Demetries Morrow interviewed New York Times business reporter Jordyn Holman about her preparation in interviewing CEOs for her Corner Office column.
Here is an excerpt:
How do you prepare yourself mentally when walking into a room to conduct these interviews?
The preparation for the interviews is what calms me down. I list out questions and categorize them into buckets like management main questions, business model questions, etc. I also talk to colleagues who may have covered the company or the C.E.O. in a different beat for additional context. When it’s the day of the interview, I remind myself that it should be a dialogue that engages and challenges different ideas.How do you then manage to get a C.E.O. to speak candidly?
I listen to interviews they’ve done on podcasts or TV, and read other profiles of them. It gives me a sense of what they have said and what stories they like to tell. It helps me recognize when they are about to get into a story they’ve told before. I can fill in the blanks and politely pivot to get new information.I also realize at their level that everything can feel high-stakes. They know that their employees, investors and customers will engage with the interview, so I try to get them to a place of vulnerability so people can know who they are. I’m there to hear their story.
How do you get real answers to challenging questions?
It’s the art of the follow-up. I don’t expect to get the answer the first time. I may need to circle back. They may be talking about something for seven minutes and then I bring it back to my original question. It requires a lot of active listening. I also have a notebook where I’m trying to track things that I didn’t hear, things I want to go back to or things that I want to clarify. It’s most important for me to be myself — that’s how I get the information I want.
Read more here.
