Dale Earnhardt Sr. may well be considered one of the finest NASCAR drivers in the entire history of the sport. To that point, he is the only driver to have at least one win in four consecutive decades! He won 76 races over his career and 7 Winston Cup championships! Fittingly, for many years, Earnhardt was nicknamed “The Man in Black” given that his No. 3 car was painted entirely in black.
It is hardly a secret that recruiting and hiring top talent is one of the biggest challenges facing leaders today. There is no doubt it is a real “mess” out there and not getting easier – and not likely to improve anytime soon. When it comes to the selection and screening process, Earnhardt is not wrong when he says that you will win some, lose some and [really] wreck some. And the whole problem is exacerbated because good talent is being snapped up very quickly these days. So, feeling rushed and not in charge of the hiring process is almost the norm now. Mario Andretti, another legendary race car driver in his day (he’s 82 years of age) was also not wrong when he commented “If you have everything under control, you are not moving fast enough.” Certainly, having to move fast can be stressful. However, no matter what the circumstances, there are ways to improve the odds. And one way to do so is to ask more revealing questions in the interview process. First, please stop asking “tell me about a time when.” This approach rarely, if ever, produces insightful information. Rather, focus on the negatives versus the positives. It is the former that will identify the “losses and the wrecks.” And ask questions to which the individual cannot “rehearse” an answer. To help, we can recommend a very specific list of questions that will greatly increase your success rate. And they are yours for the asking.
Born exactly 71 years ago this month, Dale Earnhardt knew something about winning some, losing some and wrecking some. Unfortunately, he died in a crash on the very last lap of the Daytona 500 on February 18th, 2001 at the age of 49.
Perform better!
