Having the courage to listen comes from a famous quote from Winston Churchill. “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” In preparation for the SALESTRONG ‘War Rooms’ seminar at the Cabinet War Rooms in London, we’re looking at a selection of quotes by Churchill and what sales people today can take from them.
There are two primary elements to the quote, firstly about the courage to speak and secondly about the courage listen.
Courage to Speak
Let’s look at courage to stand up and speak first. Churchill does not just refer to speaking, but standing up to speak. This implies either speaking in public or standing up for a cause. Sales people need to be able to communicate the value that they create and this is often done in a presentation to a number of stakeholders. We often hear the quote that many people would rather die than speak in public, and we notice a level of reluctance when people come to our ‘Communicate Value’ courses. Many are reluctant to speak or present in front of their colleagues. Those who are reluctant to deliver a presentation to the room frequently say that they don’t do this as part of their job and that they always sit down when presenting. So it does take courage to stand up and speak, especially in front of your colleagues. What we find is that if you are well prepared and have some great insights for the audience, your fears will be reduced.
It’s More Difficult to Listen than We Think
Most people know that it takes courage to stand up in public and speak. But it is not so intuitive why it should take courage to sit down and listen. So let’s look at the courage to listen. We all know we should listen. Not just as sales people but as human beings. Being able to listen is part of your emotional intelligence that allows you to connect with other people. But being able to listen is harder to master than most people think. When we run activities on listening on our sales manager coaching courses, it becomes obvious that people are think they are good at listening when in fact they are not. Many people are not listening but rather waiting for someone to stop talking, so they can start talking. So it is difficult to sit down and listen, more so than most people think.
Courage to Listen
But Churchill does not say it’s difficult to listen, he says that it requires courage to listen. What he could be saying here is that we need to fight the internal desire to give our view across, so that we can hear the view of the counterparty. This is particularly true in negotiations where you’re anxious to get your point across. But listening to the counterparty could help you to build value instead of trying to claim value at the expense of the counter party.
What’s your view of this Churchill quote, “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”?
About the War Rooms: experience the Churchill War Rooms with Salestrong and enjoy expert speakers on sales transformation and leadership. After the speakers you can discover the stories hidden beneath the streets of Westminster in the Cabinet War Rooms. Explore the underground bunker that protected the staff and secrets at the heart of Britain’s government during the Second World War as Churchill and his inner circle plotted the route to allied victory.
