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Learn the art of conversation, with comedian Pete Holmes

We have a new range of skills coming to Big Think+ this week, including communication, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence.
Key Takeaways
  • At Big Think+ this week, we delve into ways you can make your conversations sing. So to speak.
  • Learn a valuable lesson about psychopaths, from diagnosed psychopath (and neuroscientsit) James Fallon.
  • If you’re not a subscriber yet, join Big Think+ today. Boost your skills with our 7-day free trial.

To get what you want — to get what everyone wants — learn the 3 levels of listening with Michelle Tillis Lederman’s video lesson this week at Big Think+. Former Facebook investor Roger McNamee helps you revisit your past decisions to make sure they still make sense and support your goals and beliefs (it’s something he knows a lot about).

In Deep Dives this week, you’ll learn how conversations can go so much better than they often have, with 36 questions that’ll make anyone fall in love. You’ll also learn how to handle psychopaths with care, under the tutelage of neuroscientist James Fallon, who is a diagnosed psychopath.

Building relationships through likability: Listen to understand (the 3 levels of listening), with Michelle Lederman

Michelle Tillis Lederman, author of The 11 Laws of Likability, explains how to develop listening skills that can help you establish strong, mutually beneficial relationships. Much of our listening involves matching up another person’s story to what’s happened in our own lives, and that’s fine, but it’s just first-level listening. Lederman introduces you to the next two levels, in which your understanding deepens and areas of overlapping interest and goals emerge, pointing the way toward a productive connection that works for everyone.

Available September 16 in Boost Your Emotional Intelligence

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Fix your mistakes: How to revisit your decisions and realign them to your values, with Roger McNamee

Roger McNamee is the author of Zucked, and he tells an illuminating story of how his faith in Facebook lasted longer than it should have. An opinion or a decision is a hypothesis, he suggests, that may just seem correct for now. However, conflicting evidence can pop up at any time, and you do yourself no favors by ignoring it even if—especially if—it undermines your belief. McNamee’s tale will have you re-examining your own past decisions in the hopes of never finding yourself, as he did, on the wrong side of what you believe to be right.

“GOOD DECISION-MAKERS THINK LIKE REAL-TIME ANTHROPOLOGISTS.”

– ROGER MCNAMEE

Available September 18 in Boost Your Analytical Intelligence

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Deep Dive: No more awkward conversations

We all want to have better, more meaningful conversations, right? That’s what comedian, actor, and podcaster Pete Holmes asks in a Deep Dive this week called “Do Your Conversations Fall Flat? Do a 180 by Fostering Intimacy.” Holmes shares some of his methods for helping podcast guests open up and be real, from his declaring the conversation a safe space to his trust in the benefits of artful interruption.

What if you want to connect with a total stranger? Psychologist Arthur Aaron’s got just the thing for getting intimate with someone else, and fast: 36 questions designed to help you fall in love with anyone.

Available September 16 in Deep Dives

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