The Generous Listening Newsletter: Volume 6, Part II
Career Change & Listening to the Inner Whisper
A Note from the Founder
Welcome back, dear listener, to the second installment of this month’s newsletter, expanding on the theme we began in Part I—listening to the inner whisper and finding the courage to embrace career changes, curiosity, and diverse experiences. In Part II, we extend this conversation with even more inspiration, including interviews, book recommendations, and further reading. Together, we’ll continue reflecting on how generosity in listening—both to ourselves and others—can lead to powerful, life-changing shifts at any stage.
The Generous Listener Podcast
We are delighted to share that the Generous Listener podcast is back, with bi-weekly episodes hosted by Vuslat Foundation director Merve ?a?lar , interviewing a roster of thought leaders, creatives and changemakers who stand out for the persevering curiosity and capacity to listen.
On ‘Listening for Solutions’, Merve sits down with David Bornstein, co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network and renowned journalist, to discuss the power of listening and how it has shaped his career. David shares his journey from software developer to journalist, recounting pivotal moments of deep self-reflection that led him to focus on solutions-driven narratives.
Voices on Listening
“If there’s some part of you that’s questioning your career, it’s important to listen to that. Our hearts sometimes know ourselves better than our minds do…Knowing that at the outset — that any career change will probably be followed by more changes, in varying degrees — can help you keep things in perspective if and when you start to re-evaluate things once again.”
— Michelle Obama
The Generous Listening Book Club
This month at the Book Club, discover titles that explore the value of embracing a diverse range of experiences, rediscovering personal passions, and finding success and fulfillment later in life, challenging the traditional narrative of early mastery and specialization.
By Rich Karlgaard
There is a scientific explanation for why so many of us bloom later in life. The executive function of our brains doesn't mature until age twenty-five, and later for some. In fact, our brain's capabilities peak at different ages. We actually experience multiple periods of blooming in our lives. Moreover, late bloomers enjoy hidden strengths because they take their time to discover their way in life--strengths coveted by many employers and partners--including curiosity, insight, compassion, resilience, and wisdom.Based on years of research, personal experience, interviews with neuroscientists, psychologists, and countless people at different stages of their careers, Late Bloomers reveals how and when we achieve our full potential.
By David W. Galenson
By examining the careers not only of great painters but also of important sculptors, poets, novelists, and movie directors, Old Masters and Young Geniuses offers a profound new understanding of artistic creativity. Using a wide range of evidence, David Galenson demonstrates that there are two fundamentally different approaches to innovation, and that each is associated with a distinct pattern of discovery over a lifetime.
By David Epstein
David Epstein examined the world's most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields--especially those that are complex and unpredictable--generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They're also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can't see.
By Daniel H. Pink
Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction—at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.
领英推荐
By Henry Oliver
Late bloomers - individuals who experience significant success later in life - offer lessons for people who feel frustrated. This book encourages people to think about themselves as potential late bloomers and to discover and encourage and advocate for late blooming in others. After all, it's never too late to discover our hidden talents and our accomplish our goals - the road to success is never as straightforward as we are lead to believe. Julia Child didn't discover that she loved to cook until she was thirty-seven. Vera Wang started her design business at forty. And Michelangelo painted The Last Judgment in his sixties.This inspiring, passionate book combines wonderful storytelling with fascinating new research, to shift expectations around our life trajectories.
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Voices on Listening
"You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can't get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing, but what you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself."
—Alan Alda
Read More On Late Bloomers
By David Brooks
“The combination of a high need for cognition and epistemic humility is a recipe for lifelong learning. Late bloomers learn more slowly but also more deeply precisely because they’re exploring on their own.”
By Jason Chen T
Six people who found a new creative calling later in life — or for whom recognition was long overdue.?
By Malcolm Gladwell
Whenever we find a late bloomer, we can’t but wonder how many others like him or her we have thwarted because we prematurely judged their talents. But we also have to accept that there’s nothing we can do about it. How can we ever know which of the failures will end up blooming?
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Pause and Ponder
What lights your soul, stirs your curiosity, and fills you with inspiration? Now, reflect on how much time you actually spend doing that in your everyday life.?
We want to hear your observations and thoughts. Drop us a line at: [email protected]