"Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, 'This is the real me,' and when you have found that attitude, follow it." William James*
My boss and I used to interview a lot together. We developed a comfortable rhythm. I was yin to her yang. Doing it enough times, we had rehearsed who asked which questions; when each paused casually and listened; when the other played off something the first said. It wasn't a written script, but it was an engrained script from having done the dance so many times together.
Then, we got away from doing it together. I was a seasoned human resources person and would interview myself and just bring the final candidates to my boss, saving her time. Recently, we had the opportunity to do it again together and as sometimes happens when you get away from something for a long time, you see how much you enjoyed it.
We each had a new shtick; we weren't dancing the same dance any longer having been apart for years. She asked the perfect new question. It was perfect because I found, among every candidate, that it elicited truly honest answers. We caught them off guard. This question gave me a truer picture of whom the candidate was than any other question we had ever asked. And then, it gave me pause to wonder how I would answer it myself.
The question was: tell me about the best work experience you've ever had -- whether it be a task, a project, a job -- and why it was so. And then tell me about your worst.
In the first few candidates, I saw quickly that the job for which they were interviewing was completely wrong for them; they were applying for a job so unsuited to what they loved and what jazzed them. When I saw it happening over and over, it made me wonder about how people choose jobs, firms, long term careers. In just needing something, do they apply, and settle, for anything available?
For me, my best work experience in twenty-seven years was the first few times I spoke publicly at the Advent Software, Inc. annual conferences of 1,000 attendees about ten years ago. My sessions had 75-100 participants. Initially, I was nervous; I had butterflies -- something I hadn't had since acting in middle school. I had to focus and prepare thoroughly; I was pushed beyond my comfort zone. I achieved far better results than I would have expected - amazing what we can do when challenged. And, the love and engagement I received from the audiences showed me that what thrills and jazzes me is being pushed/challenged, stepping outside my comfort zone, leading, teaching, and engaging with a group of people in a positive way.
My worst experience was running a giant project in our firm of revamping our (dirty) basement files to segregate those that had been used in our company performance figures (a regulation requirement). The job was so horrible to me that I let all my staff off; I felt too badly asking them to do such a boring, dirty, frustrating job, so instead I tackled it alone, and it nearly killed me. The worst thing for my personality is to be locked in a dungeon doing mindless, dirty work alone for which I see no measurable success.
These best and worst experiences give you (and me) a clear picture of who we are. Might it be time to ask yourself this question? The results are THE answer for YOU of where you should be and what you should be doing.
*Source: Digh, Patti. Life is a Verb. Guilford, Connecticut: skirt! The Globe Pequot Press, 2008. Print. P. 106
Photo: Shelburne Farm, Shelburne, Vermont
