Harvard-Professorin: „Führungskräfte reden im Schnitt zu viel“

Harvard professor Alison Wood Brooks finds conducting productive conversations to be a challenging task. In a discussion between Boston and Frankfurt, she takes the initiative by posing the questions herself. Brooks, one of the world's leading researchers on conversation, knows how to engage people in discussions. To read the full interview, click here.

Brooks points out that conversations are complex coordination games. We must listen, formulate responses, recognize our own emotions and intentions, as well as those of others, and decide when to change the topic. The situation is constantly changing, and even the best conversationalists can experience misunderstandings and awkward moments. This is why our everyday conversations rarely resemble carefully crafted movie dialogue.

Despite practicing throughout our lives, we rarely become naturally skilled at this. Unlike sports, we rarely receive specific feedback on our conversations. We often don't know why a discussion went well or poorly, and we never learn how it could have unfolded differently: What would have happened if I had made that joke or asked that question? Afterwards, we speculate about our words without knowing how they were perceived. What we are currently preoccupied with may have already been forgotten by the other person.