The following is an excerpt from Andrew Levitt's recent book "Listening to Design: A Guide to the Creative Process."
Listening fully without any desire to judge or cause change can open the most stubbornly shut door. With deeper listening, the desire to change or judge the other person disappears and is replaced by a willingness to just be present. At first I worried that listening was not enough, but eventually I learned that the process of creativity hinges on the ability to listen. We need to get into the habit of recognizing the authenticity of our inner voices. By hearing that voice without judgement, we can access all kinds of riches. All the ideas in the world won’t help you if they fall on deaf ears. When we get an idea, there are so many ways of ignoring or sabotaging it. Staying true to the inner command is the holy moment of design. But listening is the key to successful collaboration and feedback.
Feedback comes in many different shapes and sizes and can be so tricky that the topic probably needs to be a stand-alone course. You need a strong ego to enter into conversation about your work, but if you are too full of yourself it is difficult to get anything out of such a conversation. This is as true for teachers as it is for students.
