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Mr. Williams, a hardened businessman, was interviewing applicants for an important position in management. To find the right person for the job, he created a test; each applicant was asked the same question, “What is two and two?”
The first interview was with a journalist. The writer looked at Williams and answered, “Twenty-two.”
The second applicant to be interviewed was an engineer. He tackled the question with a compass and slide rule. Within moments, he confidently declared the answer to be “somewhere between 3.999 and 4.001.”
Mr. Williams was optimistic about the next applicant, a former lawyer. The lawyer studied the question and then confidently stated that in the case of Stallings vs. Commissioner of the Dept. of the Interior, two and two had been proven to be four.
The last applicant was an accountant. Mr. Williams posed the same question to him. “How much is two and two?”
The accountant looked over both shoulders, got up from his chair, went over and closed the office door, and returned to his seat. He leaned across the desk and said in a low voice, “How much do you want it to be?”
Williams hired him on the spot.
Topics Illustrated Include:
Answer
Business
Character
Ethics
Honesty
Integrity
Job
Questions
Work
(Resource cataloged by David R Smith)
