Nordic Business Forum 2026 Speaker
Alison Wood Brooks
Dr. Alison Wood Brooks is the O’Brien Associate Professor of Business Administration and Hellman Faculty Fellow at the Harvard Business School, where she created and teaches a course called TALK.
As a behavioral scientist, she is a leading expert on the science of conversation. Her award-winning research has been published in top academic journals and is regularly cited in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and NPR. Her research was referenced in two of the top ten most-viewed TED talks of all time and depicted in Pixar’s Inside Out 2.
In 2021, she was named a Best 40 Under 40 Business School Professor by Poets & Quants. TALK: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves is her first book.
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Alison at Nordic Business Forum 2026
Conversation as the Operating System of Collaboration: Under Pressure
In high-performance organizations, collaboration rarely breaks down because strategy fails. It breaks down when the conversational operating system falters under strain. In her keynote, Alison shares the science and practical mechanics leaders can use to build conversational skills and systems that remain steady, clear, and productive when stakes escalate.
Learning points:
How to stay calm and choose your words when conversations become tense.
How to shift from trying to win an argument to learning and understanding your team.
How to build everyday conversational habits that help your team handle friction and work better together.
More from Alison Wood Brooks
Read
TALK takes us inside the world of conversation, giving us the confidence and the advice to approach any interaction with more confidence and creativity.
Listen
Watch
Join Europe's Largest Business & Leadership Event Online
16-17 September 2026 | Messukeskus, Helsinki
In-person tickets are sold out, but you can still join the event remotely!