What An MBA Taught Me About Listening
Image photo credit: mleiboff
“You came here years ago with a story to tell, you left as world class listeners” exclaimed a Harvard Business School professor at our fifteen year class reunion. He was correct. The HBS case method classroom is a science lab for listening. All aspects of teaching including the architecture, class rhythm, and grading practices are impeccably designed around this goal.
The case method is the cornerstone to the design. Each case is examined for 90 minutes via group discussion of eighty people. We were grouped in sections (mine was Section J, the best one, wink) and for the first year we had all our classes, and much of our social lives, with only our section. So, eighty people started to feel more like an intimate gathering of our closest friends.
The rhythm of the class also builds attentiveness. Each class begins with a “cold call” to one student who is then required to open the day’s dialogue with a 10-15 minute summary of the case. Throughout the class the professor speaks less than 20 minutes in total, often in thirty second bits as a way of prodding students to dig deeper or moving the conversation around the room.
Finally, the grading methodology is structured for excellence in mindfulness. Class participation is the cornerstone of every grade, roughly forty percent of the final grade. So, silence is not an option… but talking too much isn’t an option either. All my student life I was familiar with class participation grades and learned quickly to speak early and often. However, that system did not work at HBS. Here, class participation is more about LISTENING than TALKING. Every comment must carefully build upon what has already been said and needs to logically support or disprove previous comments. Thus, the students are alert for insights, forming questions and looking for opportunities to jump in with relevant contributions.
This is an excerpt from my book “What An MBA Taught Me…But My Kids Made Me Learn.” If you are interested in learning more about the importance of listening in business and parenting, please pre-order my book at the Amazon link below.
