My wife accuses me of not listening to her. She is correct at times. Occasionally, I listen and pay attention, and cannot repeat what she just said. I would like to claim this is due to hearing impairment or memory loss. I’ve done this for fifty years.

Today, I would like to emphasize this word in the business community. I spent over forty years in business on both sides of phone calls and both sides of desks. I hate to tell you the times that I have had to repeat myself because someone was not paying attention.

I dislike wasting time. Telling someone something and then being asked about that same thing later is insulting and aggravating. I am sure that I will do this for some of you. We should all try a little harder to avoid this problem.

I was once told I was the best Customer Service Representative (CSR) in my region. That was not my job title. I was the operations manager for my branch. At that time, I had been doing the branch manager’s job for at least a year without extra pay or acknowledgement.

As a branch manager, you are expected to be an outside salesman. I performed this job function for three years before I returned as the office manager for over ten years, at that time. I had three years’ experience, and she had virtually none. I tried to convey this to my boss, but he did not want to listen to what I had to say.

Another way is that some listen to you but do not respond favorably to your suggestions. They may even tell you it is not a good idea. When your suggestion is implemented, you discover that the person who said it was not worthwhile has taken the credit.

Years ago, I read a book called “The Peter Principle,” which promoted the idea that most companies promoted employees beyond their capabilities and terminated them when they failed. The problem I saw with Dr. Peter’s concept was that I had worked for more upper managers who were kept even after they showed their incompetence.

The higher officers gave the tasks these people could not accomplish to underlings and seldom paid them the money the added responsibilities should have demanded. To me, this was more of a problem than the fact that incompetence brought termination. That is a problem that could be rectified by listening.

Failing to advance those who show competence is also a listening problem. These lower workers tell others that they can do the more difficult tasks. The big bosses do not want to admit the mistakes they made. If they promote someone else, then those folks might eventually take their positions.

Keep your ears open and pay attention to everyone and what they want out of life. The mistakes that others make are not a reason for you to follow their example, but the motivation for us to prove we are better and will continue to listen.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger