Talk
The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
You might already consider yourself a stellar conversationalist, but could you be even better? This book will help enrich your life, one conversation at a time.
'Ground-breaking research that changed my life' Mel Robbins
'Reading TALK is like having a conversation with the world's best conversationalist' Angela Duckworth
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Conversation is at the heart of our relationships and decision-making - but the science behind our everyday interactions, and how to improve them, is little known.
In Talk, Harvard Professor Alison Wood Brooks provides fascinating insights into the power of effective communication. She gives you the tools that her MBA students say transform their lives, bringing together psychology, linguistics, sociology and neuroscience in her original framework:
T – Topics – including the surprising impact of preparing topics before a conversation
A – Asking – why we need to do more (and why we do less than we think)
L – Levity – how to find the fun in conversations with anyone
K – Kindness – how to be a better listener and not simply pretend to be one!
Through her own original research, Brooks shows readers how small changes in how we communicate can make a big difference to our relationships, our careers and our lives.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Brooks, an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, debuts with a perceptive guide to what she characterizes as "one of the most complex and uncertain" of everyday human tasks. Citing a need to move beyond "social niceties" espoused by earlier and slicker communication philosophies (such as Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People), she contends that good conversation involves "expecting problems, noticing them, and working to solve them as best we can." Obstacles to doing so include participants' competing priorities and the constant, mentally taxing practice of "self-reading, mind-reading, and room-reading." Brooks's suggestions for improvement range from the concrete, like preparing a list of discussion topics in advance, or asking lots of follow-up questions (those who do "are better liked"), to more complex skills like understanding and prioritizing others' "conversational needs" (which can include "hard feedback, new ideas, a quick laugh, a sounding board, challenging questions, a break"). Compiling valuable data from speed-dating sessions, sales calls, and parole hearings, the author builds a convincing case for practicing and better understanding the elements that shape good conversation. Lucid and pragmatic, this unlocks some of the mysteries of human communication.
