Listening Beneath the Moment

“There’s always a story beneath the first sentence.”

A participant once said, “I just don’t like this exercise.”

I almost adjusted immediately.

Instead, I asked one more question.

What surfaced wasn’t dislike.

It was discomfort.

There’s always a story beneath the first sentence.

If you listen long enough, it usually reveals itself.

Leadership often lives in the second layer, not the first.

— Slash