Interviewing the Boss: Golly, Sir, Just How Do You Do It?

Nothing is more capable of changing the tone of a human voice than a conversation with the boss.

Jack Flack knows from a few first-hand experiences over the years that hearing that happen to your own voice is a little unsettling. But when the octave-shift happens in front of hundreds of thousands of others, it's just got to feel downright embarrassing.

But maybe not? Within two days of each other, the on-air treatment the two conglomerate-owned business news television networks lavished on their bosses prompted predictably skeptical reviews from other journalists.

Marek Fuchs rapped Joe Kernen and the CNBC Squawk Box crowd for failing to ask GE CEO Jeff Immelt on Wednesday why the company didn't hit its 13% earnings target, or that it seemed to be backing off from that target altogether, something most other business media tagged as the story itself (including CNBC's original report.)

Kernen introduced the 10% number vs. S&P earnings growth of "just 5% to 6%." But, uh, what about the old 13%, which is really all that matters to GE shareholders? He then quoted Immelt's previous statement about how the 10% was "in the bag, we can do this." But, again, what about the 13% that they apparently couldn't do?

That's completely fair criticism, especially considering that the shortfall caused GE's stock to dip more than 2% percent at one point, representing a mere $7 billion or so in evaporated market cap.

For his part, Immelt seemed almost to invite the 13% question, showing no signs of testiness or fear. The CEO even appeared to want to move quickly past the excited fawning of guest co-host Tom Stemberg, who seemed downright star-struck as he concluded:

"And their ability to grew (sic) leaders like Jeff speaks to their excellence."

Immelt used a slightly modified version of the standard "wish-my-mother-was-here-to-hear-that" response, and the normally hard-boiled SB gang responded with a chorus of chuckles any crew of junior engineers down in the bowels of the turbine division would have been hard-pressed to beat.

But CNBC's Immelt interview was like a videotaped water-boarding compared to the half-hour manicure Neil Cavuto administered to News Corp mogul Rupert Murdoch the next day. That chat was, of course, quickly admonished by HuffPo's Danny Shea.

Oddly enough, Jack Flack found Cavuto's approach far less grating, as the FBN drum major made no bones about how he sees his role, proudly flashing his employee cafeteria card.

Could I be a selfish interest here? I should self-disclose I'm part of the players trying to make your Fox Business News succeed. How important will the Wall Street Journal, will Dow Jones, collectively be to building up FBN?

OK, no pretensions of objectivity there.

In fact, Cavuto's manner with his ol' pal Rupe was practically clubby, as if we were getting fly-on-the-wall view of their normal fireside chat over brandy at the end of the day. And right on strategy, Cavuto framed the entire interview straight out of the "defying conventional wisdom" narrative News Corp presented in three-page ads in major newspapers around the world.

The richest moment came when Cavuto, in hot pursuit of the notion of just how darned bad taxes are, apologized for dragging Citizen Murdoch beyond the realms of media or business.

I don't want to get you too deep in politics. I apologize.

For what it's worth, Jack Flack actually enjoyed both interviews, and not just for sycophancy-watching. Both Immelt and Murdoch are smart, articulate business alphas who choose their words with precision. And maybe because they were completely relaxed on friendly turf, both seemed to reveal more of their thinking than was initially obvious with a single watching. (That included Murdoch indicating that he thought the writer's strike would be over shortly, before catching himself and retreating to the more gamesmanship-savvy prediction that it might go on for months.)

Meanwhile, speaking of politics, Jack Flack is still hoping the trifecta will complete itself. But somehow waiting for Hizzoner to do a slobbery sit-down with Bloomie TV seems a little futile.

And more than anything, Jack Flack feels quite lucky that none of the octave-shifts from his own career were televised.