Every once in a while, I have the pleasure of working with someone who is really, really smart… enough so that I find myself scrambling to make sure that I’m bringing something real and valuable to the relationship. I love those opportunities, because they force me to give it my all and put myself to the test. Sometimes, I even pass.

By far my favorite such opportunity was a meeting I had in New York last December, with my brother-in-law’s agent. In twenty seven minutes, I had a chance to meet a great guy, field two substantive questions, and learn what a New York minute is really about. Before I go into what happened, let me give you the punchline: I didn’t quite measure up that day. I stumbled out of the gate. I did get to my feet and cross the finish line–and only a fraction of a moment behind–but I still came in second. When I left, I couldn’t figure out if I should be upset at myself for not doing better, or happy that I had done as well as I did. Around and around I went in my head, until my Blackberry buzzed me back to reality.

My brother-in-law’s agent–let’s call him Rich–had taken my call the week before and then took me up on my offer to come by, introduce myself, and say thanks for a favor he had done me a few months prior. I met him at 4pm on a Monday at his Midtown office. He kept me waiting less than five minutes, which surprised me. There was something about the lobby of the agency–a large, two-story room built to impress–that told me to get comfortable… this was a place designed to help agents remind their clients (and anyone else who dared enter their domain) the agent’s place in the food chain. This was a place where people waited.

But not me, not that day. I was quickly ushered in to Rich’s office, where he was finishing up a phone call. The first thing I noticed was that Rich was a lot more powerful a man than I had realized. The entire time I was in there, two lines blinked steadily to indicate callers on hold, and two more people sat in a conference room across the hall. Someone was also waiting for his double-booked 4pm meeting with Rich to start. I knew some of this because Rich told me as much during our conversation, but also because I had seen Rich’s calendar over the receptionist’s shoulder and had heard her counseling patience to the callers while I was in the lobby. Everyone waiting for Rich, yet engaged; nothing so basic as spending time in the lobby. This guy had everyone not just waiting, but hanging on the line… and doing so in plain sight of everyone else who was waiting. I looked around for other clues, but his office lacked the trappings I often find around big time execs. I saw his cards in a card holder on his desk. Does that say “Managing…”? Rich was not a big ego, he was just that good. He was someone who could keep five people waiting and simultaneously use them to impress a sixth.

His flawless social skills confirmed my impression. Rich had all the smooth a person could want in a lifetime, with none of the slick. He built rapport, established a personal connection, extracted and shared meaningful details about each of our lives, all in the span of six minutes. He smiled the entire time. He wasn’t driving–he didn’t need to, I’m fairly adept at carrying on a conversation–but he wasn’t following, either. He was… playing. Then he pounced.

“OK, so you’re on TV doing an interview, and you’ve got an audience of CEOs. A hundred of them are in the studio. What are the three things they need to know?” The question didn’t come out of nowhere, but it did come with an edge that hadn’t been in his voice a moment earlier. This was a fastball right down the middle. I looked at him for a moment, and saw by his smile that he was enjoying the game, I was playing it right and he was taking it up a level. I got the sense that he had liked what he had seen so far and wanted me to succeed… which was why he was giving me an easy one, a question he knew I must have practiced a hundred times. I gave my hook and then delivered behind it an answer that was direct, to the point, relevant, actionable, and…

…completely wrong.

His smile locked. It was just for the merest fraction of a second, but to me his tell was clear as day. He had thrown his fastball right past me. What the…? Suddenly I was a moment behind. Maybe I wasn’t playing this right. Why was my answer wrong? I cut my answer short, there was no need to go on. I redirected the conversation to buy time. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it was something like, “…It strikes me that I’ve only ever given this answer to people who already know me. I wonder if strangers would take my advice the same way as those who already believe in what they’re buying.” The smile softened, the conversation went on. He gave me a book, First, Break All the Rules, and we started talking about an upcoming conference he would be attending where Buckingham would be speaking.

He’s telling me this for a reason.This is not an invitation, this is a lesson… but what is it?

Another ten minutes of conversation went by. I was getting conflicting signals: I knew I had failed the test, but he hadn’t yet shown me the door. People were still waiting… he was thinking about something. He hasn’t mentally placed me yet. He’s trying to figure out where I fit. Then it came: the second test.

He stood up from his couch. I stayed still; I wasn’t going to help him end our meeting. I wanted him to play his hand, and if I got up now, our conversation would be over. He walked to his door and closed it. “OK,” he started, “Here’s a situation I’ve got that maybe you can help me with…” He proceeded to talk me through, at a high level, a problem he was having with a subordinate. When he was finished, I was leaning forward, my chin in my hand and my elbow on my knee. I was still trying to figure out why he had detoured into a conversation about Buckingham, and had no idea what he should do with his subordinate! He hadn’t given me nearly enough informa–

Then I got it; I knew what I was supposed to do. This wasn’t about the answer; the answers were all already out there. We both knew them. This was about framing the answer to make it… right! It was about taking control and giving him the answer I wanted to give instead of the answer he was asking for, about being my own man and challenging him to reconcile his thoughts against mine. Answering his question directly didn’t give him anything, because it didn’t help him place me; it left my answer without context. I needed to help him figure out where I fit! That had been my mistake earlier; hook or no, I had answered his question and left him without the context he needed. Now I’d answer my own. I sank back into my armchair, stretching my arms out on the armrests, and crossing my legs. I was slouching a little, and I could feel the muscles of my forehead slacken. I turned up the corners of my mouth, never taking my eyes off him. Was the cat being given a second chance at the canary? No time to wonder–time for the kill. “You have a choice,” I said. “Do you want to go the ‘stand-up-guy’ route, or do you want to take the easy route out of this? You can do either.”

Rich paused. I had caught him. He hadn’t been expecting that. He sat back, smiled, and nodded to himself. He was in two places at once, thinking about his ordeal and also sizing me up. He had been hoping I’d give him the right answer, but he had had his doubts that I could… and now his doubts were visibly melting. “I need to be a stand up guy on this. I owe him that much.” I nodded. I was sizing him up now, trying to tell how truthful he was being with himself. I decided that he had the courage to have the conversation I was about to suggest, and went on to tell him how to handle his next conversation, as well as what would happen next. The advice was good, I had no doubt about that, but what I could see in his eyes was, the answer had been right. No frozen smile this time. We watched the ball sail out of the park, and we were both glad to see it go.

Our meeting wrapped up shortly after, and I left, having batted .500 on the two questions, pleased with my ability to hang in there, and disappointed that I hadn’t done better.

When I answered my phone, my wife was on the other line. “How’d your meeting with Rich go?”

“Sweetheart, it takes me two hours to get a full read on a person, and Rich had me nailed in a New York minute. He spent 6 minutes opening me up, and then with one question he got everything he needed to know and discovered I’m not ready for prime time.”

“It was over that fast, huh?”

“No, I somehow earned an additional 21 minutes from him as well as a second chance.”

“How’d you do the second time around?”

“A lot better.”

“So that’s good, no?”

“Yeah… but still, he was the better man today. He was the one giving the chances, you know what I mean? V, I’ve never been sized up so fast. There’s a big part of me hates that he was better than me today, but I have to admit, there is another part of me that loves what just happened. I would never have believed it possible if I hadn’t seen it.”

“Believed what is possible?”

“That so much can be packed into a single moment in time. This guy is in command of a skill that for the rest of the world is an ineffable, visceral reaction. It was awesome to watch. Sitting in his office, I could emulate it, too. Not quite as fast as him, but it was there for me when I needed it. Who knew!” My wife had, and has, no patience for the esoteric.

“What’s your follow up?”

“Are you kidding? None! I ran a close race, but I still came in second. I don’t get to call Rich again until I’ve made it on my own.”

“Do you think he’ll take your call?”

“Not if I call before I’m ready. No way. I don’t need to, anyway. If the time is ever right, he’ll call me. I don’t think I’ll forget our meeting today, and I don’t think he will, either. In the meantime, he has a much more important job to do: take care of our brother-in-law!”

That meeting in New York last December is, to this day, one of my favorite encounters. It moved so fast… and on such a core level… the dance Rich did was sublime. Most of the people this guy deals with never see him coming, I’m sure. It was a pleasure to watch, and learn from, a master at work. Not that I ever wish for failure, but if I’m going to come up short every once in awhile, I want it to be exactly like that, in a situation that takes me to the edge of my abilities and then some.

Posted under Job Interviews, Self-Development, Personal, Assessment

When I talk about introversion and extroversion, I do not use these terms the same way most other people do. To me, introversion and extroversion have to do with where someone gets his or her energy–is it from within, or from a social give an take with others?–that is related to, but certainly not equivalent to, the person’s sociability.To most people, extroverts like parties and introverts like quiet evenings at home. To me, that’s neither here nor there, especially at executive levels. Much of an executive’s job has to do with interacting with other people; even if they are “introverts” and like quiet evenings at home, they will have been trained to like going out because they know that social interactions lead to revenues… and more than anything else (hopefully), that executive likes revenues! What people typically call extroversion is, to me, social orientation. Other areas where traditional introversion/extroversion lines get blurred:- Comfort with public speaking. Enjoying and being good at public speaking is a thing unto itself, and not the exclusive domain of either introverts or extroverts. Speaking to a crowd–and here I mean more than 6 or 7 people–allows one, if he wants, to put a “4th wall” between him and the audience. I know plenty of introverts who are comfortable once that wall comes down, because it allows the person to remain private and mentally apart from the group if he so desires.- Social skill. Ironically, although extroverts tend to have better natural social skills, people who are truly great at working social interactions tend to be introverts who have learned social skills. This elite crop of introverts took the time to study what it is that makes extroverts fun, and they have developed a set of skills that allows them to mimic the extrovert when necessary. Because these skills are learned, they can be controlled somewhat more than the extrovert’s social skills… and some introverts have learned to control them precisely. That, coupled with the introvert’s ability to not get emotionally tied up in social relationships to the same level of the extroverts, makes it possible for the introvert to display superior social abilities. It is not uncommon for me to hear someone tell me, “There aren’t two other people alive who would consider me an introvert, but you’re right. I’ve gotten very good at faking it.”-Empathy. One’s capacity to empathize with others is not related to his or her extroversion… though one’s capacity for turning off such empathy may be.So what are introversion and extroversion to me? They are indications of where a person’s energy comes from: introverts are energized internally, while extroverts are energized by the give-and-take with the people around them.In executives, I have found that there is also an ideal: an introvert with well developed social skills. Here’s why: Introverts can learn to be social (see above) easier than extroverts can learn to be solitary. For the true extrovert, asking him to close his door at 9pm after everyone’s gone home is like asking him to go without food. And to ask him to then make the tough call–the one that will make him unpopular with at least half his team the following day–is like asking him to poison everything in the pantry… The extrovert’s energy flows back and forth between him and the people around him, so making the tough call is doubly tough because the extrovert is going to feel the pain first himself and then again when all that negative energy circles back around. Anecdotally, I have seen many more introverts who can muster the energy for parties and politics than extroverts who can stomach unpopularity.One of the easiest ways to tell introverts apart from extroverts is by their comfort with silence. Ask a question… extroverts will start speaking before their answer is fully formed; introverts will wait. Another way is to listen to their decision making process… after the person has told you about all the models s/he used, and the deep analysis s/he conducted, the extrovert will generally indicate the presence of another individual–a friend, colleague, mentor, or boss. If you continue to ask about the person’s decision making process, you’ll notice that this is a trend: You’ll learn that the person picked his college because it had everything he wanted… and by the way, his best friend was going there. She chose her job because they were in the right city and the comp package was unbeatable… and by the way she had a personal connection with her new boss through a mutual friend. He decided to do the project because he had done all the competitive analyses and calculated the IRR and all looked good… and was validated when, during a conversation with a respected colleague, the colleague had blessed the plan. Introverts do not do this nearly as much.

Posted under Q&A, Leadership, Assessment

A: During negotiations class tonight, I had my class do a cross-cultural negotiation in which norms and customs were not fully understood by one party.

The key takeaway from the case was this: ambiguity does not always look gray. Quite often, ambiguous situations look pretty darn black-and-white! It’s only after you’ve taken the time to explore another perspective that some of the nuance starts to appear.

Given this, one can imagine how challenging a strategic (and politically sensitive!) leadership role can be for someone who consistently misses the nuance of a situation… the leader who is a bull in a china shop cannot help but leave a wake a wreckage!

I thought I would follow up on my posts about ambiguity and hiring lousy people with a note on how to assess one’s ability to handle ambiguity…

Here are three quick ideas for your interview process:

1. Start by not explaining the interview process, and watch what the candidate does. Does she immediately seek clarity? Does she get nervous? Does she jump right in with both feet, without asking anything? Or does she move forward carefully, occasionally probing, until she gets a feel for what’s going on and can take charge?

2. Ask open ended questions; similar to leaving the process itself vague, leave your questions vague. Does he provide a short, terse response and then wait silently for more prompting? Does he launch into a confusing, jumbled story? Does he start strong but then get lost in the “middle” of what he was saying? Or is he able to provide a high level framework for his answer, and then take you along for the ride all the way to a sensible conclusion?

3. Ask about the best and worst bosses she ever worked for. Did she prefer the boss who provided her lots of structure or who gave her opportunity and resources? Does she look back and appreciate a boss’ style in hindsight, or does she hold fast to her original opinions?

Of course, there are other questions you can ask in the same vein as these. Also, no single question will provide a definitive answer. But by paying attention to how the candidate structures his or her responses over time, trends will start to appear, and these trends can provide excellent insight into how this person will likely respond to job-related ambiguity, whether stemming from cultural subtleties, political sensitivities, or strategic uncertainties.

These suggestions may seem simple, but wielded appropriately, they will yield a wealth of useful information!

Posted under Job Interviews, Assessment

A: There are tons of articles done every year helping job hunters prepare for interviews, so I thought I would address the employer side of the equation. Many interviewees have already learned to sell themselves into jobs for which they are unqualified, making it hard to differentiate the losers from the high potentials. As candidates get more sophisticated, prospective employers will have an ever-harder time bottomgrading. And let’s face it: if you let one or two superstars into your organization, pretty soon the culture turns and people start expecting you to work, too, and that’s no good.

To help employers protect themselves against building a take charge company where there is actual pressure on everyone to perform, I interviewed Dr. Ed Ruda, an Industrial Psychologist and fellow executive assessor. Ed’s also my father-in-law, and he’s the guy who taught me how to do an assessment. I recently asked him about how to hire the worst people possible, and here were his suggestions:

1. Believe the resume.
2. Require specific experience.
3. Chat with references and take referrals.
4. Value past results.

I was struck by the fact that these are pretty much the same steps we all take when hiring, and Ed was quick to point out that indeed they are. He was equally quick to point out that corporate America is littered with proof of their effectiveness at attracting underqualified yahoos. Here was his rationale:

Resumes
If you haven’t figured this out yet, people lie, especially on resumes. Therefore, resumes are worthless. If you do anything more than screen resumes for typos then throw them away, you are on your way to a bad hire.

Past Experience
Job postings frequently require extensive industry experience. “Must have 10 years experience in industry.” Why? Why not 2, 7, or 18 years? And how come the candidate needs to have been in the industry—what would preclude people from related or unrelated fields from learning the ropes and excelling in your industry? Is the learning curve that steep?

Requiring specific experience is a good way of needlessly eliminating scores of capable candidates from your search. Moreover, it is an excellent strategy for hiring people who have built up years and years of experience in a role because they are not qualified to do anything else!

References and Referrals
Not having references is like having a resume with typos—a sure sign of a dud. On the other hand, just because someone has a reference doesn’t mean that he’s good! When you talk with a reference, who knows what sense of obligation is at work at the other end of the line? Imagine a boss is firing a poor performer and the conversation gets ugly. To soften things up a bit, the boss says: “Bob, the problem is that I can’t support this large a staff with the budget cuts (a lie). But, I like you (another lie), so if I can help you land on your feet, please let me know. I’ll be glad to be a reference (guilt-alleviating truth)…”

“Bob” has a great reference (and probably a great resume), but no talent whatsoever. Go get him!

Past Results
Imagine: it’s November of 2002 and Struggling Strategies, LLC. slices its staff. The VP of Marketing and an Operations manager craft their resumes in anticipation of impending job hunts.

The VP’s resume reads, in part, “Increased sales 27%.” The manager’s, too, reads in part, “Increased sales 27%.” Who’s telling the truth? Who knows! Maybe sales spiked after someone penned an article on the company in the popular press. Bottom line: it’s impossible to assess past results; use them in lieu of flipping a coin.

Wait! What if I actually want good people?
Rethink your entire approach to interviewing. You are hiring a skill set for its potential to succeed in the future, not for what it’s done previously. You don’t steer based on what you see in the rear view mirror; likewise, don’t hire based on the past. Look forward. Below are some quick tips on things you can do to get more mileage out of your interviews immediately:

1. Slow down. You have an executive level opening, and you want somebody—anybody!—to fill that void now! But hasty hiring decisions may exacerbate your problems. An interview, done right, will take you 2-4 hours. And a decision, done right, will take much longer than that.

2. Shhhh! Let the candidate speak. Pretend you’re on Jeopardy!—if what’s about to come out of your mouth isn’t in the form of a question, it’s wrong. 

3. Disconfirm what you hear. You don’t take a sales pitch at face value, so why take a candidate’s success stories at face value? They’re just the candidate’s sales pitch! Dig deeper: Who was the most difficult boss the candidate had? Why? For whom was the candidate the most difficult subordinate? Why? Get creative, get interested, and get out of the comfort zone.

The resume will reflect successes gained when fortune smiled; the interview is your chance to find out how the person performs in times of conflict and uncertainty.

4. Ask about shortcomings—real ones. “People tell me I’m too impatient for action” is not a shortcoming, it’s a scripted line, probably from Interviewing For Dummies. None of us is perfect; the question is, is this candidate aware of his or her weaknesses and willing to work on them?

Interviewing is an art, and you can learn it. Especially as you work up to the higher echelons of your company, mastering the art of interviewing becomes imperative for continued success. And like most art, this one starts with common sense: if resumes, references, etc. all worked as intended, then corporate America would be perfect, with the most capable people at top and the least capable at the bottom. The fact that it’s not like that tells you that true success calls for a different approach. Good luck.

Posted under Job Interviews, Assessment