Stuart Watson spent his first career earning a living by talking. His whole identity was wrapped up in being a Peabody-award-winning investigative reporter. Then he turned 55 and got fired. He began to doubt himself. He flirted with suicide.

To escape such dark thoughts, he began a five-year odyssey conducting dozens and dozens of interviews for a podcast, a book, and a film. Increasingly, those interview subjects were women. But all too often, Stuart interrupted or “mansplained” or flat-out argued. It didn't work.

So gradually he learned how to stop talking over women and really listen to them. The result is this book and a podcast called ManListening, in which Stuart elevates the stories of a diverse group of strong women who bounced back.

What She Said & What I Heard is a memoir told through a series of profound moments where a woman said something that Stuart actually heard. He shifted and changed because in a moment, he really listened.

This book is for broken people and the people who don't know how to hear them. If you're still reading, you're one of us.