The Closing Question That Invites More
Launch library · evergreen read
Ending an interview with a simple invitation, asking whether there is anything the subject expected to be asked but was not, regularly produces some of the strongest material in the entire sitting. It hands the floor back to the subject after an hour of following someone else's agenda. No prepared list, however careful, can fully anticipate everything a subject might still want to say.
The question works because it acknowledges, implicitly, that no list of prepared questions can anticipate everything worth knowing. Subjects often carry a point they have been waiting to make, and a closing invitation gives them the opening to make it without having to force their way into an earlier exchange. Some of the strongest material in a whole sitting arrives only once this final door has been opened.
Interviewers who skip this final step, rushing to end once their list is exhausted, sometimes leave the most valuable material unspoken. A single closing question costs little and occasionally reshapes the entire piece that follows. Skipping it to save a minute or two is a common shortcut, and often a costly one.