Girl Scouts, cookies, and listening: 4 reasons they can improve your leadership

Peanut Butter Patties. 

The Girls Scouts is a beloved organization that has had a positive impact on the culture of the United States for over a century. If I were being sarcastic, I’d list their Peanut Butter Patty cookies as their greatest contribution. I won’t be sarcastic and I still think that might be their finest offering. Those cookies are amazing! There was a time when the future of the Girls Scouts was bleak. The organization was poorly led, the vision was poorly cast, and the culture was poorly maintained. Frances Hesselbein assumed control of the struggling organization and for 13 years she reinvigorated it, empowered tens of thousands of young ladies, and impacted large portions of America as a result. 

Frances has been awarded 17 honorary degrees and tacked on the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. Marshal Goldsmith, New York Times best-selling author, said, 'Frances has a lot of leadership qualities but she is the best in the world at one particular skill - she is a world-class listener.’ Peter Drucker, one of the great management thought leaders of all time, claimed that Frances was the finest executive he ever interacted with. All of this praise was prompted by how well Frances Hesselbein listened to others, and as a result always seemed to respond in the most well-thought and applicable ways. She was able to glean the most important details that needed to be attended to because she listened intently to others. 

Here are a few ways you can do that, but for this post here are four reasons why you should want to improve your listening skills so that you can improve as a leader. 

Improve your listening skill to INCREASE RESPECT - Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that men are respectable only as they respect others. Leaders demonstrate respect for others by listening to them, and in return are respected. 

Improve your listening skill to INCREASE INSPIRATION - It has been said good leaders make you feel good about who they are, and great leaders make you feel great about who you are. Have you ever been around someone that made you feel great about who you were? It is inspiring isn’t it? What better way is there to inspire someone about who they are and the potential they have than by listening to them well? 

Improve your listening skill to INCREASE PERFORMANCE - Listening leaders ignite a reciprocal curiosity. The curiosity the leader demonstrates by listening to others inspires others to be curious about how they can also improve. Kobe Bryant, who passed tragically in an accident, was an all-time great basketball player who was known for his feverish work ethic. Kobe’s own testimony was that his work ethic and passion to get better were fueled by a fiery competitive spirit and fascinating curiosity for his work. ‘I know I really annoyed a lot of people when I was younger because I asked so many questions, but getting better was so important to me that I had to ask questions.’  Leaders that want to ignite curiosity that improves performance of others begin by listening well to others. 

Improve your listening skill to INCREASE KNOWLEDGE - Study any social scientist or leadership expert today and they will address the fact that we no longer live in an industrial economy. We now live in a knowledge economy and with this new age comes a new reality that we all must be increasing our knowledge in order to keep pace with a fast-changing world. Listening well allows a leader to increase their knowledge and therefore increase their effectiveness. 

I would expand the importance of increasing listening skills to cover pretty much any position of influence. Want to be a better friend, spouse, parent, professional, or community member? Start where few would. Start by listening well. 

Bonus content: Here are some suggestion to go deeper into this topic. 

1. ‘What Got You Here Won’t Get You There’ by Marshal Goldsmith. 

2. ‘The First 90 Days’ by Michael D. Watkins. 

3. ‘The Coaching Habit’ by Michael Stangier. 

4. 'The Six Elements of Effective Listening' by Harold Hillman and Alex Waddell. 

5. ‘The Future Leader’ by Jacob Morgan

Keep on, keepin’ on, friends! 

‘Bite Down and Don’t Let Go’ is a collection of writings on being intentional about life in a way that produces great persistence. Read about it more here.

Dr. Chris Hobbs is an educational leader with more than two decades of experience. He’s earned a few degrees and won some awards. He’s happily married to his high school sweetheart and they have three teen age children. Life is messy and complicated most of the time. You can follow him on Twitter for all sorts of inspirational thoughts and good laughs.