Julian Treasure: Sound and communication expert, author of How to Be Heard and Sound Business; his TED Talk on speaking is among the most-watched of all time, with over 100 million combined views.
What this episode covers
Julian Treasure explains why speaking and listening are skills schools never teach despite their impact on happiness, relationships, and success. He walks through the vocal toolbox (breathing, prosody, timbre, silence), the four C's and RASA framework of listening, and how to speak with authority through agreements and validation. He shares his FLAG values (Faith, Love, Acceptance, Gratitude) and argues authenticity and storytelling are the heart of compelling communication. The conversation closes on his other passion, conscious listening as a cure for polarization, and the underappreciated power of sound and audio branding in business.
Recommended on this episode
Indistractable
Nir Eyal
“I'm a big fan of near isle's book um indestructible yeah because we are so prone to being distracted now”— guest
Jon Ronson TED Talk on social media shaming
Jon Ronson
“There's a brilliant talk by um John Ronson who's become a friend of mine over the years on social media shaming and if anybody hasn't seen that I do recommend you watch it”— guest
The guest's own work
How to Be Heard
Julian Treasure
“if you've got a boring voice you can do something about it it's possible Julian treasure the auth of how to be heard”— Stephen Bartlett
Sound Business
Julian Treasure
“running the sound agency an audio branding company in the UK which is you know relatively small business and writing you know my first book Sound business”— guest
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Ken Robinson TED Talk (Do Schools Kill Creativity?)
Ken Robinson
“what's the number one Ted Talk of all time it's a talk by Sir Ken Robinson sadly missed dead now but see a wonderful man”— guest
Big reveals from this episode
- Julian's combined TED Talks have over 100 million views, with the speaking talk alone around 40 million on YouTube.
- His talk on listening has been seen by only one-fifth as many people as his talk on speaking, showing people prefer being heard over listening.
- Julian suffered a pulmonary embolism that permanently reduced his lung efficiency, making him more conscious of deep breathing.
- He names 'fixing' as one of four leeches that undermine communication, where someone refuses to let others be upset.
- Julian and his wife Jane lost a stillborn baby, Lily, and chose to involve their daughter Holly fully rather than hide the grief.
- Stephen reveals Social Chain grew to hundreds of millions in revenue with no outbound sales team, built almost entirely on storytelling and stage talks about his mum.
- A supermarket study showed French music made French wine outsell German five-to-one, and German music reversed it three-to-one, all unconsciously.
Worth remembering
- Julian had already given four TED Talks before the famous fifth speaking talk, which made him unusually practiced.
- The world record for static apnea (holding breath underwater) is around 28 minutes.
- RASA stands for Receive, Appreciate, Summarize, Ask, Julian's framework for active listening.
- Stephen opened all his talks for four years with an unfinished story about his mum hanging up the phone, resolving it only at the end.
- Intel's sonic logo, designed by Walter Werzowa, is worth hundreds of millions of dollars in brand value.
- The Wheaties barbershop-quartet jingle from around 1926 is considered the first use of sound in advertising.
- Birdsong makes humans feel safe because over hundreds of thousands of years we learned that singing birds signal no predators.
- Knowledge workers are roughly one-third as productive in open-plan offices as in quiet spaces.
- An 83-year-old man recently completed climbing all of Scotland's Munros, over a hundred peaks above 3,000 feet.