William Ury is a speaker for Ted Talks and he explains his thoughts about listening. He said listening is more important than talking, for that is the reason we are born with two ears and only one mouth. He says if you listen long enough, they will be more prepared to listen to you. For example, Ury meets the president of Venezuela during a civil war. Ury gave his opinion about what the president should do and the president became frustrated and started shouting at Ury. Ury did not yell back, he just listened to him. Within 30 minutes the president just stopped screaming asked “What should he do.” With that Ury knew that was when his mind opened up to listen, then Ury gave his opinion. The president listened and was excited to hear his opinion.
