The Answer That Answers a Different Question
Launch library · evergreen read
Occasionally a subject responds fluently and at length, yet on close listening the answer addresses a slightly different question than the one actually asked. This is not always deliberate; sometimes a subject genuinely mishears or misunderstands the intent behind the original question. The mismatch can slip past unnoticed unless the original question is held clearly in mind throughout.
Whether deliberate or accidental, the fix is the same: naming the gap plainly and gently, then repeating the original question in slightly different words to help the subject locate exactly what is being asked of them the second time around. A subject rarely realises the substitution has happened until it is gently pointed out to them directly.
Interviewers who fail to notice this substitution risk publishing an answer that reads as responsive but is not, misleading a reader who has no way of knowing the actual question posed differed from the one apparently being addressed. Publishing the substituted answer without noticing the gap misleads a reader who has no way of catching it themselves.