The Warm Up Question
Launch library · evergreen read
The first question of an interview rarely appears in the final piece, yet it shapes everything that follows. A low stakes opening, easy to answer and free of any hidden test, lets a subject find their voice in the room before anything difficult is asked of them. A question about the room, the weather, or the journey there usually serves the purpose well enough.
Warm up questions work best when they are genuinely easy rather than only pretending to be. A question that sounds casual but secretly carries weight tends to be spotted quickly, and a subject who feels tricked in the first minute will guard themselves for the rest of the sitting. A subject who senses a hidden test in an easy question tends to answer everything more cautiously afterward.
Given a real chance to settle, most subjects loosen within a few exchanges: their sentences lengthen, their answers stop sounding rehearsed, and the interview proper can begin. The minute spent on an easy question is rarely wasted, however tempting it is to rush straight to the substance. That settling period is rarely visible in the final piece, yet it shapes almost everything recorded after it.