solution. Can you give an example of how you could tune your mind from a simple, superficial note to a full, deep, rich chord of an idea?

A: If you ever come across a situation where a customer complains, or sings a song of woe, you have to tune in. What I would do in order to dig deep, would be to put myself in the shoes of the customer. Once you feel what they feel, you are better suited to solve the problem. If you can feel like the customer, and feel that connection and compassion for and with the customer, then you can bring ideas to life in order to help them.

Written by: Brent Robertson

Email the author: brentr@fathom.net

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