Listening is a virtue that makes a leader stronger and stronger.

I have lived and worked in Mexico for 11 years. My company in Korea dispatched me to Mexico.

I have worked in the head office in South Korea for such a long time. Then I was dispatched. I started as a sales director of the branch company, the coil service center in Mexico. After 5 years in that company I had to move to another coil service center as a president following the order of head office. I had to start the company from the beginning.  I have established, constructed, managed, and operated the coil service centers which were designed as the outpost for supplying steels to the customers in Mexico. After years, the head office ordered me to move to a steel production company as CMO. So the total duration of my working in Mexico was for 11 years.

After 11 years in Mexico, I went back to Korea. And then I am back to Mexico again. I am staying in Mexico now. It would be quite rare for Koreans to have this long stay and work experience in the Mexican steel market.

The reason why I describe my career is that I want to talk about ‘Listening’.

One day, a team leader from the headquarters came on a business trip to Mexico. As far as I remembered, he had traveled to Mexico about two or three times. We prepared several customer interviews according to his business trip schedule, and the schedule went smoothly. 

Since then, the business trip schedule has almost ended, and he had consultations and interviews with us, who are working as sales directors there. In conclusion, we only listened to the team leader's extensive knowledge without saying a few words for 2 hours. 

The team leader seemed to know everything about the Mexican steel market more than me, who had worked in Mexico for more than 10 years. With only two or three visits, the team leader was excellent enough to be a Mexican market expert. 

In that way, he returned to the headquarters with only his thoughts lined up. Did the team leader achieve his business trip goals and contribute enough to the development of the company? I doubt it. Above all, the team leader wouldn't listen. Even if he knew a lot – I hope he actually knew a lot for the development of the organization. –, the team leader should have listened. 

He should have listened to the local voices, added his knowledge and thoughts, made a business trip report that would contribute to the development of the organization, reported it, and made his superiors' judgment right. 

That was the team leader's business trip. But he didn't listen. Our directors who attended the meeting together were also people who had met and listened to customers in Mexico for at least three years and solved the situation. We were silent on the team leader from headquarters, who refused to listen to our thoughts and opinions. Now that I think about it, we shouldn't have been silent, but we didn't want to talk to him who didn't want to listen. There are quite a few such cases. Too many examples of this can be found within the organization. There are quite a number of errors in listening within the organization. 

We are human beings. It would be natural even if the colleague sitting next to me is an expert in the related field, we often don't want to admit the person who eats together and goes to the bathroom together as an expert. Therefore, we pay a considerable amount of money for listening, even though our capabilities and qualities are no different from those of famous consultants. Leaders should listen to such opinions. The view we know cannot be the same as the view of others.

That's what I think. The role of leaders in achieving organizational goals is really important. Depending on the environment or market situation the organization faces, the virtues that leaders must have may vary. However, we should think about an excellent leader. For leaders, listening is a highly excellent fighting skill. Even in negotiations with rivals, listening increases the chances of winning the negotiations. 

That doesn't mean you should keep your mouth shut. But basically, you have to listen to it a lot. At least you shouldn't make the mistake of talking on a business trip to listen. 

There is too much uncertainty in people's lives. In fact, even in such a leader that has no qualifications as a leader, there exist phenomena that can only be seen as luck due to changes in market conditions and environments. A good man must be blessed, and a good leader must surely be rewarded for his role, but there are many cases that are not the case.

Listening does not show weakness. Listening is a virtue that makes a leader stronger and stronger.