Interview Question Ladder With Examples
Go from surface answers to real stories.
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Create an interview question ladder for [GUEST_TYPE] on the topic [TOPIC]. Use this approach: each ladder starts with an easy factual question, then moves to "how", then "why", then to a specific moment, then to a reflection.
Example ladder:
1. What do you do day to day? (fact)
2. How did you get into it? (how)
3. Why that path rather than the safer one? (why)
4. Take me to the moment you almost quit. What was happening? (specific moment)
5. Looking back, what would you tell yourself then? (reflection)
Write six ladders of five questions for this guest on different themes: beginnings, mistakes, craft, relationships, risk, and the future. Add a probe for each rung ("What did that look like?", "Who else was there?").
Also give: ten follow-up phrases that invite detail without leading; five ways to handle one-word answers; how to recover when the guest deflects; and a rule of thumb for how much I should talk (under 20 percent). Mark questions that might be sensitive and add a softer wording for each.
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