444: The Lost Art of Connection: How to Be a Supercommunicator

How good are you at really communicating? In a world drowning in words, how do you make your words matter?

I’m not talking about small talk or working a room or the gift of gab. I’m talking about the kind of communication that works on a deeper level – a level where we truly connect, challenge, grow with, and inspire each other.

Back on the podcast this week is Charles Duhigg, who’s spent a career in journalism diving into what makes humans do what they do – and today, he’s here to talk about what it takes to be a ‘Super Communicator’.

Charles is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the New York Times and the New Yorker, and he’s written two best-sellers about personal excellence that mesh neuroscience with great storytelling and practical tools: The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better.

Charles’ newest book is Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection. And this one’s a little different — instead of focusing on how we can maximize our own personal abilities, this one is all about how to be extraordinary in our interactions with each other – the ability to genuinely engage, to echo emotions, and to create space for real, heartfelt exchanges.

Charles says communication is humanity’s superpower, and lately that ability has become strained. There’s evidence of that everywhere — in politics, on social media, online — but with the right tools and practice, we can get it back.

In our conversation today, we unravel how to reclaim our conversational depth in a world buzzing with superficial interactions.

“Right now we are at a moment when learning, relearning, and reminding ourselves how to communicate – how to have conversations – is really, really important and will hopefully be really powerful.”