Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t believe in interviews. Instead, he asks ONE question to decide if someone's "fit for Facebook." It's so powerful, it built his $100+ Billion leadership team. Here's the question (and answer) that discovers legends: 🧵
In Facebook's early days, the company was growing rapidly from a small team. Zuck had to hire fast. But he'd already seen how bad hires could destroy startups. So he developed a hiring filter unlike anything in Silicon Valley...
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While Google was famous for brain teasers and Microsoft for coding challenges, Zuck went the opposite direction. No whiteboard algorithms. No case studies. No 10-round marathons. He believed the best filter was deceptively simple:
Most CEOs hire for skills. Zuck hired for something deeper. He watched how candidates thought. How they carried themselves. Their natural leadership qualities. Then he'd ask himself one make-or-break question that changed everything:
"Would I work for this person?" That's it. If the answer was no, they didn't get hired. Period. Didn't matter if they had a Stanford PhD or built products at Google. This one gut check determined who joined Facebook's inner circle. The results prove its brilliance:
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Think about the genius here. By only hiring people he'd personally work for, Zuck guaranteed every employee was leadership material. Not just skilled. Not just smart. But someone who could inspire and lead others. His early hires prove this strategy worked:
His early hires became tech legends: Dustin Moskovitz co-founded Asana. Adam D'Angelo became CEO of Quora. Chris Cox became a key Facebook executive. They weren't just employees. They were future leaders Zuck spotted with one question.
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But here's what made this approach revolutionary. Traditional hiring focuses on past achievements. Zuck's question focused on future potential. It forced him to look beyond resumes and see raw leadership ability. Two other qualities mattered most:
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Raw intelligence and mission alignment. Zuck didn't care about fancy degrees. He wanted people who could think deeply and believed in connecting the world. The process was simple yet effective. He'd assess these qualities through conversation. This created something special:
This hiring philosophy scaled Facebook from dorm room to one of the world's most valuable companies. While competitors relied on complex hiring systems, Zuck kept it human. One question. One gut check. One simple filter. That found extraordinary people. The lesson transforms hiring:
Zuck's question showed he valued leadership over everything. Not skills you can teach. Not experience you can gain. But the innate ability to inspire others. That's what built Facebook's culture. It applies beyond just hiring:
Building something legendary starts with being brutally honest about your standards. The question forces you to set an incredibly high bar. But that's exactly why it works. When you only hire people you'd follow, you build a company of leaders. This extends to all areas...
The best opportunities don't go to the most qualified. They go to the people others actually want to work with. Skills can be taught. Experience can be gained. But influence?
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That's built through how people see you. When opportunities arise, people ask themselves the same question: "Would I trust this person? Would I want to follow them?" You can't fake being someone others want to follow. That's exactly why Thoughtleadr exists...
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Video Credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--APdD6vejI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zOHSysMmH0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAUt2j6juHU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPHVeQ7-ynA