The Pursuit of Happyness

I finally had the opportunity to watch this movie, which stars Will Smith and his real-life son. It is based on the true story of down-on-his-luck Chris Gardner (Will Smith) who overcomes enormous obstacles to become a successful Dean Witter stockbroker.

This film is heart-wrenching. It has also has a number of great lessons to teach – perseverance, pursuing your dreams, overcoming adversity….and many more. I want to look at the movie from a manager’s perspective, and I will also look at it from a salesman’s point-of-view in my Sales Blog.

As we have discussed, identifying and hiring talent is critically important to developing a high-performance organization. While Gardner had to position himself just right in order to get the attention of Dean Witter executives, you have to give them credit for giving him the opportunity to become a part of the organization.

The short version of the story is that Gardner is successful in gaining admittance to a six-week internship program, which pays absolutely nothing. Six weeks – no pay. The twenty candidates vie for one slot as a Dean Witter broker, a hiring decision that is based on a written test as well as sales performance.

After getting the opportunity to interview for the internship position, Gardner shows up to the interview with three Dean Witter executives in an undershirt, a “Members Only” jacket (old-timers will know what that is), and paint splattered all over himself! In one of the best examples ever of “bad timing”, the police had shown up at his apartment the day before – as he was repainting the interior – and escorted him to the police station to pay some delinquent parking tickets. Unfortunately, Gardner is forced to stay overnight in jail and is not released until 9:30 the following morning – 45 minutes prior to his interview for the internship.

At this point in the movie he has no car, so he is forced to run – yes, run – to his interview, and he arrives paint-splattered, unshaven, and disheveled. Only his initiative and some good fortune had earned him an interview (I won’t tell you how in case you haven’t seen the movie), but I cannot imagine ANYONE giving this guy a chance when he shows up looking the way he does.

Here is one of the great lines in the movie: one of the executives asks Gardner to put himself into his (the executive’s) shoes and says, “What would you say to me if I told you I had decided to bring a guy into the intern program after he showed up to the interview wearing no shirt?” Gardner’s response: “He must have had on some REALLY nice pants.”

The lesson I took from this illustration is to look beyond the exterior and focus on talent when hiring. Gardner was very good with numbers (as you will see if you watch the movie), and he was obviously very quick on his feet. Both of those “talents” were critical for success in the position they were hiring for, so it was enough to get Gardner a try-out with the company – despite the apparent knock-out factors. Yes, he still had to earn the position during the six-week internship, but his talents were recognized and gave him the opportunity.

During interviews, some people may present really well, but lack the critical talents your open position needs. Don’t get dazzled into making a bad hire! The candidate might be an asset elsewhere in the organization, but don’t overlook the talents that are absolutely necessary to be successful just because someone is good during the interview process.

On the other hand, if a person demonstrates the key talents for the position but doesn’t knock your socks off in the interview, you might not want to give up right away. Look deeper, and consider possibilities that would allow them the opportunity to earn the slot.

You don’t want to give away a key player just because they don’t look or sound just right during the interview.