Carilu Dietrich: evaluation

Transcript context

…All right. Next question. What is a favorite interview question that you like to ask? So this is a little heavy, but it actually is my favorite. It's, "How many people have you fired? And tell me about each of the experiences." So the reason I ask this question is because generally, I'm managing teams of managers. And generally, I need people who have managed many people for a longer period of time. Or even if they're junior managers, how long and how many people they've managed is indicated by how many people they've fired. Because if you've never fired anyone, then you haven't managed very many people for very long, unfortunately. And firing people is the hardest part of a leader's career. So how they talk about it, their compassion, and their need to drive the business, and the circumstances, "Was it layoffs? How did that work? Did you have to performance manage someone out? How did it work? Did you just have to restructure the team because of business goals? How did it work?" Gives you a lot of insight into their experience and their humanity in a way that they're not prepared for. So you really get the real story, and get a sense for what they would be like as a leader under a lot of pressure and difficult situations. I've never heard that one before and I love it. Reminds me of a episode with Matt Mochary where we talk about how to lay people off really successfully and elegantly.…

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