Kennan doesn't improvise. Every prompt traces back to a named framework, peer-reviewed research or established practice, so you know why the move works. 7 domains, 19 entries, every one anchored so the in-app assistant can cite it directly.
What the room is grading is whether you can describe what you did in a way the room can use. Structure is what makes that possible.
Situation, Task, Action, Result.
A behavioral-interview scaffold that pushes the speaker from anecdote into evidence the interviewer can grade. The Action step carries about sixty percent of the answer.
DDI (1974) · Janz, J. Applied Psychology (1982) · McDaniel et al. meta-analysis (1994)
A 60–90 second answer to 'tell me about yourself.'
Twenty seconds on the current role, twenty-five on how you got here, twenty on why this role next. First impressions stick across the rest of the interview.
Lily Zhang (2015) · Dougherty, Turban & Callender (1994) · Barrick, Swider & Stewart, JAP (2010)
Answering the legitimate concern instead of the question.
When the question touches age, family, religion, citizenship, or salary history in a ban state, restate it as the lawful concern underneath and answer that.
Title VII, ADEA, ADA, PDA, GINA, USERRA · state ban-the-box and salary-history laws
Clarify, decompose, naive solution first, optimize, verbalize, test, summarize tradeoffs.
Reporting your thoughts out loud while you solve does not slow you down and makes chunking visible. Interviewers grade the chunking as much as the answer.
Ericsson & Simon, Protocol Analysis (1980) · Berardi-Coletta et al., JEP (1995) · Chase & Simon (1973)
Genuine, job-adjacent, already being addressed, framed as a past-to-present arc.
Acknowledging a real negative before a genuine strength increases the credibility of the strength. The humble-brag is detected as a strategic weakness and discounted.
Ward & Brenner, Psych Sci (2006) · Aronson, Willerman & Floyd (1966) · Paulhus et al. (2013)
Hard conversations don't get easier, they get more legible. These are the moves that keep the conversation in the room rather than in the corridor.
Share facts, Tell your story, Ask for others' paths, Talk tentatively, Encourage testing.
When stakes are high, opinions differ, and emotions are strong. Watch for the speaker moving into silence (masking, avoiding, withdrawing) or violence (controlling, labeling, attacking).
Patterson, Grenny, McMillan & Switzler, Crucial Conversations (2002, 3rd ed. 2021)
Take partial responsibility before responding; propose a timed break when one side withdraws.
The two failure modes most likely to derail a work conversation. The defensiveness antidote is conceding one true piece of the critique before answering; the stonewalling antidote is a short, scheduled return rather than pushing through.
Gottman & Levenson · Gottman & Silver (1999) · Gottman, Coan, Carrère & Swanson (1998)
Most negotiation losses aren't to the counterpart, they're to the urge to get it over with. These are the moves that buy you the next minute.
Mirroring, labeling, calibrated questions, accusation audits, late-night-FM voice.
When the counterpart is emotional, irrational, or in a stronger position. Aim for 'that's right,' not 'you're right.'
Voss, Never Split the Difference (2016)
Precise first offers, bolstering ranges, and the discipline to defuse theirs before countering.
First-offer moments — salary, pricing, scope. Precise numbers outperform round ones; ranges that bolster upward outperform points. Move first when the information is on your side; let them anchor when it isn't.
Tversky & Kahneman, Science (1974) · Galinsky & Mussweiler, JPSP (2001) · Janiszewski & Uy (2008) · Mason et al. (2013) · Ames & Mason (2015)
A complex sale is a long conversation about whether the buyer can describe the problem to themselves. Help them do that, and the sale tends to take care of itself.
Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff.
The question sequence that moves a buyer from acknowledging a pain to wanting the thing that addresses it. Implication is the differentiator between top and average performers.
Rackham, SPIN Selling (1988), from a 35,000-call Huthwaite study
Listen, Acknowledge, Explore, Respond.
Any objection. The Explore step is what separates a real response from a trained one; without it, you are answering the wrong question.
Carew, You'll Never Get No for an Answer (1987)
Feedback that sticks is feedback the recipient can act on. Aim at the work, not at the person.
Situation, Behavior, Impact, Intent inquiry.
When the feedback has to land as observable rather than evaluative. Intent inquiry stops the message from collapsing into accusation. Delivered humble, helpful, immediate, in private; process language, not trait labels.
Center for Creative Leadership · Scott, Radical Candor (2017) · Mueller & Dweck, JPSP (1998)
Words that quietly cost you the room. The research is mostly about the discount they apply to your credibility before you've made your point.
'Sort of,' 'I think,' 'I guess,' 'maybe,' tag questions.
Flag when the speaker is asserting expertise or presenting owned data. Preserve during face-threatening acts and genuine epistemic uncertainty.
Lakoff (1975) · Erickson et al. (1978) · Durik et al. (2008) · Carli (1990)
Hedges, fillers, empty intensifiers, excessive politeness, empty adjectives, uptalk.
Six markers that compound. Powerless-style speakers are rated lower on credibility, attractiveness, and acceptance; powerless forms also impair message memory.
Erickson, Lind, Johnson & O'Barr, JESP (1978) · Hosman & Siltanen (2006)
Subtle, unconscious matching of content nouns, question forms, and energy.
Increases liking and interaction smoothness; in negotiation, instructed mimics secured higher individual and joint outcomes. Do not mirror fillers, accents, or aggression.
Chartrand & Bargh, JPSP (1999) · Maddux, Mullen & Galinsky, JESP (2008) · Ireland et al., Psych Sci (2011)
Pronoun frequency tracks status, mood, and honesty.
Higher status uses less 'I,' more 'we' and 'you.' Excessive 'I' in leadership contexts is worth flagging; 'we' for collective framing, 'you' for engagement.
Pennebaker, Secret Life of Pronouns (2011) · Kacewicz, Pennebaker et al., JLSP (2014)
Common softeners that read as weakness in assertive contexts.
Replace 'just' with the request, 'sorry to bother you' with 'thanks for your patience,' and 'actually' with the actual fact, when the speaker has standing.
Leanse (2015) · Schumann & Ross, Psych Sci (2010) · Schumann, Ritchie & Forest, PSPB (2023)
Most presentation failures are structural, not delivery failures. These are the structures that hold up under load.
Three claims maximize impact; four or more trigger skepticism.
Working-memory chunk capacity sits around three to four. Use for opens, closes, taglines, and key-point structures.
Aristotle · Cicero · Cowan (2001) · Carlson & Shu (2014)
Governing thought, then 2–4 MECE supports, then data.
Executive communication and time-constrained audiences. Think bottom-up; present top-down. Every slide headline states the conclusion, not the topic.
Minto, The Minto Pyramid Principle (1987)
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