Most people are listening for what they need from the other person. Hmm, sounds pretty attractive to me. Facts and information are valuable, but are rarely profound. What is profound is people, emotions and concepts. Next time you're listening to your child, client or friend, feel what they are feeling and respond in kind to that, instead of just to what they are saying.
Feelings are the fastest way to the person's heart.
There is something called memes, which are basically the idea-equivalent of genes. But the idea is that when you can package information, concepts or truth into nugget-sized packages, they don't only land easily on the person you're talking to, but that person can pass them on to others easily, like a virus. The biggest thing in life right now is the competition between memes and genes. So, become memetically attractive. In other words, have simple, worthwhile, intriguing things to say.