A communication discipline in which the listener focuses fully on the speaker, signals understanding through verbal and non-verbal cues, and reflects back what they heard before responding. In meetings, active listening looks like: paraphrasing the speaker's point before pushing back, asking clarifying questions instead of jumping to solutions, and resisting the urge to draft your reply while the other person is still talking. For non-native English speakers, active listening also includes asking the speaker to slow down or rephrase when needed — a habit many professionals avoid because they fear losing credibility, but which actually signals confidence and reduces costly misunderstandings. AI meeting copilots support active listening by handling the cognitive load of note-taking, freeing participants to engage with the conversation in real time.