The power of powerless communication: Adam Grant at TEDxEast

Adam Grant, author of 'Give and Take' and the youngest tenured professor at Wharton- gives us some insight into what works in communication. Grant uses results from research as well as stories from his own life to get us thinking about how we are perceived when we communicate and how to tweak our style to maximize our results. Filmed at aTEDxEast dinner salon May 2013.

[jorgeromera]

It's not only what Adam Grant says, but also how he says what he wants to say.
Absolutely brilliant.

[ReflectionOcean]

Switch from displaying confidence to embracing powerless communication to gain trust and respect. 4:14

Acknowledge your own vulnerabilities and weaknesses to build rapport with your audience. 4:50

Ask more questions and provide fewer answers to develop deeper engagement and understanding with others. 4:38

Use tentative speaking to show you are open to others' opinions and to enhance collaboration. 7:53

Flatter and empathize with others by asking for their advice to gain support and turn adversaries into advocates. 14:46

[kerryplemmons]

Adam speaks to the most effective 21st Century style of leadership. the bad old days were full of powerful people who were excellent at demotivation

[leof]

"Most of us find that communicating our thoughts to others is a supremely enjoyable learning experience." Very nicely put and great food for thought for fine-tuning your teaching approach.

[rajcan]

People love to talk about themselves much more than listening to others. If you respect their need to talk, you'll get respect in turn.

[annnee]

it's called humility when its appropriate for certain situations

[acarel]

Great talk! And what a refreshing POV on communicating like a real person.

[antoniomartin]

Being your self is enough. It's about adapting to the situation, and the personality type that you are dealing with. Pleaser, Dominant, Logical...

[howardkoor]

Leadership can be confident and yet show its vulnerability

[sashascott]

Fabulous talk - very thought provoking & helpful - thank you Adam Grant

[charlesroop]

I had an employee, who also was once sent out to start a church plant, and we often talked outside of work about ministry stuff, with the goal of reaching people. He shared with me, and a small group of others once, that his tactic when first meeting someone is to ask them questions about themselves, followed by saying their name over and over again to help him remembers the person. This all sounds well, until the day comes when he's talking to you...and asking you questions which I knew he could care less about, and listening to him constantly say someone else's name in a conversation which is not natural to the way we talk. So while the practice sounds good, the form of how it's used is all the more important--don't be fake like my friend was, fake, drives people away.

[timkim]

You know what, on the moment 9.11 (no reference intended, I swear!) it hit me, that this talk defines the difference between the British vs American way of communication. And please take into consideration that I am a foreigner in the UK, English language is not my native, and I speak as an outsider (more or less...)

[nickpelkey]

I'm finding these talks very useful in my practice.

[heartandsoulalchemy]

What a fun and engaging TEDx Talk! Surprising, enlightening, and funny. I loved it!

[voltamore]

Adam is one of the smartest persons on the planet.

[Soeodderen]

Great talk. Very engaging and informative.

[myrafoster]

Nice talk, but what you call "powerless" communication is in fact culturally the way that women are socialized to communicate in many contexts. Your points are spot on and I appreciate that you were able to see the power of using other forms of communication besides "ascertive/power talk". You should call "powerless" speech something less pejorative. Perhaps you could call it " collaborative" speech or humble speech.  My pet peeve is when using " powerless" speech as you call it. I sometimes asks questions to engage people in meetings and most ascertive/power talkers just answer the questions as if I am stupid for not knowing the answer and feel proud of themselves for having the answer as opposed to even understanding that what I'm trying to do it engage them and "play low" in order that they don't feel threatened.. It's annoying to no end. So if you're going to take some of this "powerless" communication on,  one needs to be ready for some people to take is literally as they use your powerless speech as a moment to further their own power and take advanage of a collabortive way of communicating.

 Tag speech is usually not about not knowing or being unsure it's about giving others the chance to participate in the idea or coversation. Women are socialized to not use directive speech as often as men so when we have something to say we are told culturally that in order to do it we should use tagged speech, "powerless speech" as you call it in order that we do not make ascertive talkers feel threatened. . . this is "playig low" and speech is powerful. so please do think about trying this talk again with a gender lense and rebrand "powerless speech"

As you point out in your talk this way of communicating is anythig but powerless.

[somniavitasunt]

Here's the brief summary: See definition of humble and self deprecating.

[JuanRios-khsq]

This leadership style has become even more important as we have to somehow make a skyscraper out of mud these days.

[MartyNemko]

This is old wine in a new bottle: Most of it is in the 80-year-old bestseller, "How to Win Friends and Influence People": Focus on others, ask questions, be humble, especially when dealing with average folks. He's a polished presenter but we must always seek the steak rather than get seduced by the sizzle.