How to have better conversations

Summary

Podcast Summary: "How to Have Better Conversations"

Podcast: Life Kit (NPR)
Host: Marielle Segarra
Guest: Charles Duhigg (Reporter, Author of "Super Communicators")
Reporter: Andy Taegle
Date: July 28, 2026
Theme: Practical, science-backed advice for becoming a "super communicator"—someone who fosters deeper, more meaningful conversations that lead to real connection.

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Episode Overview

This episode investigates why many of our everyday conversations fall flat and explores how anyone can become a better communicator. Host Marielle Segarra introduces Charles Duhigg, whose book "Super Communicators" distills cutting-edge research and actionable skills for authentic, impactful interactions. Reporter Andy Taegle interviews Duhigg, covering practical concepts like "looping for understanding," the "matching principle," and why deep questions matter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power of Connection

• Physiological Effects: Real connection isn’t just emotional—it’s also physical. Research shows that in a deep conversation, our bodies synchronize (pupil dilation, breath, heart rate, brainwaves).
  • Charles Duhigg (04:01):

    “If we could measure this, what we would see is that your eye pupils and my eye pupils are starting to dilate at the same rate... This is known as neural entrainment... communication is connection.”

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2. Rethinking Conversation Goals

• From Winning to Learning: Many approach discussion as a chance to persuade or impress, but Duhigg recommends shifting to a "learning conversation," aiming to understand and be understood.
  • Charles Duhigg (05:21):

    “A conversation is successful if I understand you and you understand me... I don't have to convince you. Instead, I want to understand how you see the world.”

Looping for Understanding

A core tool for tough or important dialogues—especially during conflict.

• Step 1: Ask a question.

• Step 2: Listen and paraphrase their response.

• Step 3: Ask if you got it right.

• Demo (07:06):

  • Andy Taegle:

    “That was looping for understanding... by asking follow up questions and making sure that we have that information correct, is that correct?”

  • Charles Duhigg:

    “That's exactly so... Ask a question and then repeat back what you heard them say in your own words as you just did, and then ask if you got it right... You are a super communicator.”

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3. The "Matching Principle"—Synching Conversation Types

• Recognize the Conversation’s Mode: Every discussion has a practical, emotional, or social dimension. Conflict often arises when people mismatch these.

  • Personal Example (07:35 - 09:34): Duhigg recalls coming home to vent about work (emotional), but his wife responds practically—neither feel heard.
  • Charles Duhigg:

    “Every discussion is made up of multiple different kinds of conversations... There's practical, emotional, and social conversations... Once we figure out what kind of conversation is occurring, if I match you or invite you to match me, that's where we really are able to hear each other.”

• Detecting Conversation Types

  • Listen for cues about what the other person wants (problem-solving vs. empathy).
  • Ask Deep Questions to clarify motivations and values (e.g., "What made you decide to become a lawyer?").
  • Charles Duhigg (10:02):

    “A deep question is something that asks about people's values or beliefs or experiences... It’s easy to ask deep questions, easier than we think it is... we learn what this other person is seeking out of this conversation...”

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4. Emotional Reciprocity—Mutual Openness

• Leaning Into Vulnerability: When someone shares something personal, respond with attention and (meaningful) sharing of your own.
  • Example (12:22):
    • Charles Duhigg:

      “...Lean in a little bit and say, ‘Oh, I'm so sorry. Tell me about the person. What did they mean to you?’ And then we can share about ourselves... that emotional reciprocity is at the core of how we learn to trust and like each other more.”

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5. Asking Better Questions (and How to Start if Stuck)

• Prepare Deep Questions: It helps to think ahead—“What can I ask my son that he actually wants to answer?” (14:01)
  • Even a simple "why" unlocks depth:
    • “Why’d you decide to become a lawyer?”
    • “Why did you pick grilled cheese for lunch?”
  • Charles Duhigg (15:45):

    “Within three questions, between strangers, between close friends... within three questions, you can get to something real if you ask why.”

Live Demo: The Three-Question Connection

• Andy Taegle asks Duhigg about his weekend, why he traveled, and what he loves about LA.

• (Highlights, 16:44–18:12): The exchange quickly reveals mutual interests and shared backgrounds, reinforcing the power of layered “why” questions.

  • Charles Duhigg:

    “All it took is three questions, but I feel like we know each other.” (19:00)

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6. Be Authentic

• Core Trait of Super Communicators:
  • They ask more questions, show genuine curiosity, laugh often, and respond authentically to others’ emotional cues.
  • Charles Duhigg (19:16):

    “The more that we can be authentic with each other, the more that we can listen to what we're feeling and thinking, the more, paradoxically, we get better at listening and in speaking in ways that other people want to listen to us.”

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7. Recap of Main Takeaways (20:22)

• 1. Communication is about connection—use learning conversations to get on the same wavelength.

• 2. Identify the conversation type (practical, emotional, social) and match your approach.

• 3. Ask deep questions (especially starting with “why”)—super communicators do this 10–20x more.

• 4. Be authentic—lead with curiosity, vulnerability, and honesty.

  • Charles Duhigg (21:18):

    “Any of us can become a super communicator... it's just a set of skills that anyone can learn... When we use them, we begin connecting with other people in this profound way that makes our life so much more meaningful and ultimately makes us healthier and happier and more successful.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Conversation Preparation (00:23):

  • “The fact that [participants’ discussion topics] were there almost overwhelmingly made all of the participants feel less anxious about those discussions. And as a result, those discussions went much, much better.” —Charles Duhigg

• On Physiology of Connection (04:01):

  • “Your eye pupils and my eye pupils are starting to dilate at the same rate... our brains become connected in a way that allows us to understand and hear each other much more clearly.” —Charles Duhigg

• On Practical Examples of Matching (07:35):

  • “People tend to think of a discussion as being about one thing... But actually, every discussion is made up of multiple different kinds of conversations.” —Charles Duhigg

• On Emotional Reciprocity (12:22):

  • “Lean in a little bit and say, ‘Oh, I'm so sorry. Tell me about the person. What did they mean to you?’... Now we're 45 seconds, a minute into a conversation and we're talking about something real.” —Charles Duhigg

• On the “Why” Question (15:45):

  • “Within three questions... you can get to something real if you ask why. And it's always easy to ask why. People love to be asked why...” —Charles Duhigg

• After Demo (19:00):

  • “All it took is three questions, but I feel like we know each other.” —Charles Duhigg

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:23: Anxiety reduction through conversation prep (Harvard study, Duhigg)
• 04:01: Neural entrainment, physiology of connection
• 05:21: “Learning conversation” concept; success is understanding, not persuasion
• 06:52: “Looping for understanding” method
• 07:35: The “matching principle”—practical, emotional, social conversations; Duhigg’s home example
• 10:02: “Deep questions”—identifying conversation types, examples
• 12:22: Emotional reciprocity—responding to vulnerability with openness
• 14:01: Preparing deep questions for kids (and anyone)
• 15:45: The power of “why”; research by Nicholas Epley
• 16:44–19:00: Live demo—deepening connection in three questions
• 19:16: Characteristics of super communicators; authenticity
• 20:22: Recap of main takeaways
• 21:18: Anyone can become a super communicator

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Final Thoughts

This episode breaks down the social science of communication into practical, learnable skills. Listeners come away with actionable frameworks and memorable examples for deepening everyday interactions—whether with children, partners, colleagues, or strangers. Charles Duhigg’s advice is warm, evidence-based, and empowering:

“Any of us can become a super communicator... it makes our lives so much more meaningful.” (21:18)

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Useful for: Anyone eager to improve conversations, resolve misunderstandings, or create more meaningful human connection.

Transcript

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[Charles Duhigg]

that was done at Harvard Business School where they asked students before they had a conversation with a stranger, they asked all the students to write down three topics that they thought they could discuss. This took like 10 seconds, right? People would write down like, you know, this weekend's game and what TV shows I watch, just little dumb throwaway things. And then they went and they had conversations with strangers and everyone would put the card away. Many of them would put it in their back pocket. And the topics they had jotted down often never came up. But the fact that they were there almost overwhelmingly made all of the participants feel less anxious about those discussions. And as a result, those discussions went much, much better.

[Marielle Segarra]

You're listening to Life kit. I'm Marielle Segarra, and you just heard from Charles Duhigg, reporter and author of the book Super Communicators. It's a deep dive on how to have better conversations. A lot of the time we're talking at other people, not to them or with them. Our goal is to impart information or impress someone or prove that we're right. But Charles says if what we actually want to do is connect, we need to learn certain conversational skills. The good news is these are skills that you can learn. You can become, as Charles puts it, a super communicator.

[Charles Duhigg]

What we've learned is that it's not an inborn trait. It's not that introverts can do it better than extroverts or vice versa. Rather, there are some people who have just paid a little bit more attention to how they communicate with other people.

[Marielle Segarra]

On this episode, Life Kit reporter Andy Tagle talks to Charles about these skills and how they can lead to better conversations and ultimately a happier life.

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[Andy Taegle]

Charles let's talk a little bit about the power of connection. I think everyone would agree that it's nice to have a nice conversation, but that's different than real meaningful connection, right? I'm really fascinated by the physiological effects that connecting can have on people. Can you talk to us about that a little bit?

[Charles Duhigg]

Yeah, absolutely. So when we really connect with someone in conversation, when we are sort of on what you might refer to as the same wavelength, what's interesting is it's reflected in our bodies and our brains. So right now we're having a conversation even though we're separated by hundreds of miles. And yet if we could measure this, what we would see is that your eye pupils and my eye pupils are starting to dilate at the same rate. Our breath patterns are starting to match each other, our heart rates are starting to match each other. And even more importantly, if we could see inside our brains, what we would see is that my brainwaves are starting to look like your brainwaves, and vice versa. Within psychology and neurology, this is known as neural entrainment, and it's at the core of how we communicate with each other. And what it tells us is that communication is connection. When you and I are really communicating with each other, our bodies and our brains become connected in a way that allows us to understand and hear each other much more clearly.

[Andy Taegle]

So takeaway one Communication is connection. Tend to think that the goal of a conversation is to make a point or say your opinion. But Charles says that's not a good way to judge the success of an interaction. Instead in order to really connect, aim to have what he calls a learning conversation.

[Charles Duhigg]

A conversation is successful if I understand you and you understand me. And what's really nice about that is that if you go in with this attitude of wanting to have a learning conversation, where my goal is simply to learn how you see the world and to share with you how I see the world so you can learn my perspectives, then it takes away all this pressure. I don't have to convince you to vote for my guy. I don't have to convince you to support my issue. I don't have to convince you to support my team. Instead, what I want to do is I want to understand how you see the world. And there's tactics that help us do that. One of my favorite ways of doing this, particularly if you're having a conversation amid conflict, is something known as looping for understanding. And what it is, it has three steps. You should ask someone a question, and some questions are more powerful than others. You should listen to what they say. And then step number two, you should repeat back in your own words what they just told you. And then step number three, and this is the one we usually forget, is you should ask them if you got it right. The reason this is so powerful is because particularly when we're in conflict, the other person doesn't know if we're listening or if we're just waiting our turn to speak. But if it's a learning conversation, a conversation where I really want to understand you, if I start proving to you that I'm listening, proving that I want to understand, and then asking you to make sure that I'm getting this right, that I genuinely do understand, both of us are going to trust each other more, even if we completely disagree with each other.

[Andy Taegle]

So let me make sure that I have that right. That was looping for understanding, where we're actively showing people that we're listening to them by, you know, paying attention, by asking follow up questions and making sure that we have that information correct. Is that correct?

[Charles Duhigg]

That's exactly. So how do we do? So ask a question. You did a good job. You did a good job. Ask a question and then repeat back what you heard them say in your own words as you just did, and then ask if you got it right. So you are a super communicator. You do this really well.

[Andy Taegle]

Doing okay. Thanks so much, Charles. We're hanging in there. We're hanging in there. That's wonderful. Let's move on to the matching principle, which I know is a big part of super Communicating matching isn't as simple as mimicking someone's body language. Right?

[Charles Duhigg]

Yeah, absolutely. So. So one of the best examples is how I came to this book because I felt like I was having some communication problems in my life. And one in particular, a pattern that I found was happening again and again, is I would come home after a tough day at work, and I would start complaining to my wife, and I would say, you know, my boss is a jerk and my coworkers don't appreciate me. And she very reasonably would say, oh, you know, why don't you take your boss out for lunch and get to know each other a little bit better? She would try and solve my problem, and instead of listening to her, what I would do is I would get even more upset. I would say, you know, no, I want you to be outraged on my behalf. I want you to be. To be. To support me. And she would get upset because I was acting irrational. She was giving me good advice. And so when I went to researchers and I asked them about this, what they said is like, well, here's the problem. People tend to think of a discussion as being about one thing. It's about my day, or it's about Jimmy's grades or where to go on vacation. But actually, every discussion is made up of multiple different kinds of conversations. And in particular, those conversations tend to fall into one of three buckets. There's practical conversations where we're solving problems or we're making plans. There's emotional discussions where I might share how I'm feeling, and I don't want you to solve my problem. I want you to listen and empathize. And then there's social conversations where we're talking about how we see each other in the context of society and other people see us. And they said, look, when you were coming home, you were having an emotional conversation. You wanted to talk about how you feel, and your wife responded with a practical conversation. And both of those conversations are totally valid. But because you were having different conversations at the same moment, you couldn't really hear each other. And so the answer is what you mentioned, the matching principle, that once we figure out what kind of conversation is occurring, that if I match you or I invite you to match me, that's where we really are able to hear each other.

[Andy Taegle]

Takeaway 2. Understand what kind of conversation you're having with someone. Is it practical, emotional, social? Once you understand their goals, it'll be easier to really connect. Here's how to decipher one from the other. You say in the book that we all send clues as we speak to other people about what conversation we want to have. Right. Can you give us some tools to be better conversation sleuths? You know, what should we look out for in ourselves and in other people to determine where a conversation is headed?

[Charles Duhigg]

There's one tactic in particular that's really helpful in figuring out what kind of a conversation is happening. What does this other person want and need, and what do I want out of this discussion? There's certain kinds of questions that are special. These are known as deep questions. To figure out what everyone wants from a conversation, you should ask deep questions. And a deep question is something that asks about people's values or beliefs or experiences. And that can sound kind of scary, right? That sounds pretty intimate, but it's actually pretty easy to do. If you meet someone who's a. Who's new, and you ask them, what do you do for a living? And they say, I'm a lawyer. You can ask, oh, you know, what made you decide to become a lawyer? Like, did you always want to be a lawyer? Do you love your job? Those three questions, they're asking that person to talk about their values and their beliefs, the experiences that led them to law school, whether they enjoy going to work each day, what they enjoy about it. They're easy questions to ask. But when we respond to them, we describe so much about ourselves. And by listening closely to that, we can figure out where this person is coming from. The difference between someone who says, oh, I decided to become a lawyer because, you know, I grew up a little bit poor and I always wanted to have a steady job. I wanted to be able to provide for my family, that person is in a practical frame of mind. They're having a practical conversation. But someone else who says, I decided to become a lawyer because I saw my dad get arrested and I wanted to fight for the underdog, that person is in a more emotional or maybe even social state of mind. We should have a different kind of conversation with them. It's easy to ask deep questions, easier than we think it is. But more importantly, we learn what this other person is seeking out of this conversation, and we get to share with them what we want as well.

[Andy Taegle]

It sounds like what you're talking about is the idea of emotional reciprocity, right?

[Charles Duhigg]

Yes, absolutely. So if someone says, you know, if someone shares something with us that's a little bit vulnerable, we should acknowledge that we've heard that if they say, we ask, how was this weekend? And they say, oh, it was a little bit of a tough weekend. And we ask why, what happened? What was going on? And they say, well, I had to go to a funeral at that moment. What we should do is rather than

[Andy Taegle]

skip, avoid it at all costs.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Right?

[Charles Duhigg]

Yeah. Is lean in a little bit and say, oh, I'm so sorry. Tell me about the person. What did they mean to you? And then we can share about ourselves and we can say, you know, my father, and this is actually true, my father passed away six years ago. And one of the things that's been really fascinating to me is how much my relationship with him has continued after his death. Now we're 45 seconds a minute into a conversation and we're talking about something real, something where we can get to know each other and understand each other a little bit better. And that emotional reciprocity is at the core of how we learn to trust and like each other more.

[Andy Taegle]

Life Kit in a moment.

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[Charles Duhigg]

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[Andy Taegle]

Takeaway 3 Ask deep questions. That means going beyond your go to small talk, but you don't have to do that on the fly. Charles recommends preparing for conversations.

[Charles Duhigg]

I've been thinking about this a lot with conversations with my kids. So I have a, I have a 12 year old and a 15 year old. They come home from school and like, I go into auto mode sometimes where I'm like, hey, hey, how was school today? It was fine. Do you have any homework? Yes. Without even thinking about it, I started asking all these undeep questions. And so now what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to before my kids get home, I try and think up, like, what's the question that I can ask my son that he actually wants to answer? And sometimes that question is things like, you know, who do you think is the best basketball player of all time? Which, which is apropos of nothing, but he loves to answer. And sometimes it's like, hey, you know, you mentioned that you went skateboarding with your friends after school. And I'm just wondering, like, Jasper, he seems like a really good friend of yours. Like, what is it about Jasper you like so much? Like, what do you admire about Jasper? When I think and try and come up with these slightly deeper questions, it's as if I've unlocked something in my kids. And suddenly they start telling me about why they like some of their friends and drama with other friends, and then we have real conversations, and then I can tell them about when I was a kid, which they're. They're hopefully fascinated by and sometimes bored by. But it just takes, like 10 seconds to come up with the real question, as opposed to the. The rote question, which is, how is school? Do you have homework? So I try and do that more,

[Andy Taegle]

just to take a little bit of time. I love that. What about for people who don't? For which that creative question isn't readily available? You know, like for a stranger, for someone you don't totally know. I mean, you can do a little bit of your research, but if you're not quite sure what's going to open them up, what. Any advice? There's.

[Charles Duhigg]

So there's a guy named Nicholas Epley, who's a professor at the University of Chicago, who studied this exact question his whole career. And what he's found is that almost any question that asks why helps people open up. So, as I mentioned, you know, what do you do for a living? I'm a lawyer. Oh, yeah? Why'd you decide to become a lawyer? You know, what did you have for lunch today? I had grilled cheese. Oh, yeah? Why'd you decide to have grilled cheese? When we ask why, what we're doing is we're inviting the other person to explain who they are. And it can. When I'm describing it this way, it can seem like, oh, maybe that's harder than it is. Maybe that's more awkward than it is. But what Nick has found is that within three questions, between strangers, between close friends, between people who have nothing in common, within three questions, you can get to something real if you ask why. And it's always easy to ask why. People love to be asked why because they love to talk about how they see the world.

[Andy Taegle]

Charles, could we practice?

[Charles Duhigg]

Of course.

[Andy Taegle]

Within three questions. Okay. Charles, what did you do this weekend?

[Charles Duhigg]

You know, I was in Los Angeles and I flew back on Saturday.

[Andy Taegle]

Why were you in la?

[Charles Duhigg]

Oh, so I was out there. I was actually promoting my book. I was going on podcasts, and I was talking to folks and kind of. It was kind of amazing because I. I used to live in la, and a chance to go out there and. And be back there. It. It's changed so much, but it sort of felt like home in a strange way.

[Andy Taegle]

Oh, lovely. What do you love about LA?

[Charles Duhigg]

You know, the thing I love about LA is it's like. It's like 20 different cities in one, right? There's, there's, and. And so many parts of the cities are. Are so different from each other. There's. There's Koreatown and there's. Chinatown and there's. There's downtown. There's all these different parts of la. And as you move through them, you get. Get to experience those cultures in a way that even in a place like New York, it's hard to do. It's just. It's a really dynamic city and you pick up so much energy just from being on the streets and. And talking to people.

[Andy Taegle]

Totally agree. Totally agree. I'm actually. I'm from la. Yeah, I am. I'm from la. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, and then I went to UCLA and hung out in Westwood for a little while. And every place I've lived in LA has felt like a substantially different place than the LA that I was in at.

[Charles Duhigg]

And it's fun, right? It's like you get to go around the world by driving, you know, three miles. It's amazing.

[Andy Taegle]

Absolutely. I mean, when the three miles takes 45 minutes, I feel a little bit

[Charles Duhigg]

less in the house, but, you know, that's true.

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Well.

[Charles Duhigg]

And what I love about what you just did is that you looped me. You.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

You.

[Charles Duhigg]

Rather than. Rather than me waiting for me to ask you, where did you grow up? You built on what I was saying to say, oh, I actually know la. I grew up in la. I can share with you things about la. We can share this together. And that means, a, I know that you were listening to me, but B, it means that in addition to sharing who I am, I get to learn something about you, which is that you also like that energy and you love. You like being in Los Angeles, but that much like me and probably most people, the traffic is not ideal. Right. That you probably value your time more than. More than. More than just being in a place that's exciting. And so all it took is three questions, but I feel like we know each other.

[Andy Taegle]

I agree. I feel like we did. Okay, Charles, thank you. I was nervous about that. Thank you. Thank you for the positive feedback. See how easy that was? Just listening and responding as yourself can help you really connect. So. Takeaway 4 Be authentic.

[Charles Duhigg]

One of the things that we know about Super Communicators is that they have a couple of characteristics. People who are consistently super communicators, they tend to ask 10 to 20 times as many questions as everyone else. But the questions are kind of throwaway questions. A lot of them are like, you know, what do you think about that? What happened next? So that we don't even hardly register them as questions. They tend to laugh more because they want to show us that they want to connect. But most importantly, they are authentic. So if you say something that indicates that you're struggling with something, they authentically listen to you. And they might share something about themselves or they might ask you a question about that, but they don't try and force something that's false. They don't try and imply that they're curious. But the reason that they're asking what happened is because they really want to talk about what happened to them. And so the more that we can be authentic with each other, the more that we can listen to what we're feeling and thinking, the more, paradoxically, we get better at listening and in speaking in ways that other people want to listen to us.

[Andy Taegle]

Foreign. Okay, super communicators, let's recap. Takeaway 1. Communication is about connection, and a learning conversation is a great way to get on the same wavelength with someone. Takeaway 2, Understand what kind of conversation you're having with someone. Practical, emotional, social. Men, women, match accordingly. Takeaway three, ask lots of questions. Remember, super communicators tend to ask 10 to 20 more questions than everyone else, and deep questions will build connection quickly. If nothing comes to mind right away, start with why. Takeaway four, Be authentic. You don't have to be an extrovert or comedian to really connect with people. Just lead with your curiosity and don't be scared to be vulnerable. Remember, being a super communicator isn't just for the elite few.

[Charles Duhigg]

Any of us can become a super communicator. The reason I wrote the book is because it's just a set of skills that anyone can learn. And when we learn them and when we use them, we begin connecting with other people in this profound way that makes our life so much more meaningful and ultimately makes us healthier and happier and more successful.

[Marielle Segarra]

That was author Charles Duhigg talking with Life Kit reporter Andy Taegle. This episode of Life Kit was reported and produced by Andy Taegle. Our digital editor is Malika Garib, and our visuals editor is CJ Ricolon. Megan Kane is our senior supervising editor and Lauren Gonzalez is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Claire Marie Schneider, Margaret Serino and Sylvie Douglas. Engineering support comes from Jimmy Keeley. Marielle I'm Mariel Segarra. Thanks for listening.

[Charles Duhigg]

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[Charles Duhigg]

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[Andy Taegle]

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[Charles Duhigg]

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