Ximena Vengoechea is a user researcher, writer, and illustrator whose work on personal and professional development has been published in Inc., The Washington Post, Newsweek, and Huffington Post. She is a contributor at Fast Company and The Muse, and is best known for her project The Life Audit. An experienced manager, mentor, and researcher in the tech industry, she previously worked at Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  Ximena joins us today to discuss the long lost art of listening as a means of connecting with others, including how to differentiate between what people say and what they actually do, how to get away from surface listening, and how to know when to follow-up or let the conversation flow. Ximena also shares how silence is often used as a tool in user research, and how we can all use silence to our advantage when it comes to connection. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://bit.ly/2S279Vo