Leslie Pratch on Assessing and Developing Leaders

By Leslie Pratch

One of the first thing I tell anyone who wants to learn about interviewing is that you have to show mutual respect. You have to show up. Nothing is more galling than going to an interview and having to wait two hours. If I show up and the person I am supposed to be meeting with does not show up, my first reaction would be, “I don’t want to deal with this person if he (or she) can’t schedule things.” I am busy, others are busy, but there has to be respect by both parties right out of the shoot or this is not going to be a good working relationship. I lose some respect, not a lot, but some, if I have to reschedule. We start off rubbing each other the wrong way if one or the other of us shows up late. There has to be mutual respect.

The second tip is about interviewing. The point is to get inside an individual and at what makes them tick. You have 30 minutes to do that. You have to break down barriers; you have to get behind a façade. All executives are masters at façades. They look the part, they dress the part, but when you get down to it, who are they, as individuals? The worst you can do is to ask an executive about what is written on the resume. “Oh, you got an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.” What do you expect him (or her) to say? “Well, yes I did.” If everybody did everything they said on resumes, we would have no problems with American industry!

Let’s assume the resume has credibility and that you have verified that with outside reference and background checks. You want to understand what gave rise to an accomplishment with which the candidate credits himself. Ask about a disaster. Ask questions where there is no way that the candidate can give a canned answer. As soon as a candidate stumbles and tries to patronize me, I move into a very cautious mode because I know he (or she) is trying to schmooze me.

Then you want to figure out what is inside this individual, how does he think, does he have fundamental integrity, is he a team player, is he a maverick, can I trust him?

There are ways of getting into individuals very quickly to answer these questions. You can catch them off guard by using something they are not expecting. If they get into a defensive mode, already you have learned something about them: You have learned how quickly that person can get into a defensive mode. That’s what we are trying to do in an interview. If you put them on the defensive, all of a sudden they have to do a dive-and-catch and that gets at performing under stress and with integrity. In less than a minute I have had a very good interview. The candidate has to think out of the box and cannot rely on canned answers. The best way to break down the façade is to put them under pressure quickly.

You can take someone they have interviewed or who just interviewed them and quickly fire questions about the interviewer. “Mr. Candidate, you just met with my partner who is the head of this firm. Now you are meeting me. Tell me the three major weaknesses in my partner’s operating style.”

Invariably Mr. Candidate will say “(Your partner) is really a good guy, and he’s doing a really good job.” I stop him and say “I didn’t ask that; I asked for his weaknesses.” If Mr. Candidate says “I only had 30 minutes and I couldn’t learn that” I stop him again and say “You didn’t do your homework; you are interviewing a prospective boss or colleague and you didn’t find out about his weaknesses? Why would I hire you into my organization?” If Mr. Candidate won’t answer my question, chances are he lacks fundamental integrity and I don’t want him in my organization. Chances are you won’t either.

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Leslie Pratch, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist with an M.B.A. in Strategy and Finance and a B.A. in Religion from Williams College. She works with boards of directors and private equity investors to select and develop executives. She can be reached at (312) 464-7919 or email her at leslie@pratchco.com or visit www.pratchco.com.