Do You Exercise Inclusive Listening?
- Author: Heather R Younger
Read the news article
I had a recent team meeting where I brought our Caring Leadership coaches together to discuss an idea regarding the community. The call ended up going in an entirely different direction, but ended up in an amazing place. As the conversation grew, many strong opinions came forth on all sides, but I trusted each of them individually to carry everything out well. Could the call have flown off the rails?
Sure. But because I was open to hearing all of these different opinions. I was practicing an essential part of caring leadership: inclusive listening. Having the willingness to hear from diverse voices and accept dissenting opinions not only supported my team to continue their conversation in an authentic way, but also allowed each participant to be and feel heard. Inclusive listening can apply to all areas of your life.
It’s an ongoing skill that you can constantly improve, especially when it comes to leadership. Here are a few ways to do that: Don’t Just Listen; ACT! As diversity grows around you, in the workplace or otherwise, you’ll likely find yourself coming to head with personalities you haven’t encountered before.
Article written by: Heather R younger who is a diversity & inclusion, Customer Experience speaker from Denver, CO
Contact us at Speakers Inc and follow us on LinkedIn
Further articles you may enjoy:
- (2)
Corporate Event Trends 2026: What Conference Organizers Are Prioritizing in Speakers, Formats, and Audience Engagement The brief is changing. According to analysis of 1,568 corporate events published by The Motivational Speakers Agency, 68% of keynote briefs now begin with a business objective before a speaker name is mentioned. That single data point captures the most […]
- July 9, 2026
- (2)
Why Artificial Intelligence Speakers Have Become a Strategic Event Investment Something changed in how corporate event planners book AI speakers, and the numbers make it hard to ignore. Inquiries for artificial intelligence speakers grew 237% year-on-year in 2026, according to major U.S. bureau tracking data. More telling: 68% of those requests now arrive with a […]
- July 7, 2026
- (5)
Zack Kass: The AI Futurist Who Believes the Future Is Brighter Than You Think Most conversations about artificial intelligence begin with fear. Job losses. Algorithmic bias. Existential risk. The dominant narrative in boardrooms and conference halls has been one of anxiety, and that anxiety has a cost: organizations paralyzed by uncertainty, leaders unable to make […]
- June 30, 2026
- (2)
The Best Innovation Speakers and Entrepreneurs for Your Startup Conference Booking a keynote speaker for a startup conference is one of the highest-stakes decisions an event planner makes. The right speaker can crystallize a theme, energize a room of founders, and send attendees home with frameworks they actually use. The wrong one leaves a crowd […]
- June 24, 2026
- (5)
Why Your Last Keynote Speaker Didn’t Engage the Audience (And How to Fix It Next Time) You spent months planning the event. You negotiated the contract, handled the logistics, and built the agenda around a keynote that was supposed to set the tone for everything that followed. Then the speaker walked off stage and the […]
- June 23, 2026
- (6)
How to Book a Keynote Speaker Who Actually Moves the Needle Most keynote speaker booking guides start with logistics: check availability, confirm the fee, sign the contract. That advice isn’t wrong, it’s just far too late in the process to matter. The real decisions that determine whether a keynote succeeds or fails happen weeks before […]
- June 22, 2026
- (2)
How to Choose the Right Keynote Speaker for Your Event How to Choose the Right Keynote Speaker for Your Event which can make the difference between an event that attendees quickly forget and one that inspires action long after the final applause. Whether you’re organizing a corporate conference, leadership summit, sales meeting, or association event, […]
- June 19, 2026
- (4)
In today’s business environment, organizations are facing unprecedented challenges. Hybrid workplaces, rapid technological change, economic uncertainty, employee disengagement, and evolving customer expectations have transformed the way leaders operate. Amid all this complexity, one factor continues to determine whether teams thrive or struggle: Trust. Trust is no longer simply a “soft skill” discussed in leadership seminars. […]
- May 21, 2026