Communication Probing Techniques

The CEO of Morgan Stanley, James Gorman, asks candidates to give five adjectives that describe them without having time to think about it.

Having more resources means having a lesser impact.

The text suggests focusing on your competitive advantage in terms of Task, People, High Scarcity, Low Value.

The text emphasizes the importance of understanding how you are perceived by others.

In the recruiting question mentioned, candidates have time to carefully choose the adjectives before providing them to the CEO.

Scarcity is considered a low-value factor for competitive advantage.

The text implies that your personal brand is influenced by the resources you offer to your firm.

All key constituents mentioned in the text have an equal say in how you are perceived.

Appreciative Probes are used to create hostility among individuals.

The best response to someone sharing information is often 'Tell me more.'

Great car salespeople often ask customers what their favorite color is.

A lonely Kansas farm girl is transported to a magical land after a hurricane.

Forced choices in questioning can never work effectively in decision-making.

In a Las Vegas-set comedy, three groomsmen lose their buddy during their drunken adventures.

When asked about how many products they had used to treat headaches, the group was offered four choices.

An orphaned boy discovers he's a wizard and starts training to become a chef.

Mirror probes are used to avoid listening to the answers given by others.

A young janitor at M.I.T. needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.

Follow-up questions are not useful in deepening understanding during conversations.

A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a poor artist aboard the R.M.S.Titanic.

'What do you want?' is considered a better question than 'What don't you want?' at a restaurant.

A group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to rescue a paratrooper after D-Day.

Enhancing the clarity of messages involves avoiding redundancy.

Repetition can backfire if you are seen as more authentic when repeating compliments or speeches.

Our digital presence has no impact on how others perceive us.

A simple résumé and a list of references can fully capture our professional capabilities.

Managing our online personas intentionally has no connection to pay.

Impressing current employers through online presence has no impact on potential future employers.

Using an internal social-media platform to chat about food and sports had no correlation with layoffs in the technology company discussed.

The presence of certain words in consultants’ messages had no predictive power regarding layoffs in the technology company.

Social communication with colleagues and superiors holds no value in indicating that a person is a good team player.

Only objective performance measures played a role in predicting layoffs in the technology company.

Discussing work-related topics exclusively on internal social media had a protective effect against layoffs in the technology company.

The article suggests that a strong digital presence can positively impact professional growth and income.