092: The Art of the Perfect Interview with Jordan Harbinger

Overview

On this episode of Build Your Network, Host Travis Chappell interviews Jordan Harbinger, Wall Street Lawyer turned talk show host, social dynamics expert, and entrepreneur.

Topics Discussed:

  • About Jordan Harbinger
    • Host of the Jordan Harbinger show.
      • Deconstructs the playbooks of the most successful people on earth.
      • Shares their strategies, perspectives, and insights with us.
    • One of the best and most sought-after coaches in the world.
    • Did another show called The Art of Charm for 11 years.
      • Most of the team came with him when he moved to the Jordan Harbinger show.
    • If he’d stayed with the old brand he would have been lazily plodding along.
      • He now gets to lean on his network and work with his friends.
      • He gets to grind again and build a new brand.
    • In three months The Jordan Harbinger Show could be bigger than The Art of Charm ever was.
  • Were there any books or audio you listened to when building your interview skills?
    • Watched around 300 Larry King interviews to see what he did and did not like.
    • Jordan is a natively digital interviewer.
    • The show is the product for the Jordan Harbinger show.
    • 900-1500 edits in the show to cut out any flubs, tangents, unnecessary promotions, jokes that don’t land, etc.
      • A minute of a listener’s time is worth a lot to a listener.
    • Used to be an attorney, he considers himself an advocate for the listener.
    • It’s not about the guest, it’s about what the guest can teach the listener.
  • How many hours do you research your guest before you have them on, and what does that mean?
    • Spends an average of 6-10 hours, sometimes 12.
      • The majority of that is him reading their book and taking notes.
      • He’s reading the whole of the book, cover to cover, including prologue and epilogue.
      • Watches their Ted Talk, reads the comments.
      • Goes on Amazon and reads their critical reviews.
      • Reads the research that goes into the book.
      • Reads their Wikipedia page and the talk page.
    • When you go into the interview, do you have questions planned out ahead of time, or just topics?
      • Did an interview and the theme was courage.
        • He highlights different things in different colors in his show prep.
        • Dug deeper into the initial story to turn it into a learning episode.
        • Trying to get the thought process and mental models out of the guest.
      • When you started the Jordan Harbinger Show, did you realize you wanted to perfect the interviewing skill?
        • It took a long time, but he doesn’t think that “follow your passion” is good advice.
        • You’ve got to bring your passion with you.
        • When he started to get good at interviewing
        • There was never a point where he admitted he was talented at it.
          • He didn’t want to rest or pat himself on the back.
        • He hires professionals to analyze his show and give him feedback and next steps to improve.
      • Do you teach anyone the art of interviewing, or just focus on self-improvement?
        • He hasn’t taught yet formally, but it will make sense eventually to teach it.
        • Some people teach the absolute basics, but nothing advanced.
        • You’ve got to get past the first bit of sound bites before you can get to the real stuff.
      • Is there somebody right not that you watch a lot to hone your abilities?
        • Anderson Cooper
        • Charlie Rose
        • Anybody on 60 Minutes
      • Do you believe that what you know or who you know is more important, and why?
        • Definitely who you know.
        • People should admire that you’re able to connect.
        • People tend to think of networking as smarmy because they’re only networking up.
        • Networking is important because your relationships aren’t something that can be taken from you.
        • Short term, your network’s going to be great. Long term, your network’s going to be crucial.
      • How would you define networking?
        • How to help other people without the expectation of anything in return in a scalable way.
          • Not just giving away your services for free all the time.
          • Potentially connecting others in a way that’s beneficial to them.
        • People don’t want to owe something to somebody and then have it blow up in their face.
        • People are worried that if they do enough, they’re going to have to do something they don’t want to do.
        • People think about networking transactionally.
      • Are you worried about someone taking advantage of you?
        • It’s pretty rare that someone takes advantage of you.
        • If you find that people are always taking advantage of you, it’s probably you.
        • A good way to find out if someone’s taking advantage of you is to ask them for something simple.
        • If you have helped someone and they’re not willing to help you, even with small things, they’re probably taking advantage of you.

The Random Round:

  • What profession other than your own do you think it would be fun to attempt?
    • Stand-up comedy
  • If you could sit on a park bench for an hour with anyone past or present, who would it be?
    • Darren Brown – illusionist that manipulates people
  • How do you like to learn best, books, blogs, podcasts or video?
    • Audiobooks
  • What is one of the best audiobooks you’ve listened to recently?
    • We Need to Talk by Celeste Headlee
    • The Code of Trust
  • Give us a glimpse of your morning routine?
    • Wake up really early and go for a 2-3 hour walk.
    • Calls wife
    • Eats something
    • Starts the day
  • What is your go-to pump up song:
    • Doesn’t have one
  • What are you not very good at?
    • Cooking
  • Find him online:
    • The Jordan Harbinger Show

Tweetable Quotes:

  • A minute of a listener’s time is worth a lot to that listener.
  • It’s not about the guest, it’s about what the guest can teach the listener.
  • You’ve got to bring your passion with you.
  • Relationships are the most important things that you have.

Resources Mentioned:

Buildyournetwork.com – Podcast website

BYN.media/fb – Facebook Group

The Jordan Harbinger Show

We Need to Talk by Celeste Headlee

The Code of Trust

0 Comments

Recent Posts

Popular Tags