The Ingredients of Successful Communication: Intention, Hard Work, and Joy

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Exploring the importance of intention, hard work, and joy in successful communication, using examples of comedians like Robin Williams and Jerry Seinfeld. Also discussing the transformative nature of communication and its role in unlocking progress, along with a conversation on trust, culture, and the need for fast problem-solving.

You said it. But did they hear it? For Frances Frei, communication is about saying things simply enough for an audience to truly understand.

As a professor of technology and operations management at Harvard Business School, Frei knows that shaping culture within organizations requires communicating in ways that influence how people think and act. The problem for many leaders, she says, is that when we “understand something deeply, we describe it in a complicated way. If you want broad influence and persuasion, we have to understand it really deeply. And then describe it in a simple and compelling enough way that others can take action.”

In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Frei and host Matt Abrahams explore strategies for simpler communication, building and maintaining trust, and celebrating diverse perspectives within our teams. They also discuss takeaways from Frei's latest book, Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leaders' Guide to Solving Hard Problems.

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Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leaders' Guide to Solving Hard Problems

Fixable, a podcast with Anne Francis and Frances Frei