Every conversation can be calibrated. Every conversation has a platform. These are the seven stages of listening.

1. Ignoring completely
2. Pretending to listen
3. Listening selectively
4. Listening to respond
5. Listening to understand
6. Listening to learn
7. Listening for the intersection where someone else’s experience meets our experience on which we can build trust.

Thinking about your relationships, as a manager, as a friend, as a stranger, as a parent. Where is your intersection with reality?