The power of strategic unorthodox interview techniques

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Can taking candidates to breakfast and arriving early to ask the restaurant to mess up the order be a winning strategy?

The CEO at Charles Schwab takes potential candidates out for breakfast before making a hiring decision. He arrives early and asks the restaurant to mess up the order a bit in exchange for a healthy tip.

Why would he do that? He wants to see how people handle it when things go wrong. It’s both brilliant and unorthodox. It’s exactly my kind of leadership technique.

I’ve written about it before this year, but don’t underestimate the value of not simply doing what everyone else is doing. Think about it for a moment. It’s very difficult to achieve above average outcomes with average inputs!

I recommend you give the article on TheBlaze about Walt Bettinger a read. It certainly gave me an opportunity to reflect and learn. 

Article on TheBlaze about Walt Bettinger