Competitive humility
A new edition of a book restates the idea of listening as a tool for learning and growing culture as a priority (including business)
It’s important to listen: to ask and not to tell, listening to learn, humility and therefore to grow. It’s no less true for those “in charge”, and consequently for businesspeople and managers who truly want to inhabit their role. Nonetheless, it’s an attitude that doesn’t always come naturally, which is often actually easier to forget than to remember. It’s a question of culture (also of business). All this makes it important to read the revised edition of Humble Inquiry: the gentle art of asking instead of telling, jointly written by Edgar H. Schein and Peter A. Schein and just published in Italy as L’arte di far domande. Quando ascoltare è meglio che parlare.
From the perspective of companies and corporate existence, but also of the economy and civil life, the premise to start from is simple: it can be difficult for a manager to recognise their dependence on co-workers and colleagues, to understand that they don’t only need to know how to direct, give instructions and express values, but also understand when it’s time to ask and listen with humility. But that’s not all, because you can even go so far as to say that an ability to listen may be the most important thing you need to learn: it’s the only way to increase your knowledge and build strong, valuable relationships, to acquire the building blocks for developing your business the right way – to become complete as a leader.
The book from the Scheins is a guide to listening that starts from the concept of humility and makes it the cornerstone of a powerful capacity for management. A good part of the book develops around this very concept of humility. It starts with a response to the question of the true meaning of “humble inquiry” and continues with reflections on the distinction between “telling decisively” and “asking humbly” before exploring the dynamics of a conversation, thus seeking to understand how to develop an attitude of listening in the workplace but also beyond. Their book sets a series of practical cases and genuine listening “exercises” that are an integral part of its lesson alongside the theory.
Edgar Schein and Peter Schein’s book should be read carefully, a book capable of changing and enriching the culture of a business that truly wants to promote development. So humility actually stimulates competitiveness, as a good passage from very early in the book states: “Our cultural stereotypes keep pushing us in the wrong direction, leading us to believe we know the answer and that it’s appropriate to ‘sell’ it as the truth.”
L’arte di far domande. Quando ascoltare è meglio che parlare
Edgar H. Schein & Peter A. Schein
Guerini Next, 2024
A new edition of a book restates the idea of listening as a tool for learning and growing culture as a priority (including business)
It’s important to listen: to ask and not to tell, listening to learn, humility and therefore to grow. It’s no less true for those “in charge”, and consequently for businesspeople and managers who truly want to inhabit their role. Nonetheless, it’s an attitude that doesn’t always come naturally, which is often actually easier to forget than to remember. It’s a question of culture (also of business). All this makes it important to read the revised edition of Humble Inquiry: the gentle art of asking instead of telling, jointly written by Edgar H. Schein and Peter A. Schein and just published in Italy as L’arte di far domande. Quando ascoltare è meglio che parlare.
From the perspective of companies and corporate existence, but also of the economy and civil life, the premise to start from is simple: it can be difficult for a manager to recognise their dependence on co-workers and colleagues, to understand that they don’t only need to know how to direct, give instructions and express values, but also understand when it’s time to ask and listen with humility. But that’s not all, because you can even go so far as to say that an ability to listen may be the most important thing you need to learn: it’s the only way to increase your knowledge and build strong, valuable relationships, to acquire the building blocks for developing your business the right way – to become complete as a leader.
The book from the Scheins is a guide to listening that starts from the concept of humility and makes it the cornerstone of a powerful capacity for management. A good part of the book develops around this very concept of humility. It starts with a response to the question of the true meaning of “humble inquiry” and continues with reflections on the distinction between “telling decisively” and “asking humbly” before exploring the dynamics of a conversation, thus seeking to understand how to develop an attitude of listening in the workplace but also beyond. Their book sets a series of practical cases and genuine listening “exercises” that are an integral part of its lesson alongside the theory.
Edgar Schein and Peter Schein’s book should be read carefully, a book capable of changing and enriching the culture of a business that truly wants to promote development. So humility actually stimulates competitiveness, as a good passage from very early in the book states: “Our cultural stereotypes keep pushing us in the wrong direction, leading us to believe we know the answer and that it’s appropriate to ‘sell’ it as the truth.”
L’arte di far domande. Quando ascoltare è meglio che parlare
Edgar H. Schein & Peter A. Schein
Guerini Next, 2024