No use of living in the world, without listening habit

Thirukkural 420
செவியிற் சுவையுணரா வாயுணர்வின் மாக்கள்
அவியினும் வாழினும் என்.

(Meaning: There is no use, if the persons (Thiruvalluvar calls them as animals) who do not possess 'listening skills'. whether they live or die?)

Explanation:

In the earlier edition of this blog, we had written about the need for soft skills, as told by Saint Thiruvalluvar.  Listening skills is part of the soft skills.

When Steven Covey added the 'active listening' as eighth habit, the entire management community hailed him for his new addition.  Saint Thiruvalluvar, two thousand years back, had given the greatest importance to this 'listening skills'.   In one of the Thirukkurals (Kural 411), he considers the listening skill as the greatest and supreme wealth. 

In this Thirukkural under discussion, he uses strongest words and calls the people without listening skills as மாக்கள் ('maakkal'  means  animals).  He even goes even one step further to say that there is no use whether they live or die.  In my view, this is the only Thirukkural, where Saint Thiruvalluvar uses the strongest words against the people who do not have listening skills.  

Presently, we come across many instances where the Senior Management Executives and also the team leaders, do not possess adequate 'listening skills'.  When the other persons convey something, they do not give adequate attention to absorb their views and then to take decision.  Several reasons are attributed to this phenomenon for such bad listening habits, including the attitudinal problems.  

Present Management Gurus emphasise on the need for 'active listening', which includes giving feedback to the speaker, maintaining eye contact, body language, etc.  If you take out a list of the most successful people and analyse their behaviour, you would definitely conclude that they all possess 100% active listening skills.  

Knowledge is nothing, without 'human skills'

Thirukkural 997
அறம்போலும் கூர்மைய ரேனும் மரம்போல்வர்
மக்கட்பண்பு இல்லா தவர்

(Meaning: Even if a person possess sharp knowledge like sharp knife, if he does not posses 'human skills', he can be compared with 'wood'. )

Explanation:

In the past one decade the demand for soft skills or human skills have become more popular among corporate employees. Every HR Consultant started talking about this.  The books written by Dale Carnegie and Stephen Covey have become top sellers.  The human skills include good communication skills, listening, inter personal skills, etc.  

Even two thousand years back Saint Thiruvalluvar gave importance to the 'human skills', which is now known as 'soft skills'. 

SaintThiruvalluvar says that if a person, however intelligent he is, if he does not possess human skills, he could be compared only with 'wood'.  He gives more emphasis that intelligence or knowledge without human skills is of no use.  Two thousand years back, he has even given the tamil word 'Makkat panpu', which is the true and literal  translation for 'human skills'.

In our daily life, we come across many brilliant and highly intelligent  people in the corporate and other places, without soft skills.  Probably, they assume that their knowledge is supreme.  But they are not respected by the people due to their lack of human skills.  At the same, we also come across many people with high level of knowledge, like Dr Abdul Kalam, former President of India, who possesses excellent 'human skills'.  Those people are respected by the society.

Knowledge has no meaning without 'human skills'.