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THE POWER OF READING PEOPLE

Key Point: Active Listening Goes Beyond

Hearing and Into Feeling

By employing these analytical techniques, you cultivate

trust and gain valuable insights into the feelings, emotions,
thoughts, motivations, attitudes, and intentions that influence
someone’s verbal and nonverbal actions. You learn to identify
patterns in their thoughts and behaviors, as well as pinpoint
the beliefs, values, habits, and convictions that are especially
significant to them. Note that the objective is not to pass
judgment on one’s intentions, but rather to achieve a deeper

understanding of their point of view.

RECOGNIZE YOUR MOTIVES AND DRIVERS

Effective engagement involves taking a genuine interest in indi-
viduals and fully connecting with their unique behavioral styles. By
earning someone’s trust, you gain the ability to discern their under-
lying motives and drivers within your interactions with them. This

means recognizing the personal values and goals that propel them.
Understanding a person’s core values allows you to identify their
motivational drivers and encourage specific actions.

Consider a management scenario: If you understand that an em-
ployee like Schmitz prioritizes security and that the concept of
“safety” is crucial for him, you wouldn’t try to motivate him with
the promise of a risky change or the chance for creative experimen-

tation. That would likely cause anxiety rather than excitement.
Instead, you would frame the conversation around how a change

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