How to Fill Your Team with Honest People
We’ve all read these stories in the paper or seen them on the evening news: A nanny is caught abusing a child in her charge, an accountant at a small firm embezzles hundreds of thousands of dollars, an employee steals thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from the store where he works. Despite the onslaught of such bad news, it is my true belief that 99 percent of people are good, decent, and honest human beings—and those are the kinds of people with whom I want to work. And I’m lucky I have the skills to ensure that I hire honest, hardworking people. It will probably come as no surprise that intelligence officers are human lie detectors, well versed in the art of deception detection. While there are specialists in my field who have spent a lifetime studying and perfecting their expertise in this area, just knowing some of the most basic concepts about deception can help you avoid hiring a thief or dishonest person. On the flip side, knowing how to avoid common behaviors that send a small signal that you’re being deceptive can also help you get hired more quickly as well as make stronger business connections. When building my team and deciding with whom I want to work, I follow these rules:
RULE #1: ASSESS THE FIRST THREE TO FIVE SECONDS
During an interview in which you’ve already had an in-depth conversation about an applicant’s previous experience and work history and the conversation is flowing well, all signs point to a likely match . . . except for one thing: How do you know you can really trust this person? I will admit that I’ve been in interviews with people who seem great, but then I drop the crucial question and I know instantly that I can’t hire them. The first three to five seconds after I ask the crucial question are key. Why? It’s simple: Human beings are terrible liars. That’s why I ask every person whom I am considering bringing onto my team the same thing:
“Tell me about the last time you stole something.”
The phrasing of the question is deliberate. I don’t say “Have you ever stolen anything?” It’s “Tell me about the last time you stole something.” This is the same phrasing the government uses to vet potential recruits. They sit us down and say, “Tell me about the last time you did drugs.” They assume everyone has done something stupid like smoke pot in college. Phrasing the question as an assumption puts the interviewee in a position of having to address the issue directly.
The reaction is as important as the answer. Most people will display honesty and integrity by answering right away. Typical responses have included everything from “I stole a Snickers bar from the grocery store when I was ten” to “I walked out of the library with a book in my backpack when I was in grade school.” Everyone has stolen something at some point in their lives, even if it was just an extra lollipop from the candy bowl at the doctor’s office. It’s normal for kids to push limits, but they quickly learn that it is wrong to do so. If someone answers quickly and honestly that they stole a candy bar, I’m fine with it because that is normal, and it doesn’t shoot up any red flags. However, there are responses that sound my internal alarm right away, including:
Fidgeting and discomfort
Stuttering
Periods of silence
Blank stares
Once again, because we are terrible liars, our brain must work hard to come up with a response. People who exhibit the above responses are generally thinking about what they can say that will make them sound like loyal applicants who should get the job. I once interviewed a woman who seemed uncomfortable right away when I asked this question, her facial expression the very definition of “deer in the headlights.” As usual, I let her know that everyone has stolen something at some point in their lives. “It’s normal and okay,” I said. “We all do stupid things.” Upon prodding her, the woman sat up straighter and proceeded to explain that she stole a bunch of office supplies from her previous company. But she went on. It turned out it wasn’t a handful of paper clips or a few pens; she was planning on starting a competing business and wanted to give herself a head start in the supply department. I immediately knew I wasn’t giving her the job. That she thought it was okay to do something like this as an adult was telling, but that she was comfortable doing this and sharing it with a potential employer was another.
RULE #2: THE HEAD NOD NEVER LIES
The head nod is so accurate it can almost be comical. Intelligence officers who have training in deception detection will notice this move all the time—and sometimes we can’t help but laugh. Our heads tell the truth, always. If you were to discover upon opening your cookie jar that it was devoid of cookies, you could ask your kid if they ate them, and while they could say no (even though their face was probably covered in crumbs), their head will be vehemently nodding yes. I guarantee you that you’ve seen this phenomenon in the media. If Hillary Clinton is asked about her marriage, she’ll respond that she and Bill have a good marriage, but it isn’t hard to notice that her head is moving in the negative direction. The same with former senator John Edwards. When explaining he’d be happy to take a paternity test back in 2008, his head was clearly shaking no. If a potential employee is explaining they’ve never faced a challenge with a co-worker but their head is nodding yes, they’re giving you their answer—just not verbally. Body language experts will tell you that the motion of the head should match the words. If an individual is saying “No, I’ve never been arrested” but their head is nodding gently up and down, chances are they aren’t telling the truth.
RULE #3: WATCH FOR THE THREE FAILURES
Failure to use spatial references and sensory terms when telling a story are a significant indicator that the person is being deceitful. If they’re telling a story about a negotiation they valiantly saved but don’t use special sensory terms in their description, take caution. Examples could be along the lines of “I felt great. I had been so nervous the deal wasn’t going to go through,” or “The walk to the conference room was long, it felt like it took forever to get there.” Those comments indicate truthfulness. Another failure to watch out for? Liars don’t use contractions, they’ll use a full phrase to create a sense of emphasis. A famous example is provided by Bill Clinton, who said, “I did not have sex with that woman.” Not “didn’t” but “did not.” When Sheryl Sandberg was interviewed on PBS about Facebook’s massive data breach, Sandberg nodded her head in the affirmative when she said, “We didn’t do a good job,” indicating she genuinely felt this way.
RULE #4: NOTE BRIDGE TERMS
Bridge terms are like gap fillers. They are phrases a dishonest person may resort to if they’re trying to cover up the real story. These are typical phrases that often have the effect of signaling a tall tale. If someone is peppering a story with the following bridge phrases, be sure to take caution:
“And then . . .”
“And then I/she/he/we did . . .”
“I did this next . . .”
“The next thing I know . . .”
“Before I knew what was happening . . .”
“What happened next was . . .”
“Suddenly . . .”
These four rules can help weed out a bad egg, but you must be diligent in other areas too. I am constantly shocked how reluctant people are to do a background check on potential employees. It’s not terribly hard or expensive to do, and it can save you a tremendous amount of trouble down the road. You company is your biggest asset, so make it a point to do everything you can to ensure you’re hiring the best and brightest.
[ SPY SKILLS TAKEAWAY ]
USE INDIRECT QUESTIONING TO DIG INTO THE MINDS OF POTENTIAL EMPLOYEES
Spies certainly aren’t the only people who use unusual questions to glean what’s going on inside someone’s head. More and more often, companies are using indirect questioning methods to learn additional information about job candidates. This method involves inferring information about skills, knowledge, values, and problem-solving abilities by noting the answers to the questions. As an intelligence officer, I have found this practice easy to use and very useful. I’ve put together our favorite indirect questions that we like to use at Spy Escape & Evasion.
SPY ESCAPE & EVASION
INDIRECT QUESTIONING FOR POTENTIAL CANDIDATES.
To assess general personality:
“What is your favorite color?”
Red is typically aggressive or confrontational.
Blue or green suggests a mild temperament.
To assess ability to lead, organize, and evaluate:
“How would you wrangle a heard of cats?”
To assess problem-solving abilities:
“If you were trapped in a blender, what would you do to get out?”
To assess ability to overcome challenges:
“Define Jell-O without using the word gelatin.”
To assess optimism, or an openness to possibility:
“Do you believe in life on other planets?”
To assess general honesty (note pauses or nervousness before answering):
“Tell me about the last time you stole something.”
To assess how a person evaluates organizational changes:
“If you were CEO of your last company, what would you have changed?”
To assess a person’s awareness of their personal value and key skills:
“If you were a share of stock, why should someone buy you?”
[ SPY MYTHS DECODED ]
SPIES ARE USUALLY FOUND HANGING AROUND DIVE BARS AND OTHER SEEDY ESTABLISHMENTS.
False!
Well, almost. Spies generally will do whatever it takes to find the right assets, and if that means hanging out in a seedy bar, then that’s what they’ll do. However, there’s one very interesting place in which it wouldn’t be uncommon to find a spy: your local bookstore. Believe it or not, during training, spies often use a bookstore as a starting base for operations. The reason is that a bookstore is a place where people can quietly hang out and browse without anyone being suspicious. A bookstore is usually full of people quietly browsing books. Ultimately, it’s the perfect place in which to stick a bunch of spies in training. They can hang out with zero suspicions while awaiting further instructions about their next move.