Have you ever asked someone a question and not received the answer you were expecting? Politicians are schooled in redirecting the question to something else if the correct answer is not in their best interest. Many television personalities won’t push for the correct answer if they are convinced that the respondent probably wasn’t going to produce a straight answer anyway. But of course, an informed audience can see that the person was evading a well-crafted question and that alone is answer enough, even though it was the right question but the wrong answer.
And sometimes the issue is not asking the right question. I don’t interview people for a living so
my experience is limited, but I still remember a great example a number of
years ago in my front yard. My neighbor
had her young grandson outside and she introduced the boy to me. I noticed that he was wearing a sweatshirt
with the brand of OLD NAVY emblazoned on the chest. So, in the interest of interacting with the child,
I innocently asked him what that was on his sweatshirt, expecting him to proudly
announce his allegiance to the brand all the kids were wearing at the time.
The young boy looked down at his sweatshirt and pondered my
question for a few seconds. Then he looked
up at me and proudly gave me his unfiltered reply; “LETTERS”! Needless to say, I was completely caught off
guard because that’s not the answer I had expected. Then I laughed and said “That’s absolutely correct,
even though I was expecting something else!”
Later I reflected on the moment and realized I should have asked what
those letters on his sweatshirt spelled?
I had asked the wrong question and received the right answer! We’ve got to think before we speak (and be
specific). That applies to BOTH the
questions and the answers!
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