The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Effective communication involves listening to what is not explicitly said.
- In plain terms
- Listen to what people don't say to communicate well.
- What can you take from it?
- Pay attention to non-verbal and implied messages.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What aren't they saying right now?
- How do you hear silence?
Another view
Sometimes explicitness is better than implication.
More from Peter F. Drucker
I am more an 'insultant' than a consultant... I scold people for a fee.
Permalink to quote #84 What is the point of spending such huge sums to bring a 200-lb.-body downtown when all you want of it is its eight-and-a-half pound brain?
Permalink to quote #86 [about Keynesian government spending to relieve economic depressions] It was like a doctor telling you that you have an inoperable liver cancer, but it will be…
Permalink to quote #83
Related quotes
I have discovered that most people have no one to talk to, no one, that is, who really wants to listen. When it does at last dawn on a man that you really want…
Walker PercyWalker Percy quote #4 Listening: 'It has been my experience that if we make the effort to listen to people when we meet them, and work to get to know them a little, it is then easy …
Bryant McGillBryant McGill quote #17 To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communicati…
Anthony RobbinsAnthony Robbins quote #62