Speak to Lead

Leadership Under Fire: Answering Tough Personal Questions Positively

Unprepared interviewees.

They seem to be ubiquitous in the news these days. Every election, at almost any level of politics, seems to have at least one candidate who stumbles when asked a question about embarrassing personal or professional conduct.

And it's not only politicians. Business executives, professional athletes, and plain Joes suffer the same fate.

I'm often asked why people, many of them experienced public figures, aren't prepared when the inevitable questions come.  

Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who was forced to resign after being caught in a sex scandal, provided an answer.

When asked by NBC Today Show's host Matt Lauer whether it had ever occurred to him his actions might be exposed, Spitzer replied,

Presidential Leaders Speak Silently: Romney-Clinton Silent Debate Provides Relief for Weary Listeners

After last month's CNN-YouTube debates (not to mention the recent--and excruciatingly boring--presidential debates in Iowa), a new debate format has arisen: the SILENT debate.

No more three-minute answers to yes or no questions. No more long answers that start with drivers licenses and end with global warming. No more vocal attacks on opponents.

Just visceral responses to key issues.

Here Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton participate in the first silent presidential debate (following a brief trailer for Charlie Wilson's War). (Note Romney's coded message at the end.)

Media Interviews: Sometimes a Simple Question Deserves a Simple Answer

Question: Yes or No, most politicians are unable to answer simple questions with yes or no?

During the recent Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, Barack Obama and John Edwards proved incapable of simple yes or no answers. Click here for their answers to "Do you support driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, yes or no?" (BTW, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden did limit their answers to "no.")

Tonight the Republicans debate in St. Petersburg, Florida. Will their front runners do any better?

But the all-time record for not answering the same question with a simple "yes or no" goes to Michael Howard, former Conservative party leader in the UK, in this BBC2 Newsnight interview.

 

Media Training: Answering Hostile Questions-How to Stay in Control When the Interviewer Goes from Jekyll to Hyde

The interview has been going great when suddenly your interviewer changes from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde and zaps you with a nasty question.

How do you avoid looking like a deer in the headlights? Here's a technique to help you stay in control.

- - - P A U S E - - -

and quickly remind yourself: 

Media Training in Your Pocket: It's in the Cards

Need a quick refresher of media training techniques just before you talk to reporters? Want an easy way to internalize the concepts learned during a media training workshop? Never had media training but you've got an interview in 30 minutes and you need a crash course?

It's all in the cards. Our just released Meet the Media & Win! -- How to Ace Every Interview card deck, that is.

I condensed the content of our Meet the Media & Win! workshop onto 26 cards. Sort of like having a condensed version of a CliffsNotes version. All meat, no filler!

Great as a refresher, review, or crash course. (You can shuffle them too, although I'm not sure why you would want to.)

For more information (i.e., the "sales" page), go to http://www.meetthemediacards.com Special introductory pricing through August 31st.