Harvard expert: This 30-second strategy can make you more influential in everyday conversations
Personal Finance
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Harvard expert: This 30-second strategy can make you more influential in everyday conversations

July 26, 2025
01:05 PM
4 min read
AI Enhanced
moneyleadership developmentpersonal developmentmarket cyclesseasonal analysismarket

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Mentally preparing for a moment before speaking with someone improves the conversation's quality, says Harvard University associate professor Alison Wood Brooks.

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4 min read

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personal finance

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Published

July 26, 2025

01:05 PM

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CNBC

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moneyleadership developmentpersonal developmentmarket cyclesseasonal analysismarket

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Additionally, You should use a similar, truncated practice before casual interactions, recommends conversation expert Alison Wood Brooks: Take 30 seconds before greeting the other person to think topics to go over, questions you want to ask or your goals for the conversation (which is quite significant)

Putting forethought into your casual chats can make you look smart, prepared and considerate — a good friend who remembers even minute details of past conversations — says Wood Brooks, a Harvard University associate fessor who teaches an MBA course called "How to talk gooder in and life. "Try preparing for even casual conversations, whether you're meeting a co-worker for lunch or an old friend for dinner, Wood Brooks advises. "Even if you're calling a friend you know well or your mom, what we find in our re is that even 30 seconds of forethought will make that conversation go better," she says

A small moment of mental preparation can help you stay present while you're talking and listening, says Wood Brooks, author of the 2025 book, "Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves (fascinating analysis)

Moreover, " After the conversation starts, you'll have less brainpower to come up with talking mpts or conversational segues, she adds. "Once the conversation is underway, your brain becomes very busy

Listening to the other person's words, trying to read their emotional expressions, preparing what you're going to say next," says Wood Brooks (which is quite significant)

At the same time, "It's a very cognitively overwhelming task

We're better at brainstorming what we should talk (quite telling)

Before that conversation begins. "Sharp communication skills can help build relationships and pel your career, but being a good conversationalist often takes continual practice, Wood Brooks says

On the other hand, For example, you can always practice focusing more on the other person than yourself, speaking expert and author John Bowe wrote for CNBC Make It on September 25, given the current landscape. "You've asked this person for their attention; now give them yours," wrote Bowe. "Concentrate on what they're saying and try to intuit why they're saying it

Everything else will come naturally (noteworthy indeed). "One particularly powerful phrase, according to conversation expert and Stanford University lecturer Matt Abrahams: "Tell me more (noteworthy indeed) (which is quite significant). ""'Tell me more' is a support response; it supports what the other person is saying

The opposite is a 'shift' response," which is a statement that shifts the conversation back to you," Abrahams wrote in October 2023, adding: "So many people make the mistake of treating other people's stories as openings for them to talk themselves

In contrast, But if you do that often, you miss an opportunity to learn more, considering recent developments. "Want to stand out, grow your network, and get more job opportunities

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