Personality Test
I ran across this in the NYT from a manager discussing the thinking behind his interview process/hiring decisions and determining what type of person your interviewing without being invasive.
A. Here’s one. There are five animals - a lion, a cow, a horse, a monkey and a rabbit. If you were asked to leave one behind, which one would you leave behind?
Q. Leave behind? In what sense?
A. Make up your own scenario.
Q. I’d leave the rabbit behind.
A. What was the story you had in mind?
Q. If I’m going on a journey, the rabbit isn’t a lot of use to me.
A. “Isn’t a lot of use. ...” O.K., so a utilitarian approach.
Q. Right.
A. Well, I would leave the cow behind because I thought I could ride the horse; the monkey would be on my back; the little rabbit, I would just stick in my jacket. But the one thing that was going to hold me up is the cow, which is slow. And the lion can forage out there. So now you know what I picked and I know what you picked.
So the lion represents pride, the horse represents work, the cow represents family, the monkey represents friends, and the rabbit represents love. In a stress situation that you and I’d be working in, I know the one thing that you would sacrifice would be love, and your story would be something like this: that you could sacrifice love with people because you could make it up to them later.
So if you have to get something done on the weekend, you’d work all weekend. When push came to shove, you’d sacrifice love. So that teaches me quite a bit about you. If you picked the horse, the conversation would end. I wouldn’t hire you because we’re never leaving work behind. Those types of examples teach me quite a bit about you.
Q. But this psychology test of the five animals ...
A. It’s actually a Japanese personality test. I just happened to pick that up.
Here is what each animal represents: Lion for pride; cow for family; horse for work; monkey for friends; rabbit for love.
Personally, I'd leave the lion behind, as he seems like more trouble than he's worth on a trip. The horse is fast transportation, and the rabbit and cow are food/dairy sources so I'd want to keep them (and hope the rabbit finds another rabbit to...well hump like rabbits with), and the monkey, I'd take with because I couldn't turn my back on the little guy.
A. Here’s one. There are five animals - a lion, a cow, a horse, a monkey and a rabbit. If you were asked to leave one behind, which one would you leave behind?
Q. Leave behind? In what sense?
A. Make up your own scenario.
Q. I’d leave the rabbit behind.
A. What was the story you had in mind?
Q. If I’m going on a journey, the rabbit isn’t a lot of use to me.
A. “Isn’t a lot of use. ...” O.K., so a utilitarian approach.
Q. Right.
A. Well, I would leave the cow behind because I thought I could ride the horse; the monkey would be on my back; the little rabbit, I would just stick in my jacket. But the one thing that was going to hold me up is the cow, which is slow. And the lion can forage out there. So now you know what I picked and I know what you picked.
So the lion represents pride, the horse represents work, the cow represents family, the monkey represents friends, and the rabbit represents love. In a stress situation that you and I’d be working in, I know the one thing that you would sacrifice would be love, and your story would be something like this: that you could sacrifice love with people because you could make it up to them later.
So if you have to get something done on the weekend, you’d work all weekend. When push came to shove, you’d sacrifice love. So that teaches me quite a bit about you. If you picked the horse, the conversation would end. I wouldn’t hire you because we’re never leaving work behind. Those types of examples teach me quite a bit about you.
Q. But this psychology test of the five animals ...
A. It’s actually a Japanese personality test. I just happened to pick that up.
Here is what each animal represents: Lion for pride; cow for family; horse for work; monkey for friends; rabbit for love.
Personally, I'd leave the lion behind, as he seems like more trouble than he's worth on a trip. The horse is fast transportation, and the rabbit and cow are food/dairy sources so I'd want to keep them (and hope the rabbit finds another rabbit to...well hump like rabbits with), and the monkey, I'd take with because I couldn't turn my back on the little guy.