The Conversations that Bring Us Closer

There are times in life when the challenges we face feel insurmountable. Authors succumb to writer’s block. Athletes and artists hit a plateau. People of a certain age fall into a midlife crisis. These are all different ways of saying: I’m stuck. This week, in a favorite conversa ...  Show more

Why do some people act bravely in a crisis, while others flee or freeze up? Today, we bring you the second part of our You 2.0 series on the mental obstacles that can block us when we're charting a new path. Behavioral scientist Ranjay Gulati argues that courage is a choice, and ...  Show more

This new season of How To is a collection of our favorite episodes from past seasons—a best-of series focused on slowing down, making space, and finding meaning in our hectic lives. This episode is the last in the collection and is from our fourth season, How to Talk to People. T ...  Show more

What can we learn about the way we speak by analysing thousands of everyday conversations? That’s a question that fascinates Alison Wood Brooks. Alison, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, and author of the forthcoming book, Talk: The Science of Conversation and th ...  Show more

Some conversations are uncomfortable, but avoiding them comes with a cost.You want a more successful career, a more fulfilling relationship, a more meaningful life? What if all that’s standing in your way — are the conversations that you’re avoiding?“Most things that we want in l ...  Show more

Alison Wood Brooks (Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves) is a behavioral research scientist. Alison joins the Armchair Expert to discuss why growing up as a twin is like watching an alternate version of your own life, how we underestimate the compl ...