Olivia Fox Cabane (on the science of charisma)

Episode overview

Olivia Fox Cabane (The Charisma Myth, The Net and the Butterfly) is a bestselling author, speaker, and leading authority on the science of charisma. Olivia joins Armchair Expert to discuss growing up in Paris without television or movies, receiving an autism diagnosis in her 40s, and decoding the “secret manual” of human interaction. Olivia and Dax talk about translating charisma research into a teachable system, showing founders why body language can outweigh a flawless pitch, and updating her book with cutting-edge research on digital charisma. Olivia explains why focused listening gives introverts an advantage, why genuine warmth cannot be faked, and how too much charisma can leave powerful people dangerously unaccountable.

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Short transcript highlights

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1. 0:00Welcome, welcome, welcome to armchair expert experts on expert.
2. 56:25And so one of the quick fixes is if ever you know that you've got a bandwidth problem,
3. 2:07:12and when I was young and, like, writing stories a lot and giving people names,