Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

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 ....

As a designer, Scott Doorley is interested in how humans create the world around them. It’s a conversation, he says, that starts with the question: What kind of world do we want? Doorley is the creative director of the Stanford d.school and co-author of the book, Assembling Tomorrow: A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future . In designing everything from a device to an app to a building, “People get...

Navigators know the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. In charting a course through communication, Susan Rice says the best route is often the most direct. Throughout her career at the forefront of American diplomacy and foreign policy, Rice has been no stranger to high-stakes situations that hinge on clear and candid communication. As she says, “I'm very direct. I don't beli...

"In a leadership role, so much more of communication is about connecting with people, establishing shared humanity, motivating them, inspiring them, sometimes challenging them."  On August 1, 2024, Jonathan D. Levin , the tenth dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business, was appointed the President of Stanford University. In this Think Fast, Talk Smart episode from 2022, Levin reflects on the im...

Tara VanDerveer has more wins than any other coach in NCAA basketball history. But as she says, motivating and leading teams isn’t about barking orders. Communication, she says, “It starts, number one, with listening.” For VanDerveer, leadership isn’t about a power dynamic, but a collaboration between her and her team. “I can't do it by myself and they can't do it by themselves. But as a team, we...

“Anything is fixable,” say Frances Frei and Anne Morriss . As cohosts of the Fixable podcast, they’re typically the ones doing the fixing, but on this special episode, they turn to Matt Abrahams for tips on what to do when communication breaks down. Both Frei and her wife Morriss are public speakers; the former, a professor at Harvard Business School, the latter, a CEO and best-selling author. As...

Whether winning over a hiring manager or winning new business, career success often hinges on how we communicate. That’s why Andrew Seaman is on a mission to help people find the words that work — to get work. Seaman is the senior managing editor for jobs and career development at LinkedIn, and as the creator and host of the Get Hired podcast and newsletter, he helps millions hone communication sk...

Sometimes, what’s communicated to us can have a big impact on how we communicate to others. This episode explores some of the best communication advice — from experts and Think Fast, Talk Smart listeners around the world. As teachers of Strategic Communication, lecturers Shawon Jackson and Matt Abrahams have plenty of advice on how to be a better communicator. But in this 150th episode of Think Fa...

“What people regret over time are things they didn’t do. They didn’t take that trip, they didn’t ask that person out on a date. They didn’t start that business,” says former political speechwriter and author Dan Pink . “I think it’s because we are slightly over-indexed on risk. We overstate the risk in many circumstances.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart , strategic communications lectur...

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 skill...

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 Innovat...

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 t...

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 St...

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 HB...

In choosing who to date, what job to pursue, or how to invest our money, most people are just looking for a reason to move forward. But according to Professor Ilya Strebulaev , we should be looking for something else: a reason to bail. "The smartest venture capitalists ask a very different question from what most of us ask," says Strebulaev. Instead of asking “‘Why should we invest?’, venture capi...

A special live edition from the Me2We event at Stanford, where strategic communications expert and podcast host Matt Abrahams joins four distinguished faculty members from Stanford Graduate School of Business: Michelle Gelfand explores the dynamics of cross-cultural organizational behavior. Brian Lowery discusses the societal implications of racial perceptions. Deborah Gruenfeld reveals insights i...

So you want to lead your team toward innovation. Does that require that you know where you’re going? Not according to Linda Hill . Hill is a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School whose research focuses on leadership and how organizations achieve innovation. When it comes to generating breakthrough ideas, Hill says it’s less about a creative vision and more about stepping...

Preparing to speak in front of a skeptical audience is more than thinking about objections beforehand – there are specific techniques you can use to respond to these challenging situations without sounding defensive, evasive, or dismissive. Here, we offer a few key tips for how to handle skepticism with aplomb. In this episode, host Matt Abrahams and Stanford GSB lecturer Burt Alper share how to p...

Whether you're looking to boost your productivity, find more joy in your work, or simply be more present in the moment, you need flow — and research by Assistant Professor David Melnikoff could help you find it. Melnikoff investigates how we pursue our goals, and how flow — the state of being totally immersed and engaged in what we’re doing — can help us achieve them. According to him, flow isn’t...

From the way you communicate, to the way build your life and career, Graham Weaver , MBA ’99, says it’s about “giving yourself permission to fully be yourself. You can never go wrong when you’re saying your truth.” Weaver is a lecturer in management, a GSB alum, and the founder and a partner of Alpine Investors. He stresses the importance of direct communication, highlighting how avoiding it can l...

If communication is like painting, words are the primary colors. But to convey deeper meaning, we need a broader color palette, which Dana Carney says requires the mastery of nonverbal communication. We often focus on the words that we say when honing our communication, but according to Carney, there are many instances “where nonverbals start to be more meaningful than verbals.” A professor at Ber...

Disagreement and conflict may look the same on the surface, but the two concepts are, in fact, very different. According to Julia Minson , knowing how these notions differ is crucial to how you approach them.  In this episode of Think Fast Talk Smart , Minson and strategic communication lecturer Matt Abrahams delve into the intricacies of conflict and disagreement. Minson, an associate professor o...

How are you feeling right now? According to Celine Teoh , we all need to ask ourselves that question more often — and be more precise in how we answer it. Teoh is a facilitator of the course Interpersonal Dynamics , one of Stanford Graduate School of Business’s most iconic classes. In her work with students and as a CEO coach, Teoh encourages people to get better acquainted with their feelings. “F...

Join Matt Abrahams with creativity and innovation experts Jeremy Utley and Kian Gohar to explore the transformative potential of AI in the realms of creativity and problem-solving.  If you treat artificial intelligence like an oracle, you’ll likely be disappointed. But if you treat it like a teammate, Utley and Gohar say you’ll be surprised just how helpful a collaborator it can be. Utley, an adju...

Across more than 130 episodes, Think Fast, Talk Smart has touched a lot on what it takes to be a good communicator. But what about reaching that next level? What about being a “supercommunicator”? Supercommunicator is a term used by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Charles Duhigg in his latest book, Supercommunicators : How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection .  In this podcast...