Join the Ruckus!

A month ago I wrote my first post where I did more than just share something I liked or an open position at my company. I was blown away by the response. 24k+ views and connection requests that brought me to 4k+. It kind of feels like the welcoming committee for the next phase of my life.

I thought long and hard about what to say next. My goal is to inspire, motivate and educate. What could I add to the dialogue about career development?  It seemed the most logical to start at the beginning: the interview.  

We live in a sound bite world and there is no better to place to get bite-sized business advice than from the Corner Office by Adam Bryant in my opinion. After 10 years and 525 CEO interviews, Adam has closed shop and I am sad to see this column go. The column could easily be called how to be a leader if your aspirations aren't as lofty as CEO. That said this final column is like a cherry on top for the whole series. It's chock full of lessons in leadership like balance, values, don't be a victim, have a vision; Adam himself is a lesson in finding a niche and doing it better than the competition.

The Final Corner Office.

As my career grows I now get the honor to interview leaders of even greater capacity, passion and drive. It requires more of me as an interviewer and I have turned to the Corner Office time and time again to build what I consider quite a powerful cadre of tools, tools to quickly determine who is the person sitting in front of me. The questions must be fresh, unexpected and cut to the bone. As the article states "candidates are trained to anticipate the usual questions" and the interviewers "have to come up with bank-shot questions to get around the polished facades."

My favorite question to ask was "how long are you willing to fail at this job before you succeed?" I was always struck by how this question really threw candidates off and many would knee-jerk respond "failure is not an option" or some other cliche that was meant to assure me they would succeed.

It's a trick question in some regards. At a time when you are trying to convey utmost confidence, it requires you to express humility. The "right" answer is "I am willing to fail as long as it takes." So I leave you with that. Don't be afraid. Be sincere and look at the interview not as a time to put your best foot forward but rather as a time to summarize all that you have done. It's just an extension of who you are every day. Human, curious and ambitious.

What's your favorite interview question?