In the Line of Fire

by Jerry Weissman

Overview

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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780136933434
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	12/08/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jerry Weissman is the founder and president of Suasive, Inc., formerly Power Presentations, Ltd. Weissman began his career as a staff producer-director of public affairs and news programs at CBS TV in New York, where he learned the skills to master the building blocks of every presentation: a clear, compelling story, well-designed graphics, natural delivery, and the art of Q&A.




In 1988, Weissman brought these skills to Silicon Valley. In short order, he established himself as the coach for Silicon Valley CEOs developing their IPO roadshows by teaching them to tell their business stories through the eyes of their investors. In doing so, he helped their companies raise hundreds of billions of dollars. After amassing an elite client list of IPOs, he soon widened his focus to coaching public and privately held companies to develop and deliver all types of business presentations. Today his methodology has helped thousands of companies on every continent deliver high-stakes presentations with clarity, confidence, and maximum persuasion.




In addition to this book, Weissman is the author of three other books on presentations and public speaking: The Power Presenter: Techniques, Style, and Strategy to Be Suasive; Presentations in Action; and Winning Strategies for Power Presentations, all Pearson publications.

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