James 1:19 applies to laypeople. It also applies to pastors, although some disbelieve it. Or rather, it should apply to pastors even more notably, to give an EXAMPLE to laypeople! Christian counselors? The same.
The following is a bit gossipy, but I think justifiable.
I was at a diner a couple of months ago. Two men were in the booth across from me. One, as he made quite clear, was the pastor. He went on, continuously, for maybe an hour, hour and a half, following his own agenda, which zig-zagged this way and that. No, rather – so far as I could tell, he wasn’t following any agenda: it was more like improvisation.
Don’t get me wrong: the other man got to talk too! But it was a string of sentence fragments: “Yes, but…”; “Okay, but, you see I’m facing a different issue….”; “I see what you mean, however…”, that is, he kept getting cut short.
King Solomon was a pretty wise man. When the Queen of Sheba visited him, “she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her.” The queen asked all her questions, and only then Solomon answered all her questions.
That was the same Solomon who said, “If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.” Proverbs 18:13
Sometimes we think being a Christian leader is all about pouring out wise talk and not about wise listening. Not at all!! Not even if we are quoting Bible verses! For, how do we know what answer to give a person unless we know what the problem is?
If someone wants to label this an “unbiblical model”, or whip out those all-purpose cusswords, “postmodern” or “anthropocentric”, just take a look at 1 Corinthians: Paul responded to at least six questions that the church had posed, and responded to additional issues, such as “some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.” (1 Cor 1:10). He did not just give a general exposition of the Bible, not here, and not anywhere in his epistles. Like every good leader, Paul seems to have been capable of saying, “Now, do I understand you correctly that you are saying XYZ?” [In my monthly sessions with my spiritual director, or “mentor in the spiritual realm”, he seeks clarification, and that helps me to understand my own mind! In our hour together, he is content to let me speak for more than half our time; I’m not rushed. His contribution might be along the lines of: “Can you explain what you mean by that?”; “Have you explored this?” “When you experience this, where is God in the middle of it?” Or, “What would you say is your main take-away from today?”]
Of course: part of the pastoral/teaching ministry is to search beyond the questions which people initially bring to the table. God’s people need guidance in areas they do not know they need. Otherwise, our pulpit nutrition would be dangerously skewed to popular topics and “felt needs”! A preacher of the Bible will be “answering questions that no-one’s asking.” But still! That is no excuse for voluntary dullness of hearing.
Back to the diner. Later on, I saw some Yelp reviews of his church. The reviews were what I might have guessed. The majority raved about how strong and dynamic and unequaled their leader was. A small but substantial minority said, “DO NOT attend this church, its leadership is totally manipulative; if you don’t fall into line on every detail you are branded a troublemaker; it was toxic, I had to leave.”
The Lord gave us two ears and one mouth for a very good reason. I’ve never seen a pastor with two mouths and one ear.
“‘Be slow to speak, swift to hear’ applies to all!” by Gary S. Shogren, Professor of New Testament, Seminario ESEPA, San José, Costa Rica
Open Our Eyes, Lord! 
What do you think?