Cultivating Humility in Business Education: A Listening-Focused Pedagogy for Future Leaders
Abstract
In an era when humility and connection are vital for peace and sustainability, many leaders in business and government fall
short by prioritizing their self-interest over ethics. Business schools, as key institutions shaping future leaders, may inadvertently reinforce this imbalance. To shift this lean toward self-interest, we propose a listening-focused pedagogy to cultivate
humility and character in business school students. High-quality listening fosters interpersonal connection and promotes
complex reasoning. Complex reasoning about oneself and others is a cornerstone of humility, which is central to morality
and business ethics. We hypothesized that acquiring listening skills would enhance both high-quality listening and humility.
To test this, we conducted a longitudinal quasi-experiment over four academic years (2018–2021) with data from 260 MBA
students. Our findings show that the listening-focused course significantly increased students' listening skills and humility
compared to control courses. These results demonstrate the course’s potential to have a meaningful influence on the character development of business students. We conclude by discussing theoretical and practical implications for business ethics
education, offering our materials to support replication and the broader application of this pedagogy
Can listening training empower service employees? The mediating roles of anxiety and perspective-taking
Guy Itzchakov
Listening
Can improving employees’ interpersonal listening abilities impact their emotions and cognitions during difficult conversations at work? The studies presented here examined the effectiveness of listening training on customer service employees. It was hypothesized that improving employees’ listening skills would (a) reduce their anxiety levels during difficult conversations with customers, (b) increase their ability to understand the customers’ point of view (i.e., perspective-taking), and (c) increase their sense of competence. The two quasi-experiments provide support for the hypotheses. Study 1 (N = 61) consisted of a pre-post design with a control group and examined the effect of listening training on customer service employees in a Fortune 500 company. Study 2 (N = 33) conceptually replicated the results of Study 1 using listening training conducted in one branch of a company that provides nursing services compared to another branch of the company that did not receive training. The results indicated that listening training had lasting effects on employees’ listening abilities, anxiety reduction, and perspective-taking during difficult conversations. The discussion centers on the importance of interpersonal listening abilities to the empowerment and well-being of employees in the workplace.
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Avoiding harm, benefits of interpersonal listening, and social equilibrium adjustment: An applied psychology approach to side effects of organizational interventions
Guy Itzchakov, Justin B. Keeler, Walter J. Sowden, Walter Slipetz, and Kent S. Faught
Listening
Creating positive change in the direction intended is the goal of organizational interventions. Watts et al. (2021) raise this issue of “side effects,” which include changes that are unintended and often in the opposite direction of the organizational intervention. With our expertise in applied psychology, military psychiatry/neuroscience, organizational behavior, and corporate safety, we argue for three additional factors for consideration: avoiding harm, the benefits of high-quality interpersonal listening, and a discussion of side effects as a natural part of the change process. We offer these as a means of extending the conversation begun by Watts et al.
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