Answer even the toughest, most hostile questions brilliantly!
You're standing in front of an audience...and you've just been asked the question you'd
been dreading - or, worse, a question you never expected. What do you do? Jerry Weissman
has made a career of preparing executives for that moment. He's coached nearly 500 execs
on their IPO roadshows, the most critical presentations of their lives. Now, he's written
an indispensable guide to answering the toughest questions you'll ever face. Using
compelling examples from Presidential debates to stock analyst meetings, Weissman teaches
how to respond with perfect assurance.
Discover how to avoid the defensive, evasive, or contentious answers that have
destroyed political careers and can ruin your credibility. Learn to control your entire
exchange with a hostile questioner: the question, answer, interactions with questioner and
audience, timing, and above all, yourself. Whether you're an executive,
politician, fundraiser, interviewee, teacher, or student - you're judged on how you handle
these moments. Get this book: handle them brilliantly. The world's number 1 presentation
coach shows how to get ready and stay in control - from start to finish!
JERRY WEISSMAN, the world's #1 corporate presentations coach, founded and leads Power
Presentations, Ltd. in Foster City, CA. His private clients include executives at hundreds
of the world's top companies, including Yahoo!, Intel, Cisco Systems, Intuit, Dolby
Laboratories, and Microsoft.
Weissman coached Cisco's executives before their immensely successful IPO road show;
afterward, the firm's chairman attributed at least two to three dollars of Cisco's
offering price to Weissman's work. Since then, he has prepared executives for nearly 500
IPO road shows, helping them raise hundreds of billions of dollars.
Weissman is author of the global bestseller Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling
Your Story (Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2003). In this book, you'll find many
examples of Q&A sessions and political debates in the public arena.
Contents
Introduction: Agility versus Force.
Challenging Questions
Martial Arts
Effective Management Perceived
Baptism under Fire
Case Studies: Bill Clinton; David versus Goliath; Bruce Lee; David
Bellet; Mike Wallace
1. The Critical Dynamics of Q&A.
Defensive, Evasive, or Contentious
Presenter Behavior/Audience Perception
Case Studies: The Classic Bob Newhart Episode; Trent Lott on Black
Entertainment Television; Pedro Martinez; The NAFTA Debate; Two Weeks of an IPO Road show
2. Effective Management Implemented.
Worst Case Scenario
Maximum Control in Groups
The Q&A Cycle
How to Lose Your Audience in Five Seconds Flat
3. You're Not listening!
Case Studies: 1992, 2000, and 2004 U.S. Presidential Debates
4. Active Listening (Martial Art: Concentration).
The Roman Column
Sub-vocalization
Visual Listening
You Still Don't Understand
Yards After Catch
Case Study: 1992 U.S. Presidential Debate in Retrospect
5. Retake the Floor (Martial Art: Self-defense).
Paraphrase
Challenging Questions
The Buffer
Key Words
The Double Buffer
The Power of "You"
The Triple Fail-Safe
Case Study: Colin Powell
6. Provide the Answer (Martial Art: Balance).
Quid Pro Quo
Manage the Answer
Anticipate
Recognize the Universal Issues
How to Handle Special Questions
Guilty as Charged Questions
Point B and WIIFY
Topspin
Media Sound Bites
Case Studies: George W. Bush; John F. Kerry; George H. Bush
Revisited
7. Topspin in Action (Martial Art: Agility).
Michael Dukakis Misses a Free Kick
The Evolution of George W. Bush
Lloyd Bentsen Topspins
Ronald Reagan Topspins
8. Preparation (Martial Art: Discipline).
Lessons Learned
Case Studies: John F. Kennedy versus Richard M. Nixon, Al Gore
versus Ross Perot
9. The Art of War (Martial Art: Self-Control).
The Art of Agility
Force: 1992
Agility: 1996
Agility and Force: 2000
Agility and Force: 2004
The Critical Impact of Debates
Lessons Learned
Case Studies: Al Gore debates Dan Quayle, Jack Kemp, and George W.
Bush; George W. Bush debates John F. Kerry; The Presidential Debates: 1960 through 2004
10. The Role Model.
Complete Control
Case Study: General Norman Schwarzkopf
Endnotes.
Acknowledgments.
Index.
Hardback, 216 pages