Supercommunicators

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I’ve covered some of Charles Duhigg’s previous books (The Power of Habit and Smarter, Faster, Better) so when this one was about to be published, I promptly put it on my reading list. Again, he does not disappoint.

As usual, if you pick up the book, read it and want to give me feedback, please reach out.

Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg

We all know people who seem capable of connecting with almost anyone. They are the ones we turn to for advice, the ones who ask deep questions but who also seem to hear what we are trying to say. What do they know about conversation that makes them so special? And what can they tell us about how communication really works?
Supercommunicators, Charles Duhigg argues, understand—some by intuition, some by hard-won experience—that there is a science to how human beings connect through words. They understand that whenever we speak, we're participating in three distinct conversations:

• What is this really about?
• How do we feel?
• And who are we?

They know the importance of recognizing—and then matching—each kind of conversation, and how to hear the complex emotions, subtle negotiations and hidden beliefs that color and inform everything we say. Our pasts, our values, our affiliations—our identities—shape every discussion we have, from who will pick up the kids to how we want to be treated at work.

With his trademark insight and clarity, Duhigg shows readers how to recognize these three conversations—and teaches us the skills we need to navigate them more successfully. Communication, he argues, is a superpower. .

Charles Duhigg is a reporter for The New Yorker Magazine and the author of The Power of Habit, Smarter Faster Better, and Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection (coming out on February 20, 2024!).

While he worked at the New York Times, he won a Pulitzer Prize for a series about Apple named "The iEconomy". Before that, he wrote about the 2008 financial crisis, how companies take advantage of the elderly, and reported from Iraq.

He is a native of New Mexico. Charles studied history at Yale and received an MBA from Harvard Business School. He now live in Santa Cruz, CA with his wife and two children and, before becoming a journalist, was a bike messenger in San Francisco for one terrifying day.

– Sylvie Edwards  

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