223. Laughing Matters: Levity, Leadership, and Lasting Connection
Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques
Think Fast Talk Smart
4.7 • 806 Ratings
🗓️ 19 August 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
By lightening up your communication, you can build serious connections.
Humor in communication isn’t all fun and games. According to Alison Wood Brooks and Naomi Bagdonas, levity is one of the most serious tools we have in building successful connections.
Wood Brooks and Bagdonas, both teachers, authors, and experts in the field of communication, recognize how crucial levity is to our professional and personal interactions. “It’s easy to think of [humor] as this extra bonus thing,” says Wood Brooks. “What we find is it’s incredibly core to how people are relating to each other.” Bagdonas agrees: “When there's the presence of laughter in team meetings, those teams are more successful and more creative. Leaders with a sense of humor—not even a good sense of humor—are seen as more motivating, more admired, [and] their teams report being more engaged.”
In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Wood Brooks and Bagdonas join host Matt Abrahams to explore levity as a mindset, or as Bagdonas puts it, “Navigating life on the precipice of a smile.” Together, they share how lightness and humor can break barriers, bridge connections, and unlock the door to better communication.
To listen to the extended Deep Thinks version of this episode, please visit FasterSmarter.io/premium.
Episode Reference Links:
- Alison Wood Brooks
- Alison’s Book: Talk
- Naomi Bagdonas
- Naomi’s Book: Humor, Seriously
- Ep.13 Make ’Em Laugh: How to Use Humor as a Secret Weapon in Your Communication
- Ep.73 Listen Up: Why It’s Better to Be Interested Than Interesting
- Ep.89 Listen, Listen, Listen: How to Build Deep Connections
- Ep.169 Don't Be a ZQ: Make Your Conversations Count
Connect:
- Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart Premium
- Email Questions & Feedback >>> hello@fastersmarter.io
- Episode Transcripts >>> Think Fast Talk Smart Website
- Newsletter Signup + English Language Learning >>> FasterSmarter.io
- Think Fast Talk Smart >>> LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube
- Matt Abrahams >>> LinkedIn
Chapters:
- (00:00) - Introduction
- (03:23) - Talk Tour Insights
- (04:43) - Top Advice on Asking Questions
- (06:53) - Guiding Principles for Leaders
- (09:27) - Importance of Levity
- (11:27) - Why Humor Matters
- (13:16) - Letting Go of Comfort
- (15:57) - Overthinking Levity
- (18:03) - Creating Space for Levity
- (21:35) - Conclusion
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, Matt here. I am super excited to let you know that our August newsletter is now available. |
| 0:07.7 | In it, you'll learn lots of useful tools and advice. We'll introduce our upcoming September |
| 0:12.6 | Tech Tools miniseries, and there's a whole article on how to speak better when you're speaking |
| 0:17.7 | in a language that's not your own. Check it out on LinkedIn and subscribe |
| 0:21.7 | or go to FasterSmarter.io and under Resources, find our newsletter. |
| 0:32.6 | Once your way to connect and to build relationships is to bring levity into your communication. My name is |
| 0:39.6 | Matt Abrams, and I teach strategic communication at Stanford Graduate School of Business. |
| 0:44.9 | Welcome to Think Fast, Talk Smart, the podcast. I always look forward to interviewing my guests, |
| 0:51.4 | but today I am super-sized excited to be revisited by two guests |
| 0:56.3 | today. Not only are Naomi and Allison fantastic teachers, authors, and communicators, they're |
| 1:02.8 | amazing people. And I'm proud to have them as collaborators and friends. All right, enough |
| 1:08.4 | gushing. Let me formally introduce you first to Allison Woodbrooks. |
| 1:12.6 | Allison is the O'Brien Associate Professor of Business Administration and Hellman Faculty Fellow at |
| 1:17.5 | Harvard Business School. Allison's research focuses on the science of conversation and interaction. |
| 1:24.3 | And she teaches an award-winning course called Talk, which also happens to be the name of |
| 1:28.7 | her new book, Talk, the Science of Conversation, and the Art of Being Ourselves. Allison is also |
| 1:35.0 | our first three-time guest ever. Allison and I today are joined by Naomi Bagdonus. |
| 1:42.0 | Naomi runs her own consulting company where she helps not only organize high-stakes gatherings, |
| 1:48.0 | but coaches leaders to be more successful. |
| 1:50.5 | She's coached CEOs and celebrities for media appearances on Saturday Night Live and the Today Show. |
| 1:55.6 | She trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and teaches courses about humor at the GSP and the San Francisco |
| 2:02.5 | County Jail. Along with Jennifer Ocker, she wrote the only business book I have ever learned and |
... |
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