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“The Silent Power of Listening: Why the Most Successful Leaders Speak Less and Hear More”

““The Silent Power of Listening: Why the Most Successful Leaders Speak Less and Hear More””

By Marshall Krupp, Certified EOS® Implementer and Certified Outgrow Advisor

Listening: The Most Underrated Leadership Skill

As we look back on 2025 and evaluate our successes and failures, I often ask my clients and colleagues a simple but revealing question:

How much do you listen compared to how much do you speak?

In every organization — from family businesses to high-growth entrepreneurial firms — communication is celebrated as the fuel that moves people, teams, and results forward. Yet what is often overlooked is the quiet engine behind all effective communication.

It is not charisma.
It is not the perfect choice of words.
It is not even eloquence.

It is the power of listening.

In my work as an EOS® Certified Implementer, a Certified Outgrow Advisor, and a long-time leadership and strategic advisor, one truth has repeated itself across thousands of hours with CEOs, leadership teams, and business owners:

The greatest breakthroughs do not come from speaking. They come from listening.

Listening to what is not being said.
Understanding what is often misunderstood.
Creating the space where honesty and clarity can rise to the surface.

Listening is more than a skill.
It is an act of leadership.
It is a signal of respect.
It is a tool of influence.
It is a foundation for trust.

And yet, it remains one of the most underdeveloped competencies in business.

The most successful leaders are not the ones who dominate the conversation.
They are the ones who elevate it.

Listening as a Strategic Advantage

Leadership lives in the future — in what could be.
Listening is the doorway into that future because it reveals the truth of what is happening right now.

When leaders stop listening, organizations eventually stop speaking.

Innovation slows.
Engagement declines.
Accountability weakens.
Trust erodes.

Psychologist Carl Rogers captured this power perfectly:

“The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood.”

Understanding begins with listening — not advising.

People are more committed to leaders who make them feel understood than to leaders who simply tell them what to do.

When leaders genuinely listen:

Executives align faster
Managers execute more consistently
Teams bring forward better ideas

Listening becomes a competitive advantage long before products, services, or strategies have a chance to shine.

The Illusion of Listening

Most leaders believe they listen.
Behavior often tells another story.

Interruptions are common.
Assumptions are made quickly.
Responses are formed while others are still speaking.
Difficult questions are avoided.
Leaders hear what they want to hear — not what is actually being said.

We have created a culture of noise.

That is why Peter Drucker famously said:

“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.”

Culture lives beneath the words.
So does motivation.
So does accountability.
So does organizational health.

If a leader cannot hear what is unsaid, they cannot lead what is emerging.

Listening Creates Psychological Safety

The most productive teams are not the ones with the highest credentials.
They are the ones with the deepest trust.

Trust is created not by agreement — but by presence.

In EOS® sessions, transformation often begins when leaders stop defending and start listening. They shift:

From reacting to receiving
From protection to curiosity
From ego to openness

And the room changes.

Listening creates psychological safety.
People stop editing themselves.
Issues surface sooner.
Solutions become clearer.

Leadership is not about being the smartest person in the room.
It is about being the most present.

Listening and the Discipline of Traction®

In EOS®, clarity and accountability drive traction.
But traction depends on aligned communication — and aligned communication depends on listening.

Listening is embedded in every EOS tool:

Level 10 Meetings™ require listening before deciding
Accountability Charts demand clarity of conversation
IDS® works only when issues are fully heard before being solved

Teams often solve the wrong problem because they rush past listening.

When leaders slow down to listen first, they:

Make better decisions faster
Execute with greater consistency

Listening is not passive.
It is the most active discipline inside Traction®.

Listening Fuels Sales Growth

In Outgrow®, we train teams to drive 15–30% growth through boldness and proactive outreach.
But the hidden driver behind that growth is not more talking.

It is more — and better — listening.

Top performers listen for:

Objections
Frustrations
Unspoken needs

Stephen Covey said it best:

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand. They listen with the intent to reply.”

Listening is the gateway to influence.

Leadership Requires Less Talking — Not More

Leaders who talk less are often perceived as more insightful.
Their words carry weight because they are grounded in what they have absorbed.

Silence is not weakness.
Silence is leadership.

Listening restores humility.
It requires openness to be changed by what you hear.

The best leaders do not fear what they might hear.
They welcome it.

A Final Reflection

If you want to understand the true health of your organization, listen to:

What people are afraid to say
The questions they avoid
The problems that keep resurfacing
The silence in meetings

The healthiest organizations are the ones where truth can surface without fear.

Listening creates that freedom.

So as you reflect on 2025, ask yourself:

Do people speak openly with me — or do they filter themselves?
Do I listen to understand — or to respond?
Do I create space for truth to emerge?

Great leaders do not rise because they speak.
They rise because they hear.

Listening is not the soft side of leadership.
It is the strategic side.
The human side.
The essential side.

Would listening have changed 2025 for you?

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To connect with Marshall Krupp, you can reach him at marshall.krupp@eosworldwide.com or at 714.624.4552. You can also schedule a telephone or Zoom meeting with him on Calendly at https://calendly.com/peerexecutiveboards

Marshall Krupp is a nationally recognized EOS® Certified Implementer and a Certified Outgrow Advisor. He is also a national speaker and a past award-winning Vistage Worldwide Chair, with a career in providing crisis management strategic advisory services to businesses, governmental agencies, and not-for-profit organizations. He is also a certified facilitator of the Wiley Everything DiSC suite of assessment tools and PXT Select.

EOS®, the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, takes entrepreneurial businesses on a journey to master the EOS® tools, enabling them to elevate their leadership teams, make better decisions, maintain a high level of accountability, and attain greater success more simply. The components of EOS® are Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process, and Traction, which, when used effectively, create a healthier organization with greater success.

The Outgrow sales program is designed to boost sales growth by encouraging bold, proactive communication, confidence, and accountable business sales teams. Marshall Krupp is a Certified Outgrow Advisor who guides and coaches businesses in implementing these strategies, helping their sales teams achieve 15-30% annual growth through consistent outreach and relationship-building efforts, along with the unique and creative tools of Outgrow.

Review more at www.peerexecutiveboards.com and at www.eosworldwide.com/marshall-krupp. Visit Marshall’s LinkedIn profile, posts, and articles at https://www.linkedin.com/in/marshallkrupp/.