The Art Of The Interview: Recent Episodes
William Bowman
Interviewing people is an art. The ability to sit across from someone and create a safe, intimate space for them to share with you their feelings, thoughts, and ideas is a powerful skill.
What questions do I ask? How do I make my guest feel comfortable?
In The Art of the Interview, we explore these questions and more, diving deep into the subtle and intricate skill of interviewing through the lens of psychology, science, religion, and other disciplines. Our goal is to become better interviewers, whether we're interviewing the President of the United States or getting coffee with a friend.
Ever gone on a date with someone who only talks about themselves? Me neither. But that would be obnoxious, on a date or while being interviewed.
In this episode, I talk about how much it's appropriate to talk about yourself, your story, your thoughts, and your agenda while interviewing someone. Surprisingly, it's more nuanced than you might think.
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg73E-2NebZvD0df2JCEt8w
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2tzoxgGJLmzVfSg0vwFQz4
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-the-interview/id1542998239
Your mindset will influence how your interview. In this week's episode, I talk about three essential mindsets to practice to get better interviews.
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg73E-2NebZvD0df2JCEt8w
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2tzoxgGJLmzVfSg0vwFQz4
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-the-interview/id1542998239
Everyone knows the experience of sitting across from someone who you disagree with and feel animosity towards. In this week's episode, I talk about five steps to help you step out of antipathy and into empathy so you can have better interviews and conversations with people who you just don't see eye to eye.
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg73E-2NebZvD0df2JCEt8w
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2tzoxgGJLmzVfSg0vwFQz4
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-the-interview/id1542998239
The Art of the Interview is back! Starting in February 2024, I'll be hosting a weekly episode and releasing it every Tuesday.
In this week's episode, I talk about twelve reasons why I think asking better questions is essential to being human in 2024 (in addition to just giving me something to podcast about). From expanding empathy to increasing both tolerance and intolerance (yes, you heard me right), these are a few reasons among many I think asking better questions can help make the world a better place.
Also, the Art of the Interview is now on YouTube! You're welcome. You can now stare at my beardy face for a full quarter-hour plus as I quack on about doing better interviews :-)
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg73E-2NebZvD0df2JCEt8wSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2tzoxgGJLmzVfSg0vwFQz4Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-the-interview/id1542998239Bulletproof Problem Solving Book: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/41091107
In this episode, I talk about why you should delegate your tech responsibilities and, if you do, how to go about it. I tell two stories from The Art of the Interview by Lawrence Grobel about times his delegation has gone wrong and talk about what we can learn from it.
Through this episode, you'll understand why it's important to give away as many of the technical responsibilities you can. You'll also get some on-the-ground tips for what to talk about with your tech crew so that they understand exactly what they need to do and that you're the one in charge.
In this episode, I talk more about why research is (for most interviewers) essential to getting the best interview you can. I also read a passage from The Art of the Interview by Lawrence Grobel about how research is essential to knowing the right questions to ask.
Through this episode, you'll get some fresh ideas of how to do research on your interviewees no matter the subject you're interviewing them about. You'll also have a solid understanding of why this part of the process is essential to getting the interviews you want.
In this episode, I talk about why research is (for most interviewers) essential to getting the best interview they can. In it, I read a passage from The Art of the Interview by Lawrence Grobel about his research philosophy.
Through this episode, you'll get some fresh ideas of how to do research on your interviewees no matter the subject you're interviewing them about. You'll also have a solid understanding of why this part of the process is essential to getting the interviews you want.
In this episode, I talk about how to be a better sports interviewer. I base my tips off of an anecdote in The Art of the Interview by Lawrence Grobel about ESPN interviewer Roy Firestone. The book makes two important points about Firestone's style:
- He is curious about the entire human, not just their sports ability
- He is positive in his approach to interviewing them
By listening to this episode, you'll be able to be a more holistic and person-centered sports interviewer. You'll get better sound bytes from the athletes that you interview, plus you'll be able to expand these techniques into other types of interviewing that tend to be less emotion-centered such as business, technology, and news.
This episode explores one of the central interviewing techniques I talk about on this podcast: "holding the space." It answers the questions of:
- What is "holding space" during an interview?
- What does it mean?
- What does it not mean?
- Why is it important?
- How does it fit in with your overall purpose as an interviewer?
This episode will unpack this somewhat abstract topic of holding the space. By the end of the episode, you'll also be better able to identify your own prejudices and preferences. You'll have some different techniques for not letting them get in the way of being totally present and safe for your interviewee. You'll also understand how to create safety and comfort and make room for anything that comes during the interview, no matter how difficult or how much you disagree with it!
In this episode, I take two prompts from The Art Of The Interview by Lawrence Gobel and explore the two subjects of:
- Following the energy
- The importance of having genuine curiosity.
This episode explores two central techniques of interviewing that are used by one of the best interviewers in the world (as well as yours truly!). By listening to this episode, you'll be able to better know when to stay on-topic and when to let the interview go off the tracks a little bit. You'll also see the importance of genuine curiosity in an interview setting and find inspiration to get curious as an interviewer yet again!
In the same way that you speak to different people in different styles, different interviewing styles help to create safety, comfort, and intimacy on an interviewing set. In this episode, I explore how to choose the style of conversation based on three elements:
- Your Interviewee
- Your Audience
- Your Medium
Thinking about your style in the context of these three things will help you identify whether you should use a more formal or a more casual style when doing your interviews.
If you're going to do a pre-interview, you should do it well. Pre-interviews can be powerful ways to build intimacy and discover where to focus in the interview before you ever show up with you interviewee.
In this episode, I talk about seven tips for rocking your pre-interviews, including:
- Do it well before the interview takes place
- Be totally present
- Focus less on ideas, more on story
- Follow the energy
- Find the story for each individual
- Keep detailed notes to reference later on
- If possible, finish up by scheduling the interview
There's a lot in common between interviews and coffee dates. And many of the same techniques that work for building intimacy and trust in one work well in the other too.
In this episode, I talk about eleven crossover skills that you can use both as an interview as well as when you're just out for coffee with a friend...or a family member...or a good-natured clown. They're all the same.
- Be on time
- The space matters
- What are you drinking and who's buying the drinks?
- Set an intention
- Set the container, hold the space
- Have a plan, then be flexible
- Hold anything that comes
- Reflecting posture
- Be present where you are
- Actively listen and respond
- Respect their time
As humans we have preferences and prejudices. But as interviews, we have a responsibility to hold whatever comes. And sometimes our prejudices and preferences can get in the way of being fully present with someone who we're interviewing.
In this episode, I talk about t what it means and what it doesn't mean to hold the space for someone in your interview. I finish up with a call to all interviewers: to take a stand for people's humanity and hold the space, no matter what comes from their mouth.
Who out there experiences monkey mind before or during an interview?
What do I ask them once I get on set?
What do I ask next?
How do I transition subjects?
Oh no, I made them angry! How do I get them to be not-angry at me?
Oh no! I didn't even hear the last two minutes of what they said because I was lost in my thoughts!
Monkey mind running the show is the number-one enemy of being present with your interviewee during an interview.
That said, over the years I've developed techniques for how to bring my mind back to the present moment when I notice myself not present during the interview. And the great thing is that, by practicing these things for my interviewing, I also notice myself being more present and monkey mind running the show less in the rest of my life as well.
In this episode I talk about a few of my own techniques. You can use them, or you can find your own. But either way, I encourage you to find a way to calm your mind and center your heart. That way you'll be able to be present, attentive, and curious for your interviewee and honor them with your being in the now with them.
It's Easter Saturday - the lesser talked about middle day of the Easter Weekend. And what's so special about Easter Saturday that nobody really talks about it?
Well, it's the day that God was silent.
Silence can be scary. But used well, it can heighten the power of the speech that follows or came before.
The day of silence between the Friday where Christ was crucified and the Sunday that Christ rose again heightens the anticipation and power of the day he rose again, supposedly. And in the same way, we can use silence in our interviews to highlight and create anticipation for what our interviewee is going to say or has already said.
Don't run from silence. Use it in your interviews to increase the power of your questions and the answers of the people that you interview.
Recently my short film The Witness was selected for the International Christian Film and Music Festival, one of the largest faith-based film festivals in the world.
And I'm giving you early access to see it.
Why? During the production of this film, I put into practice many of the techniques that I talk about on this podcast. And in this episode, I talk about the story behind the People Project plus the reason why you should really consider practicing the techniques of mastering the art of the interview.
To get access and view The Witness, click on this link and enter the password that's contained inside this episode.
And don't forget to enjoy the film as well!
What do you do when an interviewee (sometimes a central interviewee!) suddenly gets nervous and gets cold feet about the interview? How do you navigate the emotional intricacies that are involved in getting someone to feel comfortable and safe doing an interview with you?
In this episode, I talk about some techniques that I used to talk down my interviewees and restore their confidence in the process when they get nervous about the interview. I talk about how to:
- Identify the concerns
- Normalize and legitimize the concerns
- Increase and reaffirm their agency
- Tighten up the container
- Actually fulfill on your commitments
These items have helped me to calm and reconnect with multiple interviewees and get them back on track for doing a powerful and comfortable interview with me.
There's a lot of good interviewers in the world, many of them better than I am! And recently I've been reading about some of their tips and tricks to be better at interviewing, and I've been realizing I have a lot of room to grow.
In this episode, I talk about three interviewing tips in which I could definitely improve:
- Stay Silent After An Interviewee Finishes Their Answer
- Don't Ask Multiple Questions In One Question
- Research Long and Question Short
Looks like I have some things to practice in upcoming interviews! And I hope you get something out of exploring these tips too.
Should I do a pre-interview or not? What even is a pre-interview, and why can the help or hinder my interview?
In this episode, I talk about some of the objections to doing pre-interviews and why, in my opinion, they're still a powerful way to get to the heart of a subject and an interviewee - if you do them right:
- DO talk to them before you show up on set - not when you get there
- DON'T probe too deeply into subjects you want to cover in the interview
- DO try to understand the general idea of the interview
- DO ask for previously told stories and answered questions on-set in a way that keeps them fresh
Documentary is my favorite type of interview. Getting the opportunity to sit across from someone and dig into their life or subject of choice is like drinking a cup of coffee in the early hours watching the sunrise - no matter how many times you do it, it gets better every time.
In this episode, I talk about my seven tips on doing the best documentary video interviews that you can do:
- If possible, meet up or talk to the subject before the interview
- Be on time
- Plan for setup time
- Come prepared with questions and research
- If you can, hire a camera op
- Shoot in 4k or with 2 cameras
- Plan a little longer than you think
This episode is certainly not exhaustive, but it's some great tips that I've learned from years of doing documentary-style interviews and loving doing it.
There are a lot of people who answer the question of how to start your interview, but fewer people ask how to end your interview with a bang.
In fact, ending of your interview well is equally as important as a solid start. It's the time when you wrap up, sum up, and invite the person you're interviewing to really dig deep and summarize what they're all about.
In this episode, I talk about the best points on how to wrap your interview to get the most out of the time that you spend with your interviewee. I talk about several tips and techniques you can use to make your ending the best that it can be and go away from your interview thinking, man, that finale was full of fireworks!
Are you starting up an interview series but frustrated that your voice doesn't sound like everybody else in the interviewing sphere?
Don't be. Actually there's many different styles, cadences, and voice types in the world of podcasts, YouTube shows, and interviews.
That said, there are a few things you can do to improve your delivery and connect with your guest and audience in a better way. In this episode, I talk about five techniques that you can use to improve your voice delivery and interview presence to connect with your interviewee, engage your audience, and make your media an enjoyable experience for all involved.
- Slow down
- Don't be afraid of silence
- Be conversational (or formal, depending on your guest)
- Be curious
- Choose well the "fluff" that you include
You've scheduled your guest, and you're gnawing at your fingernails waiting for the day when you're going to do the interview.
What do you do while you wait?
In this episode, I talk about four things I would do if I were going back to the beginning and doing my first interview all over again. And really, it's four things you could do for any interview, whether it's your first or fifth or your fifty-fifth!
- Research
- Querying your audience for questions
- Doing a pre-interview with your subject
- Calming your mind and emotions before the interview
I talk about each of these tasks one-by-one, the practical how-to as well as the theory of why each of these could be helpful for your interview.
An interviewer is only as good as their interviewee. So much of what an interviewer does is empowering the interviewee to be the best interview subject that they can be. And that's why, as an interviewee, sometimes it's helpful to know exactly what makes for a good interview right off the bat before you even begin.
That said, these are a few tips for you would-be interviewees that can help you to prep for your upcoming interview. These are also good points for interviewers to help direct their interviewees before the interview.
- Use mid-length answers
- If you say it wrong or you want to try again, you can start over
- Don't be afraid to disagree with your interviewer
- Pause and think about your answer if you need
- Be yourself, not the person you think you should be
- Relax, have fun, and do whatever you want with your hands
Should I go long or stay short? Long-form interviewing or short-form? Should I record long and edit short? What should the final duration of my podcast/video/media be?
In this episode, I talk interview and media length. I argue that, essentially, there's no universally right answer to these questions but that, instead, you should base your length off of the needs and value it creates for your audience. You should ask the questions:
- Who is my audience?
- What types of information or value am I providing them?
- What is the best length and format for me to be able to deliver it to them?
And from this, you'll know what length your media should be.
As a bonus, I also talk a little bit about interviewing long and cutting short, so give it a listen!
Have you ever wondered why you're not getting the kind of interviews that you know are possible? Me too. And recently I had an experience where I was listening back to one of my interviews as a listener and it hit me like a load of bricks.
I haven't been empowering my interviewee to have the transformation that's possible for them. The interviews, instead, have been all about me.
In this episode, I talk about one of my most-recent realizations about my interviewing, and it's related to the transformational power of the interview. I also talk about why it's so important to listen back to your interviews as a listener after you're done recording them. This practice was what lead to my great realization.
Oh no! You've been asked or assigned to do an interview for your company, business, or for a friend. And let me guess, you don't even know where to start!
Well, you could start here. In this episode, I talk through three powerful types of questions you can use in your first interview:
- Story questions
- Feel, thought, and experience questions
- Evangelist questions
These three types of questions are great for getting powerful interview audio bytes from your interviewee and helping you to form your curiosity!
Need some more help? Check out Parts 2 and 3 of this series as well where I talk about three mindsets and three skills you can ask in your first interview.
Oh no! You've been asked or assigned to do an interview for your company, business, or for a friend. And let me guess, you don't even know where to start!
Well, you could start here. In this episode, I talk through three of the most skills that you can bring to your first interview:
- How to direct your interviewee
- How to write good questions
- How to get your interviewee to tell you what you're looking for (and how not to do it!)
These are three of the foundational skills, in my opinion, to being a great interviewer.
Need some more help? Check out Parts 1 and 3 of this series as well where I talk about three orientations and three types of questions you can ask in your first interview.
Oh no! You've been asked or assigned to do an interview for your company, business, or for a friend. And let me guess, you don't even know where to start!
Well, you could start here. In this episode, I talk through three of the most orientations that you can bring to your first interview:
- Being Curious
- Being Intentional
- Doing Research
If you can adopt these three orientations, it's very likely you'll have a great first interview experience!
Need some more help? Check out Parts 2 and 3 of this series as well where I talk about three skills and three types of questions you can ask in your first interview.
One of the most important things in doing an interview is to be curious. But how do you know which direction to take the interview and your curiosity? In this episode, I talk about one of the central skills of being able to know where to take an interview - sensing and following the energy. Essentially, it's learning to how be energetically connected to your interviewee and sense where there's the most energy in their responses so that you can know exactly where to go to get the best and most powerful content for your interview.
In this episode, I migrate to my kitchen and answer one of the most common questions (according to Google!) about interviewing: How do I structure an interview?
In the episode, I make four points about structure.
- Adapt your structure to your interviewee.
- Start near the heart.
- Have a structure, but don't be afraid to adapt.
- End strong.
Ultimately, you should have a structure, but never let the structure of the interview get in the way of you following the story, emotion, and the energy where it wants the interview to go.
Sometimes you learn things from an interview by doing poorly, sometimes you're reaffirmed in your technique by killing it.
In this episode, I cover three ways I rocked a recent marketing interview. I talk about how I successfully set the container and followed the energy right to the place that the interviewee wanted to go, ultimately ending up in a fantastic interview and some great sound bytes that will really go a long way in the final product.
In this episode, I get a little bit excited about some recent unexpected developments with the podcast...
Oh, and I also talk about three things not to do in your interviews. From my own painful experiences.
When you're not the greatest at something in the world, why should someone listen to you? For instance, myself. Many people who might listen to this podcast have likely done more interviews than I have over the years. I've studied interviewing officially, and there are plenty of people who likely are way better at it than I am!
So why listen to me?
In this podcast, I get a little personal about why, exactly, I feel like I have (or will have) something to contribute to the subject of interviewing. I talk about my Three C's of interviewing:
- 1) I'm Curious about interviewing
- 2) I'm Committed to interviewing
- 3) I'm Confident in the power of interviewing
And these three things, I think, make me a person who has (or will have someday!) something to contribute to this field.
What makes a good or a bad interview? This is a highly subjective question. However, as someone who listens to and does quite a few interviews, there are a few things I personally like and don't like in the interviews that I consume.
In this episode, I explore a few of my own personal tastes regarding what differentiates what I think makes an interview that rocks...from one that flops.
What is the quickest way to increase your focus on the interview and drastically improve the quality of the material that you get?
Delegate your tech responsibilities to someone else.
A cameraperson.
An audio recorder.
A producer, cinematographer, whatever.
Get rid of the need for you to focus on the tech and focus entirely on the interviewee.
In this episode, I argue that one of the best things for the quality of your container is to be able to focus in, and one of the best ways to do that is to delegate your tech. It work for Hollywood and narrative films, so why can't it work for documentary?
Have you ever had a really boring interviewee? Someone who no matter what you tried was just stuck in fight-flight-freeze and wouldn't give you a good story or audio byte?
We've all been there. However, the good news is that there are some very practical ways to get people like this to tell an evocative story. And in this episode, I talk about one of them: slowing down time.
Do you ever feel like there's an interview where you just knock it out of the park?
Well, just yesterday I did an interview where I felt like that. I did my research, set up the container well, took control of the interview, and got some amazing sound bytes and really connected with my interviewee.
In this episode, I talk about that interview, in particular how to stay curious and keep it fresh during an interview where you already kind of know what you want to hear.
Anyone who is married will understand this statement: there's a big difference between really listening and fixing problems. And when there's a mismatch between what a spouse needs and what you're trying to provide, it's a quick recipe for a conversation to go awry!
And what is that difference? One is fixing problems, and one is creating a container.
In this episode, I talk about this difference from my own experience, both on the interview set and through conversations with my lovely wife. My lovely wife who, graceful as she is, is patient with me when I jump into problem solving when what's really needed is creating a space for her to solve it for herself. And vise versa.
I also talk about how this out-pictures in an interview studio as well.
Husbands, this episode is for you! And you wives too. Really anyone who is an incorrigible problem solver, like I am too!
Am I the only one who gets nervous before I do an interview? Probably not! And for years I asked myself the question, "How do I get rid of this nervousness and anxiety that I experience before an interview?"
And then it hit me, and ever since I answered that question, dealing with the nervousness and anxiety has been much, much easier.
If you, like me, find yourself getting nervous before your interviews, I highly recommend you listen to this episode!
A marketing interview is one of the toughest interview types to get sincerity because you have a purpose - you're trying to get a marketing message to talk about a company.
How do you ask questions that are on one hand directed toward the answers that you want but at the same time elicit sincere and emotional answers?
How do you inspire the interviewee to give you their all instead of just telling you and the audience what everybody wants to hear?
These are not easy answers. And in this interview, I talk about one interview I did recently for a marketing project that I'm working on, what I did well, what I could do better. I focus in on my own difficulty asking "hard questions" and my struggles in finding a way to do so without breaking the container of trust.
I'm going to be honest with you, friends. I struggle to ask the "hard questions." And I'm not even talking about asking hostile, attacking questions that get juicy little audio bytes and do nothing to genuinely get to the core of an interviewee. I'm talking about asking questions that really open up the bottle on a person's powerful emotions - because that's where an interview gets good and where it gets a little scary to hold.
In this episode, I explore a tiny bit of my own history and why I still, to this day, struggle to ask the hard questions. And yet I'm committed - like I hope each and every one of you are - to learning how to create powerful and safe containers for safety and trust, strong enough even to ask really difficult questions that won't break the trust and safety that you've created with my interviewees.
Interviews don't always have to be for an audience - sometimes they're just to retrieve information! But whatever the desired outcome, many of the same techniques apply for getting rockin' interviews in the can.
Recently I interviewed one of the ideal customers of a client who I'm designing a marketing funnel for. And it turned out excellent in many ways, I think, because of some of the interview techniques I used.
In this episode, I go back over that experience and talk about some of the things I did well which contributed to this successful interview...and a few things I could have done better too!
There's several different schools in interviewing and reporting:
- The old school: Interview the subject, and do your best to report just the facts and what they said - you stay out of it
- The new school: Bring in your partiality and slant to the interview and the reporting style - put yourself into it
The real difference between these schools is how they address the question of partiality.
- How do you as an interviewer stay impartial during and in reporting an interview?
- Should you even try?
- Which is the best model for your audience and medium?
There's no "right" answer to these questions, but if you're going to be someone who interviews and relays information you're going to have to address them for yourself and have a reason for why you answer them the way you do.
In this episode, I explore the different schools around these questions. I then talk about some of their flaws and holes. I then talk about my own way of dealing with and holding my own partiality in my own interviews.
And I then ask the question: how are you going to answer these questions and deal with yours?
Control is a negative buzzword in today's culture.
Controlling spouses. Controlling governments. Controlling religions. Control, control, control, I don't want to be controlled!
But actually, healthy control is essential to being a healthy human being and a quality interviewer.
But what's the difference between unhealthy and healthy control, both in general and in an interview?
In this episode, I explore the difference between discipline and manipulation, how they manifest in an interview for good and bad, and how to achieve influence by disciplining your interviewing practices and staying away from interviewee manipulation!
Some people are easy to research. Say if you're interviewing Ryan Reynolds. Or Meg Ryan. Or Ryan Meganolds. Wait...
Other people are not so easy to do research on. Say that one local business owner who has a good heart but thinks the internet will steal his soul. Or that Mennonite family that lives totally off the grid except for their once-a-week email check at the local library.
How in the modern world do you do research on these kinds of people?
In this episode, I suggest six surprising options for research you may not have thought about yourself. I don't talk about the standard ones like a website, social media, or the local library. Instead, I suggest several options from my own experience that work well for various types of people, even those types who abstain from social media and the internet for religious reasons or just maintenance of their sanity.
I recently watched Werner Herzog's documentary Into The Abyss. The film is a powerful look at the lives of a criminal on death row and the people who were affected by his supposed crimes.
One interesting thing about Werner Herzog is that, unlike many filmmakers, he includes some of his interview questions in the final film. Which is slightly odd stylistically, but great for me analyzing his interviewing style.
In this episode, I play back three interview sections in the film and explore what Werner Herzog, in my opinion, did well as an interviewer and, also, what he could have done better!
The first question in an interview is vital. With the first question you set the tone of the interview, generate rapport and trust, and continue the process of creating a container of intimacy for the interview. So you don't want to screw it up!
In this episode, I talk about some different ways to start the interview strong...and some ways not to start the interview!
Hopefully this will spark your own creativity of how to start your interviews just a little better and make all the questions and answers that come afterwards that much better too!
When you go into an interview, you're the leader. You're setting the direction and guiding the interviewee through the experience. If you're not in the lead, they won't know where to go, and subconsciously they're going to shut down and not give you the answers that you're looking for.
In this interview, I talk about my own experience embracing leadership as an interviewer. I also talk about 5 lessons that I've learned about how to lead the interview and take control, guiding the interviewee through the interview and making the interview a safe, comfortable experience in which they feel safe to open up.
Do you ever take a few minutes before to direct and orient your interviewees related to the coming interview? If not, you should. Likely they're uncertain and unconfident, and giving them this little bit of direction can go a long way to making them feel safe, comfortable, and relaxed enough to give you a good performance once you start.
In this episode, I cover, first, why it's important to do some pre-direction and, second, several subjects you can direct them on (these are subjects I've found through doing many interviews that interviewees are oftentimes unconfident or ignorant about).
I know it's a little presumptuous of me to compare myself with Tim Ferris, but I know one thing we do have in common.
We both focus heavily on the pre-interview.
In this episode, I talk about why doing pre-interview research and preparation is essential to getting a good interview. I also talk about my own pre-interview history and style, plus I talk about what Tim Ferris does (which, by the way, is far more extreme than I do myself!).
There's quite a bit of crossover between what works well in an interview and what works well in a casual conversation over coffee. A lot of techniques to create safety and intimacy can readily apply to both, and personally I use them in both areas quite often.
In this episode, I talk about three such techniques that can easily be translated from the interview to the coffee shop. With these three tips, on top of becoming a better interviewer, you might also be able to become a better husband, wife, friend, or parent too!
We are the product of deeply-seated beliefs, feelings, and assumptions that we believe about ourselves, others, and the universe. And whether we acknowledge it or not, we bring these assumptions into how we conduct ourselves in our interviews.
In this episode, I explore 3 conscious assumptions I try to bring into the interviews that I do.
1) That people are foundationally good
2) That people all have the same foundational desires and impulses
3) That people deep down want to be honest and sincere with me
What about yours? What assumptions do you try to bring into your interviews? Are your subconscious assumptions and your conscious ones congruent? How can you make your subconscious assumptions in congruence with the ones you want to hold?
This episode is a little heady, so feel free to skip if you're more interested in how-tos and step-by-steps!
How do you handle difficult emotions, both inside yourself as well as when an interviewee experiences them during an interview? When someone gets angry, sad, hopeless, or inordinately elated during an interview, sometimes it can be difficult to know what to "do" or how to deal with the power of the emotions they're expressing!
In this episode, I explore one of the psychological foundations of my interviewing style: how there is no such thing as a "negative" or "bad" emotion, only difficult ones. I also talk about how as interviewers (and as human beings!) the best thing that we often can do is not to fix or repress emotions but instead to hold them if they're our own, and to create a space where they are held and affirmed for those who we interview.
Interviewers are humans too. And sometimes something happens which makes you, the interviewer, get very self-conscious during the interview. When this happens, it becomes very difficult to be present with your interviewee, hold the container, and ask the right questions!
In this interview, I tell a story about one such interview where this happened to me during an interview with two managing partners of a massive company! I explore why it happened, what I did poorly, what I did well, what I did to salvage what I could of the rest of the interview, and what I learned from the experience!
If there was one internal shift I would have interviewers make it would be this:
Respect the ask and give of what's being exchanged between you and the interviewer.
This ability is huge to our ability to create a safe, comfortable, and intimate space where an interviewer feels open to giving you their true feelings, thoughts, and experiences.
And in this episode, I go in depth what this looks like for us interviewers and how we can practically respect what's being given back to us by those we interview.
Two days ago I interviewed a couple who host children in need through a local social services agency I'm creating videos for. The wife was highly introverted, and there was at least once during the interview that it careened in a dangerously dull direction because of a misplaced question I had asked. These are both common struggles for interviewers!
And so, in this episode I give at least one solution to each of these questions:
- How do I engage a very introverted interviewee?
- How do I get an interview back on track from going in a dull or uninteresting direction?
I used both of the techniques I talk about in this interview, and the interview ended up turning out extremely well!
Preproduction makes production makes post-production. It's one of my favorite and most-said aphorisms from the video production process. If you do the legwork before the shoot you're much more likely to capture quality material than if you just show up day-of and try to wing it which will mean that the post-production process will be easier and turn out much better of a piece of media.
Interviewing is no different. There are many different ways you can prepare both yourself and your interviewees before you hit record to create the a container of trust and intimacy. In this episode I cover five:
- Research, research, research
- Do a pre-interview
- Do something nice for the interviewee
- 4alk them through the process
- Expand yourself to hold whatever comes
I've done hundreds of interviews over the course of my career for video production projects, documentary films, news stories, live on-air talk shows, and non-recorded pre-interviews.
But what's more important to me is the response that I get from the people that I interview. They describe interviewing with me as "fun" and "relaxing" and "way less stressful than they thought that it was going to be!" Oftentimes interviewing is not an experience that look forward to or look back on fondly! But somehow I've figured out tips and tricks to make it enjoyable and productive too!
So, what are five of the most-important lessons that I've learned about making interviews an awesome experience for both interviewer and interviewee plus getting some awesome bytes that I can share with my audience?
In this episode, I talk about those five points. They include:
1) Respect the ask
2) Give direction BEFORE the interview
3) Take control and direct the interview
4) Never, ever tell them what to say
5) Prepare, then prepare to leave it all behind
"It's great that you care so much about interviewing, Will, but why should I care? I don't have to interview anyone for my job or in my personal life!"
Well, odds are you probably do! Or at minimum you do things that could be greatly improved by learning and applying many of the tips, tricks, tools, and principles that make someone a better interviewer!
In this episode, Will explores exactly who would benefit from learning to become a better interviewer, including professional interviewers, people in marketing, PR, and client relations, creatives, mental health professionals, and just general folk who want to be better at having conversations with people who they care about getting to know.
And if you're not on that list, you should listen anyways! Odds are there's some way you could grow by learning, at least a little bit, the art of the interview!
How many of you want to create media that is both beautiful and powerful? Media which enthralls people with your technical prowess, moves people's hearts, and changes them for the better?
Me too.
But what about media which is ethical? We don't often think about the ethics behind the media that we create and how we create it.
In this episode, I share my journey from my childhood dream of filmmaking through anorexia, spiritual agnosticism, and hopelessness for change through media and into my present dream of making media that fits all three categories - and now interviewing fits into this!
There are many different types of interviews. News interviews. Podcast interviews. Or just having coffee with a friend - that's an interview. And what I've found over years of doing them is that many of the same principals apply to all the different types.
In this episode, I define what an interview is for the purposes of this podcast. Then I explain why I think that being mindful of interviewing is important not just for people who's job it is to do them but also those who do it casually and your average Joes.