Brandon Stanton Quotes

My basic approach to interviewing is to ask the basic questions that might even sound naive, or not intellectual. Sometimes when you ask the simple questions like 'Who are you?' or 'What do you do?' you learn the most.

I'm not a go-in-for-the-kill kind of interviewer. It's a great thing to me, that kind of interviewer, but I'm not it. It doesn't play to my strengths at all. I like to interview people who are interested in telling their story and tell it as truthfully as they can.

To do a really good interview, you have to be truly interested in the person.

In general, being likeable is more about being interested - rather than interesting. Indeed, a good way to convince someone that you are an awesome conversationalist is to simply shut up and let the other person talk.

Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.

The biggest mistake is believing there is one right way to listen, to talk, to have a conversation - or a relationship.

The way I work, the interview never becomes larger than the person being interviewed.

You better arm yourselves to answer your children's and grandchildren's questions... no matter what the question is... without being judgmental.

My advice to all interviewers is: Shut up and listen. It's harder than it sounds.

When you meet people, show real appreciation, then genuine curiosity.

I remember very vividly what it's like to be a child. The adults you liked were the ones who listened to you when you spoke and gave you time to say what you wanted to say and actually listened, and quite often reacted as a result of what you'd said.

If you want to be listened to, you should put in time listening.

People unconsciously know when you are not listening to them. Then they say 'No' to you.

In Africa, listening is a guiding principle. It's a principle that's been lost in the constant chatter of the Western world, where no one seems to have the time or even the desire to listen to anyone else.

The most important guideline when it comes to argument is the golden rule. If someone were addressing your point, what tone, what overall approach would you find persuasive and want her to use? Whatever that is, do it yourself.

The biggest mistake most people make when it comes to listening is they're so focused on what they're going to say next or how what the other person is saying is going to affect them that they fail to hear what's being said.

Best strategy for a first date is to ask her questions. Just keeping asking her questions about herself. Her life, her job, her friends, her taste in movies and music and everything. People mostly just want to talk about themselves, so let her do that.

I think the key to being a journalist is getting your subject to feel comfortable enough to talk about stuff they want to talk about and the stuff they like and don't like, and still feel comfortable about it.

A good listener is not someone with nothing to say. A good listener is a good talker with a sore throat.

[John F.] Kennedy was a great listener. As he listened his eyes got larger, and he looked at you, and you knew you had been looked at and listened to.

When two people talk with mutual respect and listen with a real interest in understanding another point of view, when they try to put themselves in the place of another, to get inside their skin, they change the world, even if it is only by a minute amount, because they are establishing equality between two human beings.

I try to ask a question rather than give a speech.

I've come to terms with the fact that standing and screaming in someone's face about how wrong they are is never gonna make anyone change.

Listen with an open ear is the first, most important thing to do. From there, if people feel like learning more, that's when you can kind of go deeper.

I think that's one of the greatest gifts that I have: that I can get someone to open up, and all you have to do is ask a question and not feel like you need a response.