Listening: we all know we should be better at it yet most of us forget a person’s name 10 seconds after meeting them.

It’s the truth. A few days ago while waiting to conduct an interview I was introduced to the interviewee’s assistant and had to ask her name. Twice. Not because it was hard to pronounce (her first and last name actually rhymed), or because I’m awful and self-absorbed, but because while I heard her, I was in my own head at the moment and wasn’t listening.