What a WSJ Correspondent and a Hoover Historian Taught Me About Interviewing
This morning, I drove down from San Francisco to Palo Alto to meet two friends.
My goals are simple:
I want to learn how to conduct good interviews for Mother of Success.
I want to learn K’s story.
As for the first goal, who would be better to ask than Leo, the Hoover Institute oral history researcher, and K, former senior correspondent at the Wall Street Journal? Even more, K has left journalism, and is now the co-founder of an AI startup in web searching space that just closed their $47M series A. I’m very curious about why K made that jump.
I decided to write both morning chats into one blog post, because when I asked both of them how to conduct good interviews, one during the morning coffee and one at lunch, both of them said:
Curiosity.
And K double emphasized “Genuine Curiosity.”
It’s that simple!
Everything else, such as how to email, how to cold outreach, how to record and transcribe, and all other technical questions, are easy to follow.
Leo also emphasized the personality behind the media. That’s the soul, the core of any media. That made me think, whenever I asked ChatGPT to write for me, it sounds very grownup-like, very professional, but at the same time, very boring and machine-like. The humanity part is wiped. So, I’ve decided to type down everything by myself on a Pages document, and ask ChatGPT to correct only the grammar for me. [Excuse that English is my second language.]
When I asked K, what made him bravely transition from a super acclaimed journalist to startup founder, he didn’t jump to answer the question immediately. Instead, we talked about the life goal first.
K said, he would wonder, how would his daughter remember him. The idea of only “my dad is rich” isn’t very appealing. That would be pessimistic! Instead, he hopes his daughter can proudly say, “my dad is a respectable person.” He has achieved respect, undoubtedly, in journalism as a Pulitzer finalist. Now he decided to end it on a high note, and start fresh again in the startup journey.
I found his courage immensely respectable.
He said life goal should act like the North Star, and cleared all the noises around it. Sometimes, it’s more important to decide what not to do, when there are tremendous options in front of you. He also recommended setting an abstract goal, not tied to money or title. Thinking to myself, I want to experience the breadth of life as much as possible. My role model is the French photographer and writer Sophie Calle. I find her Blind series and Hotel series very inspiring.
Coming back to conducting interviews, if I could add one more, I would say: listening.
When facing customers, even during sales calls, if we listen carefully to what the person in front of us is saying, and be genuinely willing to help them. That would make everything so much better, and so much smoother.
In short, be genuinely curious about the person in front of you, and listen to them carefully.
It’s equally true when conducting oral history documentation, when journalists report, as well as when startup founders are running user interviews, and when doing customer discovery calls.