Brief and Bland Can Be Best

If you're asked a tough question or a question that doesn't really relate to any of your planned messages, my advice, answer it briefly, blandly, in a somewhat straightforward, boring way, and then bridge to one of your message points and then the other. So you can't simply ignore it because it's a tough question. If you ignore it, the reporter is going to think, ah, I got old TJ Now. Now I know what he's trying to hide. Let me dig deeper. So you cannot ignore the tough questions, and you can't ignore questions simply because they don't relate to your messages. The reporter can ask any question on any topic, any message he or she wants. The key is answer it briefly. Answer it in a way that a fair minded person who heard the question, heard the answer, would think, okay, you answered it at some level. But then bridge to your other message point. So this confuses a lot of people. I'm not saying your answers need to be brief. I'm saying the first part of your answer on this tough question or this question on stuff that you don't care to talk about is brief. But you then steer your conversation to the messages you really want to talk about. That's the key.