The Speak Good Podcast

For more than a year, you’ve heard a lone voice at the helm of The Speak Good Podcast, host and Chief Executive Throughliner Brad Phillips. Today, you meet Throughline Group’s other half. Listen in as partner Christina Mozaffari joins Brad to reveal six advanced public speaking tips – from how to present more effective slides to how to improve your look during a virtual presentation. Far from a silent partner, Christina is an experienced trainer, a talented communications coach, and a self-pr...

Can you apply the rules of debate to your next dinner conversation? Author and champion debater Bo Seo sees parallels between formal verbal sparring and informal chatter around the table. In this episode, we talk about his book, Good Arguments: How Debate Teaches Us to Listen and Be Heard. Bo makes the case that anyone can relay the skills needed for successful competitive debate into real-life conversations. He says one of the most important skills you can cultivate has nothing to do with th...

As the former editor-in-chief of the lifestyle blog Lifehacker, Alan Henry was well aware of the power of actionable advice in helping others maximize their potential. Little did he know he’d need some of that same advice to knock down professional obstacles that he faced after becoming the editor of the Smarter Living section of The New York Times. In this episode, Alan talks about his new book, Seen, Heard, and Paid: The New Work Rules for the Marginalized, in which he explores the struggle...

A Republican and a Democrat walk into a bar. They see a liberal buying a conservative a drink, while a priest chats with a rabbi and minister. A CEO is talking with a union leader. A grandmother is there with her granddaughter, while an environmentalist is speaking to an oil company exec. “Is this a joke?” one of them asks. The bartender points to a sign above the bar. It reads: “No talking about religion or politics. It’s how we stay in business.” That’s not how our guest Mónica Guzmán think...

For centuries, America has put its collective faith in democracy and capitalism, social and economic systems that have been tried and tested during numerous cultural, economic, political, and civil shifts. Our guest, Jonathan Levy, has identified four distinct ages that have shaped America’s economy and led us to where we are today. In a previous episode, Levy talked about how America rose from its agrarian beginnings to become a world economic power. In this episode, he shares how America wo...

How did America become the world’s largest economy? By constantly evolving and responding to economic disruptions, says our guest Jonathan Levy. Across four distinct ages, the United States moved from an agrarian past to a capitalistic future, fueled by an economic system in which investors and consumers bank on future profits, while the government directs and sustains that growth through fiscal and legislative policy. In this episode, Levy talks about that shift, as well as the impact that e...

It’s easy to mock those spouting outlandish and off-base claims on social media networks, but are there more effective ways to counter the spread of misinformation? Our guest Rick Hasen believes there are other solutions to tackling false information – whether it’s spread unintentionally or intentionally – which could pave the way for more lasting change. Is it a matter of personal responsibility? Legislative fixes? Media reform? And what about the responsibilities of Big Tech and social medi...

When you think of models of clear writing and easy communication, do you think of the Federal Government? It turns out one of the leading perpetrators of the bureaucratic lingo and dense legalese that most people detest has been quietly cleaning up its act for the past 10 years. Guests, Katherine Spivey and Katina Rae Stapleton, are federal employees who volunteer their time and expertise to help their colleagues across multiple agencies and offices create government documents and other writt...

As former vice president of corporate communications for Netflix, our guest Steve Swasey had a front-row seat to Netflix’s near-disastrous decision in 2011 to split its video streaming and DVD services. The backlash was swift and threatened to sink what, to that point, had been a highly successful company. In this episode, we talk about the missteps and miscalculations that led to that decision, the subsequent reversal of that decision, and, ultimately, the measures Netflix took to get back o...

Our words are what often help us to frame whether we see the world as a set of problems or opportunities. Communications experts Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres believe that anyone can create meaningful and productive conversations that can be catalysts for change. It comes down to asking the right questions and approaching challenging conversations with creativity. Longtime friends and colleagues, they are co-authors of Conversations Worth Having: Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productiv...