When I was in high school we were studying several Shakespeare plays, and every now and then I was struck by the poignancy of a given phrase.

One of them seemed to be a blending of Machiavelli and Dale Carnegie and it is still sage wisdom:

To all lend thy ear, but few thy tongue.

Ive never come across a pithier way of saying listening is more important than speaking.

And except for a very brief, and yes, shining moment in recent history, the laurels have gone to great speakers instead of to fine listeners.

At one point a large corporation, one of my consulting clients, declared in its advertising that We understand the importance of listening. That same company resolved to train all of its associates in listening skills, and this launched a fad, for lack of a better term.

Listening became a topic in college catalogues, and other companies offered their own courses.

But then, seemingly as quickly as it burst onto the scene, listening faded as a topical area.

What happened?

In a word, prosperity.

It seems companies are mostly interested in listening, especially to customers, when times are tough. The listening fad emerged during a deep recession, so corporations were willing to try anything.

Around this time, McDonalds and Burger King coined, arguably, their most customer-centered slogans: We Do It All For You and Have It Your Way.

Will listening make a comeback?

You can bet on it