Listen Like You Mean It

Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection

By: Ximena Vengoechea

Narrated by: Ximena Vengoechea

“Full of revealing, instantly applicable ideas for leveraging your strengths and overcoming your weaknesses.”
—Adam Grant, author of Think Again and Originals, and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

For many of us, listening is simply something we do on autopilot. We hear just enough of what others say to get our work done, maintain friendships, and be polite with our neighbors. But we miss crucial opportunities to go deeper—to give and receive honest feedback, to make connections that will endure for the long haul, and to discover who people truly are at their core.

Fortunately, listening can be improved—and Ximena Vengoechea can show you how. In Listen Like You Mean It, she offers an essential listening guide for our times, revealing tried-and-true strategies honed in her own research sessions and drawn from interviews with marriage counselors, podcast hosts, life coaches, journalists, filmmakers, and other listening experts. Through Vengoechea’s set of scripts, key questions, and exercises, you’ll learn to:

• Quickly build rapport with strangers
• Ask the right questions to deepen a conversation
• Pause at the right time to encourage vulnerability
• Navigate a conversation that’s gone off the rails

Now more than ever, we need to feel heard, connected, and understood in a world that keeps turning up the volume. Warm, funny, and immensely practical, this book shows you how.


* This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF of illustrations, charts, and exercises.

Loved this book

I really enjoyed this book, and wish I had heard about it and read it many years ago. There are so many great tips and aha moments for personal and business conversations and relationships. This is going on my recommendation list to my friends and clients.

Good Read

This was a great, educational read (listen). I was able to see tendencies in my listening habits, provided me with awareness.

Isolating Introvert

I'm making poster size charts to put on a wall at home so we can get better at relationship. It does trickle into all areas wherever people are. My family didn't communicate well, lots of abuse and mental illness too.I am having to learn to connect with others instead of isolate. This has truly helped me gain confidence. Love that she included charts and visuals to remember key points to apply immediately.

Great way to explore communication

This book is such a great way to explore more if your communication skills and how to go about certain situations, especially work