We Need to Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter | Celeste Headlee | Talks at Google

In We Need to Talk: How to Have Conversations that Matter, Celeste Headlee states that most of us communicate from behind electronic screens and studies show that Americans feel less connected and more divided than ever before. The blame for some of this disconnect can be attributed to our political landscape, but the erosion of our conversational skills as a society lies with us as individuals and the only way forward is to start talking to each other. In We Need to Talk, she outlines the strategies that have made her a better conversationalist-and offers simple tools that can improve anyone’s communication. Whether you’re struggling to communicate with your kid’s teachers at school, an employee at work, or the people you love the most -- Headlee offers smart strategies that can help us all have conversations that matter.
Headlee goes through ten ways to have better conversations:
1) Don’t multitask
2) Don’t Pontificate
3) Open-ended questions
4) Go with the flow
5) If you don’t know, say you don’t know
6) Don’t equate your experience with theirs
7) Try not to repeat yourself
8) Stay out of the weeds (too many details)
9) Listen
10) Be brief
Moderated by Jordan Thibodeau.