AGL 407: Michael Reddington on The Disciplined Listening Method

07/03/2025 36 min
AGL 407: Michael Reddington on The Disciplined Listening Method

Listen "AGL 407: Michael Reddington on The Disciplined Listening Method"

Episode Synopsis

About Michael




Michael Reddington is an expert at moving people from resistance to commitment. He is an executive resource, Certified Forensic Interviewer, President of InQuasive, Inc., and author of The Disciplined Listening Method. Michael’s public speaking career began in his teenage years as he travelled around New England educating audiences on the benefits of including students with, and without, disabilities in the same classrooms. His speaking endeavors simmered for several years as he facilitated training courses for investigators at the organizations where he was employed.








Michael’s ascent as an influential instructor was supercharged when he was recruited to join Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates (WZ). His time at WZ proved to be the capstone of Michael’s investigative career. In addition to running WZ’s investigations division and serving as a contract interrogator Michael travelled the world teaching federal investigators, law enforcement officers, private sector investigators and human resource professionals how to obtain the truth with non-confrontational interrogation techniques.
While working for WZ Michael’s research and experience led him to two critical realizations. First, the best leaders and the best interrogators capitalize on the same two core skills – vision and influence. Second, the cognitive processes that lead interrogation suspects to truthfully state “I did it”, employees to say “I’ll do it” and customers to say “I’ll buy it” are essentially identical. These realizations motivated Michael to broaden his perspective and create The Disciplined Listening Method by integrating research and best practices from across the spectrum of business communication with non-confrontational interrogation techniques. With his methodology in place Michael transitioned away from WZ, founded InQuasive and dedicated himself to teaching executives how to activate the truth by applying strategic, ethical observation and persuasion techniques.
Michael has facilitated over 1,500 sessions and educated over 15,000 participants from over 50 countries. He has been invited to lead his sessions across the United States, Canada, Ireland, The United Kingdom, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Michael consistently facilitates custom seminars and workshops for companies ranging from the Fortune 500, to mid-size businesses. He frequently serves as an educational resource for CEO peer networks including the Young Presidents Organization, Vistage and The Renaissance Executive Forum. Michael often speaks at conferences for groups including the National Retail Federation, The Society of Human Resource Management, The Association of Talent Development and beyond. He also leads programs for Universities including The Kellogg School of Management, The Harvard Extension School, Cornell and the DePaul Legal Clinic.
On stage Michael leverages his interrogation expertise, business experience and vast content library to deliver customized, engaging and educational programs with the goals of solving real problems in real time. He understands that the more he resonates with an audience, they quicker they will be able to apply the techniques they learn. With Michael, it is never a workshop or keynote presentation, it is always an experience.





Today We Talked About

His background
What are we doing in advance to make it easier for people to speak up?

Trust vs. Faith
Create opprotunities to demonstrate to people that they are safe
Be vulnerable


Refraine from judgement
Blame never solves the problem
Accountablility
Focus on Outcomes – OKRs
Use this as a way to help grow the person
“Time is the enemy of Empathy”

Time creates stress
Prioritizing Speed, we sacrifice quality
“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.”


What is disciplined listening?

Understand how every interaction potentially impacts both their short- and long-term goals
Leverage their perceived weaknesses to develop their communication strategies
Allow their conversations to come to them
Identify strategic intelligence by evaluating the totality of their counterpart’s communications within the context of the conversation
Adapt their strategies to immediately integrate the intelligence they acquire
Encourage their counterparts to always protect their self-images
Build trust equity through post-conversation follow up


Embrace the fact you are not in control of the conversation
Stay Curious
Listen for intellegence, not information
Being Patient and prioritizing outcomes
Vulnerability is not a sign of weakness, but rather strength
I see what you’re saying podcast

 

Connect with Michael

Website
LinkedIn
InQuasive
X
YouTube

 
 

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