In January 2025, flying over a gorgeous Greenland 🇬🇱 landscape, I had a conversation with a Danish woman about Greenland, war — and dog sleds 🐾. This chance encounter reminded me of the importance of listening more and talking less.
She knew someone who served in the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol (Slædepatruljen Sirius), the special military unit that tours remote parts of Greenland by dog sled.
The two of us had been randomly seated next to each other on a flight from Copenhagen to San Francisco, so we had time (11.5 hours to be exact). I enjoy listening to interesting strangers in airplanes.
She showed me a photo of a group of young men with long hair and a smile on their faces, somewhere in Greenland. These guys serve a two-year tour in Greenland, doing reconnaissance patrol on the uninhabited coastline. A single patrol trip may take months.
The dog sled isn’t about the Danish military being primitive. It’s that the conditions are primitive.
You can’t spend months in the icy wilderness relying on motor vehicles. There are no gas stations or motels.
Even though the patrols get supplies by air drops and from storage depots around Greenland, the dog sled is still superior on the ground compared to motor vehicles, as there are no roads in that part of the huge island.
In addition to the dog sleds patroling on the ground, the Danish military flies American F-35 fighter jets above Greenland. Also their navy is there.
We talked about all this because on January 7, 2025, Trump had publicly floated seizing Greenland.
Many people are asking why Trump is doing this. ”Why?” is a common question when talking about war.
One of my strongest memories from the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Days in Mariupol is about bewildered local people asking exactly that: “Why? Why are they bombing our homes? We have done nothing, we want to live in peace.”
The sad thing is that for some things in life no sensible answers seem to exist. I believe there is no reason here that makes sense, except the flawed character of an authoritarian ruler.
You listen to such rulers talk, and sometimes listening simply reveals that there’s no coherent moral logic there. That, too, is useful information.
Europe has seen already before the damage authoritarian rulers may inflict. Practically speaking, World War Two in Europe began with Stalin’s and Hitler’s alliance. For both of them, a million people killed was just a statistic, as the saying goes.
Today, Europe lies again between two authoritarian rulers, and we need to be ready for whatever may come.
We need to take action, but we also need something else.
As a public speaking coach, people assume I’m mostly interested in speaking. I am — but I’m even more interested in listening.
I learn more by listening to the stories of others than those of my own. In the bigger picture, if we want to get along in this world, we don’t need more talk, we need more listening.
Because with enough patience, we sometimes find moments that open a door, a chance to build common ground. Not with everyone. But with some people. And that could be a beginning of something positive.
On this flight from Copenhagen to San Francisco, I learned about the famous dog sled patrol in Greenland.
👉 When was the last time a stranger taught you something useful you didn’t expect?
Would you like to become a better communicator? 