Andrew Ross Sorkin shared insights from years of interviewing CEOs at a fireside chat at Cornell University.

Sorkin, co-host of CNBC’s Squawk Box, was back on campus this weekend for his 25th reunion. I was there for my dad’s 75th!

Sorkin made three points that should be best practices for doing interviews and good to know for anyone being questioned. They are:

–Get to the point quickly
–Don’t surprise people
–Throw the ball hard

GET TO THE POINT: Sorkin noted that broadcast interviews are 3-5 minutes so journalists need to lead with the most pressing questions.

As a result, the most important part of the process happens in the minutes before the interview starts when the guest is in the Green Room.

You need to connect so the person is relaxed and warmed up. In a print interview you have more time; that’s not the case on television.

DON’T SURPRISE PEOPLE: Sorkin said that when he is publishing a hard-hitting story, he wants the subject to know the angle he’s taking.

You can have a respectful relationship with anyone as long as you are direct and don’t ambush them, he said.

THROW THE BALL HARD. This was my favorite point. He said a CEO once pulled him aside before an interview and gave him this advice:

“Throw the ball as hard as you can. If I can hit it, we both win. If you throw it soft, we will both always lose.”

It’s a keen observation, especially since most CEOs and PR agents probably hope for softballs. It reminds us that a tough interview is more memorable, which is usually the goal of the interview in the first place.

Sorkin’s advice to college students was to be persistent and “seize the moment.” He regrets that at Cornell he didn’t make more friends or take more classes or go to more events. His advice to the young is to say “yes” to as much as possible.

Sorkin’s accomplished a lot in the quarter century since he graduated.

He began writing part time for the New York Times in high school and full-time after graduation. He created a news product, Deal Book, and started at CNBC in 2011. He wrote a best-selling book, Too Big to Fail, about the 2008 financial crisis and co-produced Billions on Showtime.

He said he’s proud of impact journalism he did to address mass shootings, but now says any progress made is being unraveled by state laws.

He tries to reduce stress by asking himself if being anxious “would help.”

It’s a trick he picked up from the movie Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks. There’s a scene where Hanks’ character asks a man on trial: “Do you never worry?”

“Would it help?” the man responds.

Probably not, is almost always the answer.