about talk studios.
TALK Studios helps organizations treat conversation as a capability worth studying, designing, practicing, and strengthening.
Built on Alison Wood Brooks’s research and teaching at Harvard Business School, TALK Studios connects rigorous science, practical tools, contextual research, and real-world application to help people improve the conversations that shape organizations, industries, schools, families, communities, cultures, and everyday life.
Origin StoryTALK Studios was born at the intersection of rigorous behavioral science and a growing social need.
For more than 15 years, Alison Wood Brooks studied the science of conversation — how people ask questions, build trust, navigate disagreement, and enjoy meaningful relationships. Her course, TALK, quickly became one of the most popular classes at Harvard Business School, in part because it treated conversation as a skill you can learn, practice, and improve.
At the same time, educators, leaders, and parents were noticing a troubling pattern. Our capacity for conversation was quietly eroding. Devices shape, replace, and subtly disrupt most social interactions these days. We are communicating constantly through screens, yet many of us are struggling more than ever with real human conversation. The effects were showing up everywhere, from increased reports of loneliness and fractured attention to fewer expressions of curiosity and listening.
We created TALK Studios to meet this moment and bring the science of conversation out of the research lab and into everyday life, with resources that are as practical and fun as they are research-grounded. TALK resources are designed with the same playful-and-rigorous spirit to support stronger relationships and collaboration wherever people learn, work, and live.
A team BUILT FOR IMPACT.
TALK Studios is supported by a growing team of collaborators with expertise across behavioral science, education, communications, design, media, partnerships, and implementation. Together, they help move conversation science from research into real-world practice—shaping tools, experiences, and partnerships that can reach people across schools, organizations, families, and communities.
“Understanding the science of conversation helps us master the art of being ourselves.”
Our solutions are guided by four core principles.rooted in research
Every tool, experience, and partnership is grounded in rigorous conversation science.
ready to use
Every resource is designed to be practical, accessible, and easy to apply in real life.
human by design
Every experience is built to strengthen connection, trust, curiosity, and joy.
respectful of time
Every practice is designed to fit into busy days, real moments, and existing routines.
