Description
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 challenges.
How do I send my message clearly when put on the spot? How do I write emails to get my point across? How can I easily convey complex information? How do I manage my reputation? Whether youâre giving a toast or presenting in a meeting, communication is critical to success in business and in life.
Think Fast, Talk Smart provides the tools, techniques, and best practices to help you communicate more effectively.
Episodes
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2023 / 3 / 21Itâs Not About You: Why Effective Communicators Put Others FirstItâs easy to feel like the star of the show when giving a presentation. But according to communication guru Nancy Duarte, youâre not the hero of this story.For Duarte, founder and CEO of world-renowned...
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2023 / 3 / 14Fact or Fiction? How to Communicate When We Hold Different BeliefsWhy does disagreement feel so personal? According to author, journalist, and physician Seema Yasmin, itâs because beliefs arenât just about what we think, theyâre about who we are.âWhat [people] believe is...
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2023 / 3 / 8Magic Words: Change What You Say to Inspire and Influence OthersWords have impact. But when it comes to enchanting audiences and captivating with communication, Jonah Berger, PhD â07, says some words are more potent than others.Berger is a Wharton School professor and an...
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2023 / 2 / 28Equity by Design: How Diversity Ignites CreativityIf we want healthier companies, schools, and teams associate professor of organizational behavior Adina Sterling says investing in the health of marginalized groups âcan have enormous spillover effects for...
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2023 / 2 / 14Three Guiding Principles for Successful CommunicationTo 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...
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2023 / 2 / 7Quick Thinks: AI Has Entered The Chat â A "Conversation" with ChatGPTIn 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...
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2023 / 2 / 1Think Fast, Talk Smart: The Podcast | Season 4 TrailerJoin 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...
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2023 / 1 / 24Change My Mind: Using âPre-suasionâ to Influence OthersWant to change someoneâs 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,...
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2023 / 1 / 10Love & Money: How to Talk About Big Decisions TogetherDo love and money mix? Labor economist and Stanford Graduate School of Business professor emerita Myra Strober says absolutely. âSeparating money and love is not a good idea. I have had 40 years to think...
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2022 / 12 / 20Best Of: How Emotion Shapes Our Communication, Decisions, and ExperiencesIn 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...
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2022 / 12 / 6Listen Up: Why Itâs Better to Be Interested than InterestingAs a communication expert, Alison Wood Brooks spends a lot of time talking about talking. But, as she says, listening is just as important.âMy course is called TALK,â says Wood Brooks, who is the O'Brien...
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2022 / 11 / 22Quick Thinks: Talk It Out â How to Successfully Negotiate and Resolve ConflictWhen it comes to negotiating and managing conflict, Professor Michele Gelfand says itâs time to get creative.Everybody has wants and needs. So what do we do when our priorities compete with those of other...
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2022 / 11 / 8Strategy Success: How to Communicate Your GameplanAs 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 doesnât have to be. âLots of...
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2022 / 10 / 25Ideas Fuel Innovation: Why Your First Ideas Arenât Always the BestWhatâs the secret to coming up with good ideas? For Jeremy Utley, itâs about generating as many as possible. The director of executive education at the Stanford d.school, Utley says, âvery few problems...
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2022 / 10 / 11Feeling Nervous? How Anxiety Can Fuel Better CommunicationStress, anxiety, nervousness â when these feelings inevitably arise, lecturer Kelly McGonigal says itâs not about making them go away, but using them to your advantage.âWhat I have come to value about...
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2022 / 9 / 27Directive vs. Dialogue: Communicating Better as a LeaderAs 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...
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2022 / 9 / 13What Is Normal? How Culture Affects Communication StylesWhy do we drive on only one side of the road? Why donât 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...
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2022 / 8 / 30Best Of: Lessons from Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman to Help You Hack your Speaking AnxietyâThereâs no difference between the physiological response to something that youâre excited about and something that youâre nervous about or dreading,â says Andrew Huberman associate professor of neurobiology...
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2022 / 8 / 16Ties That Bind: Why Remote and Hybrid Teams Need the Right ConnectionâWe need to be much more adaptive in the way we think about hybrid work,â says Michael Arena. âExperiment, experiment, experiment.âInnovation relies on teams connecting in very specific ways. But are those...
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2022 / 8 / 2Best of: Techniques for Managing Your ReputationHow 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 podcast episode, strategic...
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2022 / 7 / 18Cheap Talk: What Economics Has to Say About CommunicationYour words â are they credible? Or are they what Paul Oyer calls âcheap talk?âAccording to professor of economics Paul Oyer, how our words align with our actions isnât just a matter of communication, but a...
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2022 / 7 / 5Best Of: Summer Learning Series, How Humor Can Be a Secret Weapon in CommunicationIn 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...
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2022 / 6 / 21Courage, Ambiguity, Belonging and Data: How to Design Your Communication for SuccessAll 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...
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2022 / 6 / 7Communicating Uncertainty: How to Connect With Your Audience, Even When The Answers Arenât ClearâIt'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.â In this episode...
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2022 / 5 / 24From Dreaming to Doing: How We Set and Achieve GoalsWhy 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...
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2022 / 5 / 10Forgiveness: How the Right Communication Repairs RelationshipsIn relationships between imperfect people, mistakes are inevitable. And when we find ourselves with damaged connections, itâs a specific kind of communication that can help us make amends.Fred Luskin is the...
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2022 / 4 / 26Are You Listening?: How to Stay Open and Curious to Other Peopleâs IdeasâListening 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.âThis episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart...
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2022 / 4 / 12Lean Messaging: How Simple Messages Really StickâAnyone can make a complicated thing sound complicated. It takes real skill to make it sound simple.âThis episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart features Steve Blank, seasoned entrepreneur,...
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2022 / 3 / 29Ideas & Empathy: How to Design and Communicate with Others in MindâVery often, you are not designing for yourself. And you kind of have to get out of your own way to effectively design with othersâ needs in mind.âIn this podcast episode, lecturer Matt Abrahams is joined by...
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2022 / 3 / 15Leadership and Ethics: How to Communicate Your Core ValuesâA 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...
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2022 / 3 / 1Step Up and Stand Out: How to Create the Right Environment for CommunicationâYouâre not going to hit the mark with everybody, but you still need to be mindful of everybody,â says Jonathan Levav, the King Philanthropies Professor of Marketing. âThatâs critical to create an environment...
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2022 / 2 / 16Communicating Our Mistakes: How to Avoid Common Flaws and Make Better DecisionsIn 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.Think...
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2022 / 2 / 10We Asked, You Answered: Celebrating our 50th Episode with your Anxiety Management PlansIn 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...
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2022 / 2 / 2Telling Good Stories: How to Use the Elements of Narrative to Keep Listeners EngagedâMake them want to turn the page,â 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...
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2022 / 1 / 18Make Numbers Count: How to Communicate Data EffectivelyâWe have to make data emotional because emotions are what drive us to act,â says Chip Heath, a professor of organizational behavior and author of the new book, Making Numbers Count: The Art of...
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2022 / 1 / 5Speaking Up Without Freaking Out: How to Tackle Communication AnxietyâEighty five percent of people report being nervous about speaking in public, and I believe the other 15% are lying,â says Matt Abrahams, lecturer in Strategic Communication and podcast host. âWhat is it...
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2021 / 12 / 14Quick Thinks: How to Use Storytelling to Be a Better FounderâGreat founders are great storytellers,â says Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Stephanos Zenios in this âQuick Thinksâ episode. Zenios is the director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies...
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2021 / 12 / 3Stay Creative: How to Keep Your Ideas Fresh and PracticalâTo be creative, ideas must be both novel and useful. Thatâs the definition that we use in creativity research,â says Justin Berg, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School...
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2021 / 11 / 18Recipes From the âCommunication Kitchenâ: How to Handle Three Common Challenges This Holiday SeasonIn each episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Stanford GSB lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams asks his guests the same question: âWhat are the first three ingredients in a successful communication...
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2021 / 11 / 11Act Like a Leader: How Lessons From The Theater Can Help You Step into Power"Leadership is a role that you play, like a part you play in other peopleâs lives. And [your] expression of that role is your responsibility as a leader,â says Stanford GSB lecturer Melissa Jones Briggs....
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2021 / 10 / 28Get Psyched: How Time and Situations Shape Our CommunicationâSocial 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, âWhat is the situation in which they are performing, in...
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2021 / 10 / 15Space, Pace, and Grace: How to Handle Challenging ConversationsBeing a better listener has a lot to do with silence, says Collins Dobbs, a lecturer in management at Stanford Graduate School of Business. âA lot of people are uncomfortable with the smallest modicum of...
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2021 / 9 / 30Speak like a Founder: How Successful Entrepreneurs Communicate to Their TeamsâPart of teamwork is dating,â says Stefanos Zenios, The Investment Group of Santa Barbara Professor of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Operations, Information & Technology. âDating each other to see whether...
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2021 / 9 / 16Mindset Matters: How to Embrace the Benefits of StressâStress 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...
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2021 / 9 / 2Brains Love Stories: How Leveraging Neuroscience Can Capture People's EmotionsIn 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...
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2021 / 8 / 19The New Normal: How Hybrid Work Actually WorksâOne 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 weâve ever done before. And Iâve studied a...
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2021 / 8 / 5Be Better: How Communication Catalyzes Business TransformationIn 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...
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2021 / 7 / 15Perfecting Teamwork: Building High-Performing Teams By Encouraging LearningIn 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,...
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2021 / 6 / 25Leading From The Hot Seat: How To Communicate Under PressureâI say sometimes that leadership is a journey into yourself. Itâs self-renewal, self-reflection, self-confidence. Itâs going to bed kind of scratching your head and saying, âMan, Iâm not as good,â...
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2021 / 6 / 3How We Gain â Or Give Away â Authority While SpeakingâSimple language, forceful language, vivid language, and keeping it simple and direct,â says Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, are all tools to increase the strength of your communication. In this episode...