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Think Fast, Talk Smart · June 1, 2026 · 35m

293. The Leadership Skills We'll Need Most When Everything Is Changing: Me2We 2026

Celine Teoh, Dave Dodson, Huggy Rao, Tara VanDerveer
Show Notes

Matt Abrahams convenes four Stanford leadership experts—Celine Teoh, Huggy Rao, Tara VanDerveer, and Dave Dodson—to explore how communication operationalizes leadership in times of change. The panel shares practical frameworks: Teoh's five A's for inviting dissent, Rao's warning against organizational jargon, VanDerveer's relationship-first coaching philosophy, and Dodson's case for leading like a teacher. The episode distills what separates effective leaders from ineffective communicators.

This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.

Curious

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The Five A's for Inviting Dissent
Celine Teoh's framework for creating psychological safety so teams feel safe disagreeing with leaders and each other.
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Lead Like a Teacher: Dodson's Framework for Manager-as-Educator
Dave Dodson argues that the best managers adopt a teaching mindset: they clarify, explain, and develop the capabilities of their teams rather than just directing outcomes.
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Highlights

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Communication Is Operationalized Leadership
Leadership effectiveness is not determined by the decisions you make but by how you communicate them to others.
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Editorial

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Jargon Monoxide: The Invisible Killer in Organizations
Huggy Rao warns against the accumulation of organizational jargon that makes communication impenetrable and excludes people from participation.
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Relationship-First Leadership: VanDerveer's Coaching Philosophy
Tara VanDerveer's decades of success as a coach come from prioritizing relationships with players before performance, strategy, or results.
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References

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The Friction Project — Huggy Rao — Framework for managing organizational friction productively
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The Manager's Handbook — Dave Dodson — Teaching-based leadership approach

Misc

✧Live event format with four of the show's most popular guests suggests these frameworks have proven resonant across multiple episodes
✧Connection to Stanford GSB's Executive Education LEAD program anchors the discussion in institutional leadership thinking
✧Panel composition (teacher, organizational behavior researcher, legendary coach, management writer) covers multiple leadership archetypes
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