Explore every episode of the podcast Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques
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| 158. Hope for Cynics: Building Trusting Relationships through Communication | 03 Sep 2024 | 00:29:20 | |
“Acts of trust are the bedrock on which relationships are formed.” There’s a lot in the world to make us cynical about other people and their motives and intentions. But by “trusting loudly,” Professor Jamil Zaki believes we can renew our faith in one another. Zaki is a professor of psychology at Stanford, director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience lab, and author of several books, including his most recent, Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness. While many people feel suspicious of others and are reluctant to trust them, Zaki finds that relying on other people is a necessary part of forming relationships. “Acts of trust are the bedrock on which relationships are formed,” Zaki says. “The only way that strangers become friends and friends become best friends, the only way that we can build partnerships is through a willingness to count on one another.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Zaki joins host Matt Abrahams to discuss practical strategies for fostering trust and challenging our cynical assumptions, offering a hopeful perspective on human nature, backed by surprising scientific insights. Episode Reference Links:
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| 157. Communicating the Future: Defining Where We Want AI to Take Us | 27 Aug 2024 | 00:25:55 | |
Artificial intelligence can now do a lot of things. But if you’re worried about it taking your place as a communicator, Russ Altman says you need to question why you’re communicating in the first place. Altman is a professor of bioengineering, a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, and host of Stanford Engineering’s podcast, The Future of Everything. According to him, advancing technology isn’t a threat to human creativity and connection, but a tool we can use to raise our own standards for communication. “If you're worried that a ChatGPT-type tool can replace you, you need to [ask]: Why am I communicating? What am I trying to say? Do I have a message?” he says. “If those things are true, it shouldn't be a problem. It should actually amplify and improve your message.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Altman and host Matt Abrahams explore how effective communication can help us envision, articulate, and navigate towards our desired future, in our relationships, in our work, and in society. Episode Reference Links:
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| 148. Conviction and Compassion: How to Have Hard Conversations | 25 Jun 2024 | 00:30:56 | |
In our personal and professional lives, some conversations are harder than others. To navigate the difficulties of discussing what matters most, Professor Irv Grousbeck says we need the right balance of conviction and compassion. At both Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford School of Medicine, Grousbeck teaches courses on managing difficult conversations. He equips students with skills to be direct while being respectful, to be strong while being warm, and to resist any urge to beat around the bush. "Directness, with respect, is essential,” he says. "So many of our students feel that if you're direct with someone, somehow that's harsh. The art of good conversation management, I think, does involve directness and respect at the same time." In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Grousbeck and host Matt Abrahams explore practical tips and strategies for navigating difficult conversations, from the importance of listening and pausing, to the value of rehearsing your words in advance. Episode Reference Links:
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| 60. Communicating Uncertainty: How to Connect With Your Audience, Even When The Answers Aren’t Clear | 07 Jun 2022 | 00:20:02 | |
“It's not reassuring when we don't know the answers to critically important questions involved in health and wellbeing. But it's far more of a problem if we try to pretend we do.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Stanford Medical School dean Lloyd Minor sits down with podcast host Matt Abrahams to discuss transparency in leadership. “Rather than pushing ambiguity away, we should lean into it, and use it as a stimulus to guide our communication in more effective ways.” They also discuss the benefits an introvert can bring to leadership roles and critical role listening plays for anyone in a position of power.
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| 59. From Dreaming to Doing: How We Set and Achieve Goals | 24 May 2022 | 00:23:02 | |
Why do we do what we do? What factors drive us? And how do things like competition with others help us achieve our goals? These are the questions most interesting to Szu-chi Huang, an associate professor of marketing with a specific interest in motivation. “Competition definitely increases motivation,” says Huang. “It makes attaining the goal more valuable.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Huang and host Matt Abrahams explore the intersection of human psychology, behavior, and goal attainment—and how communication connects them all.
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| 58. Forgiveness: How the Right Communication Repairs Relationships | 10 May 2022 | 00:21:10 | |
In relationships between imperfect people, mistakes are inevitable. And when we find ourselves with damaged connections, it’s a specific kind of communication that can help us make amends. Fred Luskin is the Director of the Stanford University Forgiveness Project, and has devoted much of his career to researching the way forgiveness affects our psychological, relational, and physical health. “Apology is one of the few things that research shows actually facilitates forgiveness,” Luskin explains. In this Think Fast, Talk Smart podcast with host and strategic communication lecturer Matt Abrahams, Luskin outlines what it means to truly say we’re sorry.
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| 57. Are You Listening?: How to Stay Open and Curious to Other People’s Ideas | 26 Apr 2022 | 00:19:19 | |
“Listening actively and deeply happens when I genuinely believe that the person who's speaking has intrinsic worth and brings a perspective that I lack and need.” This episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart features Kristin Hansen, lecturer in management and executive director of Civic Health Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to reduce extreme polarization and foster healthier civil discourse in U.S. citizenry, politics, and media. Together with host Matt Abrahams, Hansen shares how from our workplaces to our personal lives, communication thrives when we cultivate open-mindedness, intellectual humility, and genuine curiosity. Connect:
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| 56. Lean Messaging: How Simple Messages Really Stick | 12 Apr 2022 | 00:23:00 | |
“Anyone can make a complicated thing sound complicated. It takes real skill to make it sound simple.” This episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart features Steve Blank, seasoned entrepreneur, marketer, and Stanford adjunct professor in the Department of Management Science and Engineering. “Messages need to be memorable,” he tells podcast host and strategic communications lecturer Matt Abrahams. “The more memorable the message, the greater its ability to create change.” Blank teaches courses on Lean Startups, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and throughout his 45 years of launching businesses and helping others do the same, he’s learned the importance of crafting the perfect message by keeping it simple.
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| 55. Ideas & Empathy: How to Design and Communicate with Others in Mind | 29 Mar 2022 | 00:22:49 | |
“Very often, you are not designing for yourself. And you kind of have to get out of your own way to effectively design with others’ needs in mind.” In this podcast episode, lecturer Matt Abrahams is joined by Sarah Stein Greenberg, Director of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, aka the Stanford d.school, and author of Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways. Together, Greenberg and Abrahams discuss how design and communication require seeing things from more than just our own point of view, and the tools we can use to broaden our perspectives. Connect:
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| 54. Leadership and Ethics: How to Communicate Your Core Values | 15 Mar 2022 | 00:26:49 | |
“A mistake that some leaders make is to assume that the people in your organization share your core values. Some of the time some of them do, but there's a bunch who don't, and those are the most difficult sorts of situations.” In this episode, Political Science professors Neil Malhotra and Ken Shotts sit down with host and lecturer Matt Abrahams, to discuss how to lead others whose values may not align with your own. “The most effective thing you can do is to understand the other person's story and frame the language and arguments around them. And I think kind of this is what framing is about, it's fundamentally about being empathetic.” Connect:
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| 53. Step Up and Stand Out: How to Create the Right Environment for Communication | 01 Mar 2022 | 00:24:14 | |
“You’re not going to hit the mark with everybody, but you still need to be mindful of everybody,” says Jonathan Levav, the King Philanthropies Professor of Marketing. “That’s critical to create an environment where communication is effective.” In this episode, Levav sits down with podcast host Matt Abrahams to talk about the science behind decision fatigue, how to lead effectively while working from home, and how to create the right company culture both in the office and online. The right communication, Levav says, fosters an environment for creativity, innovation, and collaboration. “How can you encourage those serendipitous conversations that tend to happen in person?”
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| 52. Communicating Our Mistakes: How to Avoid Common Flaws and Make Better Decisions | 16 Feb 2022 | 00:23:34 | |
In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, host Matt Abrahams sits down with finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen to talk about their new podcast, All Else Equal.
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| 51. We Asked, You Answered: Celebrating our 50th Episode with your Anxiety Management Plans | 10 Feb 2022 | 00:14:54 | |
In this 50th episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, host Matt Abrahams and executive producer Jenny Luna share the winners' plans from our Confident Communicator Challenge and offer new, research-backed techniques for managing nervousness both before and during your communication. Thank you to many, many listeners from all over the world who sent in their anxiety management plans. Connect:
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| 147. Disrupt Yourself: How to Innovate Who You Are and Become Who You Can Be | 18 Jun 2024 | 00:27:35 | |
Innovation and disruption aren’t just for organizations. According to Whitney Johnson, we can find new possibilities for personal and professional growth — by disrupting ourselves. As an executive coach, author, and podcaster, Johnson teaches people how to level up their lives and careers through the power of personal disruption. Her book, Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work, reveals how shaking things up enables us to break free of the constraints we might not even know we’re imposing on ourselves. “Personal disruption [is] a process of deliberate self-innovation; a decision to step back from who you are to slingshot into who you can be,” she explains. In this Think Fast, Talk Smart episode with host Matt Abrahams, Johnson offers strategies for tailoring messages to different audiences, reveals the key ingredients for successful communication, and explains how disrupting yourself can open new doors and help you reach your full potential. Episode Reference Links:
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| 50. Telling Good Stories: How to Use the Elements of Narrative to Keep Listeners Engaged | 02 Feb 2022 | 00:21:52 | |
“Make them want to turn the page,” says Paula Moya, a professor at Stanford University and author of The Social Imperative: Race, Close Reading, and Contemporary Literary Criticism. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Moya sits down with strategic communication lecturer Matt Abrahams to share how the elements of story can be used in other types of communication. Create compelling situations, full of sense and surprise, she says. Create characters we can empathize with; speak your written sentences aloud, and, Moya advises, think of the images your words may conjure up and how they may be interpreted by different audiences.
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| 49. Make Numbers Count: How to Communicate Data Effectively | 18 Jan 2022 | 00:20:34 | |
“We have to make data emotional because emotions are what drive us to act,” says Chip Heath, a professor of organizational behavior and author of the new book, Making Numbers Count: The Art of Science of Communicating Numbers. In this interview with host Matt Abrahams, Heath talks about ways that data and statistics can be used to illuminate — or obscure — our message. “A lot of people in the world don’t understand numbers like the numbers people,” he says. “And there are a lot of untranslated numbers that float around in organizations and in society.” Heath suggests thinking about numbers like a foreign language we need to “translate” for our audience: “If we don’t translate numbers into something that’s more tangible, we’re going to sacrifice in a big way.“
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| 48. Speaking Up Without Freaking Out: How to Tackle Communication Anxiety | 05 Jan 2022 | 00:27:09 | |
“Eighty five percent of people report being nervous about speaking in public, and I believe the other 15% are lying,” says Matt Abrahams, lecturer in Strategic Communication and podcast host. “What is it about speaking in front of others that makes most of us nervous? Well, those of us who study this ubiquitous fear believe it is part of our human condition.” In this special episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Matt Abrahams returns to one of the podcast's main goals: helping people become more confident communicators. Listen to interviews with Stanford University professors who research stress as they share insights into why these feelings affect our communication, and how to overcome them. To find more resources on public speaking anxiety, visit stanford.io/AMP.
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| 47. Quick Thinks: How to Use Storytelling to Be a Better Founder | 14 Dec 2021 | 00:08:55 | |
“Great founders are great storytellers,” says Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Stephanos Zenios in this “Quick Thinks” episode. Zenios is the director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and heads Startup Garage, a project-based course where teams design and test business concepts that address real-world problems. “Founders have to tell a story to their customer so that they can inspire them to test and use their new product. They have to tell a story to their employees to inspire them to take some risk. And then, they have to tell a story to investors and their board.”
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| 46. Stay Creative: How to Keep Your Ideas Fresh and Practical | 03 Dec 2021 | 00:23:07 | |
“To be creative, ideas must be both novel and useful. That’s the definition that we use in creativity research,” says Justin Berg, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business. But, he warns: “Novel ideas are often not very useful and useful ideas are often not very novel.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Berg sits down with lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams to share lessons from his work on creativity, which has included conducting experiments with both movie directors and circus performers. “The takeaway is that we should never stop being a creator. As managers and executives climb up the organizational ladder, they may benefit from staying involved in the creative R&D side of things, rather than just spend time having ideas pitched to them.”
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| 45. Recipes From the “Communication Kitchen”: How to Handle Three Common Challenges This Holiday Season | 18 Nov 2021 | 00:16:30 | |
In each episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Stanford GSB lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams asks his guests the same question: “What are the first three ingredients in a successful communication recipe?” Answers have ranged from specific and poetic, to impactful and thought-provoking. In this episode, we bring you some favorite responses, as well as Matt’s tips for solving three common communication challenges that tend to arise during the holiday season.
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| 44. Act Like a Leader: How Lessons From The Theater Can Help You Step into Power | 11 Nov 2021 | 00:21:31 | |
"Leadership is a role that you play, like a part you play in other people’s lives. And [your] expression of that role is your responsibility as a leader,” says Stanford GSB lecturer Melissa Jones Briggs. Jones Briggs’ work combines techniques from the theater with social science research to teach lessons about power and communication. In this conversation with host Matt Abrahams, she discusses how acting in a leadership position requires staying present and also knowing when to step back. “Power and authority often determine which stories are centered and which stories are marginalized,” Jones Briggs says. “By uncovering previously untold stories, we can create environments that invite new stories in, and that helps shape inclusive and equitable work cultures.”
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| 43. Get Psyched: How Time and Situations Shape Our Communication | 28 Oct 2021 | 00:21:08 | |
“Social psychologists believe that if we want to understand our own behavior and the behavior of others, the first thing we have to ask or notice is, ‘What is the situation in which they are performing, in which they are behaving?’ And then we want to know as much about the situation as possible.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Stanford emeritus psychology professor Phillip Zimbardo sits down with host Matt Abrahams to discuss how time influences our perception and our positive or negative thought processes. The two also talk about how the findings of Zimbardo’s most notable (and controversial) study — the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment — inform our understanding of human behavior.
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| 42. Space, Pace, and Grace: How to Handle Challenging Conversations | 15 Oct 2021 | 00:25:48 | |
Being a better listener has a lot to do with silence, says Collins Dobbs, a lecturer in management at Stanford Graduate School of Business. “A lot of people are uncomfortable with the smallest modicum of silence, but learning often happens when we create distance for useful reflection.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Dobbs talks with host Matt Abrahams about the importance of “space, pace, and grace” when you’re receiving others’ feedback and handling the emotions that come out during tough discussions. “There’s often a lot more focus on the skill set on delivering emotion than receiving emotion, but if the receiver of emotion can put themselves in a place of curiosity, agency, and openness. . . . opens up a whole new world of possibilities.” Dobbs is an executive coach and teaches several courses, including Interpersonal Dynamics, and Leadership Labs.
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| 41. Speak like a Founder: How Successful Entrepreneurs Communicate to Their Teams | 30 Sep 2021 | 00:20:46 | |
“Part of teamwork is dating,” says Stefanos Zenios, The Investment Group of Santa Barbara Professor of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Operations, Information & Technology. “Dating each other to see whether you can work well together. It’s about developing how you will speak with each other in the team, how you will manage difficult conversations, and how to be respectful, but also how to help each other grow.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, host Matt Abrahams sits down with Professor Zenios to hear more about the methods shared in the Stanford GSB project-based course Startup Garage. Connect:
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| 146. Stress Resets: How to Change Your Internal Dialogue to Communicate Better | 11 Jun 2024 | 00:22:38 | |
Stress can get in the way of our communication with others. To manage our stress, psychologist Jenny Taitz says, we first need to adjust the conversations that we have with ourselves. Taitz is an assistant clinical professor in psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of several books, including Stress Resets: How to Soothe Your Body and Mind in Minutes. According to her, much of the stress we experience is self-created through negative thought patterns and harsh self-criticism. “We're doing this to ourselves all the time,” she says. But as we become aware of these unhelpful mental loops, Taitz’ “resets” can help us disrupt them and reframe self-talk in more productive ways In addition to changing our self-talk, Taitz offers tools for refreshing our communication with others. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, she and host Matt Abrahams explore her G.I.V.E. framework — how being gentle, interested, validating, and easy-mannered equips us for more positive conversations with ourselves and others Episode Reference Links:
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| 40. Mindset Matters: How to Embrace the Benefits of Stress | 16 Sep 2021 | 00:27:22 | |
“Stress is natural, stress is inevitable when you're living a life that's connected with things you care about. And learning how to embrace it, learning how to work with it is really what helps us thrive and grow and perform at our highest level, according to psychologist and associate professor at Stanford, Alia Crum. In this episode, Crum talks with host and lecturer Matt Abrahams about her research and findings as principal investigator of the Stanford Mind and Body Lab where she is focusing on reshaping our mindset to embrace stress. “There's a whole side of stress that shows that it can have enhancing qualities on our cognitive functioning, our physical health and on how we behave and interact with others,” she says. Connect:
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| 39. Brains Love Stories: How Leveraging Neuroscience Can Capture People's Emotions | 02 Sep 2021 | 00:23:00 | |
In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams sits down with David Eagleman, a neuroscientist and the host of the PBS series The Brain, to discuss why our brains are wired for storytelling and how new senses might impact our connection and communication with others. “I’ve always been really interested in this idea of how we can pass information to the brain via unusual channels," Eagleman says. "We’ve got our eyes or ears or fingertips and our nose, we’re very used to this and we sort of think these are fundamental, but of course, this is just what we’ve inherited from a long road of evolution... It turns out you can push information in the brain in other ways.” Connect:
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| 38. The New Normal: How Hybrid Work Actually Works | 19 Aug 2021 | 00:21:53 | |
“One of the things I think is really exciting about all this, and perhaps a little bit frightening, is nobody actually knows how to do it. It is not something that we’ve ever done before. And I’ve studied a lot of globally distributed work, and virtual teams, and so forth. But hybrid work is not that and it’s not telecommuting, which we know a bit about. But it’s something that is a mix of these multiple different modes of working,” says Pamela Hinds, Fortinet Founders Chair and professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University. In this episode, Hinds talks with host and lecturer Matt Abrahams about her research on the effect of technology on teams, teamwork, and innovation by exploring issues of culture, language, identity, and conflict in promoting knowledge sharing and collaboration. “Employees are going to expect flexibility. Organizations are going to need to sustain a higher level of flexibility with regard to when and where people work.” Connect:
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| 37. Be Better: How Communication Catalyzes Business Transformation | 05 Aug 2021 | 00:25:08 | |
In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Stanford GSB Lecturer Robert Siegel sits down with Matt Abrahams to discuss the role of communication in helping businesses to adapt and transform and his new book The Brains and Brawn Company: How Leading Organizations Blend the Best of Digital and Physical Specifically. “You have to see how things are interacting with each other. You have to see how your organization is interacting both internally and externally. And so what we found is that great systems leaders were really good at managing the narrative,” says Siegel. Connect:
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| 36. Perfecting Teamwork: Building High-Performing Teams By Encouraging Learning | 15 Jul 2021 | 00:24:11 | |
In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Sara Singer, a professor of organizational behavior (by courtesy) at Stanford Graduate School of Business and a professor of medicine at Stanford School of Medicine, sits down with lecturer Matt Abrahams to discuss the role of open communication in high-performing teams. “Learning requires leadership that reinforces learning, a supportive environment, including especially psychological safety, but also an appreciation for differences when you’re working with people of lots of different backgrounds, and openness to new ideas,” she says. Connect:
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| 35. Leading From The Hot Seat: How To Communicate Under Pressure | 25 Jun 2021 | 00:24:50 | |
“I say sometimes that leadership is a journey into yourself. It’s self-renewal, self-reflection, self-confidence. It’s going to bed kind of scratching your head and saying, “Man, I’m not as good,” and waking up the next morning and trying it again — and I think that’s what matters.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, former CEO of General Electric and Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer Jeff Immelt sits down with lecturer Matt Abrahams to discuss communicating during times of challenge and pressure. “There’s no such thing as perfection of crisis,” Immelt says. “This is a pass-fail test, and all you really want to do is make progress.” Connect:
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| 34. How We Gain — Or Give Away — Authority While Speaking | 03 Jun 2021 | 00:22:47 | |
“Simple language, forceful language, vivid language, and keeping it simple and direct,” says Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, are all tools to increase the strength of your communication. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, host and lecturer Matt Abrahams interviews Jeffrey Pfeffer, author of Dying for a Paycheck, about the verbal and nonverbal ways we can harness, or give away, our authority in communication. To hear more from Jeffrey, listen to Pfeffer on Power, a podcast about accelerating your career.
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| 33. Hacking your Speaking Anxiety: How Lessons from Neuroscience Can Help You Communicate Confidently. | 13 May 2021 | 00:31:14 | |
“There’s no difference between the physiological response to something that you’re excited about and something that you’re nervous about or dreading,” says Andrew Huberman, associate professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford University. In this podcast episode, Huberman talks with host and lecturer Matt Abrahams about his research on the autonomic continuum, a spectrum between states of very high alertness or fear, all the way down to deep sleep, and shares how to better-use the system to your advantage. “If people can conceptualize that the anxiety or stress response is the same as the excitement response, they feel different,” Huberman says.
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| 32. Speech That Empowers: How to Encourage Growth and Resilience in a Younger Audience | 22 Apr 2021 | 00:27:35 | |
“Communication is such a delicate dance and kids need to emerge from childhood having practiced,” says Julie Lythcott-Haims, former associate vice provost of undergraduate education Stanford University. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams sits down with Lythcott-Haims to discuss her new book, Your Turn: How to be an Adult, and ideas on how to communicate with young people so they feel empowered to take on the various (and often intimidating) duties of adulthood. “Responsibility isn’t a bad thing,” she says. “Responsibility is actually an amazing thing. And I think we have to do a better job of narrating that truth.”
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| 31. Quick Thinks: How to Shine Online and Excel at Virtual Communication | 16 Apr 2021 | 00:11:02 | |
It has been over a year since millions of people have switched from office work to working from home. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, lecturer and host Matt Abrahams highlights guests’ top takeaways on how to best communicate, share information, and cultivate a professional presence though the screen. “I think we have to find ways to reduce cognitive overload,” says Professor and Senior Associate Dean Sarah Soule. “I now offer my information in much smaller pieces interspersed with breakout groups.”
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| 145. Rethinks: The Art of Negotiation, How to Get More of What You Want | 04 Jun 2024 | 00:18:51 | |
Whether we realize it or not, we negotiate everyday. But when we approach these situations as a win-or-lose battle, we’re already showing resistance, and setting ourselves up for difficulty. But what if you reframed the whole idea, to think of a negotiation not as a fight, but as a problem-solving exercise involving emotions? In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Matt Abrahams speaks with Stanford GSB Professor Emeritus Margaret Neale about what she has learned in her decades of researching negotiation and the steps that lead to more collaborative problem-solving. Listen as Neale shares tips on how to approach negotiations with intention, and what strategies can help us more easily communicate our wants and needs. She is the coauthor of Getting (More of) What You Want: How the Secrets of Economics and Psychology Can Help You Negotiate Anything, in Business and in Life. Episode Reference Links:
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| 30. Dissolve Disagreements: How Communication Impacts Conflict | 31 Mar 2021 | 00:23:43 | |
“Communication, conflict, and cooperation are intertwined in a multitude of ways,” says Nir Halevy, associate professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Halevy sits down with host and lecturer Matt Abrahams, to discuss how we can often solve conflicts and disagreements by employing the correct strategy in our communication. “How you articulate a particular grievance, your choice of words, the nonverbal aspects of your claim, such as the tone of your voice, can definitely influence reactions to your claim,” Halevy says.
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| 29. Question Everything: Why Curiosity Is Communication’s Secret Weapon | 11 Mar 2021 | 00:26:56 | |
The information you receive is only as strong as the questions you ask. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturers Matt Abrahams and Debra Schifrin discuss how to craft inquiries that can lead to better communication outcomes. Questions are also instrumental in building relationships, Schifrin points out. “If you’re asking questions, you’re signaling to the other person that you value them. You’re taking time to listen to their answers.”
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| 28. Building Strong Relationships: How to Effectively Communicate in Your Professional and Personal Life | 18 Feb 2021 | 00:31:09 | |
Recognizing the importance of forging connections with others — and learning how to build those bonds in real time — is the focus of a course that’s been the most popular elective at Stanford GSB for decades: Interpersonal Dynamics. The iconic course has taught thousands of students and professionals what it means to have exceptional relationships and how to interact with others in a way that contributes to deeper, stronger connections. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams sits down with David Bradford and Carole Robin, lecturer and former lecturer of iconic Stanford GSB class Interpersonal Dynamics to discuss their new book, Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues. Both lecturers in leadership, Bradford and Robin outline what they’ve been teaching in the classroom for a broader audience. Connect:
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| 27. Psychology Trumps Technology: How to Be a Better Communicator on Social Media | 28 Jan 2021 | 00:27:29 | |
“Psychology trumps technology,” says Jeff Hancock, founding director of the Stanford Social Media Lab and professor in the Department of Communication at Stanford. “If you want to understand what's going on in social media, the first place to start is with what's going on psychologically.” On the latest episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams sits down with Professor Hancock, to talk about the communication tendencies, styles, and mistakes of social media users. “Whenever there's a new kind of technology ... our focus is on what it's doing,” Professor Hancock says. “But I think over time what we end up realizing is that it's still people using it to accomplish things. And I think when we start to when we step back … we can get a sense of what really is changing.”
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| 26. Writing to Win: How to Quickly Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged | 08 Jan 2021 | 00:24:52 | |
“The reader is impatient,” says Glenn Kramon, Stanford GSB lecturer in management and editor at the New York Times. “Start with the most important conclusion and then explain how you got there.” On the latest episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams sits down with Glenn Kramon to talk about just how important our writing is — from a lengthy report to the opening line of an email. Listen as they discuss tips on improving your writing skills and share examples of what not to do.
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| 25. Quick Thinks: All Effective Communication Must Start With This | 04 Dec 2020 | 00:08:52 | |
As we look back on more than 20 interviews with Think Fast, Talk Smart guests, we’ve heard one piece of advice over and again: Know Your Audience. This wisdom echoes what research clearly shows: Content that is relevant and meaningful to an audience is more likely to be heard, retained and acted upon. The word communication comes from the Latin for to “make common,” yet many of us start our message from the wrong place. As lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams shares in this Quick Thinks episode, by taking the time to learn about our audience and their needs, we can better craft our messages for them and be more useful, engaging and successful. Connect:
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| 24. Feelings First: How Emotion Shapes Our Communication, Decisions, and Experiences | 20 Nov 2020 | 00:25:55 | |
“Something like 90 to 95% of our decisions and behaviors are constantly being shaped the non-consciously by emotional brain system.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Professor of Marketing Baba Shiv sits down with lecturer and host Matt Abrahams to share his research on how emotions affect our, and our audience’s, decision making. “You’ve got to pay careful attention to the audience that you’re talking to and allow the person to talk,” Shiv says. “Allow the person to talk because then, the person has ownership of the idea.”
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| 23. Look Within: How to Lead with Self Awareness and Vulnerability | 06 Nov 2020 | 00:33:17 | |
“Effective is being able to achieve your goals, which is important, but there are plenty of people who achieve their goals that most of us would find unworthy. So the question what does it take to be a good leader requires you to reflect on the values that you hold dear.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Senior Associate Dean and Professor of Organizational Behavior Brian Lowery sits down with lecturer and host Matt Abrahams to discuss the importance of self inquiry and an examination of one's own values in order to be effectively communicate and lead. “Society is not designed, really, to evoke deep thought about the fault lines in the broader community," Lowery says. "That’s not something that is going to be presented to you. It’s something that you have to look for and pay attention to.”
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| 22. Under Pressure: How to Communicate Clearly and Timely During a Crisis | 22 Oct 2020 | 00:28:13 | |
“Knowing your values gives you a beacon, or a lamppost, that can inform how you’re going to prioritize your actions.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer and Stanford University’s former Vice President of Public Affairs David Demarest speaks with host and lecturer Matt Abrahams on why knowing your values and the concerns of your stakeholders lays the foundation for any communication during a time of crisis.
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| 21. Words Matter: How to Make Your Communication Inclusive | 09 Oct 2020 | 00:24:06 | |
What way can the language we use reinforce existing stereotypes and biases? In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Sarah Soule, Senior Associate Dean and Professor of Organizational Behavior sits down with lecturer and host Matt Abrahams to discuss how even the details of our word choice can shape culture, for better or worse.
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| 144. Communicating Through Conflict: How to Get Along with Anyone | 28 May 2024 | 00:24:46 | |
Many of us would rank getting along with colleagues as an important aspect of work, but, as Amy Gallo explains, relationships devoid of disagreement can actually be less productive. “While our natural human instinct is to avoid conflict, I believe that conflicts are not only an inevitable part of interacting with other humans, but they're a necessary part.” Gallo is a workplace expert, host of HBR’s Women at Work podcast, and the author of Getting Along: How to Work With Anyone. Across her work, Gallo touts that the key to transforming conflicts into something productive is to understand its root cause and learn how to reframe them. “Even at the base of those unhealthy conflicts or those unproductive conflicts is something that needs to be resolved,” she says. In her conversation with host and strategic communications lecturer Matt Abrahams, Gallo provides useful frameworks and new concepts on how we can approach conflicts at work. Episode Reference Links:
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| 20. Question Your Questions: How to Spark Creativity in Your Communication | 25 Sep 2020 | 00:26:23 | |
“Sparking communication starts with asking why or what or how.” On this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Tina Seelig, the Professor of the Practice in Stanford’s department of Management Science and Engineering, sits down with podcast host and lecturer Matt Abrahams to talk about the structures of storytelling that will help become more creative communicators and the importance of asking questions about everything we do. “Having a mindset of curiosity opens the door to great communication,” Seelig says. “The more questions you ask, the more you learn, the more engaged you will be with others.”
Show notes: Creativity Rules: Get Ideas Out of Your Head and Into the World inGenius: A Crash Course on Creativity Stanford Technology Ventures Program Knight Hennessy Scholars program ******** | |||
| 19. Showing Your Smile From Behind a Mask: How Culture and Emotion Impact Communication | 11 Sep 2020 | 00:27:01 | |
“In companies, you’re interacting with other people who come from different cultural contexts, and in order to be effective, you have to understand how much of your own communication and other people’s communication is shaped by their cultural ideas and their cultural values.” On this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, host Matt Abrahams sits down with Jeanne Tsai, an associate professor of Psychology at Stanford and director of the Culture and Emotion Lab. Jeanne’s research focuses on cultural influences on psychological and social processes related to emotion. Jeanne discusses why wearing a mask is more accepted for some cultures, and seen as prohibiting communication in others. “Communication is just one of the places where you really can see culture at work,” she says. “In cultural contexts that promote these more independent views of the self, the core goal of communication is to express yourself, to express those beliefs, preferences and desires that define who you are.”
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| 18. Managing in the Moment: How to Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable | 28 Aug 2020 | 00:33:17 | |
“The less time you can spend dwelling on your mistakes, the more mental energy you can devote to doing what you need to do in that moment.” On this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Christian Wheeler, the StrataComm Professor of Management and Professor of Marketing at Stanford Graduate School Business, sits down with podcast host and lecturer Matt Abrahams to talk about embracing failure and managing your team in-the-moment. “When we’re confronted with personal failure, it feels bad to us. And we work hard to try to avoid that failure, and that can often be counterproductive,” Wheeler says. “But failing is something that’s on the pathway to success.”
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