How We Gain — Or Give Away — Authority While Speaking

“Simple language, forceful language, vivid language, and keeping it simple and direct,” says Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, are all tools to increase the strength of your communication. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, host and lecturer Matt Abrahams interviews Jeffrey Pfeffer, author of Dying for a Paycheck, about the verbal and nonverbal ways we can harness, or give away, our authority in communication.   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.

Hacking your Speaking Anxiety: How Lessons from Neuroscience Can Help You Communicate Confidently.

“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 podcast episode, Huberman talks with host and lecturer Matt Abrahams about his research on the autonomic continuum, a spectrum between states of very high alertness or fear, all the way down to deep sleep, and shares how to better-use the system to your advantage.   “If people can conceptualize that the anxiety or stress response is the same as the excitement response, they feel different,” Huberman says.  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.

Speech That Empowers: How to Encourage Growth and Resilience in a Younger Audience

“Communication is such a delicate dance and kids need to emerge from childhood having practiced,” says Julie Lythcott-Haims, former associate vice provost of undergraduate education Stanford University.  In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams sits down with Lythcott-Haims to discuss her new book, Your Turn: How to be an Adult, and ideas on how to communicate with young people so they feel empowered to take on the various (and often intimidating) duties of adulthood.  “Responsibility isn’t a bad thing,” she says. “Responsibility is actually an amazing thing. And I think we have to do a better job of narrating that truth.” 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.

Quick Thinks: How to Shine Online and Excel at Virtual Communication

It has been over a year since millions of people have switched from office work to working from home. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, lecturer and host Matt Abrahams highlights guests’ top takeaways on how to best communicate, share information, and cultivate a professional presence though the screen.  “I think we have to find ways to reduce cognitive overload,” says Professor and Senior Associate Dean Sarah Soule. “I now offer my information in much smaller pieces interspersed with breakout groups.” 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.

Dissolve Disagreements: How Communication Impacts Conflict

“Communication, conflict, and cooperation are intertwined in a multitude of ways,” says Nir Halevy, associate professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Halevy sits down with host and lecturer Matt Abrahams, to discuss how we can often solve conflicts and disagreements by employing the correct strategy in our communication.   “How you articulate a particular grievance, your choice of words, the nonverbal aspects of your claim, such as the tone of your voice, can definitely influence reactions to your claim,” Halevy says.   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.

Question Everything: Why Curiosity Is Communication’s Secret Weapon

The information you receive is only as strong as the questions you ask. In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturers Matt Abrahams and Debra Schifrin discuss 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.” Think Fast, Talk Smart is a podcast produced by Stanford Graduate School of Business and hosted by Matt Abrahams. Each episode provides concrete, easy-to-implement tools and techniques to help you hone and enhance your communication.

Building Strong Relationships: How to Effectively Communicate in Your Professional and Personal Life

Psychology Trumps Technology: How to Be a Better Communicator on Social Media

“Psychology trumps technology,” says Jeff Hancock, founding director of the Stanford Social Media Lab and professor in the Department of Communication at Stanford. “If you want to understand what's going on in social media, the first place to start is with what's going on psychologically.” On the latest episode of *Think Fast, Talk Smart,* lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams sits down with Professor Hancock, to talk about the communication tendencies, styles, and mistakes of social media users. “Whenever there's a new kind of technology ... our focus is on what it's doing,” Professor Hancock says. “But I think over time what we end up realizing is that it's still people using it to accomplish things. And I think when we start to when we step back … we can get a sense of what really is changing.”  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.

Quick Thinks: All Effective Communication Must Start With This

As we look back on more than 20 interviews with Think Fast, Talk Smart guests, we’ve heard one piece of advice over and again: Know Your Audience. This wisdom echoes what research clearly shows: Content that is relevant and meaningful to an audience is more likely to be heard, retained and acted upon.  The word communication comes from the Latin for to “make common,” yet many of us start our message from the wrong place. As lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams shares in this Quick Thinks episode, by taking the time to learn about our audience and their needs, we can better craft our messages for them and be more useful, engaging and successful.

Feelings First: How emotion shapes our communication, decisions, and experiences

“Something like 90 to 95% of our decisions and behaviors are constantly being shaped the non-consciously by emotional brain system.” In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Professor of Marketing Baba Shiv sits down with lecturer and host Matt Abrahams to share his research on how emotions affect our, and our audience’s, decision making.  “You’ve got to pay careful attention to the audience that you’re talking to and allow the person to talk,” Shiv says. “Allow the person to talk because then, the person has ownership of the idea.”   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.

Look Within: How to Lead with Self Awareness and Vulnerability

“Effective is being able to achieve your goals, which is important, but there are plenty of people who achieve their goals that most of us would find unworthy. So the question what does it take to be a good leader requires you to reflect on the values that you hold dear.” In this episode of *Think Fast, Talk Smart*, Senior Associate Dean and Professor of Organizational Behavior Brian Lowery sits down with lecturer and host Matt Abrahams to discuss the importance of self inquiry and an examination of one's own values in order to be effectively communicate and lead.   “Society is not designed, really, to evoke deep thought about the fault lines in the broader community," Lowery says. "That’s not something that is going to be presented to you. It’s something that you have to look for and pay attention to.” 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.

Under Pressure: How to Communicate Clearly and Timely During a Crisis

“Knowing your values gives you a beacon, or a lamppost, that can inform how you’re going to prioritize your actions.”    In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer and Stanford University’s former Vice President of Public Affairs David Demarest speaks with host and lecturer Matt Abrahams on why knowing your values and the concerns of your stakeholders lays the foundation for any communication during a time of crisis. 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.*

Words Matter: How to Make Your Communication Inclusive

What way can the language we use reinforce existing stereotypes and biases? In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Sarah Soule, Senior Associate Dean and Professor of Organizational Behavior sits down with lecturer and host Matt Abrahams to discuss how even the details of our word choice can shape culture, for better or worse.   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.

Question Your Questions: How to Spark Creativity in Your Communication

“Sparking communication starts with asking why or what or how.” On this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Tina Seelig, the Professor of the Practice in Stanford’s department of Management Science and Engineering, sits down with podcast host and lecturer Matt Abrahams to talk about the structures of storytelling that will help become more creative communicators and the importance of asking questions about everything we do.  “Having a mindset of curiosity opens the door to great communication,” Seelig says. “The more questions you ask, the more you learn, the more engaged you will be with others.” 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 notes: Creativity Rules: Get Ideas Out of Your Head and Into the World inGenius: A Crash Course on Creativity Stanford Technology Ventures Program Knight Hennessy Scholars program

Showing Your Smile From Behind a Mask: How Culture and Emotion Impact Communication

“In companies, you’re interacting with other people who come from different cultural contexts, and in order to be effective, you have to understand how much of your own communication and other people’s communication is shaped by their cultural ideas and their cultural values.” On this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, host Matt Abrahams sits down with Jeanne Tsai, an associate professor of Psychology at Stanford and director of the Culture and Emotion Lab. Jeanne’s research focuses on cultural influences on psychological and social processes related to emotion. Jeanne discusses why wearing a mask is more accepted for some cultures, and seen as prohibiting communication in others.  “Communication is just one of the places where you really can see culture at work,” she says. “In cultural contexts that promote these more independent views of the self, the core goal of communication is to express yourself, to express those beliefs, preferences and desires that define who you are.”  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.

Managing in the Moment: How to Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

“The less time you can spend dwelling on your mistakes, the more mental energy you can devote to doing what you need to do in that moment.” On this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Christian Wheeler, the StrataComm Professor of Management and Professor of Marketing at Stanford Graduate School Business, sits down with podcast host and lecturer Matt Abrahams to talk about embracing failure and managing in-the-moment.  “When we’re confronted with personal failure, it feels bad to us. And we work hard to try to avoid that failure, and that can often be counterproductive,” Wheeler says. “But failing is something that’s on the pathway to success.” 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.

Think Fast: You Asked, We Answered

We asked listeners to send in their communication conundrums and ended up with an inbox full of thoughtful, specific questions.  In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, host and Stanford GSB lecturer Matt Abrahams is joined by Shawon Jackon, MBA ’21, to share techniques on crafting written responses, dealing with constant interruptions, and confronting the power dynamics present in most communication. Shawon is the founder of Our Voices Matter, a public speaking program for high school students of color and a dual-degree student between Stanford GSB and Harvard Kennedy School.  Think Fast, Talk Smart is a podcast produced by Stanford Graduate School of Business and hosted by Matt Abrahams. Each episode provides concrete, easy-to-implement tools and techniques to help you hone and enhance your communication.

Quick Think: How to Craft Your Body Language When Confronting Objections

Knowing what to say to a skeptical audience is paramount, but how can your body language communicate empathy, openness, and power?  In this “Quick Think” episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, we revisit Matt Abrahams’s conversation with Stanford GSB lecturer Burt Alper about how to keep body language in mind when it comes to handling objections.   Think Fast, Talk Smart is a podcast produced by Stanford Graduate School of Business and hosted by Matt Abrahams. Each episode provides concrete, easy-to-implement tools and techniques to help you hone and enhance your communication.