Christopher Barnes on Sleep and Work
Conversations on Careers and Professional Life
Release Date: 11/07/2022
Slide Decks vs. Slide Docs: Why So Many Presentations Miss the Mark
Conversations on Careers and Professional Life
In this episode I break down the difference between slide decks and slide docs—and talk about designing intentionally for each. Many presentation problems don’t stem from weak ideas or poor analysis. They come from using the wrong artifact for the job. Slides overloaded with text are often treated as presentations when they’re really documents meant to be read. The result? Confused audiences, long meetings, and diluted messages. I explain why slide decks and slide docs serve fundamentally different purposes—and why trying to make one file do both almost always fails. In this...
info_outline
Make Your Insights Obvious With Effective Data Visualization
Conversations on Careers and Professional Life
Data doesn’t persuade. Insight does. In this episode, I break down what effective data visualization really means—and why most charts fail to do their job. This isn’t about making slides look prettier. It’s about helping your audience think clearly, decide faster, and trust your analysis. Drawing on lessons from Edward Tufte’s work and Good Charts by Scott Berinato, Gregory explains how to move from cluttered, confusing visuals to charts that make the point unmistakable. You’ll learn: Why every chart should answer one clear question—and how to define it before you design How...
info_outline
The Glance Test: Why Your Slides Must Make Sense in 3 Seconds
Conversations on Careers and Professional Life
The Glance Test is a simple but powerful rule for slide design: if your audience can’t understand the point of a slide within a few seconds, the slide isn’t doing its job. In this episode, I explain why slides that demand too much reading or decoding cause audiences to stop listening—and how the Glance Test helps protect attention during live presentations. You’ll learn how strong, message-driven titles anchor understanding, why visual simplicity matters more than precision, and how to design slides that support your voice rather than compete with it. The episode also explores the...
info_outline
One Idea Per Slide: The Rule That Will Change Your Presentations
Conversations on Careers and Professional Life
Many presentations fall apart not because the ideas are weak, but because the slides are doing too much at once. When a single slide contains multiple messages, charts, or competing points, the audience stops listening and starts decoding. In this episode, I explain why the “one idea per slide” principle is so effective—and why it’s one of the fastest ways to improve clarity in presentations. You’ll learn what “one idea” actually means, how strong sentence-based titles do most of the work, and how to use visuals that reinforce your message rather than compete with it. The episode...
info_outline
ENCORE: MBA Alums Offer Advice on Effective Interviewing
Conversations on Careers and Professional Life
Foster Alumni Share What They Listen For When They Interview Job Candidates Every fall and winter, MBA students gear up for behavioral interviews with an understandable mix of anticipation and anxiety. We spend hours coaching them on frameworks, stories, and delivery. But nothing beats hearing directly from the people on the other side of the table. On this encore episode of Conversations on Careers and Professional Life, I brought together four Foster MBA alumni—now at Accenture, Google, Walmart, and Goldman Sachs—to share what they actually listen for when evaluating...
info_outline
Students Reflect on Foster MBA Core Case Competition
Conversations on Careers and Professional Life
In this episode of Conversations on Careers & Professional Life, we go inside the Autumn Quarter Integrated Case Competition at the Foster School of Business—a one-week sprint where MBA teams analyze an acquisition case, submit a written recommendation, and deliver a 25-minute presentation to faculty, alumni, and industry judges. I speak with three students from finalist teams: Nat Fernandes (Class of 2027) – whose team placed third, emphasizing early alignment and organized execution. Josh Gonzales (Class of 2027) – part of the second-place team, highlighting team cohesion built...
info_outline
Engage First, Then Inform: A Better Way to Start Any Communication
Conversations on Careers and Professional Life
On this episode I share a principle that shows up again and again in great communication but is often overlooked by professionals: you have to earn attention before you earn understanding. Too many presentations, meetings, and messages begin with dense context, background, or data. But audiences don’t start in “information-processing mode.” They start in attention mode — scanning for relevance. If the opening doesn’t grab them, the content that follows doesn’t land. The core idea of this episode is simple but transformative: Engage first. Then inform. Attention Is the...
info_outline
Structure Matters: Why Good Ideas Need Great Organization
Conversations on Careers and Professional Life
Structure isn’t a formatting exercise. It’s the foundation of every clear, persuasive communication. Whether you’re giving a presentation, writing an email, or leading a meeting, structure is the difference between an idea that gets ignored and an idea that creates action. In the latest episode of Conversations on Careers and Professional Life, we explore why structure matters so profoundly — and how leaders, students, and professionals can use it to communicate with more clarity and impact. Why Structure Matters Human beings aren’t wired to process information in random fragments....
info_outline
The ABCs of Professional Communication: Active Brief And Clear
Conversations on Careers and Professional Life
On this episode, I cover the ABCs of professional communication, just as I teach them to my MBA students. One of the simplest ways to elevate your professional communication—whether you’re writing an email, pitching a strategy, or presenting to senior leaders—is to filter your message through three words: Active, Brief, and Clear. They sound basic, almost obvious. But in practice, they create a powerful discipline that separates high-quality communicators from everyone else. Active: Own the Message Active communication is energetic, direct, and accountable. It starts with the choice to...
info_outline
Logos, Ethos, Pathos: The Ancient Keys to Modern Persuasion
Conversations on Careers and Professional Life
Logos, Ethos, Pathos: The Ancient Keys to Modern Persuasion In this episode of Conversations on Communication, I explore three timeless principles that sit at the heart of all persuasive communication: Logos, Ethos, and Pathos. They come from Aristotle, but their power is as relevant today in an MBA classroom, a boardroom, or a client meeting as it was in ancient Athens. When you learn to apply these three deliberately, your messages become sharper, more credible, and more emotionally resonant. Logos: The Logic of Your Argument Logos is the appeal to logic — the structure and reasoning that...
info_outline
My sleep hasn't been great for years. I never have trouble falling asleep, but I wake after about 5 hours and then have trouble getting back to sleep. I average about 7 hours of sleep a night, sometimes more, sometimes less (an improvement over a few years ago). A few years back, after hearing author Matt Walker talk about his book, Why We Sleep on a podcast (watch his TED Talk), I went down the rabbit hole (not for the first time) on ways to improve my sleep. I'm happy to report, that it many ways, it has gotten better and my relationship to sleep has as well. I write this as a preface for why the topic of this episode is so important to me. Sleep is important for mental and physical health, and for the quality of our work product, our relationships, and the broader work environment as we'll here from my guest, Professor Christopher Barnes.
Christopher Barnes is a Professor of Management and the Michael G. Foster Endowed Professor of Management at the Foster School of Business. His recent research over the past few years focuses on sleep and its impact on work, ethics, decision making and work place engagement. His research has been featured in the Foster Business Magazine, Harvard Business Review, and a TEDx Talk
I've long wanted to have Professor Barnes on the podcast, somewhat selfishly, because of my own interest in -- and challenges with sleep. In April of 2022, I invited him to present to faculty and staff as part of my work on the Health, Wellness and Professional Development Committee at Foster, and after that, I knew I what he had to say would be important to my listeners.
We discussed how sleep hygiene can improve sleep:
- Stick to a schedule for wake time and bed time.
- Avoid alcohol, caffein and nicotine too close to be time, up to 12 hours prior for caffein.
- Use your bed for just two things, sleep and sex.
- Don't stare into your smart device screen before bedtime,
- We briefly touch on his research on Blue-light filtering glasses, and we discussed one reputable supplier, Swanwick Sleep.
- I'll add: keep your bedroom dark and cool. Consider lowering the lighting in your house in the hour or two before bed
- Get bright (preferably natural) light upon waking. For those of us in the PNW, you might want to get a "happy light" for these dark winter months, and use it for 20 minutes upon waking. (I have one from Verilux.)
Some other important resources:
If you suffer from insomnia or sleeplessness, the best experts now recommend avoiding sleeping pills. From my reading, the jury is out on Melatonin except at low doses for short periods of time (like around dealing with a time change). One reason why sedatives and melatonin aren't great is that while they will bring on sleep, they disrupt the best kind of sleep for your brain, deep wave sleep. I learned about this from Matt Walker, so if you want to learn more, follow the links in the first paragraph, or check out this three-part podcast.
The gold standard is now Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, or CBT-I. You can even get apps and online programs to that deliver CBT-I therapy, some are actually FDA Approved. Chris mentioned Sleepio. There is also a free email based program from Insomnia Coach that I found helpful. There are some supplements that can help with sleep, but you should talk to your doctor about taking anything regularly for help with sleep, whether it is over the counter, or prescription.
Chris also mentioned Arrianna Huffington's book, The Sleep Revolution (you can watch a talk she gave for Talks At Google, or read an interview with her), Dr. Nathaniel Watson (also at UW) and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
There is also a great recorded talk from the Whole U Speaker Series with Dr. Michael Vitiello on Getting a Good Night's Sleep.