Successful Listeners

Being Interviewed by Barbara Walters

I was once interviewed by Barbara Walters. Not because I was famous. It was for a job as her off-air reporter and editorial producer. I’d be booking interviews, doing research, and helping write questions for Barbara’s news interviews. I confess, I wanted to work on her celebrity specials, but I had a knack for news, so I’d been typecast before we met.

The interview lasted half-an-hour. Barbara didn’t ask me one question during the interview. I’m not sure she even asked my name. She did the talking. I listened. At least that’s what I thought was happening. But something very different was going on.

Barbara was listening with her being, not her ears. It was as though she was shining a beam of energy at me that let her see things about me I didn’t even know about myself. The energy coming from her to me was non-judgmental. I felt safe. If she had asked me a question, there was no secret I wouldn’t have confessed.

As Barbara continued to talk, I felt like the most important person who had ever inhabited the universe. My self-esteem soared. She may have been the one making a million dollars a year, but I was the one feeling like a million dollars.

To this day, decades later, if I’m feeling low about myself, I think back to how Barbara made me feel that day without asking me a single question.

I guess Barbara liked what she “heard” during our interview because I did get the job.

Lesson: I learned from Barbara that Excellence in Listening is a full-body engagement that involves all your senses. Every cell in your body must turn its attention to the person you are speaking with. Your mind must commit to not judging another person, so they feel safe in your presence. Barbara was a natural genius at listening. It’s no surprise people just couldn’t say, “No,” when she asked them for an interview.

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I would love to hear about a Moment in Excellence you’ve experienced. Feel free to comment below or leave a comment on the Global Cowgirl Facebook page. You will find more stories just like this one in my book Stories from a Global Cowgirl… “Don’t Put a Cat on Your Head!” Available on Amazon