Larry King, the radio and television host and interviewer, earned his living and his reputation by asking questions. And not just simple questions, but often powerful questions. He was less interested in the facts than he was in the person. With his death this past week at the age of 87, it is interesting to look back at some of his thoughts on interviewing, listening, and asking questions. Here are a few quotes and the philosophy that guided his radio and television shows:
- “I love asking questions. I’ve been doing it all my life. When I was 9 years old, I asked the bus driver, ‘Why do you want to drive a bus?’ And I’m still doing that, ‘Why do you want to drive a bus?’”
- “Every day of my life is a learning experience, and I’m fascinated by everything. My curiosity in all those years has never dimmed since I was a little kid. I like interviewing weathermen – ‘Where does weather begin?’ I’ve asked that question to weathermen – you know the answer? West Africa. All weather begins in West Africa.”
- “I never learned anything while I was talking.”
- “If I’m going to learn, I must do it by listening.”
- “The key to interviewing is listening. If you don’t listen, you’re not a good interviewer. I hate interviewers who come with a long list of prepared questions, because they’re going to depend on going from the fourth question to the fifth question without listening to the answer. … I concentrate solely on the answer, and I trust my instincts to come up with more questions.”
- “Simple questions are the best. Because when you think—I watch some of these press conferences, and the question takes longer than the answer.”
- When Larry King was asked “What’s the best interview question?” He responded, “’Why?’ is the greatest question because you can’t answer it in one word, and it forces the other person to think.”
- “‘What happened?’ That’s the simplest question in the world. ‘Why’d you do this?’ ‘What happened?’”
- “When the Gulf War was on, and we would have guests on every night associated with the war: writers, politicians, generals. And I always asked the same question: ‘What happened today?’ I wasn’t there. You were there. You were covering it. ‘What happened?’ That’s the simplest question in the world. ‘Why’d you do this?’ ‘What happened?’”
- “If you’re the Prime Minister of Great Britain, and you get up in the morning, your first few questions should be: ‘What happened?’ ‘Why?’ ‘How is this happening?’ And you don’t know – you have to learn. We’re all learning. We’re learning every day.”
- “I never use the word ‘I’ when I interview someone. I think it’s irrelevant.”
- “I don’t pretend to know it all. Not, ‘What about Geneva or Cuba? ′ I ask, ‘Mr. President, what don’t you like about this job? ′ Or ‘What’s the biggest mistake you made? ′ That’s fascinating.”
- “When I ask a question, it’s almost like I’m saying, ‘Help me.’ I think basically that’s what we’re all doing: ‘help me understand.’”
- “I love doing what I do. I love asking questions. I love being in the mix.”
- “You cannot talk to people successfully if they think you are not interested in what they have to say, or you have no respect for them.”
- “Listen to the answer because the answer can often give you the next question.”
- “The secret of success is an absolute ungovernable curiosity.”
- “It is the interviewee that is the story, not the interviewer. Your job is to put the ball on the tee and let the interviewee knock it out of the park. That’s why you should ask simple-but-specific questions about the interviewee in their moment.”
- “I start very simple. ‘What is it like to pitch in the World Series?’ Then I follow up. The most important question is not the first one, it’s the follow up. That’s where the honesty is.”
- “Even when they give you some kind of canned answer, you ask, ‘Why? Or Why not?’ Then it becomes a real conversation.”
- “The first rule of my speaking is: listen!”
- “The worst way to ask a question is by making a long, rambling statement, then asking the panelist ‘what do you think of that?’”
- “Remember, asking questions is the secret of good conversation. I’m curious about everything, and if I’m at a cocktail party, I often ask my favorite question: ‘Why?’ If a man tells me that he and his family are moving to another city: ‘Why?’ A woman is changing jobs: ‘Why?’ Someone roots for the Mets: ‘Why?’ On my television show, I probably use this word more than any other. It’s the greatest question ever asked, and it always will be. And it is certainly the surest way of keeping a conversation lively and interesting.”
- “I just love asking questions. I love people. It’s in my DNA. I’m cursed – and blessed.”
What value do you see in asking questions? Are you in the habit of telling or asking?
