Videos

Stress, anxiety, nervousness — when these feelings inevitably arise, lecturer Kelly McGonigal (https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/kelly-m-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…

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 (https://www.jeremyutley.design/) says, “very few problems we face in business or in life have a single right answer.” All ideas — the…

As Professor Jesper Sørensen (https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/jesper-b-sorensen) 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…

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…

As a communication expert, Alison Wood Brooks (https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=684820) 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.…

In one of our most popular episodes, professor of Marketing Baba Shiv (https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/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…

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…

Want to change someone’s mind? First, explains Robert Cialdini, you have to change their framing. For Cialdini (https://www.influenceatwork.com/) , 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…

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.

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…

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,…

Words have impact. But when it comes to enchanting audiences and captivating with communication, Jonah Berger (https://jonahberger.com/) , 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…

Why does disagreement feel so personal? According to author, journalist, and physician Seema Yasmin (https://seemayasmin.com/speaking/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA3eGfBhCeARIsACpJNU_cbVK4D6WR2S5kbT5lJtUhwTAEw6yMIeOucJQj1FYlFrVJJwLSz-AaAnn0EALw_wcB) , 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…

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…

“If you're not living life according to your own values, you're most likely living them according to someone else's,” says Charlotte Burgess-Auburn. Burgess-Auburn (https://dschool.stanford.edu/about) is a designer, artist, educator, and the Director of Community at the d.school. With her recently published guide, You Need A Manifesto: How To Craft Your…

“The self is incompatible with freedom, the way most people understand it, because the self is a constraint,” says social psychologist and professor of organizational behavior Brian Lowery (https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/brian-lowery) . “The ‘you’ you’re talking about is actually the relationships you have, the social interactions you have and the cultural context…

Having to communicate in a language other than our native tongue can be quite a challenge, especially without a script or prepared speech. In this "Best of" episode, we revisit Matt's conversation with Kenneth Romeo about specific tactics that non-native speakers can use to handle in-the-moment challenges. Romeo also discusses…

Whether you want to read more books or exercise more regularly, BJ Fogg has good news. “Habits are easier to form than most people think,” he says, “If you do it in the right way.” As the founder and director of Stanford's Behavior Design Lab (https://behaviordesign.stanford.edu/) , Fogg has devoted…

We’ve all been there — we think we understand something, but when it comes time to explain it to someone else, we flounder. According to Gregory LaBlanc (https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/gregory-lablanc) , a lecturer in management at Stanford GSB, attempting to communicate concepts reveals whether or not we properly grasped them in the…

If we want healthier companies, schools, and teams associate professor of organizational behavior Adina Sterling (https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/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…

*This episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart recently won "Best Business Podcast Episode (https://winners.webbyawards.com/2023/podcasts/individual-episodes/business/248860/leading-from-home-how-to-create-the-right-environment-for-communication) " 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…

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 (https://rachelgreenwald.com/) helps people develop better communication skills, from executives…

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…

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…