Geoff Smart's Blog, page 6

Stop! Don’t Make the #1 Mistake in Business

By Geoff Smart and Marshall Goldsmith

What’s the #1 mistake in business?

Marshall:  How do you define “#1 mistake?”

Geoff:  Let’s define it as a mistake that is most common, most damaging, and most preventable.

M:  I believe the #1 mistake in business is the failure to follow up.  Work is so fast and so complex these days.  So much chance for distraction.  In one of the largest studies ever done on the effects of executive coaching–over 70,000 respondents.  We learned that the biggest mistake coaches make is in not following up.  It didn’t matter who the coach was, or what method they used.  Failing to follow up made any approach to coaching ineffective.

G: We agree on this one.  The #1 mistake is failure to follow up on the priorities that matter most.  I think following up is hard for many leaders.  They either lack the discipline to create a “cadence of accountability” for themselves and their team, or they fear being perceived as being difficult.

M:  OK, so now let’s talk about how to avoid making this mistake of not following up?

G: I remember in your book Triggers you talk about Alan Mulally and his amazingly simple follow-up system he used with his senior team around regularly discussing red/yellow/green priorities.  And in my book Power Score, it’s a similar observation:  former Marine and FedEx founder Fred Smith in our interview of him was all about follow-up, follow-up, follow-up.  When people know there is going to be follow up, they have a way of finding a way to deliver the results.  When they don’t think you are going to follow up, they allow themselves to be distracted by other things.

M:  What gets measured gets done.

G:  Inspect what you expect.

M:  I like to teach leaders about the trigger-routine-outcome cycle.  It’s related to the concept in motivational psychology of antecedent-behavior-consequence cycle.  As a leader, you create a trigger, a routine of behaviors with a daily follow-up plan, and then you are much more likely to achieve an outcome.  Most of the time when we think of creating a trigger, we create a new behavior, preserve a positive behavior, eliminate a negative behavior, or accept something that is not going to change.  And once we establish that cycle, it’s really the follow up that makes the desired outcome happen.  Structure is good.  Follow up doesn’t happen without structure.

G: What about entrepreneurs or people who say that following up takes too much time?

M: I say to them you have to just decide how successful you want to be.  If you want to be busy, then be busy.  But if you want to achieve great things, it takes follow-up.

 

 

—Dr. Geoff Smart is Chairman & Founder of ghSMART, a leadership consulting firm that exists to help leaders amplify their positive impact on the world.  Click for his downloadable free tools, and events.

 

 

 

—Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is the #1 coach in the world, #1 leadership thinker, and million-selling author of 35 books. Triggers is a #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-seller! Order it at Amazon. Visit marshallgoldsmith.com for free articles and videos.

The post Stop! Don’t Make the #1 Mistake in Business appeared first on Dr. Geoff Smart.

Two Leadership Titans Disagree about the #1 Key to Success

By Geoff Smart and Marshall Goldsmith

What’s the #1 key to success?

Geoff: Marshall!  Let’s start by saying what we think isn’t the #1 key to success.  This should raise some eyebrows.  There are so many people with an opinion on this subject—commencement address givers, authors, coaches, etc.

Marshall: The #1 key to success is not passion, trust, honesty, engagement, customer delight…

G: Yep, or financial tricks, being competitive, humility, or hard work.  Those are very short-term-oriented, or very common.

M:  To me, the #1 key to success is “creating lasting positive change in yourself and others.”  That is what is most rare, most difficult, and most valuable about leading people.

G:  I figured you might say that.  You are the positive behavior change guy.  I’m going to go with “hiring talented teams”—the who, not the how, of leadership.

M:  Of course you would say that.  You are the who guy.

G:  Who are you, who who, who who?

M:  Stop singing.  OK, I’ll make the case for creating lasting positive change in yourself and others.  It’s simple.  I’ve coached over 300 CEOs.  So I’ve seen what successful ones do, and what unsuccessful ones do.  And I’ve seen unsuccessful ones change into successful ones.  And in each of these cases of success, at the root I see a commitment that is made.  The commitment to make a change in behavior that will have the greatest positive affect on their performance and on their career.  It can be anything.  But by definition, committing to make the most useful change you can make, and then following through on that commitment, does more to keep people successful, or make people successful, than wishful thinking, or believing in a principle that they don’t act on.

G:  I hear you.  All we have is ourselves.  And behavior change is where the rubber meets the road.  Therefore, if we make the most positive change we can make, we have unlocked the #1 key to success.  That’s what I understand you are saying.

M:  Exactly.

G: And I love your 20 behavior derailers.  And I love how you charge your clients $20 if they fail at one of these in front of you.  Winning too much, adding too much value, passing judgment, making destructive comments, starting with no/but/however, telling the world how smart we are, speaking when angry, negativity, withholding information, failing to give proper recognition, claiming credit we don’t deserve, making excuses, clinging to the past, playing favorites, refusing to express regret, not listening, failing to express gratitude, punishing the messenger, passing the buck, excessive need to be “me.”

M:  Yes, I’m glad you read my What Got You Here Won’t Get You There book.

G:  That’s where we disagree I think.  I don’t view leadership as what one single person does.  I view a leader as an “assembler” of a talented team of people.  Like an allocator of human capital, whose job it is to identify a group’s goal and then put together the very best people to achieve it.  Therefore, what one person decides is less impactful than hiring a talented team of people.

M:  Yes yes, the talent of a team is important.  And I know your 4 steps to improving your hiring success rate from 50% to 90%:  scorecard, source, select, and sell.

G:  So you skimmed the summary of my Who book.  Nice.

M:  But a team that is not committed to their own positive behavior change, or affecting maximum positive behavior change in others, is not going to succeed.  So I’ll conclude by reiterating that the most fundamental “gene” if you will, in success, is the commitment to positive behavior change in yourself and others.

G:  And I’ll respectfully see your steadfast commitment to your own teachings and books, and raise you my own dogma.  Who matters.  And one more thing.  Don’t start a sentence with “But.”  You owe me $20.

 

—Dr. Geoff Smart is Chairman & Founder of ghSMART, a leadership consulting firm that exists to help leaders amplify their positive impact on the world.  Click for his downloadable free tools, and events.

 

 

 

—Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is the #1 coach in the world, #1 leadership thinker, and million-selling author of 35 books. Triggers is a #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-seller! Order it at Amazon. Visit marshallgoldsmith.com for free articles and videos.

The post Two Leadership Titans Disagree about the #1 Key to Success appeared first on Dr. Geoff Smart.

The 10 Best Questions to Ask your Future Boss, From the World Experts on Hiring

What questions should you ask your future boss?

These questions are listed in order of when you should ask them, as you get to know your future boss.

They are the best questions for 1) getting an offer for your dream job, 2) allowing you to decide if you want to work with that boss, and 3) setting up a positive and substantive working relationship with your future boss.

What’s your story?
What do you want to accomplish in this chapter of your career?
What are your boss’s (if applicable, or “the board” if you are interviewing with the CEO) biggest priorities right now?
What are your career thoughts about the future?
What’s the culture like on your team?
How do you like to communicate with your best performers?
What else do your most valuable teammates do that you like?
What do your teammates do that you don’t like?
If I perform really well, and my results make you thrilled, what are some career paths here that you think would be a good fit for the future?
What would your bosses, peers, and subordinates say are your biggest strengths and areas for improvement?

Download SMARTtools for Leaders™ HERE.

Participate in SMARTfest 2016 to master the #1 skill in business – hiring talented teams. Register HERE.

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The 5 Degrees of Listening from the World Experts on Hiring

Listening is a funny skill. For many leaders, it is a non-skill.

However, what could be a more fundamental skill for hiring talented teams, leading people, or closing the next big sale?

And what skill is more important in getting hired for your dream job and achieving career success?

Beginning during my Ph.D. training as a psychologist, and over the subsequent two decades as an and leadership advisor, I observe that there are 5 degrees of listening skills.

Here they are from worst to best:

The worst way to listen is to not listen. To just talk. It’s really hard to listen when you are the one making all of the sounds in the room. Don’t be the one doing all the talking.

 

The second worst way to listen is simply to not talk. Your future boss may think that you are not smart enough to keep up, or you don’t really care, if you just sit there and don’t talk. Not talking is not the same thing as actively listening.

 

Nod and say “mmm hmm.” Oh good, at least there is a pulse in you. But just nodding and making moaning noises is not super insightful and does not build rapport as well as the next two levels of listening.

 

Reflect what you heard. Just say what they just said. If they said, “Our growth strategy is primarily through international expansion,” then a pure reflection would be to say, “So your growth strategy is international.” Your future boss will say, “Yep,” and will be only mildly impressed with you.

 

Reflect the “emotion behind the statement.” Imagine if your future boss just told you that the industry is changing extremely fast, and that the company has been struggling to change as fast as the industry is changing. She told you this with a frown on her face. Degree 4 would be to say “The industry is changing fast. The company has to change fast.” This is child’s play compared to the Degree 5 listening where you reflect the emotion behind the statement. Degree 5 listening would be something like, “It sounds like everything is changing so fast. It must be stressful keeping up.” Your future boss will say, “Yes, it is.” Then you add, “You need to count on your team, and know that they can keep up with the speed of change.” Your future boss will say, “Exactly.” Once you first hear the word “exactly,” the probability that you will receive a job offer is at least 80%. That is because your future boss feels that you understand him or her, that you care, and that you are the person to deliver them something good (like results), or to remove something bad (like stress). We are animals. We seek safety with others. We need to know whether someone is an ally or an enemy. Reflecting the emotion behind a statement can help leap-frog you right into “ally” mode with your future boss, and get you your dream job.

Download SMARTtools for Leaders™ HERE.

Participate in SMARTfest 2016 to master the #1 skill in business – hiring talented teams. Register HERE.

The post The 5 Degrees of Listening from the World Experts on Hiring appeared first on Dr. Geoff Smart.

20 More Ninja Tactics for Interviewing, from the World Experts on Hiring

Want to ace your next interview and land your dream job? Here are 20 interviewing tactics to help you prepare.



Do 3 hours of research on your future boss, not just a quick Google search.
Deliver a genuine compliment in the first 30 seconds of the interview. Genuine! As in, do your research, find something impressive about your future boss, then deliver a respectful and genuine compliment. Like, “I’m looking forward to being interviewed by the TechCorp Golden Spurs Award winner from this year.” Or “I read your book. It’s the best book on digital marketing I’ve read, so I got a few copies for my current team. They love it too. Thank you for writing it.” Or “You won the Buyouts Magazine best firm award two years in a row, right? It’s a great pleasure to be here interviewing for a job with the undisputed heavyweight champion in the private equity industry.” What this will do is three things: 1) it shows you do your homework, 2) it shows your “ego” is in check enough to identify and celebrate the good in others, and 3) it makes your future boss feel good, just like it will make you feel good when people come into your office and show respect or thanks for something you are proud of.
Ask your future boss, “I’d love to hear more about your story.” Find out their story—where they grew up, how they got to where they are. You will understand three important things: 1) what motivates them, 2) the “hot buttons” or words or terms they use that you can use to speak the language of your future boss, and 3) it gives you clues about what management or business priorities are probably on the mind of your future boss today.
Ask your future boss, “I’d love to know what your biggest priorities are for this chapter of your career. What are you trying to get done right now?”
Ask your future boss, “Tell me about your team. Who are the key people and what do they do to achieve your goals?”
Ask your future boss, “What are the relationships like here? The culture? What are the unspoken rules for how people work together to get results?”
Use a tone of “humble confidence.”
Answer number questions with number answers.
Use a stat and a story to prove your points.
Compare your results to the 3Ps—vs. peers, vs. plan, and vs. previous year.
If it’s true, explain that you left your jobs after delivering great results, on your own accord, and that your boss tried to keep you.
Don’t say the words “learning” (instead talk about results), “aspire” (because nobody talks like that in normal daily business), “transform” (nobody who earns over $100k uses that word), “endeavor,” (that’s what children think adults say during interviews), “have to/ought to/needed to” (you sound like a powerless, spineless sap), “keeping my optional open” (loser thing to say; winners focus), “I’m competitive” (nobody likes working with jerks), “outmaneuvered” (nobody likes someone who plays politics), “tried” (there is no try, there is only do, so says Yoda; or Mr. Miyogi would say there is do, or not do, there is no try. You cross street. Or you don’t cross street. If you merely try to cross street, you get squished like grape), “comply” (this implies you hate the system), any 4+ syllable word when a 1 or 2-syllable word works better (or else you sound academic or clueless or like you are posing like you are some big shot roller when in fact you are not; smart people use short words; dumb people and egomaniacs use long words); “reach out” (having meetings is not the same as achieving results), “dialogue” (this is not clinical psychology, this is a business), “My boss didn’t give me any goals to hit,” (well make your own, you passive pay-check casher), “I don’t remember what my performance ratings were” (well then estimate you average to below average performer!), “I’m a perfectionist/work too hard” (really? Perfect work is your weakness? Or working hard is a weakness? How is that a weakness?), answering a number question with a word answer, “good,” (good means lousy in business), “I don’t dwell on the negative,” (well winners do, you low-aspiring milquetoast candidate). Don’t say “rewarding” (it sounds like you are in it for the rewards you will receive, but employers want you to be in it for the impact you will deliver).
Use the words “priorities,” “focus,” “goals,” “target,” “what matters,” “decided,” “did,” “talent,” “hire/fire,” “revenue,”, “EBITDA/profit/profitable/profit margins,” “segment,” “customer,” “achieve,” “deliver,” “obliterate,” “crush,” “mentor,” “generosity and gratitude,” “recruit,” “help,” “serve,” “perform/performance,” “leadership,” “listen/listened,” “discovered/found,” “running this team/business at full power,” “reliable/reliably,” “awesome,” “fantastic,” better than expected.”
Don’t try to act “sexy” during an interview.
Make your voice sound normal. If you are a woman or man, don’t talk with a high-pitched squeaky voice. You don’t have to. One successful female executing told us that she got some good advice during her MBA program, which is to speak in the lowest voice that feels comfortable to you. Talking with a squeaky “little girl” or “little boy” voice is just weird. Yet about 15% of people choose to. Do whatever you need—psychotherapy, voice coaching—whatever it takes to lose the high-pitched voice, and talk in a normal tone of voice of which you are fully capable.
Be all about results. Some interviewing books encourage you to be all about enthusiasm and positivity. Nope. That makes you seem superficial and stupid. Instead, what we really want to know, is this—are you going to deliver the results for which you are being hired? Talk about results that were good. Talk about results that were bad. But talk about results. Dollars. Units sold. Percentage increases in customer acquisition. Percentage decreases in the cost per unit. Customer satisfaction rates. Team satisfaction or engagement rates. Revenue, profits. You get the picture. Results. Results. Results!!! Winners realize they are being hired to deliver results. This reminds us of the best line from a movie. Pardon the character who uttered it (the drug kingpin in Miami Vice with Will Farrell and Jamie Foxx). He says, “With me I do not buy a service, I buy a result.” And then there is the implication that failure to deliver the result will result in a “visit” to the two new employees’ families. OK, so your future boss won’t “off” your family if you fail to deliver a result. But results matter and winners know that and losers don’t.
Be all about helping people be successful. Only 10% of leaders love to help others succeed. 90% think more about how they “get ahead.” Our research suggests that if you are so talented that you have spare capacity to help others be successful, you are more likely to succeed than people who just care about themselves. So think about the last 3 people you mentored. Who were they? What did you help them learn? How did they perform?
Don’t act snobby, act grateful. Sometimes people in interviews try to “impress” the interviewer. “I only drink French wine. California wine is too floral for me.” Oh, wait, let me write that down; that’s so profound. “I was at an HBS reunion the other week and met Mark Zuckerberg.” So what? I doubt Mark Zuckerberg could pick you out of a line-up. “I bought the new hybrid BMW and was driving it to work the other day.” Snooze. I don’t care what new car you just leased. Bragging in a snobby way is not impressive in interviews. It makes you look insecure. Instead, be grateful. “I met with my mentor last week. I’m so grateful that the Chairman of our firm, somebody four levels up from where I sit, is willing to meet me for breakfast once a quarter and mentor me. I’ve learned so much from her.” Or something like, “I felt really grateful last week. One of our biggest clients called and wished me a happy birthday. That is not really common, for an accounting client to call someone from our team to wish them a happy birthday. It made me feel good that our work is valuable.” Or maybe you are grateful for an unexpected success. “We finally allocated $1.2m into developing this new product that I had been pitching for a year. Nothing is for certain. I had a knot in my stomach the first six months of product development and testing with customers. But I was so grateful to have had a chance to innovate this new concept in my business unit. That is one great thing about my employer’s culture that I will miss if I leave. Anyway, the budget was to spend no more than $1.2m, to achieve breakeven within 24 months, and earn $3m per year in pre-tax profits in year 3. I’m happy to report that we only spent $500k out of pocket on a max budget of $1.2m. We achieved breakeven within 6 months because one of our big clients came in with a monster order. And in year 3, we were earning not just $3m as planned, but $7.2m, which is 2.4x our goal. One of my favorite memories from this past year is the special celebration dinner we held for the product team. They all seemed so proud; and their significant others who were invited to the dinner also seemed so proud.”
Don’t act formal, act normal. We were advising the President of the World Bank. Other advisors were called into help Dr. Jim Kim solve his most important business challenges. I noticed one guy, who looked nervous to be in the presence of greatness, sat erect in his chair. His suit was immaculate. His pocket square must have been folded by a special machine—it was so tight, so perfect. He chose his words very carefully. Not quite newscaster. More like “I’m going to represent myself as a professional.” We watched him crash and burn. His formality got in the way of building rapport with Dr. Kim. Dr. Kim was main-lining coffee the whole time this other guy was talking. And there was no invitation for a follow-up meeting. In contrast, there was another person at that table who sat with a relaxed, but confident posture. That other person said, “I really respect your goal. To end extreme poverty by 2030. My concern is that you don’t have the right goals, or the right people, to achieve that goal.” There was a vigorous Q&A. And Dr. Kim came away from that interaction instructing two of his key leaders to follow up with the normal-acting, confident, caring person while the pocket square guy sat there looking upset, with steam lines of frustration wavering above his well-coiffed head.
Don’t talk a big game about the future; instead sell your track record. In the thousands of job interviews we’ve conducted, we very rarely witness great candidates talking big about the future. Master interviewers know that speculating about the future is of limited value. And great candidates know that speculating about the future is of limited value. So don’t find yourself saying, “Your sales target for Cleveland is only $1m? If you hire me, we’ll do $10m!” or “If your typical consultant serves 3 clients at a time, I’ll serve 6!” or “I’m going to turn this business unit around from worst to first within a year!” Bravado. Chest-pumping machismo. Alpha male or alpha female bragging about the future is not predictive of performance. Instead of making a big deal about the future, make a big deal about your past. There is a communication tactic that we find effective when candidates talk about their past. It’s called “Feel, felt, found.” Say your future boss says something like, “We are spread way too thin. We have like 50 priorities in that department. It’s chaos. Tell me about a time when you walked into a chaotic environment.” You can say, “I understand how you feel. You see a department with too many priorities, which is the same thing as having no priorities.” “Yes,” your future boss will say. “Two jobs ago was similar. My boss then, Margaret Valas, felt the same way. She did not have time to fix the IT problems in one of her businesses. She told me she wanted me to go in, diagnose what was wrong, and fix it.” Your future boss will say, “Yes, so what did you do? And what were the results?” You say, “I did three things. I first interviewed every member of the department to find out what they thought should be a priority and why, and what the chance of success of each priority was. We met as a group and ranked them from most important and do-able, to least important and do-able. We found that there was consensus around the top 3 priorities. So we decided to focus on doing those 3 things really well, and push other priorities off the calendar. Second, I interviewed the top 6 people. I found that 4 of them were high performers and were excited about being there. 2 people hated their jobs and felt they were in the wrong place. So I told the 2 that they could look for another job during work hours if they wanted. Both of them found another job within 2 months, and then I hired 2 more rock stars to that team. We revamped our meeting agendas and focused on the 3 results we wanted to achieve. And we crushed them. My boss sent me a half dozen emails of thanks and congratulations during that time. She subsequently gave me two other departments to fix, and she found I was able to do so, following largely that same process of prioritizing, hiring, and building relationships focused on results.”

Download SMARTtools for Leaders™ HERE.

Participate in SMARTfest 2016 to master the #1 skill in business – hiring talented teams. Register HERE.

The post 20 More Ninja Tactics for Interviewing, from the World Experts on Hiring appeared first on Dr. Geoff Smart.

20 Questions about Interviewing, with the World Experts on Hiring

Learn how to ace the interview and get hired to your dream job.


How “close to the vest” should I keep my cards during an interview?

Not close at all. Losers hide the truth. Winners share information.

How much should I “butter up” my future boss?

A 2 on a 10-point scale. A 0 or 1 makes you look selfish and un-interested. A 3 or more makes you look like a weak suck-up.

What should I do if the person interviewing me really stinks at interviewing?

If they are your future boss, then find another future boss. Bosses that are bad at interviewing are bad at leading.

If they are a “gatekeeper” like a peer or Head of HR, then go along with their lousy interviewing approach. Here are 5 versions of bad interviewing that you may encounter:

Sir Talks-A-Lot: This person has mistaken an interview with you as a confessional or a psychotherapy session or a Saturday Night Live monologue. Just let them talk. And reflect your understanding of their story so they know just how impressed you are with them. “It sounds like you have the ear of the CEO.” “It sounds like your college football success has translated into success in your job.” “It sounds like you have a different opinion about the strategy of this business than the board.” This person will hate you if you interrupt them, or if you change the subject to something productive or job relevant.
Serious Sally: This person takes their job too seriously. They frown at you. They try to “stump” you with meaningless technical questions—”What’s the square root of 120?” “How many bowling balls fit in the cargo hull of a 747?” The assumption of this type of interview is they will “test how you think” and derive insights about how you might perform on the job. It’s a flawed approach, proven non-predictive of performance in the field of Industrial Psychology 50 years ago. But Sally hasn’t gotten the memo.
Hypothetical Holly: She will give you “hypothetical scenarios,” and you get to speculate about what you “would do.” By the way, giving people hypothetical scenarios produces hypothetical answers, that have zero predictive validity. But just give her what she wants. “How would you get buy-in for an idea?” “Oh, Holly, first what I would do is to empathize with the other person. I’d find out what really motivates them. I’d find out what problems they are facing. Then I would offer to help, by sharing the idea. I’d listen to their reaction, and I’d probe for clarification. After demonstrating empathy and understanding for their needs, and thanking them for their feedback on the idea, I would modify the idea to include their feedback. Then I would circle back with them with the edited idea, and I’d let them know I was moving forward with *their* idea. They would thank me, and they would get credit in the eyes of their bosses and peers for coming up with a great idea. That’s how I’d get buy-in.”
Blank Bart: This person has no idea what they are doing. Their questions are pointless. They are just “making conversation.” So just make conversation back at them.
Best Friend Barb: This person wants to “friend” you. And they may actually send you a friend request minutes after the interview. This type of interviewer is highly insecure. They act like “testing your culture/chemistry match” is the point of the interview, but the point of this interview is really just for them to feel safe, that if you join you are not going to try to get them fired. So, be friendly. Don’t try to steer this interview into productive territory, or else they will complain to your future boss that you are too serious or not friendly enough.    





How much eye contact should I make during the interview?

Some interviewing books tell you to maintain constant eye contact. Really? Constant? Like, 100%? How psycho is that? No, we find that about 25% eye contact is perfect.

How much “chit chat” should I make at the beginning of the interview?

About as much as your future boss wants to make. Generally, 5 minutes of chit-chat is ideal. Then show a willingness to dive into more substantive topics.

Should I never cry during an interview?

Right, you should never cry during an interview.

How much personal information should I reveal during the interview?

Like a 6 out of 10. This includes your career goals, honest reporting of the number of hours or travel is acceptable to you, and anything else job-relevant that gives your future boss a sense of your motivations, parameters, and such. Sharing more gets weird. What, are you going to be like, “I have this fungal problem on my left foot. I’ve had it looked at several times but I have not pulled the trigger yet on a treatment.”



How should I change my approach if there is like a 5 on 1 interview?

This is called a “panel interview.” They don’t work. But you can use them to your advantage. Answer questions directly, and completely. There will unlikely be follow-up questions, because how can you really follow up when there are 5 people all asking you questions? Appear calm and undaunted by 5 people asking you questions. They will conclude that you can “handle pressure.”

What if my future boss is being “tough” during the interview; is that a good sign or a bad sign?

A bad sign. Ideal interviewers build rapport with their candidates. They are authentic, interested, and use a tone of “intense curiosity.” But it’s always respectful. In contrast, if you encounter a future boss who is trying to “make the candidate feel uncomfortable” during an interview, that’s likely because they are a lousy person, insecure, or stupid. There was one young CEO who came up to one of us after a speaking event we did at MIT. He was wearing a “muscle shirt” tank top and jeans. This entrepreneur asked us, “How do I hire more tough-minded people?” We found the question odd. So we probed deeper, and what we learned was that this boss was taking an extremely disrespectful “tough” tone during interviews. We asked for examples and he told us:

“I like to be a tough interviewer.”

“OK. So what does that look like.”

“It looks like my making them wait, like 20 minutes. Just sitting there in my office as I work on emails, or run in and out of my office. I want them to know who’s boss.”

“Mmm hmm,” we said.

“And then once I start to interview them, I’ll start it like this. ‘Hey. Your resume is not that impressive. I only want to hire the best. Why should I think you are the best?”

“Mmm hmm,” we replied.

“But wait, it gets better.”

“OK,” we said.

“So then, as they are starting to talk, and justify their existence, I’ll ask them very specific questions. Like, ‘Really? You say you succeeded in selling into the enterprise space, but I bet you can’t even spell enterprise. Go ahead, spell it.'”

“Goodness,” we observed.

“So,” he continued, “I want to know how to hire tough-minded people.”

“What, your approach is not working?” we asked.

“Well, um, not really. I’ll get these pretty talented candidates—you know, perfect SAT scores and grades and such—and they won’t come back for the next round of interviews after they sit with me.”

“Oh,” we said.

“I just want you guys to tell me. Am I doing it wrong? I’m just trying to find winners—people who are going to be tough and work hard and not complain.”

“Yes, you are doing it wrong,” we replied, dead pan.

“OK. Um, really? It’s a style of interviewing I sort of invented. I didn’t know if it was too much.”

“Well, we’d say it’s not enough.”

“Not enough what?”

“Not enough of the best practices of interviewing, and too much stuff that is putting a barrier between you and great candidates.”

“Yeah. OK, that’s why I asked, I figured it was probably not the best approach. Someone. (Pause) Some candidate recently posted online that I’m a ‘douche.'”

“Really?” we feigned surprise.

“Yeah. It sort of sucked because it got forwarded around to my own employees, and some of them agreed. It’s been something I need to wipe off the internet. I hired this SEO company that specializes in reputation management, and …” his voice trailed off.

Well, not actually in person it trailed off. He continued to talk loudly, like a bully. But in our minds, his voice trailed off because we turned our attention to the other dozen or so entrepreneurs who were standing in line waiting to ask us questions about hiring.

What kinds of questions should I ask during an interview?

You should ask questions about what your future boss wants to achieve, and then show how you are great at delivering relevant results (if you are in fact great at delivering relevant results. If you are not, then that’s not your dream job).



How much should I talk during an interview?

45% of the time.

What are interviewers really trying to look for during an interview?

Good ones are trying to measure the magnitude and relevance of your accomplishments.

What about chemistry? How do I make my chemistry match the chemistry of my future boss?

We think chemistry is over-rated. It’s a crutch. But your chemistry will be good, if you are authentic, and if they hire you. Don’t over-manage your chemistry or it will come off as fake.



How about culture? How do I try to make my personality and background fit their culture?

Figure out what their culture is all about. Is it fast or slow? Is it top-down or bottom-up? Is it highly communicative, or less so? Are people encouraged to speak up or just be heads-down? Once you figure out the culture, if you feel like you want to work in that culture, then do three things. 1) In describing past cultures and bosses, emphasize the parts you really liked, which match the culture at this company. (“I really liked how people were encouraged to take initiative. I raised my hand one town hall meeting with an idea and my boss at the time said, ‘Awesome—why don’t you get three or four people to work on that idea with you and report back next month on your progress.’) 2) When they ask you what type of culture you want to work in, emphasize the parts of this culture that you really like. 3) When they ask you why you want to work there, again, emphasize the elements of culture you like there.



When to “push back” on my future boss?

Not at all. That doesn’t mean roll over and play dead. We don’t like the term “push back” because it implies that you are some poor, weak soul, who needs to stand up to the man. Stand up to the system that is oppressing you. We view you as strong. Smart. And capable. And we think you want your boss to be successful in achieving her goals, right? So don’t “push back.” As in “I’m going to have to challenge you on that point, Sue.” That’s weird and annoying to act like that. Instead, what you want to do is say, “I think you might achieve your goal of opening a London office, if you considered a slightly different approach. Rather than staff it with Australians, as you mentioned, you might consider staffing it with people from London, who have worked in that market and who have been successful.”

What if I don’t remember, or can’t figure out, the answer to a question I’m asked during an interview?

Relax. There is nothing more awkward during an interview than somebody who feels bad for not remembering a fact, and who squirms and shifts in their seat. AWKward. Instead, you can say, “My best guess is that the company shipped 3,000 to 5,000 dish washers to India the year before I was the Regional VP of Sales there. I can get the exact number if you would like. The first year I was in place, I know we shipped 8,420 units on a goal of 6,000, and the second year we shipped 10,400 on a goal of 7,000. So I’m very proud of the work my team and I got done during those two years. Our boss said it was a fantastic performance, beating the targets.”

What does it look like to be “too confident” during an interview?

Ah yes, the balance between being too confident vs. not confident enough. Our recommendation is to be “quietly confident.” Successes are things that took hard work and were possible because of the talent of the team you hired. Failures are real, had consequences, and you are aware with 20/20 hindsight what you could have done differently to have been successful. That’s confidence.

Talking loudly, steepling your hands in a power gesture, pointing at your future boss, using vague overly-confident expressions like “we ate our competitors for lunch,” will make you look over-confident, or at a minimum, lacking in the EQ department (Emotional Quotient—your emotional intelligence).

What’s the worst thing I can do to blow my interview?

I don’t know, slapping your future boss in the face. That’s not a very useful question to ask us.



What’s the second worst thing I can do to blow my interview?

There are so many bad things you can do in interviews. In no particular order, it’s failing to read your future boss’ bio before the interview, talking too much, failing to answer questions directly, and having no idea about what the priorities are of the company, what the culture is, or any sense of relevant facts from your past you can talk about.



When should I talk about salary?

Sometime during the first Screening Interview. It’s respectful to do so. Here’s why. You should make sure your salary expectations are in line with the job. We were interviewing a great candidate once for a job with a starting salary and bonus of $350,000. He failed to ask about salary until he was far into the process. As it turns out, he earned $2m in the previous year. So, that was a bummer for him and for us because everyone’s time was wasted.

Download SMARTtools for Leaders™ HERE.

Participate in SMARTfest 2016 to master the #1 skill in business – hiring talented teams. Register HERE.

The post 20 Questions about Interviewing, with the World Experts on Hiring appeared first on Dr. Geoff Smart.

10 Non-obvious Interviewing Tips by the World Experts in Hiring

If you hope to get hired to your dream job, you need to ace the interview.

The problem is, there is a lot of bad advice out there about how to interview. We see the results of it every day.

I usually sit on the other side of the table.

One of the things that my colleagues and I do is to help CEOs solve their #1 problem. Their #1 problem typically includes making a few key hiring decisions in any given year.

Unfortunately for employers and employees alike, many great candidates are not that great at interviewing. So they blow themselves up as candidates for their dream jobs—jobs that are a great match. I hate it when that happens.

The world would be a much happier place if more people found themselves in their dream jobs.

That’s what is motivating me to write this blog, and what is motivating my coauthor Randy Street and me to write our next book about managing your career better. To help great leaders put their best foot forward, and get hired for the dream jobs they deserve.

My colleagues and I have interviewed over 15,000 candidates for jobs. We wrote the #1 top-ranked book on hiring on Amazon.com (Who: The A Method for Hiring). I earned a Ph.D. in hiring two decades ago and have personally interviewed over 1,000 people for important jobs. Marshall Goldsmith calls us the world experts on hiring. We have advised dozens of Fortune 500 boards, CEOs, all 10 of the 10 biggest private equity firms, three current sitting U.S. Governors, and entrepreneurs of every type of company you can imagine. Billionaires have mentioned my firm in their memoirs as being a key advisor in their career success. And Harvard Business School wrote two cases about ghSMART as a pioneer in our field. I tell you those facts, to hopefully earn your trust that the 10 non-obvious interviewing tips about interviewing, which you are about to discover, are useful and worth following.

Who is hiring me?

A company is not hiring you. A person is hiring you. Who are they? Don’t show up to an interview without having read everything you can about the person interviewing you.

What are they proud of?

Show that you know, and respect, something you would guess they are proud of, based on your research of their career.

What do they want to achieve in this chapter of their career?

This is to know which stats and stories to select to talk about during the interview.

What’s the scorecard for this job?

Mission, outcomes, competencies.  If you guess right, it’s like having the answer key to the test.  You are going to crush the interview.



What are my 10 most relevant stats and stories?

What are the 10 most important data points from my past that I absolutely, positively, must communicate during this interview, to link my past performance to the scorecard?

Your tone should be “excited to help your bosses achieve their goals.”

That’s it.  Don’t be overly serious, thinking it makes you seem professional.  Being too serious makes us think you are either highly insecure, or super boring.  Don’t be overly informal.  Being overly informal makes us think you are dumb, presumptive, or undisciplined.  Don’t use “power gestures” (steepling your hands, etc.) because those look hilarious and cheesy.  Actual leaders don’t use power gestures during meetings.  We have advised CEOs of the biggest companies in the world, heads of state, and the CEOs of multinational organizations.  Trust us.  Real leaders don’t “act” powerful with gestures.

Use “tie-downs” to build an airtight your case for being hired.

In comedy, this is called the “set up.”  Jokes are not funny unless you set them up.

Likewise, the reasons to hire you are not that obvious unless you set them up.  Like this:

You ask, “Is it more important to sign up new hospitals, or to grow revenue within existing hospitals you serve?”

Your boss-to-be says, “Definitely signing up new hospitals.  We are only 3% penetrated in the Northeast.  Your job is mostly to sign up new hospitals, I’d say.”

You say, “So you are wondering if I can land new hospitals, yes?”

Your boss says, “Yes.”

You just set this up.  Now you deliver the knock-out blow.

You say, “That’s probably the 1 thing at Healthcore Tech that I’m known for.  In my first year, I was awarded the “Sales Rookie of the Year Hunter” award.  That one was out of 120 peers.  (Always state an accomplishment relative to the 3Ps—vs. peers, vs. plan, or vs. previous year.  Without doing this makes it hard for your future boss to understand how awesome you are.  Make it easy).”  You go on, “And during the award ceremony, the VP said that this award was given out based on landing new customers vs. growing existing ones.  There is a different award, the “Fertile Farmer” award, which is for growing existing accounts.  I was a runner-up for that one.  But the one I won was for landing new accounts—new hospitals.

Your boss asks, “How many did you land?”

“I landed 34 new hospitals.  My peers averaged 12 new hospitals.  And the #2 sales exec behind me landed 20.  The plan was 10.  And the previous year, in my territory, the guy got only 8.”

Your boss will write something down at this point.  It will say something like “OMG HIRE THIS PERSON IMMEDIATELY.”  That’s because this “tie-down” way of communicating your accomplishments is extremely effective in getting you hired.

Always answer a “number question” with a “number answer.”  It drives us nuts when we ask a very specific numerical question, and the person starts saying a bunch of words.  We don’t want to hear words if we ask you a number question.  We want to hear a number, then followed by words if you must.

Be prepared for “What,” “How,” and “Tell me more” questions.

A nice cadence for answering interview questions is to report the “what” that the boss asks.  The numbers.  The results.  Answer the question.  If they seem unconvinced, or if they seem to want more information, then start to talk about “how” you achieved those results.  And if the boss is either super impressed, or super skeptical, he or she may ask you to “Tell me more.”  Just keep explaining the results, calibrating them vs. peers/plan/previous year, sharing what you thought and what actions you took, and explain it with a tone of “I’m really proud that my boss was happy we crushed the goals that were most important to her.”
Be easy to work with.  Nobody likes working with a jerk.  98% of corporate “values” can be summarized with “Don’t act like a jerk.”  People act like jerks in interviews by doing silly things.


Don’t “rebuttal” your future boss.  Starting sentences with “No,” “But,” or “However.”  [See Marshall Goldsmith’s What Got You Here book.]
Don’t lie.  Even a little bit.  Some job-hunting guides encourage you to embellish information.  If we catch somebody in a lie, we’ll smoke your candidacy instantly.  Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  And by the way, we’re going to talk with your past bosses, peers, and subordinates.  So you can stretch the truth all you want, but if we catch you in a lie, you are done.
Don’t use reverse psychology.  Telling your future boss you are so important, and in such high demand, that you don’t really want this job makes you look like a jerk.
Don’t make a big deal about what you want to “learn” in this job.  Who cares?  Your future boss doesn’t care.  Your future boss wants you to deliver results.  And if you are talking a bunch about learning this and learning that, it makes you sound like you should go back to grad school and sit around learning all day long.  If you want your dream job, your boss will expect you to perform.  Don’t confuse the two concepts.
Don’t crap talk your past bosses.  That’s a huge red flag.  It makes you look like a jerk.  Be empathetic and respectful of your past bosses for employing you.  Even if you worked for a jerk, you don’t have to be a jerk yourself by defaming them.  See the good in your previous bosses.  There is some good in there somewhere.  And show appreciation.  Those past bosses helped to make you who you are today.  So don’t demean yourself by demeaning your past bosses.  
Don’t use power gestures.  You’ll look silly.
Don’t say that you are “keeping your options open” when asked about your career goals.  That’s what lousy employees say.  Smart employees think about what they want, how to get it, and they have a very specific, focused, prioritized plan they are executing.
Don’t say my name every sentence.  Sorry Dale Carnegie, you have polluted the minds of a generation of job-seekers who think that saying my name is going to make me like you.
Don’t resist your future boss, when they want to move to another topic.  Never say, “Wait, I wasn’t finished with that story.”  Be agile, be flexible, and be smart enough to take the cue when your future boss is finished hearing about that story and is trying to make the most of your time together.  Move on.
Be 10 minutes early to the interview.  Tell the receptionist you are early and just sit there and be polite.  A “star” candidate for one of our clients showed up late.  2 hours late.  And the candidate acted like, “You will make time for me.”  The billionaire Founder & Chairman of the company thought this was not considerate, and killed the person’s candidacy on the spot.  Bye-bye!
Don’t ask stupid questions that have a “will you accommodate me” sort of tone.  Can I bring my dog to work?  Can I take time off to practice yoga?  Can I walk out of the office in the middle of the day to attend my “Millennials for Immediate Gratification” chapter meetings?  No.  The answer is no, just assume it’s no.  Your tone and communication strategy should be 100.0% focused on understanding your boss’ ideal career path, and goals for this stage of their career, and showing how you will help them be successful.  You can ask about whether to take your dog to work in other interviews.  This is the interview with your future boss and all they really care about is whether you will help them get what they want—to be successful in this stage of their career.

10. Describe your ideal career path.

“But this is the hardest thing.  What if I don’t know?”

If you don’t know, you have not done the hard work to figure it out, and you won’t be happy in your career.

Do the hard work.  Figure out your ideal career path.  And then be able to tell somebody about how this job sits dead center on the path to experiencing your ideal career.

For example, “My long-term career goals?  I appreciate your asking.  So I’m 35 years old right now.  By the time I’m 50, I’d love to be viewed as a thought leader and world expert on the topic of predictive analytics in marketing.  It’s my calling.  I just love the idea of getting people the products and services they want, without wasting their time with noise.  I’d like to retire in my mid ’50s, serve on boards, and give speeches and maybe do some consulting with top brands.”

You go on, “That gives me about 20 years to really make my mark.  What I’ve accomplished so far in my career that I feel good about is performing at the highest levels academically in the fields of marketing, computer science, and statistics.  And my first two jobs worked out great—the first one being in the nitty gritty of coding and analysis at DOD (Department of Defense).  The second job allowed me to manage several successful marketing campaigns globally, for a handful of top clients, at a top consulting firm.  That felt good.  I’d say my big to-do for this job, and the next stage, is to go big on the people management part within a global brand.  I want to find a mentor who is considered to be an outstanding leader of people.” 

Now for the “nothing-but-net” swish to finish your answer.  “You have that reputation.  I want to do my part to deliver the results you want to achieve, so you are successful in this stage of your career.  And I’m going to be watching what you do and how you do it to successfully manage a complex organization at scale, and I would like to do what you do, as you continue to move up.  That’s why this job fits perfectly into my ideal career path.”  That is an A+ answer to the “what are your long-term goals” question.   

Know it. 

Connect it to this job. 

And use your vision for your ideal career path as another chance to reiterate how you are going to deliver results today. And show how your delivering results today help your boss-to-be achieve his or her career goals.

Download SMARTtools for Leaders™ HERE.

Participate in SMARTfest 2016 to master the #1 skill in business – hiring talented teams. Register HERE.

The post 10 Non-obvious Interviewing Tips by the World Experts in Hiring appeared first on Dr. Geoff Smart.

Do You Want to Be in Our Next Book on Managing Your Career Better?

Randy Street and I (coauthors of Who and Power Score), are crazy passionate about helping leaders manage their careers better.

Gallup says only 13% of people love their jobs. We believe that the main reason people don’t love their jobs is that they are in the wrong one.

So if you want to be happy in your life, and happy in your career, we would like to offer to help you get hired to your dream job. In fact, that’s the working subtitle of our new book project: Who Me? Getting Hired to Your Dream Job.

Why do you care about this topic?

We care about this topic for many reasons. Nearly all of our work is on the employer side. Helping companies figure out who to hire. And we see so many candidates who are bad matches for the jobs they think they want because they have not done a good job managing their career choices.

Successful leaders actually stink at managing their careers. I was sitting in the office of a “successful” investor last week. He has been profiled in Fortune, as managing one of the biggest fortunes in the world. But this guy rated his career happiness only a 91/100. That’s because he finds himself passively spending his time doing things he doesn’t want to do (e.g. sitting on planes and being at boring board meetings too often). And he has not proactively made the time to spend time doing the things he is great at, and that he loves (e.g. schmoozing business leaders and government leaders to get ideas to do research about where to invest next). It’s likely he could be 95/100 or 99/100 happy if he followed some of our advice about managing his career more actively—to either change his current job, or get hired to a better one.

The advice in most books about job search and job hunting don’t ring true to us. Many books offer generic advice (“to know your strengths”) but don’t give you concrete steps about how to actually get your dream job. Other books tell you to lie and dodge questions about your weaker areas, which is bad advice on many levels. Lying is bad. And getting jobs that don’t fit your actual strengths and weaknesses is bad. Other books encourage you to follow your passions, without any practical sense for what the market is willing to pay for your passions. That’s not super helpful advice either. In light of job misery being a huge problem, and because we are sitting on some of the biggest and richest datasets on the careers of leaders (15,000+ careers, 600 data points per career = 9 million+ data points), we feel compelled to offer an alternative approach to getting hired to your dream job. An approach which is grounded in data, psychology, and business realities. We are hoping that you will find it the most useful career management/job hunting/job search book you have ever read.

How can I be in your next book?

To be in our next book, please send us your best success or failure stories about:

How did you figure out what is your dream job?
How did you get the interview?
How did you seal the deal?

Please post your stories in the comments box. Or please email them to me at geoff.smart@ghsmart.com. Thank you! We will collect hundreds of stories, and only a few will make it into our book. So no promises. But if your story is exciting, illustrative, and useful to the reader, we’ll work it in.

Can you share a peek at a better way to manage my career?

Well OK. Here is a tool we’ve been using for years (link below), to help leaders manage their career better. It’s a simple Career Strategy Discussion guide that you can have with yourself, a client (if you work in consulting or money management), or with an employee, It’s self-explanatory. We’ll probably tweak it a few times before the book comes out, but here is your early look. This content is synced with our Who book (and the concept of the Skill-Will Bullseye) and our Power Score book (Priorities, Who, and Relationships).

Download the SMARTtools for Leaders™ Career Management Tool HERE.

Participate in SMARTfest 2016 to master the #1 skill in business – hiring talented teams. Register HERE.

The post Do You Want to Be in Our Next Book on Managing Your Career Better? appeared first on Dr. Geoff Smart.

Do You Want to Be in Our Next Book? It’s About Managing Your Career Better

Randy Street and I (coauthors of Who and Power Score), are crazy passionate about helping leaders manage their careers better. Gallup says only 13% of people love their jobs. We believe that the main reason people don’t love their jobs is that they are in the wrong one.

So if you want to be happy in your life, and happy in your career, we would like to offer to help you get hired to your dream job. In fact, that’s the working subtitle of our new book project: Who Me? Getting Hired to Your Dream Job.

Why do you care about this topic?

We care about this topic for many reasons. Nearly all of our work is on the employer side. Helping companies figure out who to hire. And we see so many candidates who are bad matches for the jobs they think they want because they have not done a good job managing their career choices.

Successful leaders actually stink at managing their careers. I was sitting in the office of a “successful” investor last week. He has been profiled in Fortune, as managing one of the biggest fortunes in the world. But this guy rated his career happiness only a 91/100. That’s because he finds himself passively spending his time doing things he doesn’t want to do (e.g. sitting on planes and being at boring board meetings too often). And he has not proactively made the time to spend time doing the things he is great at, and that he loves (e.g. schmoozing business leaders and government leaders to get ideas to do research about where to invest next). It’s likely he could be 95/100 or 99/100 happy if he followed some of our advice about managing his career more actively—to either change his current job, or get hired to a better one.

The advice in most books about job search and job hunting don’t ring true to us. Many books offer generic advice (“to know your strengths”) but don’t give you concrete steps about how to actually get your dream job. Other books tell you to lie and dodge questions about your weaker areas, which is bad advice on many levels. Lying is bad. And getting jobs that don’t fit your actual strengths and weaknesses is bad. Other books encourage you to follow your passions, without any practical sense for what the market is willing to pay for your passions. That’s not super helpful advice either. In light of job misery being a huge problem, and because we are sitting on some of the biggest and richest datasets on the careers of leaders (15,000+ careers, 600 data points per career = 9 million+ data points), we feel compelled to offer an alternative approach to getting hired to your dream job. An approach which is grounded in data, psychology, and business realities. We are hoping that you will find it the most useful career management/job hunting/job search book you have ever read.

How can I be in your next book?

To be in our next book, please send us your best success or failure stories about:

How did you figure out what is your dream job?
How did you get the interview?
How did you seal the deal?

Please post your stories in the comments box. Or please email them to me at geoff.Smart@ghsmart.com. Thank you! We will collect hundreds of stories, and only a few will make it into our book. So no promises. But if your story is exciting, illustrative, and useful to the reader, we’ll work it in.

Can you share a peek at a better way to manage my career?

Well OK. Here is a tool we’ve been using for years (link below), to help leaders manage their career better. It’s a simple Career Strategy Discussion guide that you can have with yourself, a client (if you work in consulting or money management), or with an employee, It’s self-explanatory. We’ll probably tweak it a few times before the book comes out, but here is your early look. This content is synced with our Who book (and the concept of the Skill-Will Bullseye) and our Power Score book (Priorities, Who, and Relationships).

Download the SMARTtools for Leaders™ Career Management Tool HERE.

Participate in SMARTfest 2016 to master the #1 skill in business – hiring talented teams. Register HERE.

The post Do You Want to Be in Our Next Book? It’s About Managing Your Career Better appeared first on Dr. Geoff Smart.

Your Crystal Ball for Hiring

Recently I asked an audience, “What’s hard about hiring?”

A man in the second row frowned and waved his hand to get a microphone. “The candidates don’t come with a crystal ball. You can’t see how they are going to perform.”

When he said that, my adrenaline kicked higher. I was about to explain a method for interviewing candidates that is just like having a crystal ball.

I don’t know if what I’m about to share with you is impressive, or pathetic. I’ve committed my entire career to helping leaders improve their success rates in hiring talented teams. I’m a one-trick pony. I just love this topic, and have found it a fundamental skill that underlies the success of any leader.

First, a brief history, to earn your trust. I studied in graduate school twenty years ago with the Father of Management, Peter Drucker. He estimated that managers make hiring mistakes 50% of the time. This topic of hiring talented teams always intrigued me. My father was an industrial psychologist, so I had been around this topic for my whole life. In 1998 I finished my Ph.D. dissertation on this topic of evaluating various methods for hiring. I had read about 50 years’ worth of research, and noted some interesting findings, like “don’t ask hypothetical questions.” As it turns out, candidates give you hypothetical answers. Yet today, so many leaders pose hypothetical questions to their candidates—”How would you do this, how might you do that?”

My original dissertation research on this subject won awards, and I found myself presenting the findings in Brussels, Belgium, at a special event called the Frontiers of Entrepreneurship research conference, alongside professors from around the world. During my Ph.D. dissertation study, I found that, consistent with the field of research, there were a few key things that really worked in interviewing: 1) to a specific set of criteria in mind (scorecard), 2) to collect not a little, but a lot—hundreds of data points—on a candidate’s accomplishments and failures from their actual past experiences, and 3) then scoring candidates on a consistent set of criteria (apples to apples). These “past-oriented interviews” as I called them in my Ph.D. dissertation, were the most valid and reliable predictor of a candidate’s future performance on the job (as opposed to “future-oriented” or hypothetical interview formats). I wanted to share this important insight with the world. To give leaders a crystal ball.

An interview process, if done right, gives you a crystal ball.

For the last 20 years, my colleagues and I have used this approach to evaluate over 15,000 candidates for leadership jobs in all industries. We have taught thousands of people how to use this method for hiring—business leaders, entrepreneurs, government leaders including 3 sitting U.S. governors, and top brass in the military. It works. Clients who follow our methods achieve a 90% hiring success rate. And you can too. (Come to my SMARTfest event and I’ll teach you how!)

And it follows a very simple structure of collecting highs and lows from a candidate’s education years, then asking 5 questions about every job: What were they hired to do, what did they accomplish that they were proud of, what were mistakes in that job, who did they work with and how were they viewed, and why did they leave that job? There have been many versions of this style of interview over the years, but the simplest, and most effective format we call the Who Interview™.

This is straight out of our book Who, which has been since its publication in 2008 the #1 top-selling and most-acclaimed book on this topic in the world. And this topic, hiring talented teams, has become the #1 topic in business, if you look at any recent survey of what’s on the minds of CEOs and investors.

We want you to apply this concept to improve your hiring success rate from 50% to 90%. So that’s why we’re giving you free access to the Who Interview template. We exist to help leaders amplify their positive impact on the world. And we share our knowledge about leadership with the world. We hope you find these tools and templates useful as you hire talented teams, and that they help you achieve your business and career goals!

Download the SMARTtools for Leaders™ WHO INTERVIEW Tool HERE.

Participate in SMARTfest 2016 to master the #1 skill in business – hiring talented teams. Register HERE.

The post Your Crystal Ball for Hiring appeared first on Dr. Geoff Smart.