Alison Beard

speaker

446 appearances 12 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 5d ago

Alison Beard’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 12 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 5.

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HBR IdeaCast · How AI Is Changing Communication: Weighing Efficiency with Efficacy · 24 Sep 2026 podcast

I'm Alison Beard.

For the next few weeks, we'll be dropping an episode each Thursday that explores how the rapid advancement of AI is changing what it means to be an executive.

Today, Adi, we're going to look at one of the core ways that generative AI is adding value, or maybe not, in organizations, and that's communication.

A lot of people are using these tools to craft everything from emails to speeches, internal reports to client pitches.

Do you see that as a good thing?

Yeah, I agree on your personal view.

I see the upsides.

I also see a lot of risks, even for non-professional writers, notably that people become too reliant on it so that they're not actually engaging with the work as much as they should, or sounding like humans or even making sense, even though the words might seem polished.

Exactly.

So today we are going to explore the ways that AI is changing writing, leading, and communication, especially for leaders, when they should use it, when they shouldn't, and the most important skills to develop right now.

Our two experts are Matt Abraham, Stanford professor, author of Think Fast, Talk Smarter, and host of the podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart.

and Wade Foster, the CEO of Zapier, which is a platform that connects multiple web applications so they can work together automatically with the help of AI.

You can imagine he is a big user of generative AI.

Here's our conversation.

Wade, Matt, thanks so much for being on the show.

So Matt, let's start with you.

How do you see AI changing the way we all, and especially leaders, communicate at work?

Wade, as the leader of an AI-focused company, I assume that you're a pretty heavy personal user of it.

How has it changed the way that you talk to your team and your workforce?

In terms of output, I'd love to hear from both of you what you think is an effective use of AI for a leader.

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