Think Fast, Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

In this episode, executive producer Jenny Luna interviews host and strategic communications lecturer Matt Abrahams about the tips and tools in his new book, Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You're Put on the Spot See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In January of 2020 we launched Think Fast Talk Smart with the goal of helping people improve their communication skills. Now, with more than 100 episodes and an engaged audience tuning in from more than 200 countries, we're proud to take you back to the very first episode, where the magic began.As we've discussed multiple times on the show, most professional communication is spontaneous in nature. It’s providing feedback in the moment, answering questions, introducing people. On this inaugural episode, Strategic Communication lecturer Matt Abrahams speaks with Stanford lecturers Adam Tobin and Dan Klein on how to become more comfortable and confident in in-the-moment speaking situations. For a full transcript of this episode, visit the podcast webpage. You can also find this podcast on YouTube.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Moving forward in our careers often means giving and receiving feedback. But how candid can we be in communicating with others? For Kim Scott, anything less than radical just isn’t enough.An executive, speaker, author, and executive coach, Scott is known for her concept of radical candor, which she defines as “caring personally and challenging directly at the same time." By mapping communication onto the axes of caring and challenging, she derives four quadrants of feedback behavior: radical candor, obnoxious aggression, manipulative insincerity, and ruinous empathy.In this episode of Think Fast Talk Smart, Scott shares how we can all move our communication into the radical candor quadrant, “to learn what we don't know and to help other people learn what they don't know.”More ResourcesKim Scott, personal website and on LinkedInThe Radical Candor podcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"We're wired to look for the path of least resistance and efficiency, and that's normally a good thing, but it can get in the way when we want to make a change," says Wharton professor Katy Milkman. Through her research on decision making and in her recent book How to Change the Science of Getting From Where You Are to Where You Want To Be, Milkman examines the many barriers we create for ourselves when it comes to achieving goals."Who you surround yourself [is important] with because we have a tendency to conform to the people around us," she says. "And if we are surrounded by people who show us our limitations, that can be a barrier."On this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart: The Podcast, host Matt Abrahams sits down with Milkman to further explore her research into human behavior and decision making, motivation, and tools we can use to make real change. More resourcesFor a full transcript, visit this episode's webpage.Bob Cialdini, "Change My Mind: Using “Pre-suasion” to Influence Others"Szu-Chi Huang, "From Dreaming to Doing: How We Set and Achieve Goals"Jonah Berger, "Magic Words: Change What You Say to Inspire and Influence Others"See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The best communicators express ideas simply. And to do that, says Carmine Gallo, “you have to connect with people in a language they understand.”Gallo is an author, communication coach, and lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. For him, the cornerstone of good communication is empathizing with an audience enough to truly speak their language. “Think about the audience first,” he says. “If you cannot speak the same language to different stakeholders and adapt the language for those different stakeholders, you’ll never get anything done.”On this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Gallo and host Matt Abrahams discuss how we can simplify our language and weave relevant stories to translate and tailor our communication for our audience.For a full transcript of this episode visit the podcast's website. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What does it take to have a presence that’s felt by those around us? According to Muriel Wilkins, the answer is simple: Be present.“Having presence, at the root of it, [is] your ability to be present,” says Wilkins, a C-suite advisor, executive coach, and host of the HBR podcast, Coaching Real Leaders. Working with some of the business world’s top brass, Wilkins helps leaders discover how they can use presence to communicate more effectively, lead more authentically, and create more impact in their organizations.In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Wilkins and host Matt Abrahams explore communication strategies that leaders and individuals can use to improve their presence and show up more authentically to work and life.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When it comes to emotional and physical wellbeing, Psychology professor Geoffrey Cohen says there is one healthy behavior that outweighs the others: authentic connection. “It is really, really important,” he says. Deep connections with other people are foundational to a happy and healthy life. As Cohen explores in his new book, Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, achieving a sense of belonging isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s essential. “That sense of connection is so woven into our DNA that if we don't have it, we suffer,” he says. “Not having that sense of connection with other people does great biological damage and seems to be one of the major contributors to disease and mortality."As Cohen and host Matt Abrahams explore in this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, effective communication is the tool we need to build strong connections with others and enjoy a deep sense of belonging.More resourcesFor a full transcript of this interview, visit the episode web page.@15min, Matt mentions an episode with Robert Cialdini.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What does it take to be a more effective communicator? According to Dan Lyons, it starts with knowing when to shut your mouth.As a journalist, author, and screenwriter, Lyons knows a thing or two about wielding words. But as he reveals in his book, STFU: The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in an Endlessly Noisy World, most of us talk too much and listen too little. “A great conversation is about listening. And it probably involves you talking less,” he says.In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Lyons and host Matt Abrahams explore how to stop over-talking, emphasizing the value of active listening, asking good questions, and giving others space to speak.For a full transcript of this episode, visit our website. More Resourceshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/realdanlyons/https://www.amazon.com/STFU-Power-Keeping-Mouth-Talking-ebook/dp/B09X427GK8See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 … it opens up a whole new world of possibilities.”Dobbs is an executive coach and teaches several courses, including Interpersonal Dynamics and Leadership Labs. For a full transcript of the interview, visit this episode's web page.Think Fast, Talk Smart is a podcast produced by Stanford Graduate School of Business. Each episode provides concrete, easy-to-implement tools and techniques to help you hone and enhance your communication skills.More ResourcesBuilding Successful Relationships: How to Effectively Communicate in Your Professional and Personal LifeHow to Build Better RelationshipsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How do we deal with professional blind spots? According to David Dodson, MBA ’87, we need the panoramic perspective of those who work around us.“360 reviews, done properly, are a massive competitive weapon,” says Dodson, also a lecturer in management at Stanford GSB and author of the new book, The Manager’s Handbook. Such comprehensive and constructive feedback, he says, can be transformational for employees and managers alike. “The first time I did a 360 review and got feedback was a massive turning point in my development as a manager,” he says. “Had I not had 360 feedback, I probably would have gone a decade or more with ineffective technique.”In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Dodson shares valuable insights and actionable advice for individuals in leadership and management roles, highlighting the importance of effective communication and feedback in achieving success.For a full transcript of this interview, visit the episode web page.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Communication is like a game. For it to work, each person has to trust that their partner will play by the rules. As Professor Anat Admati says, the same is true for corporations and their stakeholders.“To have good governance, you need trust and accountability,” says Admati, a professor of finance and economics and the director of the Corporations and Society Initiative. How does a society ensure that markets, businesses, and governments are all on the same page? As Admati says, “We need rules. I can commit to you that I won’t harm you because something bad will happen to me if I [do].”In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Admati joins host Matt Abrahams to discuss how communication forms a bedrock of trust that can align markets, businesses, and governments — for more accountable capitalism and a healthier society.More resourcesFor a full transcript of this episode, visit our the podcast's website.Anat Admati Anat Admati: The Economist Who Said “The Bankers Have No Clothes”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Why is a boat a “she?” Why give names like Alexa or Siri to inanimate pieces of software? According to assistant professor of organizational behavior Ashley Martin, ascribing gender to everyday objects helps us to connect with them more deeply.“Gender is this humanizing force that allows people to interact with non-human things as if they’re human,” says Martin, whose research focuses on gender equality, gender inclusion, and gender’s role within team and organizational dynamics. And while Martin is interested in how anthropomorphizing technology can benefit the humans who use it, she also notes how “problematic stereotypes” could be perpetuated as a result.In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Martin joins host Matt Abrahams to discuss how our ideas about gender inform the way we relate to the world and how we can leverage the latest research to promote greater diversity, equity, and inclusion. For a full transcript of this episode, visit the podcast episode's webpage. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Saying no can seem risky. We worry about offending others, damaging relationships, or hurting our own reputation. But as Vanessa Patrick says, no is an empowering word that gives us greater agency in our lives.Saying no “is not a rejection of the other person,” says Patrick, a professor of Marketing at the University of Houston. Instead, it allows you to set boundaries and “[give] voice to what you believe and what you care about.” In her book, The Power of Saying No, Patrick introduces what she calls “empowered refusal,” a way of saying no that’s rooted in one’s identity, values, priorities, and preferences. “An empowered no,” she says, “is about us, not a rejection of the other person.”In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Patrick and host Matt Abrahams explore how to use the power of no, how to move from strategy forming to strategy implementation, and how to resist momentary pleasures that distract us from our larger goals.More Resources: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessapatrick23/ https://uh.edu/news-events/stories/2023/june-2023/05012023-patrick-empowered-no.php For a full transcript of this episode visit: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/think-fast-talk-smart-podcast See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Breaking new ground, Think Fast, Talk Smart steps into the world of live events, bringing together an eager audience of LEAD students from Stanford University and a top-notch panel of former podcast guests: Jesper B. Sørensen, Sarah Soule, Jonathan Levav,and Szu-chi Huang. Topics include crafting strategy for successful leadership and tips on how to effectively lead a hybrid team.This episode also features an interactive audience segment, where various participants of the Stanford LEAD program answer the three questions traditionally posed to guests.To learn more about Stanford LEAD, the Graduate School of Business's online program for executive education, visit their grow.stanford.edu or take the self assessment. To hear more from each of these Stanford GSB professors, find their episodes on the podcast.Strategic Success: How to Communicate Your GameplanIn this episode, Jesper Sørensen explores why organizational strategy can be both top-down and bottom-up.From Dreaming to Doing: How We Set and Achieve GoalsIn this episode, we speak with Szu-chi Huang about an essential ingredient of human behavior: motivation. Leading From Home: How to Create the Right Environment for CommunicationIn this podcast episode, Jonathan Levav discusses the importance of not just knowing what your audience needs to hear, but how they need to hear it.Words Matter: How to Make Your Communication InclusiveIn this episode, Sarah Soule shares research that shows how subtle word choice can invite inclusion, or can reinforce harmful stereotypes.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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, or “Touchy Feely,” as it’s affectionately known on campus. In her work with students and as a CEO coach, she encourages people to get better acquainted with their feelings. “Feelings are data,” she says. “In the rest of our logical lives, we would never make decisions on bad or highly abstract data. But we'll do that with feelings.”In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Teoh and host Matt Abrahams discuss how developing greater emotional awareness can help us achieve more agency and empathy in our personal and professional lives.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“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 speech writer and best-selling author Dan Pink. “I think it's because we are slightly over-indexed on risk. We overstate the risk in many circumstances.” On this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, strategic communications lecturer Matt Abrahams sits down with Pink to hear how we should all take more risks and how leaders can inspire others by focusing on the why instead of the how. “There's almost incontrovertible evidence that sense of purpose is the most cost effective performance enhancer that organizations have,” Pink says.  They also discuss the power in taking breaks, which Pink considers part of performance, not a deviation from it. “What we know from many domains is that professionals take breaks. It's not that amateurs take breaks and the professionals don't, it's the exact opposite.” Pink’s latest book is The Power of Regret, How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward.Think Fast, Talk Smart is a podcast produced by Stanford Graduate School of Business. Each episode provides concrete, easy-to-implement tools and techniques to help you hone and enhance your communication skills.Show NotesDan Pinkhttps://hbr.org/2014/11/cooks-make-tastier-food-when-they-can-see-their-customersFeelings First: How Emotion Shapes Our Communication, Decisions, and Experiences (episode with Baba Shiv)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We’re often advised not to use “um” or “uh”, or “so” and “you know” in our communication. But linguist Valerie Fridland might argue otherwise. “Language is about how we encode both the linguistic message and a social message,” she says. “Crutch words … are really valuable and they have arisen to serve a need.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart: the podcast, Fridland sits down with host and strategic communications lecturer Matt Abrahams to discuss how and when we use "you know","so", and other filler words. For example, Fridland says, the way we use “um” varies greatly from how and we might use “uh.” And the use of “like,” while deplored by many, actually serves a linguistic function and can provide context and background for a listener.She and Matt also discuss the social linguistic function of vocal fry and whether emojis have a place in business communication. Fridland is a professor of sociolinguistics at the University of Nevada. She's an expert on the relationship between language and society and recently released a new book, Like Literally Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Whether you’re trying to build a romantic or professional connection, Rachel Greenwald’s advice is exactly the same. “Focus on how you make someone feel more than you focus on the words that you're saying,” she says. As a professional coach, Greenwald helps people develop better communication skills, from executives in the business world to singles in the dating world. Building deep connections may at times be challenging, but as Greenwald says, it’s ultimately not complicated. “You're demonstrating that you're interested in someone and that you like them,” she says.In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Greenwald and host Matt Abrahams discuss relationship-building tactics like small talk, active listening, communication blindspots, and more.Think Fast, Talk Smart is a podcast produced by Stanford Graduate School of Business. Each episode provides concrete, easy-to-implement tools and techniques to help you hone and enhance your communication skills.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

*This episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart recently won "Best Business Podcast Episode" at the 2023 Webby Awards.* “You’re not going to hit the mark with everybody, but you still need to be mindful of everybody,” says Jonathan Levav, a professor of marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business. “That’s critical to create an environment where communication is effective.”In this podcast episode, Levav sits down with podcast host Matt Abrahams to talk about how to lead from home and how to foster an environment for creativity, innovation, and collaboration.It’s not just maintaining a company culture, it’s about establishing what that culture is online, Levav says. “How can you encourage those serendipitous conversations that tend to happen in person?”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.