Podcast Summary: Manager Tools

Episode: How To Be A Positive Interviewer – Part 1

Release Date: February 2, 2026

Hosts: Sarah (A) and Mark (B)

Overview: The Case for Positive Interviewing

In this episode, Sarah and Mark tackle a widespread misconception in manager hiring: that toughness or a cold, adversarial approach makes for better interviews. They argue instead for a data-driven, positive interviewing style—one that not only improves the accuracy of hire but also increases the likelihood that candidates will accept job offers. Drawing on an extensive study of real interviews, the hosts break down both why and how to make interviews more welcoming, and detail the tangible business benefits of doing so.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Misconceptions About Tough Interviewing

• Many managers believe that tough, high-pressure interviews reveal how candidates handle stress or “weed out” the unfit.
• The hosts attribute this to a lack of formal management training—most managers simply mimic interviews they’ve experienced or common cultural tropes.

Notable Quote
"If you want to make managing easier, make hiring better, just say no [to being a tough interviewer]."
—Mark, [01:13]

2. The Psychology of Power in Interviewing

• Mark references the Stanford Prison Experiment and the French Revolution to illustrate how people given power (like interviewers) can act more harshly than intended.
• Interviews are inherently stressful—both because the candidate is the weaker party and because the outcome is often binary (pass/fail).

Memorable Moment
"...people given power, when they've felt in the past powerless, tend to take advantage of that."
—Sarah, [03:24]

3. Problems with Common Interview Behaviors

• Most interviewers have little to no training, don’t know how to ask the right questions, and struggle to evaluate responses.
• The proliferation of poor advice on the Internet (e.g., superficial “Tell me about yourself” tips) aggravates the problem.

Notable Quote
"If anybody is talking to you, if you're watching a video from someone who's an HR generalist or a specialist in interviewing and they're 25 years old, they don't have enough interviewing alone underneath their belt to be telling you what works..."
—Mark, [09:58]

4. Benefits of Positive Interviewing – The Data

• Mark shares findings from his previous firm, Horseman and Company:
  • Over 50,000 interviews involving 500 managers at major Fortune 500 companies were analyzed.
  • Interviewer behaviors tracked included smiling/laughing, having prepared questions, eye contact, expressing thanks, and making encouraging statements.
  • Interviews were assessed for positive versus negative behaviors (not rudeness, but lack of warmth and engagement).
  • Positive interviewer behaviors correlated strongly with better candidate acceptance rates and higher subsequent job performance.
• Notably, even in high-stress environments (e.g., the U.S. Navy's submarine program), the traditional assumption that high-pressure interviews select the “best” does not hold up in data.

Notable Quote
"You can be a nice, friendly, personable, caring...even charming interviewer while having high standards for your company."
—Mark, [11:03]

5. Three Practical Rules for Positive Interviewing

Sarah outlines the three core behaviors they recommend for interviewers:

• Smile
• Express thanks
• Compliment candidate behaviors

These are meant to be simple yet high-impact and do not mean lowering your standards or being insincere.

Notable Quote
"The way people evaluate nice people is by their behaviors and typically in the first few minutes of an interaction with them."
—Mark, [11:48]

6. Study Design & Implications

• The study was manually conducted with video review (pre-Internet, on VHS tapes).
• Only in-person interviews were analyzed, but Mark and Sarah believe results extrapolate to today’s virtual interviews—perhaps even more so, due to the “coldness” of virtual interactions.
• Data limitations and scientific rigor were important; when studies produced no significant findings, they were discarded.

Memorable Moment
"There are people listening to this podcast right now that have never actually seen a real VHS."
—Mark, [15:46]

Memorable Quotes & Segments

• On why positive behaviors matter:
  “A preponderance of positives is likely to generate a positive response from the interviewee about the culture of the company.”
  —Mark, [18:00]

• On reluctance to be positive:
  “If you tell me, 'Well, Mark, my authentic self is to be very dour and straight,'… You're not a nice person. Or, let me put it differently, you may think of yourself as a nice person, but other people won't think that about you."
  —Mark, [11:19]

• On Internet advice for candidates:
  “...these people were not trying to help interviewees, they were trying to make money off of people watching them.”
  —Mark, [08:50]

Important Timestamps

• 00:09 – Guiding questions: Why positive interviewing? What's wrong with "tough" interviews?
• 02:25 – The power dynamic and the tendency for interviewers to become adversarial
• 04:00 – The Rickover/US Navy “stress interview” myth and why it didn’t work
• 07:35 – Internet advice and how it fails both candidates and interviewers
• 11:03 – The three simple rules for positive interviewing (smile, express thanks, compliment behaviors)
• 12:33 – Data study: How 50,000 interviews revealed positive behaviors outperform negative
• 15:42 – Old-school logistics: VHS tapes, in-person reviews, and behavioral coding
• 17:46 – How data was mapped to actual post-hire employee performance

Tone & Style

• Friendly, direct, and pragmatic—geared toward busy professionals and managers.
• Mark and Sarah mix dry humor with sharp, actionable guidance.
• The tone is accessible, adamant about evidence, and dismissive of unsound “gut feeling” advice.

Conclusion & Next Steps

Sarah closes by promising a continuation in the next episode. The key takeaway here is that positive, people-centered interviewing not only makes the hiring process better for candidates, but empirically produces better hires and higher offer acceptance rates. Mark and Sarah urge listeners to adopt the three core positive behaviors in interviews and to dispel the myth of the “tough interviewer” as a best practice.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where they’ll continue the discussion and presumably get even more tactical.