Worlds most famous historian has genius interview tip

Worlds most famous historian has genius interview tipWorlds most famous historian has genius interview tipThe Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Power Broker and The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Robert A. Caro, is known for his meticulously researched, thoroughly reported biographies.His voluminous works are celebrated, as is his dedication to his craft Caro and his wife Ina have outright moved their residence multiple times in service of his books, so that they could experience the world as the subjects of his books might have. Collectively, theyve spent tens of thousands of hours poring over documents, conducting interviews, and much mora - all in the service of thoroughly, accurately portraying the lives of his books subjects.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreWhich is why Caros latest book, Working Researching, Interviewing, Writing, is so particularly fascinating.In Working, fo r the first time ever, Caro details the fascinating process behind his work.The book is tremendously useful if youre at all interested in the process of researching and writing non-fiction, but theres one particularly useful piece of advice for anyone Interviews silence is the weapon, silence and peoples need to fill it - as long as the person isnt you, the interviewer, Caro writes in a chapter titled Tricks of the Trade.Caro likens his own interviewing process to those of fictional interviewersInspector Maigretand George Smiley, at least in one distinct way All three have little devices they use to keep themselves from talking. In the case of Maigret, Caro says, he cleans his pipe. And in the case of Smiley, he cleans his glasses.Caro does something far more pedestrian He writes reminders for himself to shut up.When Im waiting for the person Im interviewing to break a silence by giving me a piece of information I want, I write SU (for Shut Up) in my notebook, Caro says. If anyone were to ever look through my notebooks, he would find a lot of SUs there.Whether youre interviewing a subject or interviewing a job candidate, the same logic applies Shut up How that person responds to silence could speak volumes.This article originally appeared on Business Insider.