How to be a 'supercommunicator'

Life Kit

NPR

Education, Kids & Family, Self-improvement, Business, Health & Fitness

4.5 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Have you ever met someone who is exceptionally easy to talk to? Someone who – simply through good conversation – gets you to open up? These are all common traits of "supercommunicators" — people who are consistently able to create authentic connections with others just by listening and talking. In this episode, journalist Charles Duhigg talks about how anyone can become a "supercommunicator." This episode originally published February 20, 2024.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
0:05.4	RWJF is a national philanthropy working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right.
0:12.1	Learn more at RWJF.org.
0:15.4	You're listening to LifeKit from NPR.
0:20.4	Hey everybody, it's Mariel.
0:23.1	I have certain friends who I always feel better after talking to.
0:27.3	They bring this combination of warmth and support and a lack of judgment.
0:31.9	It always feels like they're listening, actually tuned in, and interested.
0:36.3	For you, that person is a super communicator, and you're probably a super communicator back to them.
0:42.2	Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, and his book, Super Communicators, is a guide to how to connect through conversation.
0:50.6	He says there are some people who do this consistently, and he's been watching them.
0:55.2	And what we've learned is that it's not an inborn trait.
0:58.1	It's not that introverts can do it better than extroverts or vice versa.
1:02.7	Rather, there are some people who have just paid a little bit more attention
1:06.0	to how they communicate with other people and how others communicate with them.
1:09.7	And he says these people, these super communicators,
1:12.4	tend to build and maintain genuine connections,
1:15.5	which can lead to happier, fuller lives.
1:18.6	It starts with authentic conversation.
1:21.6	Listening to their own instincts and saying the goal of this discussion ought to be
1:27.0	not to impress you, not to make you think
1:29.1	I'm smart, not to convince you that I'm right. The goal of this conversation should be to
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.