I’m very interested in what makes a good interview, and I like to remember the questions that I hear again and again from interviewers like Charlie Rose, Tim Ferriss, and others. Below are some of the questions I like.
Tim Ferriss asks:
- Do you have any quotes or quotations that you live your life by?
- What are three sources that you have learned a lot from in the last year?
- What is the best investment of money time or energy that you’ve ever made?
- What $1 or less purchase has made the best impact on your life recently.
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What is your favorite documentary or movie?
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If you could put something on a billboard, what would it say?
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What historical figure do you most identify with?
- What is an entrepreneur?
- What are you most courageous about?
- When have you lost your way?
- What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? (Tony Robbins)
- What have you changed your mind on in the last year?
- What is the book that you have gifted most often?
- When you hear the word successful, who is the first person to come to mind.
- Who would you most like to emulate?
- Are there any start up founders or CEOs that you would like to emulate?
- What would the “old you” think about or say to the “new you”?
- What advice would you give yourself 10 years ago?
- What problem do you confront every day that no one has yet solved?
- How do you grade yourself?
Martin Sorrell asks:
- What’s the one thing that keeps you up at night?
Charlie Rose asks asks the shortest questions of any interviewer, as he explains here. Things like:
- “What do you mean? Why? Were you surprised? How did you get there?