Name: Answering Tough Questions
Uploaded: 2017-03-16T13:50:09.000Z
Duration: 11 min 2 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

To-infinitive

To sum up, we've had an amazing ride here at Tesla.

And I'm so excited to lead this company into the future.

With that, I'll take any questions from the audience.

Musk, I am a very tiny shareholder with only [INAUDIBLE] two shares.

But as all the other investors in this room, I'm mainly interested in one thing.

You guys have not made a single penny yet.

When is this company gonna become profitable?

>> [LAUGH] >> You all know what this feels like,

Today we will provide you with one of your last lessons at the GSB,

a lesson on how to answer tough business questions.

There are three types of tough business questions.

The first are those questions for which you do not have an answer.

The second are those questions for which you cannot provide an answer.

And the third are those questions for which you are guilty as charged.

We will provide you with an example of each one of these questions and

then offer some suggestions on how to best address each of those questions.

But first, I would like to offer credit to Jerry Weissman's book,

In the Line of Fire, from which we synthesized many of these suggestions.

So what does it look like when you don't know the answer to a question?

I'm the CEO of Tesla, for crying out loud.

better way to address a question for which you do not have an answer.

First, begin by rephrasing or restating the question as you best understood it.

It'll ensure that the audience member feels heard, but it will also confirm for

you the question for which you must ultimately provide an answer.

Second, no audience member expects you to be a walking encyclopedia.

So if you don't know the answer, admit it.

You really have nothing to gain and have everything to lose by lying.

If you lie, you provide inaccurate information and

Finally, best practice is to actually commit to following up, and do follow up.

You can even demonstrate this intent by asking for

that audience member's business card or contact information.

>> So you want to know when you might be able to apply for a job in Hawaii?

To be honest, I don't know exactly when our Hawaii office will be opening.

However, I do know that we are rapidly expanding all across the globe and

are looking for talented individuals in many locations.

I do actually have my head of HR, Leslie, here with me.

She'd be happy to meet with you after this presentation.

She'd know when the Hawaii office will be opening and

she'd be happy to answer any other questions that you might have.

>> Now, what do you do if you receive a question to which you cannot answer,

maybe because of confidentiality reasons?

Mr. Musk, can you comment on your negotiations with local state

authorities in the jurisdictions where Tesla cannot currently open any stores?

Have you made any political contributions in those states maybe?

We have a good friend, an old fraternity brother of the CFO, Jerry Arlen.

He's in Texas, and conveniently he sits on the Texas Transportation Board.

we think we have pretty strong negotiating leverage with the auto dealers there.

We're currently in negotiations to get full access to sell in the state of Texas,

and it should be done in a couple of weeks.

>> Wow, I'm sure Jerry Arlen will love to see this back on television tonight.

if your company policy states that you cannot share any information, just say so.

Everyone knows that certain information cannot be shared, and

However, try to do so in a positive way, rather than saying our company

does not share this kind of information, try to say our company policy only

allows to share information that has been previously released in press releases.

Second, if you can't share certain information, give a reason for

You can attribute this to privacy or security or data sensitivity, for example.

Third, if you have any extra relevant information to share, do so

never ever answer this question by saying if I tell you I'll have to kill you.

authorities in jurisdictions where Tesla cannot open any store currently?

Did you make any political contributions in those states maybe?

>> So we want customers to be able to buy a Tesla wherever they live.

And as you allude to, unfortunately that's not today's reality.

However, we are in negotiations with several state authorities across

the United States, and we're working hard to bring Tesla customers those cars.

However, to keep open and honest negotiations,

it's our policy not to comment on ongoing discussions.

But I can assure you that we're working tirelessly to allow every customer to be

You're doing well, but you're not of the hook yet.