The interviews I love the most are those with unskilled and reluctant liars. I know they don't want to lie, it's not who they are but circumstances have forced them to edit the truth. Or, by the standard that truth is anything which moves things forward for the good, perhaps they are not lying.
Common among highly paid managers and engineers who have fallen from grace with big national companies is the lie that they had to step out of the corporate rate race to reclaim some quality and balance in their lives. To put the romance back in their marriage, spend time with the children, smell the roses, walk the dog, tend the garden, you get the idea
Before you smile and nod your head in agreement, remember crisis in life is a more effective driver of gardening, dog walking, and the sale of Eckhart Tolle books than well rounded success is. The old doctors tale, - when you hear hoof beats it's probably not a zebra, - applies here.
We're all self satisfied when our life choices work. I mean all parts of our life, not just the money. In a personal crisis "Walden Pond," ahh the simple life, looks like a good book to read. Then things improve and we ask Amazon to send us a copy of Donald Trump's "How to Get Rich." Funny that.
Enlightened answers cover the underlying practical reasons. Enlightened answers are patronizing. When someone tells you they are applying to your company because it means they can bring some quality back into their life. Dig deeper, don't accept that answer at face value.
A clearer mind than you or I would ask why we're talking to lifestyle candidates anyway. Lifestyle employees don't build winning companies. But let's save that for another newsletter.
Don't be patronized by lifestyle answers. Questions which provoke patronizing answers have hit their mark. You're on to something when you get a "higher calling" lecture. Keep going! The hoof beats you're hearing are not made by zebras.
See you for breakfast!
Wolfgang
P.s. Please reserve for Apr. 14th at the Planetarium, (Kit's Beach). Subject, see below.
Individual tickets still for sale for April, $135 each.
P.s. All our newsletters are archived at Wolf's blog
Click through and register, please. Productivity is the focus. Productivity through hiring and managing correctly.
P.s. I hope you're annoyed the next time a candidate gives you a philosophical or enlightened answer. You're being patronized, - it's okay to push back.
P.s. I'm all for the simple life. I even think Tiger Woods googled "Buddhism."
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