In
interviews with E:60 reporter Lisa Salters,
Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson revealed himself to be
thoughtful, modest, caring, and affable, with an endearing ability to laugh at
himself.
But
those qualities emerged only after Salters broke through the shyness that has
kept Johnson’s off-field profile far below his mythical on-field profile as
“Megatron”.
They
weren’t total strangers. She had met him
several years ago when she covered a Georgia Tech-Notre Dame game - he was 20 -
and she reminded him of that. A shared
memory broke the ice.
Salters
lives in Atlanta, where Johnson makes his home in the off-season. They chatted about local neighborhoods, parks
and restaurants. The ice began to melt.
“I
like to find some common ground and go from there,” Salters says. “When people
are shy the best thing you can do is make them feel comfortable.”
Turned
out Johnson played the “Michael Jackson Experience” on his Ninetendo Wii. Ditto Salters. By now the ice was a puddle.
On
camera, Salters’ manner was conversational and playful.
“My
nature is to tease guys - he saw that,” Salters recalled. “I wanted it to be
fun, more like hanging out than an interview.
“If
you have notes in your hand, and you’re reading the questions, one by one, that’s not how people talk. My style is conversational, and if a subject
veers on a tangent it can lead to material that doesn’t get used, but that’s
how conversations go with most people.”
Salters
has a rule of thumb: “Share a bit about yourself.”
In
an interview with Eagles running back LeSean McCoy that has yet to run, McCoy spoke
haltingly about his grandmother’s fatal battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Salters mentioned that the mother of one of
her close friends also was stricken with ALS, with the same symptoms.
“The
interview went from him telling his story to him helping me help my friend,”
she recalled. “He opened up more,
absolutely.”
As
McCoy opened up he became more emotional.
“I
could see LeSean feeling self-conscious and having a hard time controlling his
emotions,” Salters recalled. “Once he went back to her illness and death he was
really upset - even though it was two years ago he was upset all over again.
As
a second rule of thumb, Salters recommends empathy.
“You
have to show that you care about them, too,” she said. “You’re asking them to be personal and honest
and to be very real. You have to show
that you’re hearing them, and you’re feeling with them.
“When
they’re telling me something I’m feeling exactly what they’er feeling, as much
as they give me. I end up walking out
emotionally drained, too. You don’t want
to tell somebody something personal and not feel they are impacted.
“It’s
kind of like being a psychiatrist. You
have to make them feel safe like a psychiatrist does. The environment has to be non-judgmental and
safe. Nobody will share unless they feel
safe. If they feel like you are a
million miles away, not really serious or trying to get to dinner, you’re not
going to get anywhere.”
Posted by Steve Marantz, September 6, 2012
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