zlacker

Maybe he's self-selecting for sociopaths/people who are good at telling him what he want's to hear? I've always wondered about an organization consisting of psychopaths. You disguise it as a consulting firm, at which point it severely cripples the target company as they infiltrate and demoralize. Then the evil mastermind covers his short positions/options. Seems like it could make for a good book or movie anyway.

>>xrange+(OP)
I don't get it. What do you think he "wants" to hear?

I think this is a great question, that's honest about the nature of a skilled employee's relationship to an employer. I don't think it's at all about the employer pretending to care about the employee - it's a straightforward way to find out what the prospective employee wants (other than loads of money, which this employer doesn't have), so that the employer can try to offer it to them. It's classic SPIN selling.

>>twic+11
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=where+do+you+see+yourse...

>>twic+11
I do spend a fair amount of time letting the person know why I ask the question, where it comes from (Reid Hoffman's book), and why I'm asking. I also position the question as being about a time pretty far in the future (and leave that vague so that it's far enough out for either of us to not make it one of "those" questions).

As far as what I want to hear... I don't have some "right" answer in mind. The question also helps me understand the person a little better than a typical interview question might. If I know their long-term goals, I can have a better idea if they'll be happy with us and we'll be happy with them.

>>xrange+(OP)
Ha! Funny that you should mention it. I used to run a consulting firm. We got up to 12 people. Of those employees, 2 got married (not to each other), 2 bought a new house (1 bought their first house), 2 moved in from a different state, 6 kids were born (I'm pretty sure it was 6) to 3 different employees, 1 came back to work after a 2 year leave to raise her kids.

Your idea about building, then destroying a company is intriguing. But it would really suck to hurt those people. Or my customers who count on the great work those people do.

I like to think I'm not a sociopath. Posting on HN is probably not a great way to be told what you want to hear. :)