Elizabeth Thornton Quotes

You should never be so high and mighty you can't listen to somebody else and learn something from them. Leadership is as much about using the ear as using the mouth.

What I know about me is that, in order to lead, you also have to know how to follow.

People who work with me say I have a four-step response to new ideas: rejection, reconsideration, acceptance, ownership. I need to listen more patiently.

The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.

You can learn a little bit from everybody, so you should be able to work a bit with everybody.

It’s important for me to hear others position and understand them.

I came to believe that a leader isn't good because they're right; they're good because they're willing to learn and to trust.

I'm a very strong believer in listening and learning from others.

Being a good listener is absolutely critical to being a good leader; you have to listen to the people who are on the front line.

Most great leaders in history that I've studied always need to get as wide a range of opinions as possible so that they can have sufficient information to make the right decisions.

If you are not diverse and you are not listening to all voices and have your ear to the ground, you're not going to make the best decisions.

Leaders listen. Staggeringly well.

We need to understand the other side to impact the other side. We become much more effective as humans and leaders when we engage in hearty conversations with those who are different from us, not necessarily to change our opinions, but to build the empathy muscle.

A leader who listens is one who is malleable and willing to refine her views and actions as she learns new information or hears a better idea.

What I've really learned is to be open to listen to other people's opinions and then question my own thoughts. And learn how to talk to people. The biggest gift from having one of these moments is that it gets people talking.

Learning is a result of listening, which in turn leads to even better listening and attentiveness to the other person. In other words, to learn from the child, we must have empathy, and empathy grows as we learn.

It feels great to have your own views reflected back to you, and you feel so right, but actually it's very dangerous. Because to make good decisions, you need to have a clear view of what all the options are.

You have to do a lot of listening, you don't just learn out of yourself.

Leadership does not depend on being right.

If men can learn to be less defensive, more open to others, and more accepting of accountability, they will adapt well to the new global economy.

I really am opinionated, but not for long. I have found myself coming off of what I think of something because the guy I'm talking to makes better sense than I am. I have so many points of view, I can't keep track of 'em, because I talk to too many people... I'm not so opinionated that I won't budge.

Debate is healthy and no one in this chamber - starting with me - has a monopoly on being right.

You should be able to voice your opinion and respect the voice of the other side. You should be willing to educate yourself and know what it is you're dealing with.

Well, the first quality of being a good leader is you have to be able to follow. See, a good leader can't just be the leader all the time, I have to be able to follow.

There are two qualities that I've noticed in good directors: One is that they have their vision very strongly in place; and two is that they listen to everyone's opinion and still remember their vision.