The Jefferson Fisher Podcast - When Someone Insults You, Ask Them This

Episode Date: September 22, 2026

The best communicators are not the ones with the fastest comeback. They are the ones who know which question to ask. In this episode, I break down how to ask better questions when someone is insulting, pushing against you, or trying to pull you into an argument. I will show you how to use clarifying questions to slow a conversation down, questions of intent to put the focus back where it belongs, and no-oriented questions to make a request without creating more resistance. You will learn how to stop giving people something to fight against and start asking questions that lead to clearer, calmer conversations. Leave me a voicemail to be featured on the show! https://www.jeffersonfisher.com/ask-jefferson Join me on Supercast for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and AMAs: https://jefferson.supercast.com/ Order The Next Conversation Workbook: https://www.jeffersonfisher.com/workbook Thank you to our sponsors: Athena: Go to https://athenacom/jefferson and hire a top tier EA. BetterHelp. Click https://betterhelp.com/jeffersonfisher for a discount on your first month of therapy. Like what you hear? Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review! Order my new book, The Next Conversation, today! https://www.jeffersonfisher.com/book Suggest a topic or ask a question for me to answer on the show! https://www.jeffersonfisher.com/topic Join my School of Communication. https://www.jeffersonfisher.com/membership Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jefferson_fisher Follow me on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@justaskjefferson?lang=en Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffersonfisher/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I hate to break it to you. The best communicators are not the ones with the best comebacks, the most pithy responses. Best communicators are the ones who ask the best questions. Do you know how hard it is to find the right question? Anybody can have an answer. Anybody can just toss up something, even if it's not true. But a question, finding the right question, takes time and it takes skill. Welcome to the Jefferson Fisher podcast. Today, I'm going to make you a better communicator right now, I'm going to teach you how to ask better questions when somebody is insulting, when somebody is offending, when somebody is pushing against you. I'm going to teach you tools right here,

quick and dirty, on the same type of communication questions that attorneys use, that I use in depositions, cross-examination. There is a whole technique, a whole world of questions that I bet you didn't even know. And today we're going to talk about it. Also, would you do me a favor if this podcast as you listen along says you think hey this is something that somebody else would benefit from would you do me a favor if you care about that person will you just send them this podcast will you share it with them thank you very much questions it's hard questions there's that old i don't know if it's abraham lincoln george washington something like that i think it's i think it's lincoln if they said if i had two hours to chop down a tree i would spend the first like hour and a half i'm taking

very a lot of uh liberties with this one It's been like the first hour and a half just sharpening their acts. That's what that's what finding the right question is. Answering, easy. Responding, easy. Question asking is a skill. I'll be the first to admit, my son. I've done this my whole life, truly.

I even know my, I can tell my kids do this. And maybe you know somebody like this, where if somebody is driving on the road and they go, oh, I wonder what that is. you go, oh, well, I think that's, you know, that's for actually, you know, if you look at the sun, you can tell and you start kind of, I'll just invent an answer. Somebody asks me what this does. I start answering my best guess. And thankfully, Sierra will be like, you don't know.

I'll be like, no, I don't know. But I gave it a try. Anybody can just, it doesn't take any skill, okay, to give any answer. It takes skill to ask the right question. communicators, attorneys, especially in deposition format, when you are asking questions, how you ask it matters a lot. Number one, the first thing I want you to recognize are clarity questions. Okay, clarity questions. What does this mean? When somebody is trying to offend you in some way, or somebody pushing against you, that's why I'd prefer that. Let's somebody pushing against you.

Clarifying questions are critical. Now, you'd say, oh, well, I know what clarifying questions are, Jefferson. And it's like, what do you mean? Yeah, that's true. That is one. Most people don't use it like that, though. People think when I clarify, they begin like this. Okay, just to be clear, you know, you're telling me, and you ever used that before, somebody says something to you and you go, okay, just to be clear.

And you start to comment, hey, just as a heads up, that's not a question. That's a conclusion that's hidden in the form of a comment. question it's not a real question it's as you trying to position uh anchor to be able to say okay let me just get this straight buddy let me go that's not really clarifying question clarifying question there are different types what we call open-ended questions open-ended questions are ones that don't assume an answer okay here's here's what uh assuming the answer versus not assuming the answer assuming the answer says hey didn't you go to the story yesterday or um um Hey, how was it at the meeting yesterday?

You were upset about the meeting. Versus, hey, where did you go yesterday? What did you do yesterday? Those are open-ended. We're not going to assume the answer. Typically, ones that already assume the answer begin with did, did, or didn't, didn't you? Open-ended questions, don't assume the answer. Different ways to have it.

I want you to see the difference in how the starter of the question changes it. What, how, when, where, who, and why? Okay, I'm going to hit these very quickly. What has to do with information? You are gathering information that you don't have. What happened? What happened next? What do you mean by that?

I'm getting those, that information below the surface. It's seeking information. How is a process question. How did that happen? How do you do that? How did you do that? How did you learn that? It's asking for process.

Who is identifying? Where? It's asking for location. That's pretty obvious. When? It's more of an anchor question. It's solidifying something in time. Here's the one that you don't want to do most of the time.

And that is why. Why is seeking justification? And we don't like when somebody asks me to justify my position. It feels like you're questioning my autonomy. Imagine if, you just made a, I don't know, a paper airplane and you really spent some time on it. And I just went up right behind you and go, why did you do like that? How are you going to feel? How are you going to feel? You can feel like, what do you, because I wanted to. That's why, Jefferson, there's certain

ways of clarifying questions. So if you want to, somebody's saying something that's pushing against you, what I prefer is going to either what or how, what or how. It can be as simple as, what we just mentioned, what do you mean by that? What I would do often in the deposition, and when somebody would say a statement to me, I'd say, you mean that specifically or generally? Naturally, they pick one, okay? And almost always they go, I generally.

And I go, okay, well, what about specifically? And they go, oh, well, specifically. And they start giving me things and naming things that they never would have said, had I not gone a little bit more specific. Clarifying question goes, Okay, what do you mean by that specifically? Okay, if I broke that down, what do you, what is going on there?

What's happening? What's coming up? What's happening beneath the surface? How question, it's as simple as just asking, how so? Somebody says something that's pushing on you. Man, you, I just feel like you, you really don't get it. You go, how so? You hear how I'm asking a question instead of pushing back on them.

Here is this breakdown. I should have said that it's at the beginning, but I don't. to you now. When you respond to a question, okay, when you respond to a question, it gives them something to fight against. When you ask them a question, it requires an answer from them, from them. So you don't give them anything to fight against. It makes them go, oh, all right, they have to like pause in their mind and go, okay, what do I, it's hard for people when they're emotionally flooded to answer logical questions. So when you ask logical questions, okay clarifying questions the other type we're about to talk about it makes their brain go hold up

and they kind of almost have to stop because they and maybe you've seen this and maybe you felt it yourself all of a sudden it's like a light a light switches or a different a toggle goes off of going okay hold up i have to think analytically here and you have to grab yourself back it's hard when somebody is really flooded and you go give me i need a specific example. You ever, somebody ever said that to you? Okay, name an example. Name a time that that's happened and you can't name the time. You know there's plenty. You know what? It's happened all the time in your mind, but you can't remember it. All of a sudden is gone because that emotional side is driving the car, like the one I'm in, but not your logical side. So asking a question of reasoning

or how, right, of process makes them have to stop and think. Simple as how so. How do you mean by that? How did you come across that? How did you feel when you first said that? Right. You see how we're starting to go into the process of getting that logical brain? How does that make you feel when you say that to me? That's awful when I've gone to and teach plenty of times. If somebody is saying something insulting or offensive, you point out the process, you do that. That's why I begin the question with how? Somebody says something, you go, how do you feel when you say that to me? How does, how does saying that out loud make you, and knowing that you're saying it to me, how does that make you feel right now? How do you feel about that right now? How did you expect me to feel?

How did you expect me to respond to that? You hear all those? That's what that comes from. It begins with how. It begins with how the process of those questions. Okay, those are clarifying questions. We talk about opened into questions. Number two, I want to go into questions of intent. Questions of intent. These are ones that put the spotlight back on the other person that, by definition here, go to what they meant. What's their motive? What was their intention? And saying those kind of things. And people don't like, to reveal their real intention. They don't like that. They don't like that. They don't want to be, they wanted you to respond. Don't ask me questions. I want you to respond to my insult. Give me something to fight against. Don't give me something to answer to, respond to. That's no fun, right? That's the way that this thing goes. So what's a, what's a question of intent? It sounds like, what did you intend by saying that? these are a type of process questions these are a type of information gathering questions i want you to

hear what these sound like did you mean this is also a little bit of leading did you mean to upset me you see how i'm leading with that that's how i'm feeling in that moment so i'm going to lead with that so assume here we go let me reframe that better somebody said something and made you feel a certain way maybe it's embarrassing maybe it's it's it felt disrespect respectful to you. Maybe it felt harsh to you. Use that and instead of going, oh, that felt harsh. That was embarrassing. That was disrespectful. Take it and flip it and turn it into a question. Don't give them something to fight against. Give them something to answer to. Ooh, I love that. I was feeling that one. Okay. So take that feeling and flip it into a did you mean. Lead.

it's a leading question with that. Did you mean to embarrass me? Did you mean for that to sound so harsh? Did you mean for that to sound short? Did you mean to insult me? Did you mean for that to sound offensive? However, you're feeling, flip it into a question and give it to them to answer to.

And what you're going to find is a lot of people can't answer that very well because it's going to reveal they're ugly. That's going to show that, yeah, they truly did mean for that to hurt you. I want you to find the person who's in your life and they say something that's harmful, you say, did you mean for that to hurt me? Oh, did you mean for that to hurt me? People who love you often will go, you know what? I shouldn't have said that. They're going to apologize. You know what? I realize now I said that

to be hurtful and that wasn't helpful at all and I'm sorry, I take those words back. Other people, they're going to hopefully apologize, right? That's how they're going to answer it or they're going to answer by capitulating, by going, well, you know, it's just, it just makes me so mad, and the emotions are still going to drive it. But you listening and being a sophisticated listener are going to go, ha, okay, I hear this, I see what they're actually really trying to do. And I got caught. They got their hand caught in the cookie jar, trying to insult me. And I didn't give them the fight against. They had nothing to go with. I was a big wet blanket on them, because I gave them something to answer to. Questions of intent. Did you intend?

for that to upset me? What was your motive in saying that? Questions of intent. Did you purposely try to hurt me? I love did you mean. Did you mean it's very easy to go that because it's a leading question into how you feel.

But you can certainly say, was it your intent? Was it your motive? Was it your purpose? Yeah? Question of intent. What was the meaning behind their words? What did you intend by saying that?

What was your motive in saying that? Before we could go, I want to take a moment to tell you about Athena, 15 plus hours a week. If you could get back 15 plus hours a week, would it make your life a little bit easier? I always find that it is not the big thing that you have going on during the week. It's all the little big things that pile up. Athena makes it all better. They pair you with a full-time dedicated executive assistant, not some AI software, but a real person, to help you with all the little things that fall through the cracks.

Maybe it's a doctor's appointment. Maybe it's ordering that thing, that gift for that somebody, that trip that needs to be booked. All these things that just pile up and feel so heavy on you. Athena's clients get back on average 15 plus hours a week by having this executive assistant. I can tell you, they make things a million times easier, and Athena is top of the top. Right now, you can go to Athena.com slash Jefferson and get your executive assistant. 15 plus hours back a week. That's Athena.com slash Jefferson. And now let's keep going. All right. Three. This is the one that is a little bit technical, but you're a technical person.

So you got this in the bag. These are questions that are no oriented questions. What I call questions of reasonability. What do I mean by reasonability? I mean that they would look unreasonable to not go along with you. You're asking questions that sounds so reasonability. You're asking questions that sounds so reasonable that to not agree with you would make the other person look unreasonable. Here's it I mean. I'm going to use the question to get to a no. This is a skill and this is, if you want more on this, friend of mine and Chris Foss, awesome guy, good friend of mine, does quite no oriented questions and he's a master at this. And these play really well also in the courtroom. So you would begin with the negative.

So instead of saying, hey, can you just lower your volume? Right? The other person is not going to want to do that. To get, for them to do what you're wanting them to do, they'd have to answer yes. But we want to get to a no, because people like to say no more than I like to say yes. You with me? Okay, so if I flip the question to begin with the negative, and it sounds like this, are you against lowering your voice. Now for them to do what I want them to do, which is lower their voice,

they need to answer no. No is more comfortable to say. So instead of going, can you lower your voice? Can you just take it down a notch? Which they're not going to do. And you would need them to say yes. Instead, hey, would it be unreasonable for us to take it down a notch? So I flipped it at the beginning. No oriented question. So take any question you want to ask and turn it into a no response, whatever no response that you're wanting to get. So I can say, would it be unreasonable? Are you against? Would it offend you?

Hear all those? Those are questions that are going to lead them to need to say no to answer your question. Hey, would it offend you if we took this step by step? are you against speaking to me in a more respectful tone you get what i'm saying so use the negative to your advantage i use this often in depositions to get somebody to agree with me in a way they didn't expect okay this is what i mean let's say there's a witness in the deposition court reporter um other attorney and i'm sitting there I might begin with, you know, there's one, I could say, is it possible that, but again, that's, I'm wanting to get to a yes.

Like, for example, is it possible for us to make sure that we're taking this a little bit slowly? There's a chance, I'm saying, what's the chance that we can? Letting that go. Instead, I'd begin with, hey, isn't it reasonable to ask that if I, if there's anything I say that doesn't make sense to you, or is confusing, you'll let me know? And they go, yeah, no, no, that's, no, that's fine. I'm getting them to a no. Yeah, I can use this in a lot of different ways.

Okay, let's assume, let's put this in another context. Let's say I have another witness. This has happened before. And they're there. And I begin with, would it offend you if I ask a little bit more on what your process was thinking about this? And they go, no, no, no, that's fine. Okay, thank you. And then I start asking more questions.

You see how I'm like, I'm breaking the ice by letting it in. Instead of asking, hey, can I ask you some really personal things? They're going to, I mean, no. Like, I don't want you. I don't want you to. But if I flip it to get a no answer, would it offend you if I ask some things that they're going to be a little bit more personal, though they're going to be really beneficial to your testimony?

You see what I mean? Okay. How can you use this? I want you to use this in times when you need to de-escalate a situation, beginning with would it offend you, would you be against, would it be inconvenient, would it be unreasonable? That's very simple. That's why it's called a question of reasonability. Would it be unreasonable to ask you to X, Y, and Z, or for you to X, Y, and Z, whatever it is? And when you position it that way and put it in that kind of frame, all of a sudden, for them to disagree would make them sound unreasonable. That's how that thing works. Okay, questions. I love questions. I'm a question collector, I think, if there's any way to do it. So, I have a challenge for you, a question for you. If you have a question that you love to use in, you have a question for you. If you have a question that you love to use in, you have a question for you. in any conversation, any argument that has worked well for you, share it.

Share it in any comment below. I want to read it. I'm sure everybody else would love to read it. So if there's a question, again, not some kind of take down comeback response. We're not doing a, forget that. Is there a question that you tend to use that has led to positive outcome results for you? Right? I'm not talking about anything sharp and snippy,

real positive results that have pushed the conversation along. Questions take skill. It doesn't take that long to find the right answer. It can take a very long time to find the right question. Questions are great. Why? I'm going to say one more time. Because answering, responding gives people something to fight against.

They want to defend even more. They want to shut you down. but when you ask a question, it makes them have to answer to something. For them to get what they want, they now have to answer the question. That's the skill that's there to learn. So how can you, you like that process question, how can you find better ways to ask questions in your day to day? With your kids, at home, with your spouse, with your significant other,

at work with your supervisor, with your boss, with employees, with coworkers, how are you using your questions? Are you using the right kind of opener for these questions? Are you trying to use a process question, but really you're wanting some justification as to what happened? Are you trying to play a little bit too soft when really what you need to do is ask a question of intent to find out what's going on rather than you just swallowing it and going, well, I guess they're just upset at me when they're not at all. But if you ask a question of intent, you'd find out. You'd find out.

Or maybe, maybe if somebody is really doing something so horrible, you need to tell them, maybe they're saying something so terrible to you, so insulting. You need to ask them to repeat what they said. When somebody insults you, belittles you. One of my favorite pieces of advice, I'd probably say one of my number one pieces of advice, that has gone many places on the internet

is asking somebody to repeat it. Whatever they said, ask them to to repeat it. Can you say that again? I need you to say that again. Can you repeat exactly what you said? And they usually can't. Why? Because just like we talked about,

they don't want to reveal the ugly. They don't want to really share their true motive. when deep down their motive was to hurt, and now they're faced. They're faced with that. But you let that be them. Don't, don't, you do not be responsible for their, for their words, for their choices. Cool. But you can be responsible for the questions that you ask.

Just to be clear. Kidding. Okay. If this was helpful to you, share it with somebody you care about. Be good. Bye, guys.