The Best Question to Ask in a Job Interview

I always get asked interesting questions that really make me think, and this is one of them.

If I could only ask one question, or look for one quality during a job interview, what would it be?

It’s not easy to decide what single question in a long interview turns out to be the most revealing, or which single quality is most predictive of leadership. And indeed, it is a pattern of questions and answers that allows me to make assessments of people and it is several qualities in combination that propel someone into leadership. Still, over the years I have found that one question is particularly revealing, and one quality is especially important.

Interviews, and the resumes that accompany them, are opportunities for every applicant to put their best foot forward. Applicants want - and need - to stress their accomplishments, their skills, and their understanding. Interviewers, who are looking for the best match for an opportunity, or the most potential to perform over time, are eager to discover how the applicants’ achievements, strengths, and insights translate into a “good fit” or a “value-add player.” While interviews are “getting to know you” opportunities, they are also usually all about the positives.

I recently conducted an interview for a very important position. The applicant was extremely impressive. Each of his answers was insightful and substantive. His experience was rich and relevant. And yet, I learned the most about him when I asked: “Have you ever made a big mistake and what did you learn as a result?”

First, he thought about it. He didn’t have a pat answer. Second, he picked a real mistake, one that had real consequences. In other words, he didn’t dodge the question with some pablum answer about “continuous learning” and he owned up to getting something that mattered wrong. He spent significant time discussing what he had done to recover from the mistake. He didn’t rush through his description of what he’d learned and how he’d applied it later.

Here’s what I learned. The applicant had the self-confidence to be honest, unguarded, and unrehearsed. He had the humility to acknowledge that he wasn’t just about all the things he’d gotten right. He had the self-awareness to be clear-eyed about why he’d made the mistake and the perspective to understand what important lessons he’d learned. He was clearly adaptable and innovative because his recovery strategy was sophisticated and successful. He didn’t obsess about how this had “made him look,” but instead focused on how to strengthen the team around him after this setback.

As impressive as he’d been describing his accomplishments and strengths, he was doubly impressive in describing a real-life situation where he had come up short. As a leader, he didn’t fall apart or slip into denial. Instead, he picked himself up, learned his lesson and kept himself and his team moving forward.

His answer also revealed that he is a person who sees possibilities. And if I had to choose just one quality to look for in a leader, seeing possibilities is it. Leaders see the possibility that mistakes aren’t final or fatal unless we allow them to be. They see that progress and learning can come from setback. They understand that recovery and forward momentum are possible even in the face of error and disappointment.

Some people come to a particular set of circumstances and see all the constraints, the hurdles, and the many things that cannot - or should not - be done. Leaders come to these same circumstances and see possibilities: what hasn’t been tried, what can be changed, what can be made better, what opportunities exist. Perhaps most important of all, leaders see possibilities in themselves and those around them. They know there is always untapped potential in every individual and every team for greater energy, creativity, commitment, and impact. Leaders see the possibility that things can be better.

A leader’s job is to solve problems, change the order of things for the better, and unlock potential in others. A leader’s job is therefore always fraught with risk and mistakes are inevitable. (Indeed, the necessity of risk-taking and the inevitability of mistake-making are what cause many would-be leaders to fall back into being managers instead.) A leader must know when risks are necessary, understand what mistakes have been made, learn from those mistakes, and then move beyond them in a way that strengthens, not weakens, a team. To do all this, a leader sees the possibility for progress and higher performance. And forward momentum - in any set of circumstances - requires a leader to see possibilities in every set of circumstances.