Business View - July 2015 7
Editor’s
Note
One of the more interesting parts of my job as editor of Business View Magazine, are the interviews I get to conduct daily,
with businesspeople, entrepreneurs, and company executives from all over the continent, as well as from many different
sectors of the economy.
And over the last few months, as I’ve settled in to my new position, I’ve noticed a recurring theme during many of my inter-
view sessions that has helped me answer a question I had about being successful that I didn’t even have to ask.
Perhaps I should explain. My job is to ask questions. During the twenty or thirty minutes that I spend on the phone with
my interviewees, the questions I ask tend to be very basic ones, as I am simply trying to solicit the necessary information I
need to write their company profiles. Most questions have to do with company history, any changes in policy or operations
since the company’s founding, what plans the company has for the future, etc. – it’s all pretty fundamental stuff.
But here’s what’s interesting. Many times, after I’ve posed a question, my interviewee will preface the answer with the
following phrase: “That’s a great question.”
Now, I’d like to think that I’m very good at my job, but the reality, as I see it, is that the vast majority of my questions are
not necessarily “great.” As I said, they’re pretty elementary. So why do so many of the successful people I talk to each day
repeat the same four words?
A cynical explanation involves what social scientists describe as a “bridge” technique – a way for an interviewee to either
gain a little time before answering, or as a way to change the subject, entirely. It can also be seen as an easy way to flatter
a questioner who appears to be somewhat intimidating, so that subsequent questions become less challenging.
But I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. I think that the people I talk to who say, “That’s a great question,” are simply
following either a natural or learned tendency to validate the position of the person to whom they are talking (me), while
expressing support for further comprehensive and wide-range probing.
I think that it’s a way that many successful people use to include others, get them to engage more fully, and make them
feel that the interaction taking place is worthwhile and fulfilling, not just on an informational level, but on a personal one,
as well. I think that the folks who say, “That’s a great question,” to me, also spend a lot of time and focus complementing
their employees and colleagues in myriad other ways throughout the day. I think that these people are just displaying over
the phone, and probably in person to others, the same type of leadership skills – inclusion, validation, gratitude - that
have brought them to levels of success they now enjoy.
And the thing is, it works. There has not been one time that the conversation that I have had with a person who has said,
“That’s a great question,” has been anything less than interesting, informative and enjoyable.
Anyway, that’s my take on the subject. What do you think? I know: “That’s a great question!”
Al Krulick
