it's amazing what you hear when you take the time to listen

I used to think, when I was young, that to be a good doctor, you have to be a good listener (from the time I was five, I wanted to be a doctor). Then, when I got my first job, I learned that to be a good gymnastics coach, you have to be a good listener. When I came to college, I learned that to be a good public servant, you have to be a good listener. And now, when I design products, I absolutely know that to be a good designer you have to be a really good listener.

The moral life, the life that transforms lives, begins in the ear, in the act of listening.
                                - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, To Heal A Fractured World

If you want to design the kinds of things that remove shackles, that empower people, that transform people's lives, you have to start in the ear - with the act of listening.

We pay lip service to listening. We all know how important it is, but we don't always do it. We get too busy; we want to make our points; we want to win our arguments. Listening solves problems. It creates white space. It fosters creativity.

Here's a video I took in Decatur Square last weekend (in 75-degree March weather). It's amazing what you'll hear when you just take the time - no iPod, no text messages, no notepads, no agenda - to listen.