In the Line of Fire, 3rd edition

Published by Pearson FT Press (December 8, 2021) © 2022

  • Jerry Weissman
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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
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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