True story:
I once had an interviewer ask me a question so direct that I had two choices: lie, or tell her an unfiltered, embarrassing truth.
I told the truth.
And I got the job — not in spite of my embarrassing admission but because of it. “That must have been very hard for you,” the interviewer empathized.
“I now know that what I see is what I’m going to get with you,” she said.
Why I share the story
Being imperfect, I suspect, is hard for many of my readers. We didn’t learn imperfection at Wharton. And how can we achieve corporate super stardom if people knew the truth about us?
42 years later, I’m quite comfortable with my imperfections. In fact, I enjoy them. They make me human. Humanity comes in handy when I have an unpopular decision to make.
Dealing with imperfection
My boss Kathleen Horner, then president at StockPot (a Campbell Soup Company), gave me a gift. Before we parted, she gave me an honest assessment of my strengths and weaknesses. “You’re a fantastic individual [Read more...]
