1. Nobody's Fault
But Mine
BY JUSTIN MENKES
EVERY TIME THAT I'M CALLED IN TO WORK WITH A CEO WHO IS IN
TROUBLE, I'M ASKED, IS THE EXECUTIVE SAVABLE? IS IT WORTH TRYING?
And while the answer is rarely sinnple, the single most
telling factor is the individual's sense of agency. Change
is possible; everyone is teachable and can grow and
improve. But if the person has a low sense of agency,
then change will be extraordinarily tough, costly, and
lengthy and will require highly skilled intervention.
Sense of agency refers to the degree to which people
attribute their circumstances and the outcomes they
experience to being within their own control. People
tend to be inward or outward in their explanation tor life
events. For those who choose external explanations for
what is happening—I didn't get promoted because my boss
is stupid, I got this job only because my dad called some-
one—long-term success becomes much more difficult.
No phrase better codifies a low sense of agency than
the all-too-common "If it is meant to be, it will be."
Incredibly circular in its.logic, within this phrase is per-
ceived freedom from any culpability in the events of our
lives. For adults who cannot tolerate the anxiety brought
on by knowing that they are largely responsible for what
happens to them, this mantra can bring a temporary
sense of deluded relief. But there is no genuine escape
from the reality that our path to gratification or regret is
largely up to us. No amount of disowning will change this,
regardless of how many times we tell ourselves otherwise.
For those who look inwardly for explanations, learn-
ing and behavior change become much more plausible.
Human beings vary wildly on the degree of influence
they believe their actions will have on outcomes. The
perspective of your own agency in the world is highly
subjective, and realizing potential in a stressful climate
requires seeing and explaining events in a way that
suggests that outcomes are largely contingent on your
own behaviors.
It is one of the essential factors that enable you to
manifest relentless leadership in trying times, both tor
yourself and for others.
• JUSTIN MENKES is a consultant for executive-search firm Spencer
Stuart. From Better Under Pressure: How Great Leaders Britig Out the
Sesí/nr/iemse/vesancfOííiersIHarvard Business Review Pressl. "2011
Interviewing
with Jeff Bezos
BY RICHARD L. BRANDT
E
arly on, the interview process for new hires at
Amazon was as demanding as going through oral
exams for a Ph.D. in subparticle physics. Each
candidate would go through interviews with
several employees, then with Jeff Bezos, who would also
grill all the other interviewers. He would create elaborate
charts on a whiteboard listing the candidate's qualifica-
tions, and rejected anyone about whom he had the slightest
doubt. References were asked to list the candidate's greatest
strength and worst mistake. In the interview, candidates
were hit with random tough questions such as, "How
would you design a car for a deaf person?" (The best
answer: Plug your ears and drive around to see what it's
like to be a deaf driver.) In meeting to discuss the candi-
dates, questions asked ranged from, "What do you admire
about this candidate?" to, "What is he terrible at?"
"One of his mottos was that every time we hired I
someone, he or she would raise the bar for the next hire,
so that the overall talent pool was always improving," said
Nicholas Lovejoy, who joined Amazon in 1995 as the fifth
employee. Bezos put the philosophy this way: Five years
after an employee was hired, he said, that employee should
think, "I'm glad I got hired when I did, because I wouldn't
get hired now."
• RICHARD L. BRANDT is a former correspondent for BusmessWeek.
From One Click: Jeff Bezos and (he Rise of Amazon.com IPortfplio/
Penguinl. "2011 ,
tcbrevievi.com • WINTER 20)2 »
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