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Author and professor Dr. Alison Wood Brooks recently appeared on the Mel Robbins podcast titled The Most Important Career Advice You’ll Ever Hear With Harvard Business School’s #1 Professor. During the April 3 episode, Mel sat down with the Harvard Business School professor, who opened up about the strategies of conversation.
They also covered topics ranging from mastering negotiation and communication to building real influence at work. Dr. Brooks, who teaches a course on negotiation and communication, shared tactics that she claimed could change everything.
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Speaking further about networking, she said:
"The keys to networking are the same as the keys to all being a valuable person in the world... It's all about initiating and creating and sustaining meaningful relationships with people."
Brooks then spoke about her latest book, Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves, released on January 21, 2025. As per Brooks' own website, the book would appeal to anyone looking to understand the science of conversation and become an expert, thanks to its tone, techniques, simple frameworks, and unexpected revelations.
Alison Wood Brooks launched Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves in January 2025
As per Goodreads, Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves uncovers the hidden structure of people's conversation and shows how even minor adjustments can significantly impact relationships—both in life and at work.
As per the official description of Alison Wood Brooks' book on Amazon:
“TALK is a groundbreaking book that reveals the hidden architecture of our conversations and how even small improvements can have a profound impact on our work, relationships, and well-being…”
It further read:
“We all 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…”
It continued:
“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…”
The description further added that Dr. Alison Wood Brooks demonstrates in the book that improving communication skills could significantly influence performance in the workplace, in intimate personal relationships, and in the wider world.
The book's main subjects include how to effectively choose and handle any topic, how to ask more and better questions, and how to use warmth and humor to keep discussions interesting. It further talks about how to put one's partner's conversational needs first.
The description continued by saying that Dr. Alison Wood Brooks demonstrates in Talk why having a brief conversation provides the readers with the confidence and insights to approach any interaction with greater creativity and compassion.
During the podcast with Mel Robbins, the conversation also touched on topics like how to ask for a raise and actually get it and what it really takes to earn a promotion. They also conversed about how to nail any interview with confidence and what the path is to discovering and landing a dream job.
Sharing her experience while writing the book, Dr. Alison Wood Brooks added:
“When I wrote this book about talk, something that I realized is I'm uniquely positioned to write this because I'm an identical twin. So I should say that. I need to say that in an interview on a podcast so that people understand who I am and why that's why I'm a valuable person…”
Furthermore, they discussed the science behind negotiation and how to do it better, how to handle high-stakes conversations with ease, and strategies to conquer anxiety and show up like a leader.
All the episodes of Mel Robbins' podcast are available on YouTube and Apple Podcast.
