"Most of the successful people I've known are the ones who do more listening than talking." — Bernard Baruch, financier and presidential adviser

The devices in our pockets constantly ping with news of geopolitical conflicts, turbulent political rhetoric, divisive protests, fears of economic and technological uncertainty, as well as increasing warnings of misinformation and disinformation. 

Senior leaders in public relations and strategic communications are charged with operating in this volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment (VUCA). Sixty-one percent of respondents across the 28 countries tracked in the 2024 Edelman Global Trust Barometer report expressed that “business leaders are trying to purposively mislead people by saying things that they know are false or gross exaggerations.” According to Gallup’s 2024 Global Confidence in Institutions survey, trust in big business remains dismally low at 16% reporting a great deal or a lot of trust. Challenging times.

Professionals in strategic communications are the voice of the organization. Days are filled with designing communication strategies to share information and shape stakeholder opinions of organizations and critical social issues. The leaders in this field are experts at designing campaigns -- internal and external -- to build, maintain, and, at times, repair relations and reputations. They evaluate communication ROIs against KPIs. All this work is completed authentically, ethically, and transparently for the benefit of both an organization and society.

Yet given today’s charged geopolitical and rapidly changing AI-driven technological environment, industry leaders must—more than ever—prioritize listening on equal footing with content creation. It is a critical time to revisit the power of listening.

Edgar Schein and Peter Schein’s book, Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Questions, defined humble inquiry as an art and an attitude. In brief, humble inquiry means (but certainly is more than) asking questions and listening with “curiosity, openness to truth, and the recognition that insights most often come from conversations and relationships in which we have learned to listen to each other and have learned to respond appropriately to make joint sense out of our shared context.”

Now wait. Industry leaders know that listening is an essential job requirement. My intention is not to criticize. Rather I argue for a renewed commitment by leaders to listen and listen humbly. Practicing humble listening cannot be more urgent than in the VUCA environment in which we now operate.   

Practicing humble inquiry can contribute to senior communication leaders’ effectiveness in three ways.

Humble inquiry can help leaders thrive during rapid workplace change

Gallup reported in early 2024 that U.S. employee engagement was at an 11-year low. Post-pandemic economic uncertainties, return-to-work mandates, hybrid work challenges, and then, just to stir the pot: AI emerges. We know employees are experimenting with AI, but organizational-level systematic implementation is more elusive. For industry leaders, ethically confronting and understanding AI isn’t optional and can’t be done alone. Recognizing interdependence across the organization and, specifically, among members of our communication teams matters. Practicing humble listening allows leaders to ask questions that show vulnerability and openness.

In doing so, leaders can foster psychologically safe and engaged workplace cultures to build effective AI-use strategies from the ground up. As Schein and Schein explain, “Humble inquiry can help you make sense of complex situations that you do not or cannot understand on your own.”

Humble inquiry can allow leaders to navigate politically and socially divisive environments

Divisiveness is not new. Geopolitical conflicts did not just arrive on the scene. Yet making sense of diverse human stakeholders’ positions as well as myriad, real-time data is more demanding than ever.

Vastly different takes on ‘the truth’ exist partly from polarization, media echo chambers, rising misinformation, and disinformation from all sides. For example, companies as of late have been the victims of politically motivated bot activity. Knowing how to distinguish between legitimate stakeholder sentiment versus specious bot activity is now in a communicator's job description.

How can humble inquiry allow coms leaders to stop and ask questions that might lead to different types of corporate decision-making? What questions would industry leaders ask starting from a position of curiosity and interdependence? What would it feel like to pose vulnerable questions to learn, not questions covertly designed to demonstrate personal knowledge and control?

Disagreements over ways of creating diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces won’t disappear. But perhaps innovative, respectful ways to use interpersonal and strategic communication to foster DEI might emerge versus social media bot warfare.

As world-known primatologist Jane Goodall said, “Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don’t believe is right.”

Humble inquiry can expand senior coms leaders' value as counselors to the corporation

Keeping a pulse on critical issues, potential risks, and crises affecting organizational reputations, workplace cultures, and ultimately, performance is table stakes for senior coms executives.

In the 2024 PRWeek-Cision Global Comms Report, 92% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that their C-suites have sought their counsel in the last year. CCOs are more often than ever being called to counsel or being asked to be at the table.

Humble inquiry can help senior executives learn what they don’t know; to learn early about unseen problems and to ask questions of people and data that provide unique insights. Doing so requires learning to ask and listening to break down organizational blind spots that can produce the next crisis. Stephen K. Dishart, Adjunct Faculty in the Corporate Communication MA program at Baruch College, CUNY, and President of Dishart CCMC, LLC, Communications & Crisis Management Consultants argues that “only in comprehension can we genuinely evaluate an issue and develop a strategy to address it. Reputation depends on humble listening and knowing how to protect and enhance an organization.”

Humble inquiry, in difficult times, offers advice but also hope. Perhaps the concept of humble inquiry can provide us both a reminder and the tools to, not ironically, more effectively communicate with stakeholders to foster more respectful, engaged, collaborative, and productive organizational cultures, and society contributions.