Wednesday, January 9, 2008 - We’re Hiring Why-Sayers!
I’ve been fortunate enough to have owned and operated a real estate and loan business since 1999. I’ve hired various types of people; from mellow paper-pusher types, working as administrative assistants, to high strung, type-A personality types, working as independent contractors, or salespersons. I’ve also been fortunate enough to work with various types of personalities. From the newspaper industry to the banking world, I’ve worked with almost every type of personality. Somewhere along the line, it dawned on me that “what” a person asks has a direct correlation to their success, or for that matter, their lack of success. I have never done any kind of research on this, and I’m sure if I look hard enough, I can probably find it. An experiment like this sounds like something Dr. Phil would conduct. I’m sure someone will get to it, if it hasn’t already been done.
My conclusion is pretty simple. Here it is:
When it comes to asking any types of question, “why-sayers” are the most successful people and have the most potential for success. Why?
Lets go through the list:
What? - What-Sayers ask for names and things. They are more curious to know what things are called, their names, etc. These are the “useless knowledge” people who love trivia and everything factual. You usually find these people in game shows.
Where? – Where-Sayers ask for places and location. As in: Where did you get that information? Where do we go from here? Where is it?
When? – When-Sayers ask for times, before and after facts. They are apt to get the task over with as soon as possible. As in: When’s lunch? When do I get paid? When can I go home?
How? – How-Sayers always want instructions. As in: How did you do that? How am I going to get this done? How come it goes like that?
Why? - Why-Sayers ask for explanations! They want accountability from both sides. Why-Sayers have a need to see the bigger picture. Asking why something works leads to all the other questions. None of the other questions do that. For example: Why does it do that? The answer always has to start with “because”, and because leads to every answer possible. How-Sayers comes a close second, because asking how (instructions) leads to asking why (explanations). All the other questions stop at the first answer.
Whenever I’m looking for people to work with, I always look for why-Sayers. They are the curious types! They are mostly analytical and driven people who want to get ahead in life. The why questions come because they want explanations for something. Explanations are always a good thing! No one wants to take anything for granted! Explanations bring any type of situation under the surface. Whenever that happens, we all learn more. Why-Sayers learn something new every chance they get. At the end of any interview, the interviewer usually asks the big question: “Why should I hire you?” If you really want the job, you should be glad that they got to this question! Now you can answer the question not only for the interviewer, but for yourself as well!
I once gave a talk to a group of real estate agents, and I talked about this very subject of asking “why”. The topic was very uplifting, and everyone agreed that asking “why” gets you to a better place.
Call it serendipity, but later that afternoon; I went to Ikea to do some shopping. Before I can enter the front door, their “human resources” employees who were trying to recruit more employees approached me. I told them that I wasn’t interested, but I couldn’t believe the t-shirts they wore. They all wore an Ikea-blue t-shirt with the words “We’re Hiring Why-Sayers!” printed across their chest. I couldn’t believe the timing! I couldn’t help asking one of the supervisors about the shirt. She said that it was company policy to recruit people who are “why-sayers”, and that it comes from the very top of the company.
I eventually did some research on Ikea and later learned that they were one of the most successful companies in the world. So much so, that the owner of the company, a Swedish billionaire named Ingvar Kamprad, had surpassed Bill Gates as one of the richest people on the planet! It sounds incredible, but it's absolutely true!
I bet he’s a “why-sayer”!
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About Me
Robert Calixto read a simple quote, and suddenly his creative floodgates opened! One of those self-defining, quotable quotes you read on Reader’s Digest. He is patiently working on a scifi/political thriller, a self-help/sales manual, and a biography. Being a columnist helps him focus on his newfound challenge, writing! The quote? ”You don’t find yourself, you make yourself.”
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