Are you struggling to make complex ideas clear and drive real adoption in a world full of noise and rapid change?
Tamsen Webster and Kate O’Neill dive deep to discover how leaders can design understanding, foster sensemaking, and communicate authentically—especially in the age of AI and cognitive overload.
Topics Covered
Designing understanding vs. leaving it to chance
Avoiding manipulation and supporting agency
Sensemaking vs. persuasion
Communicating complexity and change in organizations
Framing messages for genuine adoption
Human information processing and the role of curiosity
AI-mediated communication: risks, opportunities, and bell curves
Cognitive overload and capturing productive attention
Transfer of ideas and the importance of commonly-held beliefs
Transparency, uncertainty, and the power of theory-based communication
Sensemaking vs. meaning-making
What keeps us hopeful about the future of human connection
Connect with Tamsen Webster
Website
”Say What They Can’t Unhear” (book page)
LinkedIn
Instagram
Episode Chapters
00:04 Introduction: The Tech Humanist Show and today’s challenge for leaders
02:15 Tamsen Webster’s journey into message design
05:48 Alignment and complexity in communication
07:01 Where leaders go wrong with complexity
09:18 Avoiding oversimplification—layering information
12:28 Persuasion vs. genuine sensemaking and learning
16:15 The cost of coercive persuasion and non-coercive approaches
21:00 Communicating in the age of AI: leaders’ new challenges
27:06 Human brains, AI, and the limits of insight
29:06 Coping with fragmented attention and cognitive overload
33:59 Building curiosity and harnessing reciprocity
34:20 Communicating uncertainty and theory-based leadership
38:44 Juxtaposition, innovation, and clarity
39:16 Where to find Tamsen’s work
40:00 Lightning round: favorite questions, books, and hope for the future
44:10 Closing and show credits
