Latest / Hiring & Firing with Fexingo: Recruitment, Performance, and Workforce Decisions / How One Question Identifies Culture Add in an Interview
Transcript
- Lucas: If you ask most hiring managers what they're looking for, they'll say 'culture fit.' And that phrase has been getting a lot of pushback lately — for good reason. Luna: Right — 'fit' implies the candidate should mold into an existing shape. But the best hires often change that shape. Lucas: Exactly. That's the idea behind 'culture add' — hiring for what someone brings that the team doesn't already have. And there's a specific interview question that turns out to be surprisingly good at identifying that. Luna: I've seen that term thrown around. But I want to know: what's the actual question? Lucas: It's deceptively simple: 'What's a project you started that didn't exist before you got there?' Not a project you inherited, not something you were assigned — something you created. Luna: That's interesting. It's not asking about skills, it's asking about initiative. Lucas: Right. And it came out of a study published last year by researchers at Harvard Business School and the University of Chicago. They analyzed over 50,000 interview transcripts from a range of industries — tech, finance, healthcare — and coded for the types of questions that predicted high performance and low turnover. Luna: Fifty thousand — that's a massive sample. So what did they find? Lucas: The single best predictor of long-term contribution wasn't the candidate's GPA, their previous title, or even their answers to technical questions. It was whether they could give a concrete example of something they initiated. Luna: Listeners, if today was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, that small gesture helps us keep digging into research like this instead of running sponsor spots. And we really appreciate it. Luna: Okay — back to the study. Why does that one question work so well? Lucas: It taps into three traits that are hard to fake in an interview. First, initiative — the candidate didn't wait for permission. Second, ownership — they saw a problem and took responsibility for solving it. Third, adaptability — they had to navigate ambiguity because the project didn't have a playbook. Luna: That third one is key. A lot of interviews test for what you've done in a structured role — but the best hires often thrive when there's no structure yet. Lucas: Exactly. The study also found that candidates who answered this question well were 28 percent less likely to leave within two years. That's a huge retention signal. Luna: Twenty-eight percent — that's better than most personality tests or reference checks. So how do you evaluate the answer? Not all projects are equal. Lucas: The researchers identified three levels. The weakest answers are about process improvements — 'I created a new filing system.' Middle level is about measurable impact — 'I launched a newsletter that grew readership by 40 percent.' The strongest answers involve a novel idea that changed how the team operated — 'I pitched and built a new product feature that became a core part of the offering.' Luna: That makes sense. You're looking for scope and originality. But does this work across industries? I can think of roles where initiative might be dangerous — like a nuclear plant operator. Lucas: Fair point. The study focused on knowledge work — engineering, marketing, product, sales. For safety-critical roles, you'd weight reliability higher. But even there, you could adapt the question: 'Tell me about a time you identified a potential failure point and proposed a fix before anyone asked.' Luna: That reframes it from 'created something new' to 'prevented something bad.' That's still initiative. I like it. Lucas: A couple of well-known companies already use this approach. Pixar famously asks candidates for a 'story they want to tell' — which is their version of a project that didn't exist. Bridgewater asks for 'the most insightful mistake you've made' — which is about learning, not fit. Luna: So the question itself is less important than the framing. You want to hear about something the candidate created, not something they inherited. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the shift from culture fit to culture add. You're not asking 'Will this person fit into our existing boxes?' You're asking 'What new box will they bring?' Luna: That's a great way to put it. So if a hiring manager wants to implement this, what's the practical advice? Lucas: First, ask the question early in the interview — it sets a tone of proactivity. Second, listen for specificity. Vague answers like 'I started a project' without details are a red flag. Third, follow up with 'What was the hardest part about getting it off the ground?' — that reveals resilience. Luna: And I'd add: don't penalize candidates who struggle to answer. Some people are modest or haven't reflected on their own initiative. You can prompt with 'It doesn't have to be work-related — could be a volunteer project or even a personal goal.' Lucas: Great point. The study actually found that candidates who initially said 'nothing comes to mind' but then recalled something after a prompt performed just as well as those who answered immediately. So give them space. Luna: That's a really human touch. So — to wrap — this one question seems to cut through the noise and get at something fundamental about a candidate's potential contribution. Lucas: It does. And it reframes hiring from a defensive process — 'Will this person cause problems?' — to an offensive one — 'What will this person make possible?' And that's a much more exciting conversation to have.