Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves

Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves

by Alison Wood Brooks

Released January 21, 2025

All of us can struggle with difficult conversations, but we're often not very good at the easy ones either. Though we do it all the time, Harvard professor Alison Wood Brooks argues that conversation is one of the most complex, demanding, and delicate of all human tasks, rife with possibilities for misinterpretation and misunderstanding. And yet conversations can also be a source of great joy, each one offering an opportunity to express who we are and learn who others are--to feel connected, loved, and alive.

In Talk, Brooks shows why conversing a little more effectively can make a big difference in the quality of our close personal relationships as well as our professional success. Drawing on the new science of conversation, Brooks distills lessons that show how we can better understand, learn from, and delight each other. The key is her TALK Maxims:

Topics: Choose topics and manage them well

Asking: Ask more questions

Levity: Use humor to keep conversations fizzy

Kindness: Prioritize their partners conversational needs

Through experiments ranging across the conversational spectrum--from speed daters who ask too few questions (or too many), to future business leaders averse to topic forethought, to traffic stops that reveal the essence of kind language--Brooks takes us inside the world of conversation, giving us the confidence and the advice to approach any interaction with more creativity and compassion.

Dr. Alison Wood Brooks is the O'Brien Associate Professor of Business Administration and Hellman Faculty Fellow at the Harvard Business School. She studies the behavioral science of conversation, teaches an award-winning course in the MBA curriculum called TALK, and chairs a program for executives called Communicating for Impact. She was named a Best 40 Under 40 Business School Professor by Poets & Quants.