active listening

Active listening is the performance of pretending to deeply grasp someone’s words while showcasing one’s own competence. It fills polite silences with nods and aims to expertly satisfy the speaker’s need for validation. Taught in training sessions as a 'listening skill,' it becomes a formal proof of agreement in practice. Often, it functions primarily as a means for the listener’s self-satisfaction and self-presentation, overshadowing genuine empathy. Among communication techniques, it is the quietest tyrant.

EQ

EQ is the skill of feigning insight into others’ feelings to deftly conceal one’s own failures and preserve self-esteem. In meetings, it’s the art of nodding in agreement while whispering criticism the next day. Under the guise of emotion management, it controls coworkers, and before you know it, you’ve descended into an infinite hell of self-justification. Its true purpose, ironically, lies not in genuine empathy, but in self-preservation.