During a group discussion on effective negotiations, one of the members said this.

Listening is an important part of data gathering.

When we want to put forth an opinion to another team, too often we focus on our ideas and narrowly fixate on collecting data points that substantiate them. We tend to forget that any discussion is a group activity. Hearing and understanding the other perspectives is an important data point on its own that can pivot or even enrich our proposal.

Hearing this was a good reminder to self. Listening is also a source of data.