April 15, 2013

The Power of Listening

Marlon Brando said one of the best things that I’ve heard about actors. He said, “An actor is a guy who if you ain’t talking about him he ain’t listening” — which has been my experience.

Listening is a critical component of acting, but from a business perspective there needs to be one step prior to great listening to be effective. You have to surround yourself with people who are better, smarter, more creative than you so you really have a full appreciation for the power of listening.

The secret for me is finding people who complement each other well, finding the right balance and then sitting at the center of them and absorbing their knowledge, their expertise, their talents, and just driving them forward and really being kind of an empty vessel for the larger talents of everyone who surround you and who really form the real structure of the organization.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Culture & Religion

Global Military Spending Down; First Time Since 1998

Unfortunately, it’s not because governments are getting along with each other: Deep cuts in American and European spending were balanced out by spending increases in China and Russia.