by Mark HuYoung
As 2026 begins, I’m struck by a pattern I’ve noticed over twenty years in executive advisory: the best leaders I’ve worked with weren’t always the smartest. They were the ones who made everyone else feel smart.
And they did it by listening.
Right now, executives are navigating unprecedented polarization, information overload, and deep mistrust. Employees, customers, investors, and communities are divided. Everyone is talking. Few are actually listening.
I’ve seen brilliant strategists fail because nobody wanted to follow them and watched technically ordinary leaders outperform because people trusted them enough to bring them the truth.
The difference? How they listened.
What Active Listening Actually Is
Most leaders think they listen. Most teams experience something different.
Active listening is not:
- Nodding while mentally preparing your response
- Repeating back key words
- Waiting for your turn to talk
Active listening is:
- A deliberate focus on understanding the other person’s message, emotions, and reasoning
- A skill that requires your full attention and self-regulation
- A behavior that changes how people think and feel
I learned this the hard way. I once placed a COO who was technically brilliant and could solve complex problems effortlessly. But in meetings, he’d receive questions and immediately explain why the questioner was wrong. People stopped asking meaningful questions after month two. He lasted fifteen months. Not because he wasn’t smart. Because nobody wanted to follow someone who made them feel stupid.
Why It Matters Now
Political polarization, social media echo chambers, and fragmented information have made people quicker to assume negative intent and slower to reconsider their views.
Inside organizations, this shows up predictably:
- Employees reading politics into business decisions
- Teams dividing along lines on DEI, remote work, and social issues
- Your best people quietly disengaging when they feel unheard
We had a healthcare client two years ago: a thoughtful CEO caught between employees who felt her DEI commitment was performative and others who felt it went too far. Instead of issuing a memo, she did something harder: she listened.
She hosted small listening circles. No debate. Just people sharing their real concerns, and leaders asking, “Help me understand how you came to that view.” She did this consistently enough that people started to relax.
What she discovered: much of what looked like “political disagreement” was actually fear about patient care quality, job security, and whether their experience still mattered.
Knowing that changed everything about how she led afterward.
In polarized environments, when leaders truly listen, they lower the emotional temperature, unlock problem-solving, and help people feel safe working with those they disagree with. It’s the only tool I’ve seen that works.
What It Looks Like in Practice
1. Full Attention
- No laptop. Phone facedown.
- Body turned toward the person.
- Steady eye contact.
I can always tell when a leader isn’t truly present. People feel it immediately: the wandering gaze, the slight body angle away, the mind already in the next meeting.
One CEO made a deliberate choice: 30-minute listening sessions with employees after a restructuring. No slides. Just him asking questions and genuinely being there. Engagement scores improved before he announced a single new initiative. Why? Because people felt their new leader was actually “present”.
2. Curious Questions
Ask questions that show genuine curiosity, not interrogation:
- “What am I missing?”
- “What concerns you most?”
- “How did you come to see it this way?”
These shift people from defending positions to sharing reasoning. You get real insight, and people feel genuinely understood instead of cross-examined.
3. Reflecting What You Hear
Name the emotion underneath:
- “It sounds like you’re frustrated that this change feels rushed.”
- “I’m hearing that you’re worried about how this impacts your team.”
Naming emotions helps people think more clearly. I once worked with a CEO whose executive team meetings were getting tense after a major product delay. Everyone came in defensive, ready to justify their part of the problem. Instead of opening with charts or finger-pointing, he began by saying, “I’m picking up a lot of frustration and maybe a bit of fatigue. That makes sense to me. We’ve been moving fast, and it’s been rough.” The room shifted instantly. Shoulders relaxed, people exhaled, and the conversation turned from “Who dropped the ball?” to “How do we fix this together?” He didn’t fire anyone, change the agenda, or say anything particularly profound, but simply acknowledged what everyone already felt but hadn’t said out loud.
That’s the practical power of active listening: naming what’s in the room so people can finally move forward together.
4. Comfortable Silence
Don’t rush to fill pauses. A few seconds of quiet signals you’re still listening, gives people space to think deeper, and prevents you from jumping to premature solutions.
Leaders comfortable with silence are perceived as more thoughtful and genuinely engaged.
5. Closing the Loop
This is where listening becomes trust-building instead of just technique.
After listening, you must:
- Summarize what you heard.
- Share what you’ll do (or explain why you’re taking a different direction).
- Follow up with a concrete update.
Without this, input disappears into a void, and listening becomes theater.
We recently had a CEO candidate we placed who excelled at this. After listening sessions, he’d send a summary: “Here’s what I heard. Here’s what I’m doing. Here’s when you’ll hear from me next.” People felt respected because they could see their input mattered.
The Neuroscience (The Short Version)
When people feel genuinely listened to, their brain’s reward system activates. They experience safety, trust, and the psychological freedom to bring their best thinking.
When leaders don’t listen, the brain shifts into a protective stance, which is defensive, guarded, and significantly less creative.
What’s interesting is that, as leaders move up and gain authority, their sensitivity to others’ emotional cues can diminish if they’re not intentional about staying connected. The very success that elevates you can make you worse at the thing that helped you get there.
Active listening is how you maintain that capacity.
How to Actually Do This
1. Prepare Yourself
Before important conversations, take 60–90 seconds for slow breathing to settle your nervous system. Your nervous system directly affects your capacity to listen genuinely.
2. Use a Simple Structure
Having a framework frees you to listen better because you’re not wondering what to ask next.
- Open: “What’s most on your mind right now?”
- Explore: “Tell me more.” “How is this affecting your team?” “What do you see that I don’t?”
- Reflect: Summarize what you heard. Name the emotion.
- Close: “Here’s what I’ll do next, and here’s when you’ll hear from me.”
Consistency matters. It tells people this isn’t theater.
Build It Into Your System
If listening depends only on your habits, it breaks under pressure.
1. Embed it into your organization
- Listening Forums: Regular sessions with no slides, only dialogue.
- Quarterly Surveys: “What should we start, stop, and continue doing?”
- Structured Conversations: Pair people with different views for guided listening.
2. Measure It
Ask direct reports twice yearly: “On a scale of 1–10, how heard do you feel by me?” and “What’s one thing I could do better?”
Recognize leaders who listen well. Track retention on teams known for strong listening. The correlation becomes clear.
Real Examples
The Healthcare CEO
A CEO navigating internal conflict over DEI and social issues hosted listening circles instead of issuing directives. No debate. Just understanding.
Over time, antagonism decreased. People worked better with those they disagreed with. Turnover dropped. What she discovered: the conflict wasn’t really political; it was fear about whether the organization still valued excellence.
Once she understood that, she could truly lead.
The Manufacturing Leader
A president facing a supply chain crisis spent two hours a day on the factory floor asking workers, “What’s working? What isn’t? What would you change?”
His listening uncovered a bottleneck that expensive consultants missed. Fixing it saved millions. More importantly, workers felt respected. Safety issues surfaced earlier. The organization’s capacity to solve problems improved.
The Advisory Lesson
One COO candidate we presented wasn’t the most technically polished, but, in final interviews with the CEO and a board director, he asked something different: “What would success look like for you personally?”
He listened deeply. Reflected their concerns. Only then discussed strategy. The board selected him because he demonstrated something rare: he would listen first and decide second. That’s not fakeable.
I’ve also seen accomplished strategists struggle because they listened primarily to respond. Teams felt unheard. Feedback rarely shifted decisions. Technical brilliance couldn’t overcome poor listening.
The difference between winning and losing wasn’t intelligence. It was listening.
Why This Matters for 2026
Every new year brings ambitious plans for strategy and growth. Few leadership teams commit to becoming better listeners.
Yet in a polarized, uncertain world, active listening multiplies everything else you’re doing:
- Your strategy becomes more grounded in reality and frontline insight.
- Your communication lands with greater clarity.
- Your culture becomes more resilient when external tensions spill inside.
- Your best people stay and bring their real thinking.
The CEOs who navigate uncertainty best aren’t the ones with the most complicated playbooks. They’re the ones who’ve earned trust through genuine listening. When crisis comes, and it always does, good people follow someone they trust far faster than someone brilliant but invisible.
As you shape 2026, consider this: “This year, I will become the listening leader my organization actually needs.”
Block time each week for genuine listening. Ask one more question than you normally would. Close the loop visibly so people see their voice matters.
Leaders can’t control the economy or geopolitical shifts. But you absolutely control how you show up in every conversation. In a noisy, divided world, the leader who listens fully, actively, consistently becomes the person everyone else trusts and follows.
In 2026, that listening edge might be your single most decisive advantage.