The Power of Listening

Last week’s email reflected on how psychologically unsafe environments destroy value by silencing people or, more insidiously, by creating conditions in which people do not feel safe to speak and so silence themselves.

In the silence, value is hidden.

Amy Edmondson, Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, and author of The Fearless Organization reflects that deep listening is a key feature of psychologically safe environments.

If you were forwarded this mail you can subscribe here and find me on LinkedIn.

/ STRATEGY

Franklin Leonard’s story is the epitome of listening. Leonard is the founder of The Black List.

Leonard started the Black List in 2005 as an effort to identify great scripts that had been overlooked by the film industry. Today, it has grown to be an online marketplace, and has even started to step into production.

In the 15 years it has been running, scripts featured on the Black List have won 50 Academy Awards, including four of the last thirteen Best Pictures and eleven of the last twenty-four screenwriting Oscars.

In this Masters of Scale episode Reid Hoffman speaks to Leonard about his journey from being a retrenched McKinsey consultant to Hollywood disruptor and champion of overlooked scripts.

The Black List was born from Leonard’s frustration that he had read many scripts that he enjoyed but that he had been unable to get attention for from more senior executives.

His intuition was that if he was frustrated, if there were scripts that he thought should be produced but they weren’t, perhaps there were others who’d agree with him.

Leonard describes how he got started.

“I literally went through my calendar, and I made a list of everyone I had had breakfast, lunch, dinner, or drinks with. If they had a job similar to mine, I sent them an email anonymously and said, ‘Send me a list of your 10 favorite unproduced screenplays that meet the following criteria: One, you love the script. Two, you found out about the script this year. And three, the film will not be in theaters by the end of this calendar year.’ That’s it. ‘In exchange, I’ll share with you the combined list.’

In effect, he found a way to listen to people who weren’t being listened to.

In fact, he first listened to himself, understood the source of his frustration and then acted.

His initial intention was not to create a business, he simply wanted to hear what others had to say.

In the Black List’s first year it quickly gained credibility.

Hoffman tells us that:

“The top script on the list that year was called “Things We Lost in the Fire.” It would eventually become a film starring Halle Berry and Benicio del Toro. Number two on the list? A quirky script titled “Juno.” It would go on to win a Best Original Screenplay Oscar. Number 3 was “Lars and the Real Girl”, which would star Ryan Gosling and make headlines for its unusual plot – about a man whose girlfriend is a doll. In each case, they were the writers’ first features. They were also qualitatively different from the scripts that were being greenlit at the time. They weren’t chosen based on predicted Box Office success. They were chosen because they were really good scripts.”

By intentionally seeking out voices that were not being heard, Leonard created a system for identifying unrealised value. As a direct consequence, there was a greater diversity in the films that were made.

By listening more broadly, by acknowledging that there were voices that were not being listened to Leonard disrupted the closed system that was the Hollywood script approval process.

The Black List has allowed new voices and therefore new possibilities to be created.

What is the closed system in your life or your organisation?
Who do you listen to and who do you ignore?
What can you do to change that?

/ SELF

Leonard’s journey of listening to himself started before the moment that birthed The Black List. Indeed, it was listening to himself that took him to Los Angeles.

After being retrenched, Leonard paused.

He reflects that he said to himself, “You’re free to figure out what you want to do with your life. You have five months to figure it out.”

He realized that he’d let go off a childhood fascination with movies, and so he started to immerse himself – watching as many films as he could, reading about the industry, he sought to understand the industry and discover how he might fit into it.

He listened to himself. Through reading and watching, he listened to and learnt from others.

Ultimately, he moved to L.A. where serendipity resulted in him landing a job that provided the impetus for the formation of The Black List, that in turn has been the driving force of his life for the last 15 years.

Listening led to a new life.

/ SOUL

Learning to listen to yourself is a powerful foundation from which to listen to others. Listening to others allows for the emergence of richer, more effective solutions.

Loretta J. Ross, a visiting professor at Smith College has launched a course “Calling In the Calling Out Culture”, to help students identify the characteristics, and limits, of call-out culture.

In this NYT article, Ross asks, “Why are you making choices to make the world crueller than it needs to be and calling that being ‘woke’?”

Ross advocates an approach that includes ‘calling in’.

“Calling in involves conversation, compassion and context. It doesn’t mean a person should ignore harm, slight or damage, but nor should she, he or they exaggerate it.”

She says that calling in “may mean simply sending someone a private message, or even ringing them on the telephone (!) to discuss the matter, or simply taking a breath before commenting, screen-shotting or demanding one “do better” without explaining how”.

Jessica Bennett, the article’s author, notes:

“all of that shaming may be counterproductive. Multiple studies, Ms. Crockett said, have found that shaming can make people more resistant to change.
And, as anyone who has partaken in a game of casual doom scrolling knows, it can also be bad for health — physical and mental.
When Professor Ross’s students were asked to describe how thinking about a call out made them feel, they used descriptions.” like “pit in stomach,” “nauseous” and “sweating through all my clothes.”
Some said later that the prospect of call outs had made them hesitant to speak up or ask questions in classes, or endlessly planning for the arguments that might ensue.”

None of which sounds like the basis for a vibrant society.

I hope that this week brings you the opportunity to listen, to yourself, to others.

Share this email with someone you think needs to listen better…no, don’t…😉…remember? Call in!

Send it to someone who always makes you feel heard, people like that are a precious gift.

Thank you for listening to me, for affirming my efforts and for the guidance that you provide me. I couldn’t do what I do without the conversations that follow each week from this email. I could not write this email without my weekly conversations with my clients, who provide me with deep insight into so many different parts of life.

Best wishes

Karl

PS. In the cacophony of Black Friday, I loved Cape Town artist-blacksmith Conrad Hicks’ declaration of Blacksmith Friday. His forged steel pans are a delight for anyone who loves cooking and design.

(This letter was first published on 29 November 2020)