Secrets of the great interview

Tom Peters has made his 31 points for interviewing excellence available for download.

Whatever you think of Peters, he’s a great storyteller, and that means he must be a great interviewer to ferret out all the stuff he raves about. I think his list is excellent (although his examples of great interviewers don’t strike a chord for me).

His “secret” in tip 26 resonated particularly for me: “I’m just a dumb old fart trying to figure out what goes on here. HELP ME, PLEASE.” For years, I told my journalists never to worry about saying, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand that. Could you explain it for me, please.” Even if you’re meant to be a financial writer and you don’t know what a floating-rate note is. The truth is just about everyone loves being an expert, and a naive question is often a cue for someone to hold forth in revealing detail.

Tom’s final, crucial point (capital letters and exclamation marks are his):

FEW THINGS IN LIFE PISS ME OFF MORE THAN GOING THROUGH SOMEONE’S INTERVIEW NOTES AND FINDING A DEARTH OF “SOLID EVIDENCEâ€? — examples, stories, detailed process maps, etc. (I BLOODY HATE Generalizations!)

4 thoughts on “Secrets of the great interview

  1. Lance Knobel Post author

    Beverly, if you click on the link in my post (31 points for interviewing excellence) you’ll be taken to the Peters post that I liked so much.

    Reply

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