Use Language to Increase Your Impact with Jonah Berger

What's Next! with Tiffani Bova

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova.

Settle in for an exciting episode of the What's Next! Podcast with Jonah Berger. Jonah is a Wharton School professor and internationally bestselling author of Magic Words, Contagious, Invisible Influence, and The Catalyst. Millions of copies of his books are in print in over 35 countries around the world.

He's also a world-renowned expert on natural language processing change, word-of-mouth influence, consumer behavior, and why things catch on. He's published over 80 articles in top-tier academic journals and teaches one of the most popular online courses.

But I think one of my favorite things about Jonah, and this is a first for a guest on this show, is that his work was actually a Jeopardy question. It said, “Jonah Berger says this three-word person-to-person interaction works ten times better than traditional ads. What is it?” The answer was “word of mouth.” How fitting!

THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… anyone who wants to take greater power of language and words.

TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… language matters. It can motivate others, impact the way they feel, and lead to action. In this conversation, Jonah addresses the hot topic of large language models and how machines will change communication. But he also takes it back a few steps and reminds us that at the core of any type of communication is an understanding of what drives human behavior.

WHAT I LOVE MOST… Jonah’s practical breakdown of the use of the word “should” versus “could.” He shares a study that found that those who were asked what they could do instead of what they should do found more creative solutions. This is a small but powerful example of how important language is.

Running Time: 25:18

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Jonah’s Book:

Magic Words