People at Work & Play

The informational interview is a method of finding out details about a job or a project from someone who is qualified to talk about it. Steve Wilson describes what it is all about.
Marci Alboher writes in the New York Times about “Mastering the Informational Interview”.

This is yet another facet of networking. There is so much to be gained if the informational interview is well planned and structured.

I made a comment to the effect that it is tempting to rush out and do an informational interview with almost anybody. That would be a big mistake. The secret, I believe, is to first identify a list of people who are qualified to help you. From this list, you need to prune names until you zone in on a few key individuals who probably will give you the best value.

There is no substitute for preparation. The kind of questions you ask sets the tone for the meeting. You ask incisive questions, you will get the best answers. If you ask dumb questions, you are wasting your time and theirs!

The Economic Times carries an interesting interview with Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr, who has been with PriceWaterhouseCoopers for the last 34 years and been CEO since 2002.

Mr. DiPiazza spoke of the challenges faced by organizations in developing countries as they seek to be more global. For firms like his, the fast growing developing economies like India and China represent a high growth segment as compared to the developed countries.

Says Mr. DiPiazza “The developed world is slowing down. But the developing world is accelerating. So there is movement of capital, movement of business. It is clear and irreversible”.

What Mr. DiPiazza had to say about inclusive growth was very telling. He said :” Business cannot succeed in a society that fails. When we say sustainable it means business is not going to live for a year but decades. Responsible businesses have to be committed, not just around the environment but education and health. Its not about charity. It’s about building businesses that get strategic advantage by making sustainable communities. “

He concluded by saying that responsible companies around the world support regulation and compliance, voluntary and imposed, to take business to a more responsible level, otherwise societies will not succeed.

One naturally wishes to see what PWC itself does. Have a look at their section on Corporate Social Responsibility.

 I have always admired David Maister, one of the world’s leading authories on the management of professional service firms. He has written  best-selling books like “Managing the Professional Service Firm” (1993) , “True Professionalism” (1997) and “The Trusted Advisor” (2000).

David says that competence in giving advice does not end with having the right attitude, it calls for using the right language as well. Keeping the listener in mind is a basic principle because recipients of your message understand it in a way which is unique to them.

Telling them ” You have got to do ABC” -even if that is correct - is very likely to evoke emotional resistance. People don’t like to be told that something must be done, even if it is really in their own interests. Try telling a smoker ” You must stop smoking” and see his reaction!

It’s usually better to say something like this: “Let’s go through the options together.  Here are some  we have discussed. Can you think of anything else we may have missed out?  Let’s go through the advantages and disadvantages of each option.  Based on these, doesn’t it look like option ABC would seem to be the best choice? Can you think of a better solution?”

If the listener does not want to follow option ABC, at least the conversation is still alive. If you had said “You have got to do ABC” and he said ” I won’t” you have lost the chance to convince him and made him defensive.

Using the right language makes a huge difference in reaching out to the listener.

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, asking questions rather than making statements is another useful way of starting a conversation to resolve problems.

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