It’s easy to feel like the star of the show when giving a presentation. But according to communication guru Nancy Duarte , you’re not the hero of this story. For Duarte, founder and CEO of world-renowned communication consulting firm Duarte Inc, effective communication is built on the foundation of empathy, which means considering your audience first and foremost. “All the attention is on us. But in reality, the audience is the one,” she says. “If they don’t leave with your idea adopted, your id...
Mar 21, 2023•23 min•Season 4Ep. 82
Why does disagreement feel so personal? According to author, journalist, and physician Seema Yasmin , it’s because beliefs aren’t just about what we think, they’re about who we are. “What [people] believe is entrenched in them, and it’s to do with their sense of belonging and their sense of identity,” says Yasmin. Whether we’re butting heads over something trivial like sports or something major like COVID-19 vaccines, Yasmin points out that the disagreement is just the surface — underneath are c...
Mar 14, 2023•23 min•Season 4Ep. 81
Words have impact. But when it comes to enchanting audiences and captivating with communication, Jonah Berger , PhD ’07, says some words are more potent than others. Berger is a Wharton School professor and an internationally bestselling author. His most recent book, Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way , identifies language we can use to communicate more effectively in all sorts of personal and professional contexts. “Subtle shifts in language can have a huge impact on everything from convi...
Mar 08, 2023•29 min•Season 4Ep. 80
If we want healthier companies, schools, and teams associate professor of organizational behavior Adina Sterling says investing in the health of marginalized groups “can have enormous spillover effects for everyone.” Sterling is an organizational theorist and economic sociologist whose research explores how human relationships affect organizations and markets. As she says, “The outcomes that individuals, groups, and organizations experience have to do with the social networks that they have.” In...
Feb 28, 2023•26 min•Season 4Ep. 79
To celebrate our 75th episode , we hosted a live "Ask Me Anything" event with Matt. In this global gathering, listeners called in with questions ranging from making a first impression and giving negative feedback to presenting virtually and the worst communication advice Matt's ever received. In addition to audience questions, Matt also shares a short lecture to outline his top three guiding principles when it comes to being a confidence speaker and leader. Connect: Premium Signup >>>&g...
Feb 14, 2023•26 min•Season 4Ep. 78
In this "Quick Thinks" episode, host Matt Abrahams interviews ChatGPT, an AI natural language processing chatbot, about its purpose, sources of information, ethical considerations, and the importance of human communication skills. To produce this episode, Matt typed his questions to ask ChatGPT, then recorded them in the studio. Producers then used Descript Overdub to "read" ChatGPT's responses. The purpose of ChatGPT is to provide informative and accurate responses to questions in natural langu...
Feb 07, 2023•10 min•Season 4Ep. 77
Join Matt Abrahams, a lecturer of strategic communication at Stanford GSB, as he sits down with experts from across campus to discuss public speaking anxiety, speaking off the cuff, nailing a Q&A, and more. Connect: Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart Premium Email Questions & Feedback >>> [email protected] Episode Transcripts >>> Think Fast Talk Smart Website Newsletter Signup + English Language Learning >>> FasterSmarter.io Think Fast T...
Feb 01, 2023•2 min
Want to change someone’s mind? First, explains Robert Cialdini , you have to change their framing. For Cialdini, the Regent's Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University, persuasion begins before we even deliver our pitch or presentation. Through what he calls “ Pre-suasion ,” communicators can prime audiences to receive messages in a specific way, simply by drawing their attention in specific directions. “It involves focusing people on—putting them in mind of—thos...
Jan 24, 2023•29 min•Season 4Ep. 76
Do love and money mix? Labor economist and Stanford Graduate School of Business professor emerita Myra Strober says absolutely. “Separating money and love is not a good idea. I have had 40 years to think about this, and, in my class at the GSB on work and family, each semester I realize how important it is to intertwine love and money." In this episode, Matt Abrahams sits down with Strober and social innovation leader Abby Davisson to discuss the thorny topics of work, money, career, and love. I...
Jan 10, 2023•23 min•Season 4Ep. 75
In one of our most popular episodes, professor of Marketing Baba Shiv shares his research on how emotions affect decision making. Knowing this, and applying techniques to help guide our audience through information and emotion, can help us make our messages stick. In this best-of episode we've included extra audio from Matt Abrahams's conversation with Shiv from November of 2020 that touches on how to best approach writing emails. Connect: Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart Pr...
Dec 20, 2022•33 min•Season 4Ep. 74
As a communication expert, Alison Wood Brooks spends a lot of time talking about talking. But, as she says, listening is just as important. “My course is called TALK,” says Wood Brooks, who is the O'Brien Associate Professor of Business Administration and Hellman Faculty Fellow at Harvard Business School. “The great irony is that it should really be called LISTEN . It’s hard to be a good listener yet so very important.” In the latest episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart , Wood Brooks covers convers...
Dec 06, 2022•25 min•Season 4Ep. 73
When it comes to negotiating and managing conflict, Professor Michele Gelfand says it’s time to get creative. Everybody has wants and needs. So what do we do when our priorities compete with those of other people? According to Gelfand, a professor of organizational behavior, negotiations and conflict management are exercises in creative problem-solving, ones where we look for ways to not only get what we want, but for those on the other side of the table to get what they want too. “The best nego...
Nov 22, 2022•13 min•Season 4Ep. 72
As Professor Jesper Sørensen sees it, a winning strategy is the result of conversations, not commands. Sørensen says strategy can be directed from the C-suite, but it doesn’t have to be. “Lots of great strategies are discovered,” he says, “they're discovered because the leaders were able to listen to their frontline workers or their frontline managers.” A more iterative approach, says Sørensen, helps companies adapt their strategy to an ever-changing landscape. In the latest episode of Think Fas...
Nov 08, 2022•25 min•Season 4Ep. 71
What’s the secret to coming up with good ideas? For Jeremy Utley , it’s about generating as many as possible. The director of executive education at the Stanford d.school, Utley says, “very few problems we face in business or in life have a single right answer.” All ideas — the good, the bad, and the ugly — are “a necessary input to an innovation process,” and an essential step in getting to solutions that will actually work. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart , Utley and host Matt Abraha...
Oct 25, 2022•23 min•Season 4Ep. 70
Stress, anxiety, nervousness — when these feelings inevitably arise, lecturer Kelly McGonigal says it’s not about making them go away, but using them to your advantage. “What I have come to value about anxiety,” says McGonigal, “is it’s a sign that I care.” As she explains, feelings of stress alert us to things that matter to us and help us stay present in the moment — particularly useful, she says, when it comes to communication. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart , McGonigal and host Ma...
Oct 11, 2022•26 min•Season 4Ep. 69
As the dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business, Dean Jon Levin knows the importance of crafting the right message and sharing it in the right way. But, as he says, one of the biggest challenges for any leader is to know what to communicate, and how. How do leaders strike the balance between being clear and directive, and as Levin says, “leaving space for people to form their own opinions, to discuss ideas, to debate”? He joins host and lecturer of strategic communications Matt Abrahams to d...
Sep 27, 2022•19 min•Season 4Ep. 68
Why do we drive on only one side of the road? Why don’t we sing in libraries? Why wear a swimsuit? For Professor Michele Gelfand , it all comes down to culture. As a cross-cultural psychologist, Gelfand is fascinated by social environments and their effects on human behavior, particularly, how strictly people adhere to social norms. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart , Gelfand joins host and lecturer of strategic communications Matt Abrahams to explain why some cultures are “tight” and “h...
Sep 13, 2022•20 min•Season 4Ep. 67
“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 “Best of” episode, we revisit one of our most popular interviews. In it, Huberman, from the wildly popular Huberman Lab Podcast , shares his research on the autonomic continuum, a spectrum between states of high alertness or fear all the way ...
Aug 30, 2022•31 min•Season 4Ep. 66
“We need to be much more adaptive in the way we think about hybrid work,” says Michael Arena . “Experiment, experiment, experiment.” Innovation relies on teams connecting in very specific ways. But are those connections possible in a hybrid work reality? Glenn Carroll , a professor of management at Stanford GSB, and Michael Arena, a faculty member of Penn's Master's in Organizational Dynamics program, have been looking for the answer — studying how team interactions have changed since millions o...
Aug 16, 2022•22 min•Season 4Ep. 65
How others perceive us in person and via social media can impact our careers and social standing. But we can build the reputation we want through conscious communication. On this episode, strategic communication lecturers Matt Abrahams and Allison Kluger share techniques on effectively improving and managing your reputation. Connect: Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart Premium Email Questions & Feedback >>> [email protected] Episode Transcripts >>> Th...
Aug 02, 2022•19 min•Season 4Ep. 64
Your words — are they credible? Or are they what Paul Oyer calls “cheap talk?” According to professor of economics Paul Oyer, how our words align with our actions isn’t just a matter of communication, but a matter of economics too. Economic concepts hold in all areas of life, which Oyer’s research has explored in everything from Uber driving to online dating. “Economics is everywhere,” Oyer says. “It's an incredibly powerful lens to analyze almost anything in the real world.” Join Matt Abrahams,...
Jul 18, 2022•19 min•Season 4Ep. 63
In the kickoff to our Summer Learning Series, we're revisiting one of our favorite episodes. This interview features Stanford GSB faculty members Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas and gives specific insights into how humor can transform your communication at home and at work. At the time of this episode, their book Humor, Seriously was just set to launch. Connect: Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart Premium Email Questions & Feedback >>> [email protected] Epis...
Jul 05, 2022•32 min•Season 4Ep. 62
All communication comes from a place of creativity and creativity is rooted in design. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart , strategic communications lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams interviews four authors from the Stanford d.school. Each conversation challenges convention in how we approach our communication, be it visual, body language, or speech. Listen to this episode to hear more from Ashish Goel , author of Drawing on Courage ; Susie Wise , author of Design for Belonging ; Ca...
Jun 21, 2022•35 min•Season 4Ep. 61
“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 discus...
Jun 07, 2022•18 min•Season 3Ep. 60
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 ...
May 24, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 59
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....
May 10, 2022•19 min•Season 3Ep. 58
“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...
Apr 26, 2022•17 min•Season 3Ep. 57
“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 S...
Apr 12, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 56
“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 seein...
Mar 29, 2022•20 min•Season 3Ep. 55
“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...
Mar 15, 2022•24 min•Season 3Ep. 54
