Okay, are you ready for the number one tip when it comes to answering questions? Here it is. When you hear a tough question, an uncomfortable question, unpleasant question. It's your job to rewrite the question to make it an easy question, a simple question, a positive question. This relates to one of the earlier tips about not quibbling with reporters or trying to correct them or challenging them, telling them you don't agree with their assumptions. You got to do all of it silently.

In your own brain, you hear a question that you think is tough, mean stupid, negative, hostile biased. All that means is you have not done your job yet. It is your job to rewrite the question, to make it an easy question for you a neutral question. Please note, I'm not saying you should just ignore the question. I'm not saying you should dodge the question. I'm saying you need to rewrite the question to make it easier for you to answer.

You still need to do this in a way that a fair minded person who heard the question heard your answer feels that you were responsive in some way and didn't dodge. Let me give you an example. Quite often I'm brought to a foreign country. I'm working with a president of a country a Prime Minister for media training or high level political figure, and political reporters may find out and come up to me and start bombarding me with questions and ask me, TJ, don't you feel guilty and ashamed about teaching people how to lie and spin up escape? Now that sounds tough, right? That sounds mean that sounds confrontational.

How do I answer that question? I don't teach people how to lie. And I don't teach people to lie. But I don't want to say I don't teach people to lie, because that sounds like what a professional lying teacher would say. I don't teach people how to lie and therefore don't feel guilty. But I don't want to say I don't feel guilty about my profession, because that kind of sounds like what a profile of a mobster or criminal would say.

So I don't want to talk about feeling guilty. So how do I answer this question? I don't agree with a final premise of teaching people to lie. I don't agree with the middle premise of feeling guilty. Well, what is this reporter really asking, TJ, how do you feel about being in your profession? Well, now it's the easiest question in the world.

I feel great to be in a profession, right? Teach leaders how to communicate to the world about the good things that organizations are doing. The beauty of that answer is not that it's specially brilliant, or there's one Wonderful quotes, but the beauty of that answer is no part of it can be edited down to make me look negative, defensive, stupid. Nothing can be used from that to make me look bad, and no fair minded person can claim my dodge the question. I answered the question on my own terms. The reporter's going to have to deduce I don't feel bad about being in my profession without me literally saying that.

But a fair minded person could deduce that a fair minded person could deduce I don't agree with the premise that I teach people to lie without me having to say all that and get my fingerprints on it. So of all the skills when it comes to answering questions, especially for people, the highest level of government, politics and business, this is the skill that's most essential when you master that. interviews are Much easier you don't feel the pressure you don't feel like you're in combat. Because you no longer hear negative attacking questions. You got the ability to rewrite the questions, not dodge them, rewrite them to make them neutral and easy for you.