Why is it so hard to prep a CEO for a media interview?

What should be a highly efficient exercise to help a busy executive deliver a confident and controlled performance often ends up being a fraught process that produces mediocre or bland coverage. This is frustrating for both the CEO and the PR team and can undermine confidence for future interviews.

In my experience, most briefings fall somewhere between disastrous and efficient. Senior executives often complain to media trainers about receiving too much irrelevant information in their interview briefing documents. For their part, the PR often struggle to understand the CEO’s needs due to unrealistic expectations, lack of access or poor communication.

The PR and the CEO have different roles in interview prep

To create a high-impact, low-pain briefing, here are my tips for PRs and CEOs. They are based on years of experience training and talking to senior executives and PR professionals. Special thanks needs to go to one of my superstar PR clients who gave me insights into how he and his colleagues prep their leadership team. He doesn’t want to be named so will be referred to only as the Kaiser Soze of comms.

If you have a briefing system that works better for you, keep it. And ultimately, effective interview preparation depends on experience, the CEO’s personality, and the relationship and trust between the CEO and PR.

1. What should the PR focus on ?

• Talk to the CEO or their team to understand their briefing requirements before scheduling interviews. Some CEOs want a one pager, some want longer documents and some want to do out loud practice with their advisers. The main thing is to have the conversation early.
• If your CEO refuses your advice to prepare, then you could consider asking someone in their team to suggest it. You could point out that an interview is a performance and that no actor goes on stage unprepared. If they have had media training previously, suggest a refresh. CEOs at the world’s most valuable companies always prep (with internal or external advisers) before major interviews. And it’s normal for them to have media training before quarterly results interviews.
• Scope the interview opportunity with the journalist to assess its relevance and set parameters.
• In addition to the basic questions (audience, type of piece, CEO’s contribution, deadline etc), you could ask some more advanced ones:
• These include: who else are you talking to, do you know your angle yet, how far are you through the story? The journalist may not have answers to these questions yet but asking them will help you set parameters.
• Contrary to the advice up top, I have rarely come across a CEO who wants a long briefing document. My advice is to prepare a concise two-page brief (in a good font size) with info about the interview/journalist, as well as the organisation’s objectives and expectations from the CEO. Include few key messages at the top. These should be supported by relevant facts and examples. If you don’t already have these crib sheets set up, start working on them with your expert colleagues ahead of interviews so that you have stuff to pick from at short notice.
• Include a couple of tough questions on the really hot issues, and your suggested responses.
• Localise corporate messages for the journalist’s audience. This is where you can really add value.
• Work with the CEO’s PA to schedule adequate preparation and rehearsal.
• Consider using an external media trainer to help prepare for high-profile interviews.
  
  

2. What should the PR not do?

• Don’t tell the CEO that quote approval is possible and don’t make it a condition of the interview. If they are experienced, they will already know this. If they aren’t, then it’s time to have the conversation about what you can and can’t control when talking to journalists.
• Refrain from writing a full script for the CEO. Interviews require a natural speaking style and they need to own their material.
• Confuse more with better. New or anxious PRs often bulk up the brief with endless talking points, marketing messages or mission statements. None of this is helpful and you won’t be happy when the interview prep session turns into Lord of the Flies.
  
  

3. What should the CEO focus on?

• Take the interview seriously and clarify expectations with the PR. This should include the purpose, your role (delivering a quote, discussing multiple markets, etc.) as well as which key messages to emphasise.
• Dedicate proper time to prepare including rehearsal. An interview is a performance and skills constantly need to be refreshed.
• Be open to working with an external media coach if the PR recommends it. Even Barack Obama had regular coaching and rehearsal to help develop his skills and sharpen his media appearances.
• Work with the PR to develop messages based on planned quotes, facts, examples, and personal insights.
• Have an opinion that doesn’t sound like the company’s main competitors. For example, I have yet to meet a senior pharma executive who doesn’t offer a version of: “What makes us different is that we REALLY care about the patients,” which is both blindingly obvious and dull. It’s more than ok for the CEO to bring their personal viewpoint to an interview, provided it’s aligned with the company’s objectives. Tip: don’t confuse being interesting with being provocative. Ignore Elon Musk: have you seen Tesla’s share price lately?
• Share specific initiatives or success stories that demonstrate the company’s commitment and set them apart from competitors.
• Verbalise planned quotes to ensure they suit his or her speaking style.
• Practice control techniques and tough Q&A scenarios.
  
  

4. What should the CEO not do?

• Avoid assuming the PR can handle everything; take ownership of interview preparation.
• Refrain from memorising a script; focus on understanding key messages and responding naturally.
• Do not attempt to memorise numerous tough Q&A scenarios; refresh your use of control techniques instead.
• Avoid negotiating with journalists during or after interviews; maintain professionalism.
• Understand that statements made in interviews are fair game for journalists; control the outcome by managing your own behaviour effectively.

In summary

Ultimately, good interview prep comes down to the CEO and PR understanding and executing their different but complimentary roles. Even with good prep, some interviews won’t go as well as liked because it’s always a game of probabilities when talking to journalists. But good communication, the right kind of prep and efficient use of time are all good ways to tilt the odds in your favour.

And, if you want to read something about briefing executives for policy meetings you can read Maria Linkova-Nijs’ excellent guest piece featured in Tom Moylan’s newsletter.