{"id":1347,"date":"2011-11-08T06:00:35","date_gmt":"2011-11-08T06:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=1347"},"modified":"2011-11-24T19:38:53","modified_gmt":"2011-11-24T19:38:53","slug":"surviving_and_shining_through_a_gotcha_moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2011\/11\/08\/surviving_and_shining_through_a_gotcha_moment\/","title":{"rendered":"Surviving and Shining Through a \u201cGotcha\u201d Moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gotcha!<\/p>\n

In journalism that term describes a reporting style that sees a reporter confront an interviewee with obscure facts or innuendos in a public forum. \"gotcha\"\u201cGotcha journalism\u201d, as it is known, is designed to make the interviewee squirm.<\/p>\n

These \u201cgotcha\u201d confrontations are not limited to the world of journalism. They can blind-side any leader.<\/p>\n

But you can survive and even shine in a gotcha moment, if you pay attention to four key factors.<\/p>\n

#1: The potential<\/span> for a gotcha moment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anytime your leadership takes you into a public, unscripted environment the opportunity for a gotcha moment exists.<\/p>\n

#2: The dynamics<\/span> of a gotcha moment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gotcha moments are all about tone and timing. The content of a gotcha question can seem reasonable on the surface. What gives it away is a tone that has a subtly abrasive edge, and the public timing of the question.<\/p>\n

#3: The purpose<\/span> of a gotcha moment<\/strong><\/p>\n

A gotcha question is not designed to elicit information. It is designed to further an agenda contrary to your own by attempting to publicly undermine your position.<\/p>\n

#4: The defusing<\/span> of a gotcha moment<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can not only survive a gotcha moment, but you can actually shine through such an encounter by recognizing it for what it is, and by graciously but directly calling a \u201cfoul\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bill Hybels relates a classic example of this in his book Axiom.<\/em><\/p>\n

Recently in a large public forum, a man asked a question that was so sarcastic and mean-spirited that our security team rose to the ready\u2026I said, \u201cIn golf when a player hits a terrible tee shot, his friends may be gracious enough to give him a mulligan. A do-over shot with no penalty attached to it. Just pure grace. Now sir, your question was clearly a personal attack aimed at me with not a shred of evidence to back up what you\u2019re saying. I\u2019m willing to answer your question honestly, right here in front of everybody, but only if you\u2019re willing to re-state it in a kinder way.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s<\/span> how to handle a gotcha moment.<\/p>\n

Leaders know that it is usually a question not of \u201cif\u201d, but of \u201cwhen\u201d a gotcha moment will arise.<\/p>\n

But if you can have the presence of mind to respond with clarity and grace you can not only survive the moment, your leadership can actually shine through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gotcha! In journalism that term describes a reporting style that sees a reporter confront an interviewee with obscure facts or innuendos in a public forum. \u201cGotcha journalism\u201d, as it is known, is designed to make the interviewee squirm. These \u201cgotcha\u201d confrontations are not limited to the world of journalism. They can blind-side any leader. But…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[736,266,682,737],"class_list":["post-1347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership","tag-confrontation","tag-hybels","tag-interview","tag-mulligan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1347"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1353,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347\/revisions\/1353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}