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I don't think those CEOs can answer those types of questions. Some of these types of questions seem to just be gotchas, where engaging with the question at all
by Mirioron 7y ago
I don't think those CEOs can answer those types of questions. Some of these types of questions seem to just be gotchas, where engaging with the question at all leads to a bad outcome. Any kind of public deliberation on "well, what if your company just fails/is evil" could negatively impact how well the company does. Why would a CEO even tempt fate like this?
If the world wasn't so keen on taking sound bites out of context, then maybe you could have CEOs give you meaningful answers about these questions in interviews. But the world does love their sound bites and thus the only thing they can say is PR-speak.
- goalieca 7y agoHe’s not able to refute the premise of the question. So.. not really a gotcha.
- Mirioron 7y agoThese types of questions are gotchas because any kind of refutation is going to include complex reasoning. You can't present those kinds of answers, because media organizations will just pick and choose their soundbites from it. You'll be the bad guy regardless what the answer is as long as you try to seriously answer the question. Imagine having a discussion about abortion where the other party can ask whatever contrived question they want and somebody will later pick and choose soundbites from your answers. What's the chance that you can properly defend your position without giving away soundbites that can make you sound like a lunatic? I think it's very low. You instead say something along the lines of "That is what I believe because we should respect X's rights" and then shift the topic slightly. That's what these CEOs are doing.