The Power of Listening: Getting to the Emotional Core

http://www.nationaldayoflistening.org/participate/

This Friday is the National Day of Listening as declared by StoryCorps.  If you are not familiar with StoryCorp, it is an ongoing effort to record the stories of ordinary people’s lives.  It is quite simple really, two people talking with each other.  These stories are stored in the Library of Congress and can be heard on public radio and the StoryCorp Web site.

A few years back, I worked on a project with a very large health insurance company.  The challenge was to start a movement within the organization that allowed leadership, management and staff alike to “Transform Numbers into People”.  That is, think of the people at the other end of policies as humans with emotional needs and drivers and use that knowledge to affect your work everyday.

I brought StoryCorp to project and allowed the 350+ participants to hear the deeply moving stories of ordinary people.  We set up listening stations containing a selection of StoryCorp stories.

Well now we all can record stories of the people important to us.  Go to the link above to learn how to conduct your interview and share it with the world.

Here’s a bit from the www.StoryCorp.org Web site:

Listening is an act of love.

The heart of StoryCorps is the conversation between two people who are important to each other: a son asking his mother about her childhood, an immigrant telling his friend about coming to America, or a couple reminiscing on their 50th wedding anniversary. By helping people to connect, and to talk about the questions that matter, the StoryCorps experience is powerful and sometimes even life-changing. 

Our goal is to make that experience accessible to all, and find new ways to inspire people to record and preserve the stories of someone important to them. Everybody’s story matters and every life counts.

Just as powerful is the experience of listening. Whenever people listen to these stories, they hear the courage, the humor, the trials and triumphs of an incredible range of voices.

By listening closely to one another, we can help illuminate the true character of this nation reminding us all just how precious each day can be and how truly great it is to be alive.

-Dave Isay, Founder, StoryCorps

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