Curated Questions: Conversations Celebrating the Power of Questions! How Bridge-Building Questions Cross Divides! | Frank Sesno #58
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Nov 20, 2025 Frank Sesno, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and former CNN bureau chief, delves into the art of strategic questioning. He shares how curiosity shaped his career, starting from a childhood question about astronauts. Frank introduces the 'echo question' technique for deeper conversations and discusses how to balance respect with directness in interviews. He emphasizes the importance of bridge-building questions in today’s polarized world and explores how AI can enhance human curiosity. Frank inspires listeners to make an 'appointment with curiosity' for richer dialogues.
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Curiosity Began With A Kid's Question
- As a fourth-grader Frank Sesno asked who cleans astronauts' bathrooms and learned curiosity gets answers from authority figures.
- His teacher researched and returned with an answer, teaching him that asking works and adults respond.
Interviews Are Structured Stories
- Frank structures interviews as story arcs with a beginning, middle, and end to serve his audience.
- He emphasizes active listening over rigid scripts to follow unexpected threads and deepen the story.
A Governor Called It An Ambush
- Early in Vermont radio Frank pressed a governor on controversial policy and was accused of an ambush.
- The exchange taught him accountability can be direct without badgering or theatrics.
