Listening to what others have to say about a situation you are in means you are a good listener.
Listening does not mean you have to grind with it, or it does not necessarily mean that you will be working with what they are offering as their own opinion.
You can hear them out and not make use of what they have to say. You might end up picking out a thing or two to make use of, thereby adding more to your original decision.
What do you call people who don’t listen to others’ opinions?
- Intolerant
- Ignorant
- Bigoted
- Narrow-minded
Intolerant
This is someone that is intolerant of what others have to say about anything related to them. they are more offensive than accepting.
Ignorant
This set of people ignore anyone and everyone’s opinion regardless of what it is, they feel it is useless and not applicable.
Bigoted
This refers to someone who is only considerate of their own opinion alone and will not give room to any other person’s opinion.
Narrow-minded
This is a phrase used for people who are intolerant of other people’s opinions.
Why is it good to hear others’ opinions/ideas?
The world itself runs on the beautiful ideas of wonderful people who come together rubbing minds and sharing ideas and opinions in order to make the world a better place for you and for me.
The act of sharing opinions and ideas is humane in the most positive manner possible.
There are a lot of things listening to someone’s opinion can bring out to your understanding, you can understand if one is your rival or your friend from the kind of opinion they have for you, all you have to do is listen.
Here are some of the reasons why it is good to listen to other people’s opinions and ideas.
- Refresh your mind
- Prepares your mind
- Creates new ideas
- You don’t know it All
Refresh your mind
Listening to what others have to say expands your mind, and you get to digest new ideas you ignored or must have missed in the first place.
So when you listen to what others have to say you get reminded of what you must have missed.
Prepares your mind
When you listen to what others have to say, it is like your mind is been filled with a new experience of somewhere you are planning to go.
You get to know how life is around there, therefore, giving you the right insight you need which will help you prepare better before making that journey.
This is common for people who ate changing the environment.
Creates new ideas
Believe it or not, when you listen to what people have to say, you stand a chance to get new ideas about something.
Sometimes we go extra length thinking about something trying to create a solid solution when all we had to do was to listen.
We literally have everything we need around us but maybe due to ignorance we keep missing the big picture, so it is good to listen as you stand a chance to not miss the big picture and get new ideas.
A perfect example of this is the customer and seller relationship.
After manufacturing a product, footwear to be precise, we get new models from the reviews and complaints made by customers.
You don’t know it all
It is good to listen to what others have to say simply because you don’t know it all.
Nobody is perfect and nobody knows it all, this alone is enough reason to make you want to slow down a bit and hear them out.
Why is it important to hear other people’s perspectives?
Perspectives help inform and update your opinion, this is why it is very important that you understand the point of view of others around you.
From your point of view, this might mean something. I might view it from my side and find that it means something different entirely.
This doesn’t mean that your viewpoint is wrong and it doesn’t mean mine is wrong or right either, hearing me out will enhance and update your own opinion about that thing.
Let’s use this picture below as an example.
When you look at this picture, there are two sides to it, you can overlook the other part of the image that has someone drowning with their hands out and just concentrate on the portrait of someone with their eyes closed, or you can overlook this portrait and see the person drowning.
The importance of perspective is to have more understanding about something.
And just like an opinion, you don’t have to use or view anything from my point of view, what is important is understanding what’s right in front of you.
You hear other people’s perspectives to sharpen your brain
You can’t know it all and hearing them out means you have to view that same image from their own point of view.
This will help you station your opinion about that same image properly without being bias or ignorant of the true message it is trying to pass.
You hear others’ perspectives to further understand the risk and gain of something
This is applicable to marketing. The price of goods may drop suddenly, some might think these goods are no longer needed and their opinion would be not to buy them.
Another marketer would look at things from a different perspective and instead of not buying these same goods that other marketers are running from, he/she would buy it.
When asked why? Their response would be mind-blowing.
The first marketer would say; I stand no gain from them now, they are in low demand and in-expensive.
The second marketer would say; they are cheap now but might definitely climb up the ladders again, if I buy them now at their lowest, it is going to be profitable when they come back in high demand.
There is every possibility that with good listening we can achieve great things together and also not miss the big picture.
There is nothing wrong with viewing things from different perspectives as viewing does not mean you will have to reconsider your opinion.
What do you call someone who values only their opinion?
An Opinionated Fella is someone who disregards other people’s opinions.
They are only entitled to their own opinion, just like we discussed earlier.
There are many names that people like this can be addressed, some of the names I’d say are harsh and way too sassy for them.
Well, I will be mentioning some of the names that people like this can be addressed with and let’s hope it doesn’t get you into trouble.
You can call them arrogant
This is most appropriate when they think their own idea or opinion is the correct one and every other person is wrong.
The fun fact about people like this is that they are mostly wrong, most of the time whatever they have as the correct opinion is the wrong one, but they are too arrogant and ignorant enough to even accept they are unsure to be corrected.
You can call them inflexible
This does not really cover one part like the latter. One can be considered inflexible if they refuse to change their opinion, whether they are wrong or right.
Well in most cases, people refuse to change their opinion about something when they feel they are right.
If you can give them a credible reason why they should consider your opinion, then they will be flexible. 😉
What does it mean to be highly opinionated?
It means you are sure of yourself and not shaking or unsure of whatever your opinion is insisting on.
There are people like this who consider their opinion to be correct regardless of how many people are against it.
These kinds of people do not just keep this behavior to their selves, they go to the extent of enforcing that same opinion on others too almost as if they are dictators.
Now you won’t want to be a team player with people like this because there is literally zero chance of you lot being team players because they will keep insisting on their opinion been the correct one.
However, it is good to be highly opinionated only if you are sure that you are on the right track.
Conclusion
Listening is a good determinant of friends and foes. With good listening, you can understand if someone has good intentions towards you or not, and you can build more of yourself and others from listening to others’ opinions and ideas.
Take Note: Listening does not mean you have to make use of it and sometimes, all you need to do to save your life is to listen to what someone is saying at the right time.
“If ever, there is a negative consequence from hearkening to someone’s slant, then you never did listen in the first place.” ~ YJ Salasi.
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