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In the Line of Fire, 3rd Edition

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In the Line of Fire, 3rd Edition

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  • About eBook Formats
  • This eBook includes the following formats, accessible from your Account page after purchase:

    ePub EPUB The open industry format known for its reflowable content and usability on supported mobile devices.

    Adobe Reader PDF The popular standard, used most often with the free Acrobat® Reader® software.

    This eBook requires no passwords or activation to read. We customize your eBook by discreetly watermarking it with your name, making it uniquely yours.

Description

  • Copyright 2022
  • Dimensions: 6" x 9"
  • Pages: 240
  • Edition: 3rd
  • Book
  • ISBN-10: 0-13-693355-6
  • ISBN-13: 978-0-13-693355-7

Answer the Toughest Questions Brilliantly...And Win Over Your Audience Every Time!

In this fully updated edition, the world's #1 presentation coach enables you to field any question from any audience and to respond with complete assurance.

Drawing on brand-new business case studies, Jerry Weissman shows you how to control the entire Q&A session and to avoid the defensive, evasive, or contentious answers that can ruin careers.

Whether you're a senior executive, job candidate, or anyone else in business, you're judged on how you handle high-pressure exchanges. Get this book and learn how to handle them successfully.

Part of the Jerry Weissman Presentation Trilogy! Also look for updated Editions of:

  • Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story and Designing Your Slides
  • The Power Presenter: Techniques, Style, and Strategy to Be Suasive

I've been asking tough questions for half a century and listening to variously brilliant, boring, evasive or illuminating answers. Jerry Weissman's book will help anyone--anyone--answer even the toughest questions.
--Mike Wallace, Sixty Minutes, CBS News

Sample Content

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Tough Questions

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Table of Contents

Foreword: Baptism Under Fire     xvi
Introduction: Universal Challenges, Universal Solutions     xviii
Chapter One: The High Stakes of Q&A     1
The Pricing of an IPO     1
The Making of a President     2
The Unmaking of a CEO     4
Chapter Two: Tough Questions     5
Why People Ask Tough Questions     5
Why Businesspeople Ask Tough Questions     10
Blood Sport     11
Chapter Three: Presenter Behavior/Audience Perception     15
Presenter Behavior: Defensive     16
Presenter Behavior: Contentious     18
Audience Perception     20
Chapter Four: Four Steps of Preparation     23
Research     24
Anticipate     25
Distill     27
Prepare Your Position     29
Chapter Five: The Q&A Cycle     31
Worst-Case Scenario     31
Maximum Control     32
Open the Floor     32
The Q&A Cycle     34
Yield the Floor     35
Chapter Six: You're Not Listening!     37
How to Lose Your Audience     38
How People Ask Questions     38
Ready, Fire, Aim     45
Chapter Seven: Active Listening     47
Yield the Floor     47
Subvocalization     56
Physical Listening     56
Yards After Catch     60
Chapter Eight: The Power of the Buffer     61
Retake the Floor     61
The General's Strategy     63
The Buffer     63
Buffers for the Seven Universal Issues     65
Industry- or Company-Specific Buffers     74
Chapter Nine: Structurally Challenging Questions     77
Negative Questions     78
Irrelevant Questions     80
Multiple Questions     81
Statements     86
Questions About Presented Content     89
Summary     91
Eight Buffer Benefits     91
Chapter Ten: Buy (Thinking) Time with Buffers     93
Paraphrase     93
Double Buffers     96
The Triple Fail-Safe     99
Buffer Options Summary     100
Key Word(s) Buffers in Action     102
The Making of a Master     109
Chapter Eleven: Slip, Slide, and Spin     113
Evasion     113
Valid Reasons to Decline an Answer     121
Chapter Twelve: The Quid Pro Quo Answer     123
Quid Pro Quo / Seven Universal Issues     124
Manage the Time     127
The First Three Steps of Q&A Cycle     129
Chapter Thirteen: Special Questions / Special Answers     131
Tangential     131
False Assumption     132
Unknown     135
Forward Looking     139
Downstream     139
Guilty as Charged     140
Point B and WIIFY     147
Topspin     148
Chapter Fourteen: Topspin     149
Topspin     150
The Suasive Q&A Cycle     155
Chapter Fifteen: Finishing Touches     173
Preparation     173
Verbalization     175
Chapter Sixteen: The Role Model     179
Summary     186
Endnotes     189
Appendix A: Video Links     201
Index     211

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