…About Asking Questions

How do you listen to an answer and craft the next question at the same time?

It’s a skill that’s like a muscle; you get better at it.

But it’s not that difficult when you have a structure for your interview and you sort of know where the answer is going.

With a structure you can think of your questions as a car travelling in a particular direction.  A little diversion doesn’t matter because you know where you are heading.

Do your guests get the questions before the interview?

Never.

Sometimes, if pushed, I will give people subject areas which look something like this:

childhood and early life, school, influences, career, and the significant moment

In almost every situation, the guest is already an expert in virtually everything I am likely to ask. I may say before we start, “I’d like to talk about that time…. if that’s ok?” Just to flag that there could be something tricky, but I don’t let that stop me asking what comes to mind.