In the volumes that have been written about outrageous, idiotic and simply clueless behavior in job interviews, the fault invariably is assigned to job candidates. Well, I’ve been on and heard about enough job interviews to know that hiring companies can take the cake when it comes to inappropriate form and function:

  • Like the time I was a finalist for a high-level agency position and was interviewing with the very top leaders of the organization. There I was all spiffed up in my interview duds when one of the most senior interviewers entered the room in gray sweats and no compelling rationale for it.
  • Another interview incorporated a simulation in which I was asked to role-play as if I was in a prospect pitch meeting. But the interviewers who set up the scenario completely lost their places in it. They just plain forgot what parts of the conversation were real and which were simulated. I introduced the idea of a “talking stick” using a dry erase marker. When the marker was standing on end we were to be in role-playing mode; on its side and we were in the real world. It was in vain and chaos ensued.

Those are colorful examples of interviews gone awry. Yet most interviews are dull, as gray as the sweat pants and hoodie worn by my memorable interviewer. The saving grace of that interview was a particularly thoughtful team member  – appropriately attired – who posed one of the most interesting questions I’ve ever heard in an interview.

He asked, “Do you think you’re smarter than your prospects and clients?”

Years after first hearing that question I don’t have a yes/no answer because, I’ve found, it’s relative and depends on your definition of smart.

Rather than having a definitive answer, I believe that the question can be a guide post to exemplary behavior in prospect and client relationships. So, I offer these thoughts as you ponder the question yourself:

  • Your company has well-developed expertise and information that the client does not possess. Your smarts in that circumstance are due to experience you’ve cultivated over time. It’s valuable to be sure, yet it doesn’t make you smarter, just more expert and perhaps with greater capacity than your client.
  • A smart client knows when they need added capability and capacity. They might not have divined exactly what and how much, but they were smart enough to invite you to enlighten them.
  • No matter what your abilities, there are any number of things your client might know better. Their own industry, for example, or proprietary processes and technology. They have native smarts in these areas and want to combine them with your smarts in other areas.
  • Don’t overlook your client’s keen eye and ear for culture and politics within his or her own organization, smarts than can benefit you in unexpected ways.

“Do you think you’re smarter than your prospects and clients” is a question I’ve pondered again and again over the years. In the exasperation that can accompany the pursuit and servicing of clients I’ve found that it serves as a check and balance for my own ego and expectations. And by doing that I’ve learned to acknowledge and embrace the expertise and authority the client brings to table.

You might find it ironic that it makes them more trusting of my own contribution, which allows us to be smarter together.

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