We’ll explore our capacity to really listen, inquire into what’s standing in its way, and practice the art of deep or active listening. Listening is a crucial yet highly underestimated skill, and perhaps the key to better communication.

As Kate Murphy puts it in her book ‘You’re not listening. What you’re missing and why it matters’: “Done well and with deliberation, listening can transform your understanding of the people and the world around you … It is how you develop wisdom and form meaningful relationships.”

However, though we have debate clubs, pitch courses, and communication seminars, listening is generally not trained. And while we applaud great speaking, there’s often little appreciation for the art of listening.

Series

This Cafe is the first in a three-part series in which we’ll be ‘conversing about our conversations’. That is, rather than focusing on any particular topic, the what of our conversations, we’ll explore how we engage in conversations. We’ll reflect on our conversational habits, and create the conditions for more meaningful dialogue.

Though part of a series, each of these Worldview Cafes can be separately attended.

In this series we’ll engage our conversations from three major vantage points: exploring the articulation (speech) of our subjective perspective; listening for a shared, intersubjective story; and witnessing to cultivate a neutral, objective view.