Traditional wisdom has this all wrong.

It’s not what you can do, it is how you can get others to make you more effective.

The key tool is to be skilled at being a good listener.

Few people are good listeners in this age of self-promotion and social media.

Think about it – we want to help people who listen to us sincerely, we want to help them because they make us feel good and worthwhile.

Thousands of books have been written about the more effective this and the more effective that but the simple solution is to hone your listening skills and apply them without an agenda.