Media training often teaches executives to “bridge” — to acknowledge a question and then move to their key message. Done well, it’s a useful technique. Done badly, it produces the kind of answer that makes viewers distrust you on sight.
The difference is whether you actually answer the question first.
Answer, then bridge
A weak bridge sounds like this:
Q: Will there be more layoffs this year? A: What I can tell you is that we’re focused on investing in our long-term growth…
A stronger one answers before it moves:
A: I can’t rule it out, and I won’t pretend otherwise. What I can tell you is how we’re making those decisions…
The second answer is still disciplined. But it respects the question, and that buys credibility for everything that follows.
Prepare three messages, not thirty
Before any interview, decide the three things you want the audience to remember. Write each one as a single sentence you could say naturally. Then prepare one proof point for each — a number, an example, a short story.
Everything else you say should connect back to one of those three.
Practice the hardest question out loud
List the question you most hope they won’t ask. Then practice answering it, aloud, until your answer is calm, honest, and short. Most interview disasters happen not because the question was unexpected, but because the leader hoped it wouldn’t come up.
Remember who you’re really talking to
The journalist is not your audience. The people reading or watching are. Speak to them — plainly, without jargon, as though they were sitting across the table. That shift alone changes how you sound.