Page 89 - Fearless Leadership

76 FEARLESS LEADERSHIP

Automatic listening is not rational or logical, but it is processed and
reshaped in a particular order of steps, as depicted in Exhibit 3-1.

1
Something
happens

6 2
You predict You have
the future a reaction

AUTOMATIC
LISTENING

5 3
You search You form
for evidence a judgment

4
You make up
a story

EXHIBIT 3-1: The Closed Loop of Automatic Listening

How Assumptions Become the Truth
Automatic listening starts the moment you notice a trigger feature—
a single point of data—and make assumptions. In the mind, assump-
tions are treated as the truth, and they gather steam as you gather evi-
dence.
Automatic listening happens in both directions: you form fixed views
about others, and they form fixed views about you. Neither party is con-
cerned with the intention of the other person; instead, both are busy
gathering evidence to build their cases. The mind fills in the blanks
based on how people behave, not what people intend.
This is what happened when employees formed an automatic point
of view about Fred, the CEO of a health-care company.