Man on a Mission

I hope you don't find this off-topic, for me it is entirely relevant, especially as it relates to how Seattle dares to be like Apple and "think different."

Why do 50 percent of all first-round draft picks fail? No team has found an accurate character assessment of who will be successful in the NFL, and only two teams, New England and Seattle, even try innovative approaches...

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http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/ ... raft-picks

Interesting topic. As part of my job I am responsible for hiring sales employees. Almost all of the questions I ask are behavioral type of questions where it tells me about the persons makeup and what motivates them. One of my favorite questions I ask is "if you had to choose one, do you love to win or hate to lose"? I came up with this question on my own and would rather want a rep that hates to lose because they generally would be more apt to making sure they get the job done and are more self motivating.

It is obviously somewhat different when the employee needs to have a physical skill set on top of the motivation but there have been a number of players over the years that had the body but not the mind (motivation) to be successful in the NFL.

seabowl":3s569qe5 said:

Interesting topic. As part of my job I am responsible for hiring sales employees. Almost all of the questions I ask are behavioral type of questions where it tells me about the persons makeup and what motivates them. One of my favorite questions I ask is "if you had to choose one, do you love to win or hate to lose"? I came up with this question on my own and would rather want a rep that hates to lose because they generally would be more apt to making sure they get the job done and are more self motivating.

It is obviously somewhat different when the employee needs to have a physical skill set on top of the motivation but there have been a number of players over the years that had the body but not the mind (motivation) to be successful in the NFL.

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That's interesting, in the article Bellichick lists "how to get his players to buy in" as his number one goal. This is what is referred to as internal affiliation in modern management theory. Look around at the most successful businesses/organizations and you will typically find this as a primary component of their success. In fact, it is a striking feature of the Seahawk's organization. Internal affiliation breeds external affiliation and the Seahawk's legions of screaming 12's are not unlike Apple's throngs of loyal consumers who camp out at their stores in order to be first in line to purchase their latest offering.

The question becomes for you, and virtually all talent evaluators, is how to identify qualities that relate to this ability to "buy-in" and more importantly, how to create a culture that enables it. Good job on developing your own model.

Not only does it enable it, it encourages success.

seabowl":24qwp0xj said:

Interesting topic. As part of my job I am responsible for hiring sales employees. Almost all of the questions I ask are behavioral type of questions where it tells me about the persons makeup and what motivates them. One of my favorite questions I ask is "if you had to choose one, do you love to win or hate to lose"? I came up with this question on my own and would rather want a rep that hates to lose because they generally would be more apt to making sure they get the job done and are more self motivating.

It is obviously somewhat different when the employee needs to have a physical skill set on top of the motivation but there have been a number of players over the years that had the body but not the mind (motivation) to be successful in the NFL.

Click to expand...

It's odd, I've been fairly successful through life, but my first thought was "love to win." I prepare for my success, which is something I learned during private pilot instruction. My instructor told me, "Always remember the 6 Ps, Preflight Planning, Precludes Piss Poor Performance."

Every now and then I'll say "Always remember the 7 Ps, just to see who's counting

But I hate to lose too, so when I do lose, I spend an inordinate amount of time preparing for the next go around.

So your question could also be defined as "Do you prepare for a job interview before hand so that you ensure success, or after you've rejected?"

Sorry, my mind wanders sometimes, but it seems that there might not be a wrong answer to your question.

Hate to lose, winning is great but typically is a stepping stone to the next challenge, losing sets you back a step.

Maybe I don't enjoy my wins enough, always looking at the next challenge or obstacle to overcome.

chris98251":2ljcc8h1 said:

Hate to lose, winning is great but typically is a stepping stone to the next challenge, losing sets you back a step.

Maybe I don't enjoy my wins enough, always looking at the next challenge or obstacle to overcome.

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Ding ding ding ding ding!

Actually Chris, you're just a grumpy old fart, like me :irishdrinkers:

chris98251":2ljls8iq said:

Hate to lose, winning is great but typically is a stepping stone to the next challenge, losing sets you back a step.

Maybe I don't enjoy my wins enough, always looking at the next challenge or obstacle to overcome.

Click to expand...

I don't think it is that you don't enjoy your wins enough as much as you expect to win. Depending on what you are trying to do winning can be defined as many different things, e.g., completing a task, reaching a goal, etc. If you prepare properly you expect to "win" BUT if lose you have done something wrong, like; you didn't prepare, didn't prepare enough, or didn't prepare correctly.

Losing becomes much more than just not being self-motivated, it also involves the ability to prepare properly. The pre-flight inspection might not be of much use if you are ignoring one critical element. In this case "losing" takes on a whole new significance, LOL.

ivotuk":yj1qavyw said:

seabowl":yj1qavyw said:

Interesting topic. As part of my job I am responsible for hiring sales employees. Almost all of the questions I ask are behavioral type of questions where it tells me about the persons makeup and what motivates them. One of my favorite questions I ask is "if you had to choose one, do you love to win or hate to lose"? I came up with this question on my own and would rather want a rep that hates to lose because they generally would be more apt to making sure they get the job done and are more self motivating.

It is obviously somewhat different when the employee needs to have a physical skill set on top of the motivation but there have been a number of players over the years that had the body but not the mind (motivation) to be successful in the NFL.

Click to expand...

It's odd, I've been fairly successful through life, but my first thought was "love to win." I prepare for my success, which is something I learned during private pilot instruction. My instructor told me, "Always remember the 6 Ps, Preflight Planning, Precludes Piss Poor Performance."

Every now and then I'll say "Always remember the 7 Ps, just to see who's counting

But I hate to lose too, so when I do lose, I spend an inordinate amount of time preparing for the next go around.

So your question could also be defined as "Do you prepare for a job interview before hand so that you ensure success, or after you've rejected?"

Sorry, my mind wanders sometimes, but it seems that there might not be a wrong answer to your question.

Click to expand...

My interviews typically last around 1 1/2 hours and contain around 2-3 pages of questions that depending on the answers has me peeling back the onion to see why they answered the way they did. The love to win hate to lose is just one and obviously not the deciding factor but more lets me know what motivates/drives them.

The best hate to lose story is the Elway losing a game of pool to Bubby Brister which caused Elway to toss a perfectly good table out the next day. Guys like him and Jordan hated to lose and that is what made them great.

seabowl":29xqtc9r said:

ivotuk":29xqtc9r said:

seabowl":29xqtc9r said:

Interesting topic. As part of my job I am responsible for hiring sales employees. Almost all of the questions I ask are behavioral type of questions where it tells me about the persons makeup and what motivates them. One of my favorite questions I ask is "if you had to choose one, do you love to win or hate to lose"? I came up with this question on my own and would rather want a rep that hates to lose because they generally would be more apt to making sure they get the job done and are more self motivating.

It is obviously somewhat different when the employee needs to have a physical skill set on top of the motivation but there have been a number of players over the years that had the body but not the mind (motivation) to be successful in the NFL.

Click to expand...

It's odd, I've been fairly successful through life, but my first thought was "love to win." I prepare for my success, which is something I learned during private pilot instruction. My instructor told me, "Always remember the 6 Ps, Preflight Planning, Precludes Piss Poor Performance."

Every now and then I'll say "Always remember the 7 Ps, just to see who's counting

But I hate to lose too, so when I do lose, I spend an inordinate amount of time preparing for the next go around.

So your question could also be defined as "Do you prepare for a job interview before hand so that you ensure success, or after you've rejected?"

Sorry, my mind wanders sometimes, but it seems that there might not be a wrong answer to your question.

Click to expand...

My interviews typically last around 1 1/2 hours and contain around 2-3 pages of questions that depending on the answers has me peeling back the onion to see why they answered the way they did. The love to win hate to lose is just one and obviously not the deciding factor but more lets me know what motivates/drives them.

The best hate to lose story is the Elway losing a game of pool to Bubby Brister which caused Elway to toss a perfectly good table out the next day. Guys like him and Jordan hated to lose and that is what made them great.

Click to expand...

Guys that win push boundaries, do what's needed and would rather say sorry then ask permission, take things and put themselves in the situation to win and sometimes stepping on or over others to do so. There is a fine line, most guys that win and hate to lose are competive personalities also.

Hate to lose all day for me. And quite frankly if I could choose C. Hate to see my competitors win........

ivotuk":2ioiho38 said:

seabowl":2ioiho38 said:

Interesting topic. As part of my job I am responsible for hiring sales employees. Almost all of the questions I ask are behavioral type of questions where it tells me about the persons makeup and what motivates them. One of my favorite questions I ask is "if you had to choose one, do you love to win or hate to lose"? I came up with this question on my own and would rather want a rep that hates to lose because they generally would be more apt to making sure they get the job done and are more self motivating.

It is obviously somewhat different when the employee needs to have a physical skill set on top of the motivation but there have been a number of players over the years that had the body but not the mind (motivation) to be successful in the NFL.

Click to expand...

It's odd, I've been fairly successful through life, but my first thought was "love to win." I prepare for my success, which is something I learned during private pilot instruction. My instructor told me, "Always remember the 6 Ps, Preflight Planning, Precludes Piss Poor Performance."

Every now and then I'll say "Always remember the 7 Ps, just to see who's counting

But I hate to lose too, so when I do lose, I spend an inordinate amount of time preparing for the next go around.

So your question could also be defined as "Do you prepare for a job interview before hand so that you ensure success, or after you've rejected?"

Sorry, my mind wanders sometimes, but it seems that there might not be a wrong answer to your question.

Click to expand...

My thinking is along these lines too. It's not so much which answer – they aren't mutually exclusive – but the explanation for why that really matters. To me, avoiding or "hating" a negative (losing) is unnecessarily complicated. Aiming for a goal and enjoying success is more straight-forward and positive. It doesn't mean I like losing, I just want to be direct and focused on accomplishment.

I get a similar question when applying for teaching jobs. They ask me to rank importance of educator traits, one of them being "a teacher feels he or she has failed if the student fails." I mean, I do feel that way, but it isn't my motivation to be a good teacher. It just strikes me as too negative. I've never been asked if it's important for a teacher to feel successful when a student succeeds. I don't understand why.