Tyler Cowen posits his interviewing style is rare because it requires a personality both intellectually strong enough to be a guest, yet deferential enough to be a host. Many experts are great guests but lack the interest or temperament to subordinate their own views to facilitate another's.
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Instead of a traditional Q&A, structure your show as a two-way conversation. By contributing your own expertise and synthesizing the guest's ideas in real-time, you create a unique, non-commoditized product that can't be replicated, even with the same guest.
The enduring success of iconic cable shows like MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' and CNBC's 'Squawk Box' is attributed not to overly friendly hosts, but to a 'productive tension' between them. This genuine dynamic, featuring differing viewpoints, is more compelling to audiences than manufactured camaraderie.
Senior leaders now value candidates who ask excellent questions and are eager to solve problems over those who act like they know everything. This represents a significant shift from valuing 'knowers' to valuing 'learners' in the workplace.
The best interviews aren't about one person dominating. They're like a long tennis rally where both participants hit the ball hard but aim to keep the conversation going, creating a more engaging and insightful exchange for the audience.
To get past historian Yuval Noah Harari's guarded media persona, Levitt asked why his book *Sapiens* succeeded despite violating a key storytelling rule (lacking characters). This specific, insightful challenge demonstrated deep preparation and prompted a novel, open conversation, breaking through Harari's standard talking points.
Citing Oprah Winfrey, Rubenstein argues the key to great interviewing is not having the best questions but being a great listener. True listening allows the interviewer to pivot and follow up on unexpected answers, turning a rigid Q&A into a genuine conversation that uncovers far deeper insights than a prepared script ever could.
An interviewer's goal is to learn, not to talk. By dominating the conversation, as when the interviewer's question was twice as long as the answer, nothing is learned. A good rule of thumb is to limit your own speaking time to 10-15% to maximize information gathering.
A host or interviewer can never blame a difficult guest for a bad interview. They must take full responsibility for the outcome, even if it means they "picked the wrong elephant." The burden of creating an engaging conversation always falls on the host.
Instead of personally challenging a guest, read a critical quote about them from another source. This reframes you as a neutral moderator giving them a chance to respond, rather than an attacker. The guest has likely already prepared an answer for known criticisms.
The host of "Conversations with Tyler" observed that their best episodes of the year featured a singular focus on a guest's deep expertise (e.g., Buddhism, Saudi Arabia). This focused format allows for deeper, more prepared questioning and ultimately yields more valuable insights.