How to TALK So People Actually Listen with Dr. Alison Wood Brooks 7 | 12

Radical Candor: Communication at Work

Radical Candor

Business, Management, Careers

4.7 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ditch the awkwardness and start owning every conversation.

Talking to people shouldn’t feel like a struggle—but let’s be honest, it often does. Maybe you’re stuck in small talk hell, getting ignored in meetings, or watching conversations die mid-sentence. Why is this so hard? Amy sits down with Dr. Alison Wood Brooks, Harvard Business School professor and author of Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves, to expose the hidden science behind great conversations—and why most of us are getting it wrong. They break down the TALK framework (Topics, Asking, Levity, and Kindness) and unpack the subtle mistakes that make people tune out, disengage, or just not like talking to you. Whether you want to command the room, sound sharper in meetings or just stop replaying every interaction in your head, Alison delivers straight-shooting, science-backed strategies to help you talk better, connect faster, and stress less.

Get all of the show notes at RadicalCandor.com/podcast.

Episode Links:

Connect:

Chapters:

(00:00:00) Introduction
Amy Sandler welcomes Dr. Alison Wood Brooks, Harvard Business School professor and author of Talk: The Science of Conversation.

(00:01:44) The Power of Connection in Conversation
How small, personal connections can create deeper conversations.

(00:02:53) What Inspired Talk?
Dr. Wood Brooks shares how she became fascinated with conversation science.

(00:07:25) Giving Conversation Feedback
Why most people receive little feedback on their conversational skills.

(00:13:17) The Hidden Coordination Game
How small, unconscious decisions shape every conversation.

(00:18:54) The TALK Framework
Topics, Asking, Levity, and Kindness—the four keys to better conversations.

(00:20:24) Practicing Listening
Guided exercises and listening techniques from the Talk course.

(00:21:39) The Science Behind Mind-Wandering
Why we tune out during conversations and how to stay present.

(00:29:06) The Challenges of Group Conversations
Why group conversations are harder to manage than one-on-one talks.

(00:34:05) Digital vs. In-Person Talk
How virtual communication changes conversations.

(00:36:51) Designing Better Meetings
Strategies for leaders to create inclusive and effective meetings.

(00:39:37) Boomer Asking
The conversational habit that makes people disengage.

(00:44:28) Where to Find Dr. Wood Brooks
Dr. Wood Brooks shares where to find her work and book tour details.

(00:45:32) Conclusion

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I'm Amy Sandler, the principal coach and podcast host at Radical Cander.
0:08.3	Today I am so excited to introduce our guest, Dr. Allison Wood Brooks.
0:14.0	Hello, Allison.
0:15.3	Author of the new book, Talk.
0:18.0	And I've got it right here.
0:19.9	Talk, the science of conversation and the art of being
0:24.4	ourselves. Well, at Radical Kinder, we are all about conversation, being ourselves, and so I'm so
0:31.0	excited to have this conversation. Dr. Brooks is the O'Brien Associate Professor of Business
0:36.7	Administration and Hellman Faculty Fellow at the
0:39.8	Harvard Business School. She is a leading expert on the science of conversation and also teaches a
0:46.1	course on the subject at Harvard Business School. So in the book, Talk, Allison, I'm going to start
0:52.1	referring to you as Allison. I hope that's okay.
0:54.4	All right. All right. So Allison reveals that even the best communicators have room for improvement.
1:01.4	So you know at Radical Cander, we're all about growth. How can we get better?
1:05.3	And what I love about this book are there are simple and effective techniques that help us improve our
1:10.6	conversations. So yes, absolutely for business settings, but also are there are simple and effective techniques that help us improve our conversation.
1:11.4	So yes, absolutely for business settings, but also personal relationships, the flight,
1:17.5	the stranger at the party, talk offers valuable insights for anyone who's looking to enhance
1:23.9	their communication skills.
1:25.2	And I think that is probably all of us in this group.
1:28.3	So if you've got questions the way this will work, go ahead, put them in the chat.
1:33.2	Our producer Brandy, thank you, Brandy, will elevate them so that we can answer them for you.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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