Alison Wood Brooks

You sort of have this instinct that I shouldn't need to prepare for a conversation with someone that I'm close to. We'll get together and I'll know exactly what to talk about or we'll have many things to talk about. And many of my students feel this way too. They're sort of like, why are you making me prepare for a casual conversation?

You sort of have this instinct that I shouldn't need to prepare for a conversation with someone that I'm close to. We'll get together and I'll know exactly what to talk about or we'll have many things to talk about. And many of my students feel this way too. They're sort of like, why are you making me prepare for a casual conversation?

Yeah, it's slightly more normative, more common in work settings where it's more common to have an agenda ahead of time, or at least somebody has thought about it. Although you might be surprised by how rare it is even in work settings. I was working with Google a few years ago who had this huge campaign within Google.

Yeah, it's slightly more normative, more common in work settings where it's more common to have an agenda ahead of time, or at least somebody has thought about it. Although you might be surprised by how rare it is even in work settings. I was working with Google a few years ago who had this huge campaign within Google.

Yeah, it's slightly more normative, more common in work settings where it's more common to have an agenda ahead of time, or at least somebody has thought about it. Although you might be surprised by how rare it is even in work settings. I was working with Google a few years ago who had this huge campaign within Google.

And the only goal was to get people to think ahead about their meetings even a little bit. Like they had such a problem with people just showing up and not thinking ahead that they started this huge campaign. So even at work, I think there is sort of a resistance to topic prep or at least a lack of making time to think ahead about our conversations.

And the only goal was to get people to think ahead about their meetings even a little bit. Like they had such a problem with people just showing up and not thinking ahead that they started this huge campaign. So even at work, I think there is sort of a resistance to topic prep or at least a lack of making time to think ahead about our conversations.

And the only goal was to get people to think ahead about their meetings even a little bit. Like they had such a problem with people just showing up and not thinking ahead that they started this huge campaign. So even at work, I think there is sort of a resistance to topic prep or at least a lack of making time to think ahead about our conversations.

And certainly in casual conversations, people feel like they don't need to. And so they don't.

And certainly in casual conversations, people feel like they don't need to. And so they don't.

And certainly in casual conversations, people feel like they don't need to. And so they don't.

That's right. This story is surprisingly sort of tender and important to me. It is a friend that I'd spent many years singing in a band with. She's this talented, wonderful friend. And we had both started having children. And after she had her first child, she became sick. And it was just, it was devastating.

That's right. This story is surprisingly sort of tender and important to me. It is a friend that I'd spent many years singing in a band with. She's this talented, wonderful friend. And we had both started having children. And after she had her first child, she became sick. And it was just, it was devastating.

That's right. This story is surprisingly sort of tender and important to me. It is a friend that I'd spent many years singing in a band with. She's this talented, wonderful friend. And we had both started having children. And after she had her first child, she became sick. And it was just, it was devastating.

And meanwhile, I had my own baby, so I wasn't even available to go and visit her very often. And so this conversation when we got together felt so momentous. It felt like we needed to catch up on so many things about this incredibly difficult period of her life.

And meanwhile, I had my own baby, so I wasn't even available to go and visit her very often. And so this conversation when we got together felt so momentous. It felt like we needed to catch up on so many things about this incredibly difficult period of her life.

And meanwhile, I had my own baby, so I wasn't even available to go and visit her very often. And so this conversation when we got together felt so momentous. It felt like we needed to catch up on so many things about this incredibly difficult period of her life.

And brilliant woman that she is, not only had she prepared topics and really thought carefully about all the things we needed to catch up on together in our limited time together, but she had given each topic a Whitney Houston song title. Really, it almost makes me cry thinking of it. It was so thoughtful and so fun in such sort of dire circumstances.

And brilliant woman that she is, not only had she prepared topics and really thought carefully about all the things we needed to catch up on together in our limited time together, but she had given each topic a Whitney Houston song title. Really, it almost makes me cry thinking of it. It was so thoughtful and so fun in such sort of dire circumstances.

And brilliant woman that she is, not only had she prepared topics and really thought carefully about all the things we needed to catch up on together in our limited time together, but she had given each topic a Whitney Houston song title. Really, it almost makes me cry thinking of it. It was so thoughtful and so fun in such sort of dire circumstances.