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The Art of Active Listening Requires Leaving Your Ego Behind Remember to be fully present. Active listening helps people feel respected and valued.

By Aytekin Tank

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You've probably become overly familiar with the term "active listening" by now. I know this because as an entrepreneur I'm on top of the latest business trends, and it's a trait always popping up in articles — especially in terms of developing more emotional intelligence as a leader.

But the truth is, few of us can truly say we practice it.

"As a culture, we treat listening as an automatic process about which there is not a lot to say: in the same category as digestion, or blinking," writes British nonfiction author M M Owen for Aeon.