How I realized that I should stop being a smartass

Why stupid questions lead to smart answers

Recently following the link in Justin Kan’s tweet, I stumbled upon the project called ‘Dorm Room Tycoon’ — the series of audio interviews with startup founders. Beautifully designed website as well as the fact that I host my own podcast made me thinking what is so good about this project. Apart from the stunning design, I see the following things:

• Fairly short interviews (20-40 minutes) not to dilute audience’s attention.
• A title which focuses on a single topic (‘Building a Product that People Want’, ‘Running a Successful Company’, etc.) despite the fact that the interview covers a variety of different themes common among the startup interviews.
• A short summary of the interview (to know what to expect).
• A single quote from the interviewee which highlights his/her philosophy.
• A short bio of the guest as a great introduction.
• Facebook/Linkedin-inspired profile which outlines interviewee’s job title, Twitter, country of residence, blog, education, favorite book, favorite product and the main influencer.

However, one feature of this podcast caught my attention in a more intense way. It reminded me the famous quote attributed to the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht [1], ‘There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers’. Having heard all the startup advice you can possibly get, I tend not to ask questions answers to which seem obvious or where with 99% probability of success I foresee the interviewee’s responses or know their point of view. I always tried to impress my guests. It’s really hard to do as I’m not the one speaking or being interviewed [2]. So I resort(-ed) to asking ‘smart’, complex and well-thought-out questions.

But may be smart questions is not the prerequisite for smart answers. On contrary, the smartest questions I asked usually constrained the interviewee, put him [3] at unease and resulted in very dry, unconvincing and uninsightful responses. The simple, ‘dumb’ questions, on the other hand, empower and relax the guest. He feels control, feels the dominance, feels the advantageous configuration on the chessboard. And that state is super conducive to insights, to counterintuitive statements, to awesome and potentially life-changing ideas. More over, the easy/obvious/amateurish questions are the kind of questions most likely to be asked by the beginners who is exactly the majority of the target audience of my podcast, I feel anyway [4]. This way you, as the host, are channeling your audience. You’re popularizing the science. You’re making hard things simple. Which is hard.

William Channer from DRT, knowingly or unknowingly, realized that. I didn’t. I’ve got to convince myself that asking stupid questions is not stupid. It’s smart. And it makes a better show.

Notes
[1] Keep in mind the quote by Ben Franklin, “Don’t trust the quotes you find online”.
[2] I luckily don’t belong to the category of troubled hosts/interviewers who dominate the conversation and don’t let their guests any chance to talk, constantly interrupting.
[3] I didn’t have the female guests in my podcast. Yet!
[4] I can’t expect successful startup founders to watch/listen to the podcasts. Unless it’s the boring wait-time in the car or a super great guest.