Googleyness Question and Answer

Summary

In this video from PracticeInterviews.com, Jeff Hsieb addresses a common behavioral interview question: 'Tell me about a time you were asked to do something unethical.' He outlines a structured approach to answering such questions, emphasizing positivity, empathy, and the importance of one-on-one communication. Jeff provides a detailed example from his time at Facebook, where he navigated an unethical request by gathering team consensus, proposing alternatives, and engaging in open dialogue with leadership. The video concludes with insights on handling unethical situations and fostering stronger relationships through accountability.

Takeaways

• 😀 Focus on Positivity: When answering questions about unethical situations, maintain a positive tone and assume good intentions from others.
• 🔍 Emphasize Empathy: Approach unethical situations with an understanding and empathetic mindset, considering the pressures others might be facing.
• 🤝 Prioritize One-on-One Conversations: Address unethical issues privately and directly with the person involved, preparing well for the discussion.
• 📝 Prepare with Data: Before confronting an unethical issue, gather relevant data and research to support your stance and present a well-reasoned argument.
• 💡 Highlight Solutions: Discuss not only the problem but also the solutions you proposed and implemented to resolve the unethical situation.
• 📈 Show Results: Share the outcomes of your actions, demonstrating how you successfully navigated the situation without compromising ethics.
• 🔄 Learn from Mistakes: If you've acted unethically in the past, reflect on the lessons learned and how you've grown from the experience.
• 🍀 Acknowledge Good Fortune: If you've never faced an unethical request, be honest about your fortunate position and offer alternative examples of conflict resolution.
• 📚 Use Repeatable Processes: Establish processes to prevent unethical situations from recurring, such as creating a discount policy for new clients.
• 📈 Power of Data and Options: The speaker's personal example emphasizes the effectiveness of using data and offering multiple options to address ethical dilemmas.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is how to handle a situation where you are asked to do something unethical, particularly in the context of a job interview or workplace scenario.

Who is Jeff Hsieb and what is his recommendation for approaching unethical situations?

Jeff Hsieb is from practiceinterviews.com, and he recommends focusing on positivity, understanding the situation with a positive intent, showing empathy, and addressing the issue in a one-on-one setting with proper preparation.

What is the significance of focusing on 'positive intent' when dealing with unethical requests?

Focusing on 'positive intent' means considering that the person making the unethical request might be trying to achieve a goal but has lost sight of ethical boundaries. This approach helps maintain a constructive dialogue and fosters understanding.

Why is empathy important when discussing unethical situations?

Empathy is important because it allows you to consider the pressures and challenges the person making the unethical request might be facing, which can lead to a more compassionate and effective resolution.

What does Jeff suggest doing before engaging in a one-on-one meeting about an unethical issue?

Jeff suggests doing some preparation work before the meeting, such as researching, gathering data, organizing that data, and possibly speaking with others to gather information that will help present your point of view.

How should you initiate the meeting when discussing an unethical issue?

You should initiate the meeting by asking open-ended questions, empathizing with the person's situation, and then transitioning into a discussion about the unethical issue and the data or options you have prepared.

What should be the focus when discussing solutions to an unethical request?

The focus should be on clearly communicating the solutions you propose, how you worked through those solutions, and the results of implementing those solutions without resorting to unethical behavior.

What does Jeff mean by 'repeatable process' in the context of dealing with unethical situations?

A 'repeatable process' refers to a systematic approach or policy that can be put in place to prevent or address similar unethical situations in the future, ensuring that the resolution is not a one-time fix but a sustainable solution.

Why are 'learnings' an important part of answering a behavioral question about unethical situations?

'Learnings' are important because they demonstrate personal growth and the ability to apply past experiences to future scenarios, showing that you have reflected on the situation and gained valuable insights.

What should you do if you have never been asked to do something unethical in your career?

If you have never been asked to do something unethical, you should honestly state this to the interviewer and offer to discuss other relevant experiences, such as dealing with business directives you disagreed with or conflict resolution scenarios.

Can you provide an example of how to handle an unethical request as described in the video?

In the video, Jeff provides an example from his time at Facebook where he and his team were asked to push client payments into a different month to hit targets. He discusses how he and his team agreed on the unethical nature of the request, brainstormed solutions, and had a one-on-one meeting with their lead to propose alternatives, which ultimately led to a stronger team relationship and a repeatable discount process for new clients.

Outlines

00:00

🤔 Navigating Unethical Requests in Interviews

Jeff Hsieb from PracticeInterviews.com introduces a common behavioral interview question about handling unethical requests at work. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining positivity and provides a structured approach to answering such questions. The video covers how to discuss unethical scenarios you've encountered, including focusing on actions, positive intent, empathy, and one-on-one communication. It also suggests preparing for a meeting to address the issue, discussing solutions, and sharing the outcomes and learnings from the experience. Jeff invites viewers to engage with the content by liking, commenting, and subscribing.

05:00

🛠️ Addressing Ethical Dilemmas with Structured Responses

This paragraph delves into the specifics of how to address unethical situations in a job context. It outlines a nine-point structure for responding to questions about unethical requests, including focusing on actions, positive intent, empathy, one-on-one discussions, preparation for meetings, dialogue during meetings, solutions, results, and repeatable processes. Additionally, it touches on how to reflect on situations where the wrong path was taken and how to demonstrate growth and learning from those experiences. The paragraph concludes with advice on what to do if you've never faced an unethical situation, suggesting alternative scenarios to discuss.

10:02

📈 Real-World Example of Ethical Decision Making

Jeff shares a personal example from his time at Facebook to illustrate how to handle an unethical request. The scenario involved a team lead asking to push client payments into the wrong month to meet targets. Jeff outlines the steps he took, including confirming the team's shared discomfort, seeking creative solutions, and arranging a meeting with the team lead. During the meeting, he used open-ended questions and empathy to discuss the issue and propose alternatives, such as discounts and collaboration with another team. The result was a missed target but a stronger team relationship and the establishment of a repeatable discount process. The key learning was the power of data and options in ethical decision-making.

Keywords

💡Ethical Dilemma

An ethical dilemma refers to a situation where an individual must choose between two or more conflicting moral principles or values. In the video's context, it is central to the theme as the speaker discusses how to handle a situation where one is asked to do something unethical. The script mentions a scenario where team members are asked to push client money into a different month to hit targets, which presents an ethical dilemma.

💡Positivity

Positivity, in the video, refers to approaching a situation with a constructive and optimistic mindset. The speaker emphasizes the importance of focusing on positivity when discussing an unethical situation, suggesting that one should consider the other party's intentions as potentially well-meaning but misguided, as seen when discussing the approach to handling unethical requests.

💡Empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. The video script highlights the importance of empathy when dealing with unethical situations, encouraging the viewer to consider the pressures and challenges that others might be facing. This is illustrated when the speaker advises to approach the unethical situation with an empathetic lens.

💡One-on-One

A one-on-one interaction refers to a private conversation between two individuals. In the video, the speaker suggests handling unethical situations in a one-on-one setting to maintain privacy and facilitate open communication. An example from the script is the speaker's approach to discussing the unethical request with their team lead.

💡Urgency

Urgency denotes the need for immediate action. The video script discusses the importance of understanding the urgency behind unethical requests and how to prepare for a meeting to address them. The speaker mentions the need to reach out and engage with the person introducing the unethical item, emphasizing the preparation for the one-on-one meeting.

💡Preparation

Preparation involves the act of getting ready for a particular task or situation. The video emphasizes the importance of being prepared when addressing unethical situations, such as gathering data and organizing thoughts before a meeting. The speaker describes their process of preparing for a meeting with their lead to discuss an unethical request.

💡Solutions

Solutions refer to the answers or methods for solving a problem. The video script discusses the importance of not only identifying an unethical situation but also proposing and implementing solutions. The speaker shares how they brainstormed options with their team to address the unethical request without compromising ethical standards.

💡Results

Results are the outcomes or consequences of an action or sequence of actions. The video script focuses on the results of handling an unethical situation, such as maintaining a positive relationship with the person involved and achieving success without taking unethical steps. The speaker recounts the outcome of their approach to the unethical request situation.

💡Learnings

Learnings are the insights or knowledge gained from an experience. The video script highlights the importance of reflecting on experiences, especially when dealing with unethical situations, to extract valuable lessons. The speaker shares a learning about the power of data and options when presenting solutions to an unethical request.

💡Applied Learning

Applied learning is the process of taking the knowledge gained from one situation and applying it to another. In the video, the speaker discusses the concept of applied learning, suggesting that even if one hasn't faced an unethical situation, they can still demonstrate growth and learning from other experiences, such as conflict resolution or communication.

💡Good Fortune

Good fortune refers to having luck or being fortunate. The video script acknowledges that not everyone will have faced an unethical situation in their career, and in such cases, the speaker advises the viewer to state their good fortune and propose discussing alternative scenarios that demonstrate their ability to handle conflict and resolution.

Highlights

Jeff Hsieb from PracticeInterviews.com emphasizes the importance of positivity when discussing unethical situations.

The video provides strategies for answering a common Google interview question about being asked to do something unethical.

Focusing on actions is crucial; candidates should discuss their role and how they addressed the unethical request.

Maintaining a positive intent and assuming good intentions from others can help navigate ethical dilemmas.

Empathy is key when dealing with someone who may have crossed ethical boundaries due to pressure or challenges.

Handling unethical situations in a one-on-one setting is ideal for addressing the issue privately and directly.

Preparation is essential before addressing unethical behavior, including gathering data and researching.

The importance of initiating a dialogue in one-on-one meetings to understand the other party's perspective.

Discussing solutions and implementation is vital to resolving unethical situations effectively.

Understanding the results of ethical decisions and their impact on relationships and future processes.

Reflecting on learnings from unethical scenarios, even if the right actions were not initially taken.

The video suggests discussing alternative scenarios if a candidate has never faced an unethical request.

Providing a sample example of how to answer the unethical question using a real-life situation.

The power of data and options in presenting solutions and fostering ethical decision-making.

The importance of practicing and refining answers to interview questions for clarity and effectiveness.

The video concludes with a reminder to focus on structure when preparing answers for ethical dilemmas.

Transcripts

my name is jeff hsieb from

practiceinterviews.com

check out our website we have a host of

services and a lot of free resources as

well

in this video we are going to cover a

common googliness question

it's coming up a lot and that's tell me

about a time you were asked to do

something

unethical this is a tricky question

so of course the number one item i want

you to focus in on is positivity

then what we're going to talk through at

the end is we're going to talk through a

couple potential scenarios

you might have faced where you actually

didn't take the right course of action

that's one

and then secondarily maybe you've been

fortunate enough in your career

to have never been asked to do something

unethical will take

that challenge on as well and then

lastly of course we'll provide a sample

example for you

if you like my content please like if

you have any comments please comment

below

and if you like my overall content

please subscribe

item one i've talked about this a lot

it's focus

on actions so what do i mean

specifically

sometimes we've noticed with clients

with candidates

that there's a huge setup especially

with an unethical situation

they feel like they need to uncover a

lot of the reasons why

this unethical item was coming up simply

put just talk about your role in company

who the specific person who is

introducing the unethical item person or

group

and then what specifically were they

introducing

and then how you tackled that specific

challenge

item two positive intent

so sometimes to hit

targets to hit goals to make sure that

we are achieving for our client

achieving for the business

sometimes people lose a little bit of

sight of

that line of what's ethical and what's

unethical and so

we always want to go in with this lens

this positive

intent lens and just go in with thinking

oh they were trying to do the right

thing but maybe they just got a little

confused or maybe they just didn't see

the line that they were crossing etc so

going in with positive intent it's such

a good lens

and it's such a googliness item so you

really want to mention and be talking

about this positive intent piece

and that correlates really well with

item three

empathy you just always want

to be practicing empathy we really don't

know what's going on in this person's

life

we don't know maybe some of the

pressures or challenges that they're

facing

so the positive intent coupled with this

empathetic lens

will be really impactful in giving your

answer as well

item four one on one so ideally in these

scenarios

you are talking about how you faced and

handled this challenge

in a one-on-one scenario now sometimes

something comes up that's unethical

and we jump to it right we jump into it

in a meeting because it just needs to be

covered right away

but ideally you are talking about this

one-on-one piece and the most critical

piece here is

helping me understand the urgency

because

urgency with these one-on-ones

especially when something unethical

comes up

so how did you reach out how did you

engage with them

and then that's a great segue into how

did you prep for that meeting with them

so oftentimes we hear from clients and

candidates that they just went into the

meeting they worked it out and it was

great but usually you're going to do a

little bit of prep work with these

unethical items so

before stepping into that meeting what

did you research

what kind of data did you gather how did

you organize that data

did you speak with any others before

going into this meeting to

gather data or do anything else that was

going to be important to get your point

of view across

item 6 the meeting put me

in the room so you'll hear me say this a

lot but

how did you kick off the meeting what

specific types of questions did you ask

did you tell this person why you were

meeting with them how did you bring up

and talk through those specific data

points did you bring a quick

presentation to the meeting

did you whiteboard it out did you write

down an action plan

help me really understand the dialogue

this is the most

critical component of your answer seeing

that one-on-one interaction

so really focus in on putting me in the

room and what you did

item 7 solutions so i don't want to just

talk about

that initial conversation i want to talk

about the solutions and how you

implemented those solutions so you're

not going to just say we solve for it

you're going to talk me through how you

brought up those solutions how you work

through those solutions

and then you'll get into item8 the

results

i really want to know how you were able

to have success without taking this

unethical step and what your

relationship

looks like with this person today

because you stepped up

and you said what you needed to say and

then lastly

any repeatable process from what you put

in place because

this unethical item happened the

repeatable piece

critical item nine learnings

not all behavioral answers need

learnings but

in this particular type of question

learnings are really important

the biggest thing to remember with

learnings are high level and succinct

so think like 15 to 20 seconds just

highlight one item

that you thought was critical for moving

forward in this type of scenario

okay let's flip over let's talk about

item 10

wrong path sometimes in our careers we

were asked to do something unethical

and we either went along with it or

maybe we just said

no but we didn't report it we didn't

escalate it we

let it happen and this is where i just

want you to go back to that first item

really present that very clear situation

and then we are specifically going to

jump right into learnings

what i learned by not taking the right

actions was

a b and c and then the last piece you'll

bring in

is the applied learning so it's not an

applied learning to a

future unethical situation because we

would just bring up

that specific story but what we might

talk about is we might talk about

just something that we learned from a

communication perspective

from an interaction perspective having a

bigger voice whatever it might be

you really want to talk about that

applied learning because that will

holistically put a great answer together

even though you didn't do the right

thing this demonstrates growth

growth is a big part of googliness

item 11 good fortune so i've read some

articles that say you've always faced

something unethical in the job

that's just not the case sometimes we've

been very fortunate to have not been in

one of those scenarios

and in these cases you need to exactly

state that to your interviewer

and propose another option so what does

this actually sound like

to our interviewer sue it might be

simply sue i've had great fortune in my

career

to never been asked to do anything

unethical i have a couple of other

options that we can talk about

one i can talk about a time where i

didn't agree with a business directive

and the steps i took there

or i could focus more on a conflict type

of example

what do you prefer that's just going to

be a great path because

both of those answers will be relatively

similar to what they're trying to

uncover in the unethical answer which is

just kind of

trying to understand how you deal with

people conflict people resolution

what you do in tricky and challenging

scenarios

item 12 sample example we will take the

prop from sue

jeff tell me about a time you're asked

to do something unethical

sue this is from my time as an account

slash partner manager

at facebook focused on smb clients in

the ad space

and in december of 2020 at the end of a

team meeting

our team lead asked us for any client

that had a big renewal coming up in

january to push some of the money into

december

to hit our target because we were about

10 behind

obviously me and the team felt this was

unethical

let me tell you about the actions i took

so the first action i took was

no response from any of us in the

meeting i pinged all four of my

teammates

and just made sure that we agreed that

this was unethical and we weren't going

to do it

the second action was just to say hey i

want to take the lead on this

is that okay everybody agreed and then

the third piece was

i asked for any creative ideas that i

might bring to the table for how to

problem solve how we might make up the

difference on this number

in december and lastly i found time on

my leads calendar

later the same day and i followed up via

ping with them as well to say

hey it's pretty urgent that we meet i

have something i want to discuss with

you

in this meeting when i hopped on the

video with my lead i just asked a couple

of really simple open-ended questions

how they were doing how they felt the

team was doing

and i really empathized with their

request to hit the numbers especially

because we had been facing

some unanticipated losses and then i

paused again just to get their thoughts

hear from them

and then what i talked about is that i

said look i know we need to hit these

goals

but that i had talked with the team and

we all

felt uncomfortable with this approach

and that we had brainstormed

specifically a few options

we wanted to see if the team lead could

speak to their leadership to see if we

could get any last-minute discounts

we also wanted to see if we could work

with jane's team which was a similar

team

to see if we could get some help to push

some more clients through

and then lastly i offered to do a half

day option

we all agreed that we would open up our

calendars on friday afternoon to meet

my lead thanked me for giving this

feedback

and agreed to both options one and three

and they said that they would also talk

to their leadership to find out about

any discounts

we all cleared our schedules for that

brainstorming session on that friday my

lead included

and we absolutely brought in a couple

stakeholders from other teams to help us

ideate and we mapped out multiple

options to achieve our goal

we this included the small discounts

which was approved

we wanted to do a referral push and we

really wanted to get it approved and

jane agreed to allow

two of her members to work with us two

days per week for the last couple weeks

that we would be able to do this push

the result we actually didn't achieve

our target but we only missed it

by a few percentages so we missed it

specifically by three percent

more importantly my lead really thanked

not only me but the team

for holding them accountable and it

really fostered and built a stronger

relationship with us moving forward

and then the last cool thing was that

this discount piece

was actually repeatable we created a

discount process for newer clients

that is now being utilized on a

quarterly basis so we're actually

working on it right now

the biggest learning here was the power

of data

and options always go in with that

empathetic lens but if you bring in data

and options

it presents solutions and a chance an

opportunity to do the right

thing like any sample example i provide

it's not perfect it could be work

through maybe it's a little bit on the

longer side

you'll always want to go back and

practice and fix your answers but

this is the foundation of what it might

look like to sum up

just really focus in on the structure

really think through these unethical

questions the likelihood of you getting

this in a googliness interview

is pretty high i really hope this video

helps thanks