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Stanford Graduate School of Business80. Magic Words: Change What You Say to Inspire and Influence Others
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At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Small word choices can dramatically boost influence, attention, and action
- Jonah Berger argues that subtle changes in wording can significantly affect persuasion, attention, connection, and behavior because words signal meaning like who’s in charge, who’s to blame, and what an action represents.
- He emphasizes that getting others to talk about your idea (word of mouth) can create far more reach and impact than relying only on your own messaging, and he highlights “social currency” as a driver of sharing.
- He explains that questions do more than gather information: asking for advice can increase perceived competence, and asking follow-up questions makes others like you more by signaling attention and care.
- He describes language patterns tied to confidence, including reducing hedges and using present tense to sound more certain and persuasive.
- He summarizes research suggesting style can hold attention across topics, with concrete/familiar language easing processing and uncertainty-linked emotional language encouraging people to keep reading to resolve what they don’t yet know.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasWord of mouth amplifies impact beyond your own communication.
He explains that while what you do and what you say matters, you can create much larger impact by motivating others to share your message; he frames this as turning customers, listeners, or colleagues into advocates who expand both reach and influence.
Make the audience look good for sharing to spark sharing.
He argues people share things that make them look good—smart, in-the-know, ahead of the curve—and that communicators should design messages with the sharer’s image in mind, not just the original audience’s preferences.
Asking for advice can raise (not lower) perceived competence.
He cites research suggesting that asking for advice tends to improve how others perceive the asker (more competent, smarter, more knowledgeable), because people like their own advice and infer the asker is smart for requesting it.
Follow-up questions build connection and improve how you’re perceived.
He highlights follow-up questions as especially effective because they demonstrate attention and care, help gather more information, and increase liking by showing genuine interest in the other person’s experience.
Hedges undermine persuasion; certainty strengthens it.
He notes charismatic or influential speakers often use definitive language, and he points to evidence that hedging (“I think,” “might,” “probably”) can reduce persuasiveness; he suggests being certain about a smaller set of claims rather than vaguely uncertain about many.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesSure, what we do matters. What we say in that presentation, or as marketers, what we say in an advertisement might have an impact. But we can have a much larger impact if we can get other people talking about our stuff.
— Jonah Berger
We spend a lot less time thinking about how the audience will look if they tell people about it.
— Jonah Berger
Asking for advice made people look better, not worse. It made others think they were more competent, smarter, and more knowledgeable.
— Jonah Berger
Ditch the hedges. If we want to persuade others, ditch the hedges.
— Jonah Berger
Style can make up for content. Sure, content's important. Sure enough, there were certain topics that people tended to-- topics held their attention more than others. But even controlling for that, certain language could hold attention for any topic.
— Jonah Berger
SPEAKERS
Matt Abrahams
hostStanford Graduate School of Business lecturer who teaches Strategic Communication and hosts the Think Fast, Talk Smart podcast.
Jonah Berger
guestWharton marketing professor and author/researcher known for work on word of mouth and persuasion (e.g., Contagious, The Catalyst, Magic Words).
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
