THE POWER OF LISTENING

 

By

 Mindanao Daily News

 -

May 4, 2026

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Great leaders are great listeners, and therefore my message today is a simple one – talk less and listen more. The best leaders are proactive, strategic, and intuitive listeners. They recognize knowledge and wisdom are not gained by talking, but by listening. Take a moment and reflect back on any great leader who comes to mind…you’ll find they are very adept at reading between the lines. They have the uncanny ability to understand what is not said, witnessed, or heard. In today’s post, I’ll quickly examine the merits of developing your listening skills. Warning: this post isn’t going to coddle you and leave you feeling warm and fuzzy – it is rather blunt and to the point.

Want to become a better leader? Stop talking and start listening. Being a leader should not be viewed as a license to increase the volume of rhetoric. Rather astute leaders know there is far more to be gained by surrendering the floor than by dominating it. In this age of instant communication, everyone seems to be in such a rush to communicate what’s on their mind, they fail to realize the value of everything that can be gleaned from the minds of others. Show me a leader who doesn’t recognize the value of listening to others and I’ll show you a train-wreck in the making.

Do you sometimes feel like this, my dear readers, that you want to discuss something, but the people opposite to you simply cannot listen to you? Sometimes, I would love to tell them, “first, learn to listen”!

Listening is indeed the key in effective communication. A person does not have to speak all the time to be the smartest person in the room. Lack of listening may result in frustration, disappointment, and resentment in our relationships. When we listen, we are able to create stronger emotional connections with people.

Many times during my teaching, I’m happy when my students have one or more questions for me – so, I can listen to them first. Active listening promotes mindful thinking, which can reduce anxiety and depression in students. It can also help students build relationships because as they engage themselves in conversation, their peers are more likely to view them as open and interested.

However, every time you use active listening, it gets a little easier. It can help you to navigate through difficult conversations. More than that, it helps improve overall communication, builds a better understanding and ultimately leads to better relationships with family, friends and co-workers too.

Listening is an active process by which we make sense of, assess, and respond to what we hear. The listening process involves five stages: receiving, understanding, evaluating, remembering, and responding. Not only in school or at the workplace. But especially talking about the workplace: Listening helps managers to solicit feedback and proactively find out about problems before they escalate. It’s also the only way for management to get to know people as individuals and ensure that they feel genuinely valued.

Listening and the supreme gift of wisdom belongs together. You can only become a wise person, if you know how to listen. Do you still remember the university lectures in your old student days once upon a time? Anybody can become wise, Proverbs says. Wisdom is not reserved for a brainy elite. Becoming wise requires self-discipline to study and humbly seek wisdom at every opportunity. And allow me to repeat: and, first, learn to listen.

BRACE FOR ANOTHER FUEL PRICE INCREASE

https://l.cdn.ph/oilpricehikemay5

#CDNEnterprise: Local oil prices are expected to increase again starting May 5, with diesel likely ending its recent streak of rollbacks, according to industry estimates. #CDNDigital

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Peso seen further weakening to 62-63 vs $1

 

BY IAN NICOLAS P. CIGARAL

MAY 4, 2026

EDITED BY FAITH HINOJOSA/INQUIRER PLUS GRAPHICS

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The combination of a prolonged war in the Middle East and a hawkish US Federal Reserve (Fed) could send the peso weakening to the 62 to 63 level, MUFG Global Markets Research warned.

In its monthly foreign-exchange outlook, MUFG said its baseline forecast still sees the peso trading between 60.5 and 61.5 over time. But a longer conflict and delayed rate cuts by the Fed could intensify pressure on the currency.

“In a risk scenario of prolonged conflict, we continue to see the Philippine peso as vulnerable and USD/PHP rising towards 62 to 63, especially if this is combined with a hawkish Fed,” the bank said.

The graduation I have been waiting for

 

Florenz Marcel Q. Encinas

I have been waiting for this graduation, but somehow, I feel I have missed it.

I was supposed to graduate from elementary school in 2020.

Standing on a stage as my name echoes through the gymnasium, wearing a small toga, adjusting a cap that never quite fits me right, as I smile nervously while my parents take pictures of me from the audience. It was supposed to mark the end of my childhood. An official goodbye before stepping into something new.

But it never happened. The world stopped before it even started, as we were locked inside the comfort of our homes because of a pandemic.

Instead, I got a screen in front of me: a slide and a name, then it was gone. Not even a picture was shown. And just like that, it ended. What hurt the most was not the ceremony. But the goodbyes we never had the chance to say.

One day, I was laughing with my classmates, sharing snacks during recess, making school requirements as we complained about it, and making promises that we would see each other again. Then the next day, we were all separated. No hugs, no goodbyes, no closure, no last conversations. We didn’t know that it was the last day we were together as a class.

I remember listening to the graduation song we practiced but never had the chance to perform. A song that was meant to be sung with friends, arms around each other, while voices break in laughter and tears. Sometimes, I sing along, but other times, I get too emotional I could not bring myself to utter the lyrics because I was crying. Crying to the memories we imagined but never had.

However, I moved on. I told myself, it doesn’t matter much because we were just kids trying to make it through; that, maybe, in high school, life would make up for the shortcomings and make it even better.

But high school was not what I expected it to be. It began the same way when the world ended—in silence, through papers, through screens, and in isolation.

Days blurred together in a repetitive pattern. I open my laptop, attend online classes, do my school work, and repeat. The small study corner of our house became my classroom, my cafeteria, my hallway, and my entire academic world. Two years passed like that. While time moved, life felt like it did not.

When face-to-face classes returned, everything felt unfamiliar. Like being dropped into a plot that I never even knew the exposition, because everything felt too alien.

Fast-forward, and it’s 2026.

I’m wearing a graduation gown again. This time it’s real, heavy on my shoulders. My name finally echoed throughout the gymnasium, acknowledging years of hard work. Families stood proud, friends cried, and everyone said their goodbye to the institution that became a home.

But something felt ironic. A weird sensation of contradiction. I’ve been waiting for this graduation for years, but it felt like I already missed it.

Because, deep inside, I’m still the 13-year-old child in 2020 lying in bed with headphones on and singing along to our graduation song, wondering when life would feel right again.

Six years had passed. But, emotionally, a part of me is still there—waiting. Because, for a long time, I thought I wasn’t allowed to feel this way. Maybe because other people suffered more during the pandemic. Other people lost more than I did.

But loss is still a loss. I lost the ending of my childhood. I lost the beginning of my teenage years. I lost two years I will never get back.

So, standing here now, waiting for my name to be called, I finally allow myself to feel everything—the grief, the confusion, the surreal feeling that time rushed forward and stood still at the same time.

But I’ve come to realize that even though time felt stolen, I still grew. I learned how to keep going without motivation. I learned resilience without realizing it. I learned that life doesn’t always follow the timeline we expect and that surviving the unexpected is its own kind of achievement.

So when I finally hear my name echo through the speakers, my chest tightens. My vision blurs. My heart pounds louder than the applause. And as I walk across the stage, I understand the irony of this moment.

I have been waiting for this graduation for years. The one I thought I had already missed. The one I thought time had taken from me forever. But somehow, it no longer feels like I have missed it. Because here I am. Not the way I imagined. Not at the time I expected. But real.

And as I take that final step, I realize that graduation isn’t about perfect timing. It’s about arriving even when time tried to leave you behind. It’s about finally standing on that stage wearing a gown that fits, adjusting a cap that finally sits right, smiling not because everything went according to plan, but because, after years of waiting, I’m finally graduating and somehow, it finally feels like I haven’t missed it at all.

Oil prices may stay high into 2027 amid Hormuz disruptions

 

BY EMMANUEL JOHN ABRIS

MAY 4, 2026

A gas attendant fills up a gas tank at a gasoline station in Quezon City. —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

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Poll: April inflation sizzled to over 2-yr high

Oil prices are likely to remain elevated for longer than previously expected as disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz persist, prompting DBS Bank and First Metro Securities Brokerage Corp. to revise their forecasts upward.

In a joint outlook, analysts said the timeline for normalizing traffic in the key shipping route had been pushed back, with a gradual reopening now expected over the next two quarters even if a deal between the United States and Iran is reached within the next few months.

This delay is expected to keep global oil inventories under pressure, supporting higher prices well into 2027.