Christopher Lydon's "Letterman List" of Interviewing tips really made me think about what it means to interview, while making me think how many of these concepts are applicable to plain communication.
A good interviewer should be able to engineer the conversation to provoke emotions. I know this can easily be construed as "make people angry", but what I really have in mind is this: imagine you're at a party with a bunch of people you don't know. No one is looking at eye to eye and everyone has their guard up. We've all been in that situation. But a good interviewer should be able to get everyone to lighten up and bounce to life. Suddenly arms aren't crossed- they're flailing wildly on the whims of the topic that they're clearly enjoying indulging in.
The advice of establishing three points serves to guide the interviewee as to the scope of what this person could reach in his or her dialogue. You may not naturally get responses as thorough as you'd like, but that's what follow-up questions are for. But it's all about spirit, and spontaneity is the stuff of what makes an exciting conversation.
Ultimately, a good interviewer is a manipulator. But not an impersonal one. You get to listen to someone and provoke them to share with you a little slice of themselves. It is the art of empathy.
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