Selling Yourself in Confrontation and Media Interviews 99
As with the audible pause, eye movement tends to make an
audience think “dishonest,” “shifty-eyed,” “untrustworthy,” and
“looking for a way out of a bad situation.” But if you look directly
at your adversary, you will give the impression of being honest,
thoughtful, reasonable, and trustworthy. And once again, your
adversary is thrown off balance, wondering what’s coming next.
He won’t know where to look.
You are in control.The considered response
I call the pause the digestive of the mind. It will give you valu-
able time to frame your answer to a hostile or loaded question. As
you do so, first eliminate the negative, the accusations, and the
buzzwords from the questions. By all means, answer the question
and answer honestly. That’s most important. But don’t give the
questioner what he or she is looking for—don’t repeat buzzwords.
Don’t deny accusations. Don’t tell him he’s wrong or that he
has his facts mixed up.
Even though we do these things quite naturally, believe it or
not, they’re wrong. They’re wrong from the perspective of win-
ning the audience. Use the pause to translate the question into
what it would have been if it had been asked by a decent human
being. That will help you answer from your perspective.
For example:- “Why are you killing and maiming?”
Becomes: “Tell me about your company’s safety record.” - “Why are you ripping off the customer?”
Becomes: “Tell me about your pricing policy.” - “Why are you cheating our kids out of a decent
education?”
Becomes: “Tell me about the progress the schools are
making.” - “Why are you promoting a risky tax scheme?”
Becomes: “What does your tax plan do for me?”
Never, never!
Obviously, the untrained will answer: