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 into the unknown. “Innovation [is] not about an individual coming up with a new idea,” she says. “In...
May 07, 2024•22 min•Season 5Ep. 141
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 prepare for these challenges from your audience and discuss the importance of tactics like acknowledg...
Apr 30, 2024•17 min•Season 5Ep. 140
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 necessarily about enjoying a task or activity for its own sake, but more about the process of discov...
Apr 23, 2024•18 min•Season 5Ep. 139
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 lead to wasted time, energy, and even financial losses. Reflecting on his own experiences in private ...
Apr 16, 2024•24 min•Season 5Ep. 138
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 Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and the George Quist Chair in Business Ethics, Carney researches the...
Apr 09, 2024•23 min•Season 5Ep. 137
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 of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and Stanford University alumna, also shares her experti...
Apr 02, 2024•25 min•Season 5Ep. 136
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. “Feelings are data,” she says. “In the rest of our logical lives, we would never make decisions on bad...
Mar 26, 2024•19 min•Season 5Ep. 135
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 adjunct professor at the Stanford d.school, and Gohar, a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and futuris...
Mar 19, 2024•26 min•Season 5Ep. 134
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 episode, Abrahams and Duhigg explore the precise techniques that distinguish a good communicator fro...
Mar 12, 2024•38 min•Season 5Ep. 133
Effective and productive teams and relationships are based on the ability to communicate safely and to fail successfully. In this episode, Amy Edmondson , a professor at Harvard Business School and author of The Right Kind of Wrong : The Science of Failing Well , shares profound insights on the different types of failure—basic, complex, and intelligent—and their implications for learning and innovation. In her conversation with host and Strategic Communications lecturer Matt Abrahams, Edmonson o...
Mar 05, 2024•26 min•Season 5Ep. 132
Friction — that’s Professor Huggy Rao ’s metaphor for the forces that hamper workplace efficiency. But as he says, some friction can be helpful — if you know how to use it. In his book, The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder , Rao and coauthor Robert I. Sutton explore how operational obstacles show up in the workplace and, more importantly, what we can do about them. Through what Rao calls “friction fixing,” leaders can “take out the bad ...
Feb 27, 2024•24 min•Season 5Ep. 131
“Simple language, forceful language, vivid language, and keeping it simple and direct,” says Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer , are all powerful tools to strengthen your communication. Host and Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer Matt Abrahams interviews Pfeffer, the author many books, including Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don't , about the verbal and nonverbal ways we can harness, or give away, our authority when we’re speaking to others. Pfeffer is also the host of the podcast...
Feb 20, 2024•21 min•Season 5Ep. 130
All too often, we communicate without really connecting. The key to building deep connections with others, says David Brooks , is to make them feel seen and heard. Brooks is a writer for the New York Times , the Atlantic , and the best-selling author of several books. In his latest, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen , he explores how vulnerability — both being vulnerable ourselves and creating space for others to be as well — is the key to fostering deep...
Feb 13, 2024•24 min•Season 5Ep. 129
Join Matt Abrahams engaging with his international audience and answering questions that touch upon some of today's most pressing communication challenges. Matt offers advice on everything from the nuances of crafting clear, impactful questions and navigating emotional dynamics in group settings to maintaining control during presentations and delivering difficult news. Additionally, listeners are treated to innovative strategies for creating memorable introductions and managing disruptive behavi...
Feb 08, 2024•20 min•Season 5Ep. 128
Matt takes live questions from his worldwide audience and shares a lesson around concision, relevance, accessibly, and precision in messaging. In this "masterclass," he emphasizes the communicator's role as a translator who simplifies complex information for diverse audiences. Key takeaways include the careful use of analogies, considering cultural backgrounds and audience understanding, and providing techniques for chunking information into understandable segments. Additionally, the episode del...
Feb 06, 2024•24 min•Season 5Ep. 127
If we want to generate better ideas, then we need to get people back to the office. In this bonus meetings mini-series episode, we feature an episode from the newest podcast from Stanford Graduate School of Business – If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society. In this conversation with senior editor Kevin Cool , Professor of Marketing and former TFTS guest Jonathan Levav details his study of remote work and creativity. “Pairs that worked face-to-face generated 15 to 20% more ideas than pairs that w...
Jan 30, 2024•35 min•Season 5Ep. 126
Whether you’re giving a toast or presenting in a meeting, communication is critical to success in business and in life. Join Matt Abrahams, a lecturer of Strategic Communication at Stanford Graduate School of Business, as he sits down with experts in the field to discuss real-world communication challenges. How do I send my message clearly when put on the spot? How do I give better feedback? How can I easily convey complex information? How do I manage my reputation? How do I manage my anxiety in...
Jan 29, 2024•2 min
How can we make meetings more effective? How can we keep people engaged and interested? Whether it’s in person or on Zoom, here are a few techniques you can use to make your gatherings more meaningful, productive, and memorable. Get practical tools and actionable insights to actually make meetings matter, as well as knowing when NOT to have a meeting. Join Matt Abrahams in a dynamic conversation with Elise Keith , an expert on effective meetings and communication. Elise explains the three main c...
Jan 23, 2024•25 min•Season 5Ep. 125
Delve into why people hate meetings, explore what hinders their effectiveness, and how to change that. Karin Reed (Emmy Award winner) and Joe Allen (“The Meeting Doctor”) join Matt Abrahams in the first of a two-part series that aims to reshape your approach to meetings and help you make them effective and meaningful, whether in person, virtual or hybrid. They shed light on the constraints hindering effective meetings, and explore strategies for optimizing meetings, emphasizing the importance of...
Jan 16, 2024•26 min•Season 5Ep. 124
The information you receive is only as strong as the questions you ask. This week we revisit Matt's discussion with Debra Schifrin about 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.” Connect: Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart Premium Email ...
Jan 09, 2024•25 min•Season 5Ep. 123
Research-backed techniques on how to beat nervousness in the moment. In this episode, Matt uses clips from experts from previous Think Fast Talk Smart episodes to provide you with several communication anxiety management techniques to help you feel more comfortable and confident when you communicate. And as a guide to help us learn these techniques, he introduces the ABCs of anxiety management. Connect: Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart Premium Email Questions & Feedback ...
Jan 02, 2024•16 min•Season 5Ep. 122
We have to be vulnerable in order to build trust in our relationships. But as Jacob Morgan says, “Vulnerability for leaders is not the same as it is for everybody else.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart , Morgan shares with host Matt Abrahams his “vulnerable leadership equation” and how leaders can use it to transform the way they interact with others — creating more trust, unlocking people’s potential, and building successful teams and organizations. As Morgan explains, owning up to yo...
Dec 26, 2023•22 min•Season 5Ep. 121
Matt reflects on all the advice we've heard this season and shares the top 10 takeaways that he’s applying to his own communication: Episode Reference Links: Jonah Berger: episode 80 Rachel Greenwald: episode 89 Dan Pink: episode 92 Vanessa Patrick: episode 95 Carmine Gallo: episode 103 Katy Milkman: episode 104 Kim Scott: episode 105 Francis Frei: episode 109 Patrick McGinnis: episode 113 Julian Treasure: episode 114 Connect: Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart Premium Email Q...
Dec 19, 2023•17 min•Season 5Ep. 120
“Stress is natural,” says Alia Crum , an assistant professor of psychology at Stanford. “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.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart , lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams talks with Crum about her work as the principal investigator at the Stanford Mind & Body Lab , ...
Dec 12, 2023•25 min•Season 5Ep. 119
What comes to people’s minds when they think about you, and can you control it? Dorie Clark says you can — with the power of your personal brand. According to Clark, “You have brand equity in your own life.” Your personal brand or reputation, she says, “makes things either easier or harder for you” as you pursue your personal and professional goals. The key question, she says, is “What kind of reputation have you built up?” By taking stock of the personal brand you have, you can redefine it to a...
Dec 05, 2023•24 min•Season 5Ep. 118
Communication is about so much more than sharing words. As neuroscientist Shane O’Mara explains, communication is about sharing reality. According to O’Mara, “A conversation is where we create a shared reality together.” As a professor of experimental brain research at Trinity College Dublin, his research has focused on how human brains sync up through communication. “The essence is that we are creating a shared reality where we come to share the same states of emotion, the same states of memory...
Nov 28, 2023•20 min•Season 5Ep. 117
Even if you don’t think you’re a natural, anyone can become proficient at the art of small talk by utilizing the right tactics and behaviors. In this collaboration with Harvard Business Review, strategic communications lecturer Matt Abrahams shares his tips and techniques for cocktail party chit chat, networking small talk, and holiday dinner-table conversation. Watch the full video on HBR's YouTube channel . Connect: Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart Premium Email Questions ...
Nov 21, 2023•12 min•Season 5Ep. 116
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 ...
Nov 14, 2023•21 min•Season 5Ep. 115
We should all be audience-centric in communication. But, as Julian Treasure contests, we need to take it one step further. What is the listening I am speaking into? , he says, is the question every speaker should ask themselves over and over. "Every human being’s listening is unique ... we listen through a set of filters and those filters develop as we grow and mature in life and we have experiences. Knowing where the person is coming from, you'll be able to sense their listening." Treasure, an ...
Nov 07, 2023•30 min•Season 5Ep. 114
What if you had that job? What if you were with that person? What if there’s a better option out there? If you find yourself asking these questions, Patrick McGinnis invented the term for what you’re experiencing: FOMO. First coined by McGinnis in a piece published by the Harvard Business School newspaper, FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) describes the anxiety we feel when thinking that other people are having more fun and living more fulfilling lives than we are. As McGinnis says, “We are constantly ...
Oct 31, 2023•22 min•Season 5Ep. 113
