Tom Peters in his over the top energetic way points out how doctors on average listen to their patients for 18 seconds before jumping in. He scolds the managers of the world for doing so too.
This makes me think of a “Friday Forum” at a company called Symmetrix. One of the muckety-mucks was on the floor describing to the audience some of the tricks of consulting. He said that listening is important. It is so important that “G-d gave you 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason … to listen twice as much as you speak.”
Listen, damn it.
Here is Tom on YouTube: