Science-Based Interviewing for Business
You've been taught to read the person. The research says that doesn't work—even for
professionals, even with training. This is a 30-minute session on what does structuring the
conversation so the account itself carries the weight.
1
Why rapport is a trainable skill
Rapport is not built into checklists. Rapport is not just being nice. Rapport is not small talk.
2
The two minutes at the start that decide the quality of everything after
Interview planning and red teaming help you start off well. Predictable dialogue and interview expectations prepare you for the tough questions.
3
A live interview against an AI subject — watch the method work in real time
Practice your new skills before it is time for the real thing. Interview a live AI subject and watch the methods work in real-time
The problem isn't that you're bad at reading people
It's that nobody is. Across decades of studies, people asked to judge truth from lies land at roughly the accuracy of a coin flip—and professional experience doesn't move the number much.
Worse, training that focuses on body language and demeanor tends to produce *confidence* rather than improved accuracy and pushes people toward assuming deception and bolstering biases. So the solution isn't a better read. It's a better interview. Science-based interviewing shifts the diagnostic work off your intuition and onto the account—how it's elicited, how it's structured, and what it can be checked against. That's a method, and methods can be taught.
Thirty minutes won't make you an expert. It will show you what to stop doing, which is where most of the gain is.
What we'll cover
1 / Rapport isn't a personality trait
It's a set of observable behaviors you can name, practice, and coach—which means it can be trained and it can be assessed. We'll walk the model and what it looks like in a real exchange.
2 / You're probably talking too much
The most common and most expensive habit in the room. Free recall before questions, why interrupting costs you detail you can't recover, and how your own phrasing can contaminate an account without anyone noticing.
3 / Watch it work, live
I'll run a live interview against an AI subject and narrate the choices as I make them. Not a recorded demo—live, in the session.
Instructor - Christian Cory
I spent my career speaking with people in some of their worst moments—after violence, loss, betrayal, fear, and life-changing decisions.
For a long time, many of us were taught that effective interviewing meant following a step-by-step system, reading demeanor for signs of deception, or finding a way to “break someone down.” But those approaches do not reflect how people actually communicate, remember, make decisions, or choose whether to cooperate. They can also create unnecessary risk—for the investigation, the organization, and the people involved.
Successful interviews are not about tricks or pressure. They are about creating the conditions for people to share accurate, relevant information: improved planning, genuine rapport (not just for confessions), active listening, well-designed questions, and a disciplined approach to testing what we think we know.
I spent my career as a homicide and sex-crimes detective, investigations commander, and crisis negotiator. I have conducted the kinds of difficult, high-stakes conversations this training addresses—where the information obtained, the trust preserved, and the decisions made have real consequences.
Today, I am a Visiting Scholar at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, National Institute of Justice LEADS Scholar, National Policing Institute Executive Fellow, Red Team Coaching Practitioner, and co-director of Project Aletheia. Effective training should bring together practical experience and credible research—not ask you to choose between them.