My Interviewing Strategy
Each interview is, by definition, unique, and I try to simply be attentive and curious and see where the conversation goes. But I do have a general interviewing strategy, a structure to the questions and topics. I call it…
Ground…Focus…Fly…and Land
- Beginning in the Ground section, we get to know the guest. Childhood, early influences and interests, family, education, maybe early career engagements.
- Then in the Focus segment, we dive into the guest’s lifework and personal pursuits. What they are passionate about, in general and/or at present.
- In Fly, we broaden out to address larger societal issues and global challenges, exploring underlying patterns and interconnections among the many problems and threats we face. We ask what we need to do to make the world a better place for all of us. What do you find especially concerning? Where you find encouragement?
- And finally we Land, summing up. Where are you now? How do you see the future, both personally and globally? How do you deal with the stresses and trauma that surround us? How do you take care of yourself? In closing, keeping with the theme of Wise Talkers:
What actionable wisdom have you discovered in your life? What might we have learned here?
Again, this is a general strategy. Any given interview might vary from it, perhaps considerably, depending on the circumstances of the moment.