Before Answering that Tough Question: Stop "Look" and "Listen"

This morning I caught part of a CNBC Squawk Box interview with House Speaker Mike Johnson focused on the potential government shutdown. At the end of the interview, Andrew Ross Sorkin changed tack, asking the Speaker his view on whether the recent indictment of former FBI head James Comey was an example of the “lawfare” Republicans have accused Democrats of in relation to President Trump.

Johnson started his answer with a word that immediately made me cringe. “Listen”, he began, before delivering a response suggesting that the current state is a product of the corruption of the DOJ and FBI by prior administrations.

I call this out not to opine on the response itself. Rather, in a long career in coaching executives how to deftly handle tough questions, I’ve often cautioned clients about starting answers with the words “Look” and “Listen”. Why? Because they are tells, important giveaways that immediately put the interviewer, and anyone watching or listening to the conversation, on guard.

“Look” and “Listen”, if used judiciously in the right places, reside among a group of words and phrases that media trainers call “flags” - devices for focusing listener attention on what the respondent really wants you to remember out of all the messages that might comprise their response. Flags like “The key takeaway is…” are certainly useful for this purpose, especially when cutting to the chase amid a long response. “Look” and “Listen”, however, are most frequently used at the start of a response, not the middle or end. And that usually signals one or both of two things: that the respondent is bristling at a question they don’t like, and/or you’re about to be splattered with spin.

“Look” and “Listen” signal controversy and defensiveness. You hear them often in interviews with politicians - Joe Biden was a prime offender, using “Look” to an extreme, often on successive questions. One could argue this type of frequent usage is a tic, something that becomes a muscle-memory mental device for cueing a set of talking points. But that is not how it’s heard. Instead it’s heard as, “you’re about to get my strong opinion and you may not like it.”

If the goal of “Look” or “Listen” is to convey a strident tone or to admonish, there is a time and place for it. A debate is a great example, but in the average interview or corporate earnings call, it simply colors or undercuts the argument about to be made. Depending on the tone in which the word is delivered, it can even signal contempt for the question. Journalists and investors in particular look for signs that an executive is uncomfortable with a line of questioning, so taking the controversial tone at the start of the answer can suggest you’re rattled, which means you might have already lost the battle in convincing listeners of your argument. It's also useful for corporate execs to bear in mind that AI tools are increasingly assigning "sentiment scores" to earnings transcripts that analyze word choices.

So what’s the solution? Lots of practice is the obvious answer, but it is really about two things: confidence and tone. Both start with well-designed messaging for tough questions that an executive believes in. Belief in a message greatly increases the chance that it will be well-delivered with confidence. And a balanced - or at least unruffled – tone greatly increases the chance that a reasonable listener will consider the response on the merits, rather than immediately filtering it for spin. Finally, including proof points improves both the confidence and tone of most answers.

None of this means you shouldn’t make an argument or attempt to persuade, or even use a strong tone in doing so. After all, communication in an interview or speech setting is about persuasion, delivering messages that you want your audience to believe, especially in responses to uncomfortable questions. But interview settings are also about control - making sure you get your points through confidently, and not weakening your position by taking the bait from an adversarial question. “Look” or “Listen” in this scenario immediately puts you on the back foot.

If all else fails, we once had a client who appreciated our advice on not using “Look” and “Listen”, and established a “Look Jar” where the offending exec had to deposit $5 if using the term to start a response. To be honest, while we always appreciate being heard when we give advice, I’m not sure it worked that well!