Mark1199 Riddle Elon Musk Asks In Job Interviews. The authorized biography of Elon Musk, written by Ashlee Vance, reveals that one of the questions the businessman used to ask in job interviews for SpaceX was a riddle: ‘You are standing on the surface of the Earth. You walk one mile south, one mile west, and one mile north, and you end up exactly where you started. Where are you?’.
This was one of the questions that Elon Musk himself threw at candidates during the first hires of SpaceX, which the billionaire founded in 2002. The answer is the North Pole, a solution that the majority of candidates, mostly engineers, got right.
Faced with this situation, says in his book Ashlee Vance, the CEO began to ask a second question related to the riddle: “Where else could you be?” The solution to this cross-question is the South Pole, at a specific point where the circumference of the Earth becomes one mile.
This second solution is more complex to achieve. However, the author relates that Elon Musk acknowledged seeing how a potential employee described the problem and his approach to solving it, regardless of whether it reached resolution. “Musk liked to guide them through problem solving,” the book says.
Elon Musk’s question to uncover liars
Another question that Elon Musk often asks candidates is: “Tell me a problem that you have had to face and how you have solved it.” A trick that he revealed in a presentation for the World Government Summit. In that forum he explained that this question is very effective to know if a person is lying or not. Well, if it is true, it will explain it in detail, providing small details.
This Musk technique is supported by scientific research, which was published by the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. This study reflects on this technique, called Asymmetric Information Management (AIM), which shows that the longer a speech is and the more details it can provide, the greater credibility is being given to the experience. Likewise, the work revealed that people who wanted to hide their guilt did not give much information so as not to be ‘caught’.
Leon Cooper was born and raised in Vancouver. As a Reporter for WideWorldMag, Leon has contributed to several online publications including Dream House Publications and Granville Magazine. In regards to academics, Leon has got a Post Graduation Degree in Department Of Archaeology from The University Of British Columbia. As a Reporter for WideWorldMag Leon Covers International Topics.