The person who listens well at the beginning gives the relationship a useful first habit.

Early patterns set fast. Whatever happens in the first few conversations tends to become the shape of the whole thing: who explains and who receives, whose day gets discussed, how much interruption counts as normal. Listening carefully at the start is more than good manners. It installs a habit both people will still be running years later, when neither of them remembers choosing it.

In a new friendship, job, or partnership, spend the first weeks asking more than you answer. The habit is far cheaper to build now than to repair once the other pattern has settled.