Tuesdays, 5:30 - 7:00 pm (PT) • 8 weeks • September 30 – December 2

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Being a great communicator opens doors to opportunities and empowers success in all aspects of life. Different situations, however, require different skills. The way you build rapport with a new colleague differs from how you persuade someone to see your point of view.

Led by Matt Abrahams, a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, author of Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You're Put on the Spot, and host of the award-winning podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart, this dynamic course is designed to enhance your communication skills across diverse situations. Each session features interactive lectures on themes like persuasion, storytelling, nonverbal presence, and interpersonal communication, followed by Q&A sessions with the instructor and guest experts. Students will gain practical insights and actionable techniques for things like using body language effectively in high-stakes negotiations and handling difficult conversations with tact and confidence.

Whether you're a seasoned professional refining your executive presence or a recent graduate strengthening your interpersonal skills, this course will equip you to excel in today's competitive and interconnected world. By honing your communication skills, you'll master the art of influence and connection and make a lasting impact on both your career and personal life.
 

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Course Instructor

Matt Abrahams
Lecturer, Stanford Graduate School of Business

Matt Abrahams is an educator and coach who has published research articles on cognitive planning, persuasion, and interpersonal communication. He is the author of Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You're Put on the Spot and Speaking Up without Freaking Out. Abrahams is the host of the Stanford Graduate School of Business podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart. He received an MA in communication studies from UC Davis.

 

Guest Speakers

Greg Burke
Former Papal Spokesman

Greg Burke has spent 40 years working in journalism and public relations. The former spokesman for Pope Francis, he was also Rome bureau chief for Time and Fox News. He is on the board of Mary’s Meals USA, a charity that feeds 3 million schoolchildren every day in some of the poorest countries in the world.




Jessia Hoffman
Founder, On Deck Workshops

Jessia Hoffman is a leadership coach and corporate consultant. She designs and delivers improv-based leadership programs to teams at organizations such as Google, Bloomberg, Intuit, Apple, Morrison Foerster, Kaiser Permanente, LinkedIn, and Cisco. Hoffman received a BA from Stanford, where she guest lectures in the Graduate School of Business, the Knight-Hennessy Program, and the Healthy Living program.



Melissa Jones Briggs
Lecturer in Organizational Behavior, Stanford Graduate School of Business

Melissa Jones Briggs is a lecturer in organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she is a co-instructor of "Acting with Power." She teaches in the flagship Stanford Executive Program, among others, and is an affiliate at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research. She is an associate fellow at the Oxford Character Project at the University of Oxford. She also works with executives and teams at some of the world’s major corporations, hypergrowth startups, NGOs, and national institutions. She specializes in power, presence, and creativity topics as well as inclusive leadership practices. Trained originally as a performing artist in London and New York, she is a passionate advocate for childhood access to arts education, and her international nonprofit work focuses on social justice and gender equity.

Dan Klein
Advanced Lecturer, Stanford Department of Theater & Performance Studies, Graduate School of Business, and Stanford d.school

Dan Klein travels the world as a corporate trainer and creative consultant, with clients including Sun, Cisco, Oracle, Kaiser, Visa, Clorox, and Charles Schwab. He was a founding member of the Stanford Improvisors (SImps) and is the former dean of the BATS Improv School. He teaches improvisation in the Stanford Department of Theater & Performance Studies, "Acting with Power" for the GSB, and "Improv and Design" for the d.school. In 2009, Klein was named Stanford Teacher of the Year by the Students Association.


Carole Robin
Co-Founder, Leaders in Tech, and Author

Carole Robin has been helping leaders grow for more than 35 years. Most recently, she served as the faculty director of the Interpersonal Dynamics for High-Performance Executives Program and director of the Arbuckle Leadership Fellows Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB). She received the MBA Distinguished Teaching Award for her work in numerous courses, including "Interpersonal Dynamics," the most popular elective course at the GSB for over 45 years. She is the co-founder of Leaders in Tech, which brings the content and processes of her courses to Silicon Valley executives. She is also the co-author of Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues.

JD Schramm
Keynote Speaker, Communication Consultant, and Trainer

JD Schramm joined the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2007 to launch an innovative communication curriculum. In the 13 years that followed, he launched successful communication courses and also founded LOWKeynotes, a TED-like opportunity for leaders to speak about what inspires them. Since 2020, he's led his own private practice of speaking and coaching where he works with leaders from a variety of fields and also holds a faculty appointment at USC.



Joel Schwartzberg
Presentation and Public Speaking Coach

Joel Schwartzberg is a presentation and workplace communication coach whose clients include American Express, Meta, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and the Brennan Center for Justice. A former executive communications leader for a major national nonprofit, he authored the bestseller Get to the Point! Simplify, Sharpen, and Sell Your Message and contributes frequently to Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Inc.



Carmen Simon
Cognitive Neuroscientist and Author

Carmen Simon is a cognitive neuroscientist and chief science officer at Corporate Visions. She is also the founder of Enhancive, an agency that helps organizations use neuroscience to create content that impacts customers' memory and decisions. Her most popular books on customers' attention and memory are called Impossible to Ignore and Made You Look.