Mindset Of The Successful: “How To Capture 100 Birds On Tree In One Shot?”

The person who can answer this question has a mindset that everyone who wants to be successful needs to bear in mind. This is an important thinking factor that differentiates people’s success.
On the beginning of every recruitment season, employers always have to consider many factors apart from basic requirements including technical expertise, work experience and educational qualification.
Those extra factors consist of how well the applicant’s personal traits fit with company’s culture, alongside with whether the development potential and career orientation are suited for the company’s business path or not.

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Therefore, in addition to the fixed-alternative questions, interviewers often give some situational ones to test the candidates' improvisation ability. In such a case, the more flexible, creative and logical the candidates’ answers, the better impression on the interviewers.

The recruitment story

The story below is from one company’s recruitment. One famous company was looking for a perfect candidate for its particular position. Through each small test, the number of candidates significantly shrunk. In the end, there were only 5 people participating in the direct interview with the manager.
After asking a few questions to clarify the candidate's information, the manager suddenly said to everyone: " There are 100 birds on a tree. Using what method will you be able to capture them all in one shot?"
All 5 talented candidates were extremely surprised.
One person quietly asked: “This is clearly not the issue related to the field we’re being interviewed, isn’t it?”
The manager immediately replied: “You can quit if you feel it’s not appropriate.”
Hearing that, all 5 candidates no longer stirred and began to focus their thoughts.
Not long after, one person stood up and answered: "I can prepare a big net to cover the whole tree, so that all 100 of them cannot escape."

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The interviewer asked him: “With such a large net, are you sure the speed of you covering the whole tree is faster than the birds’ reaction? Are you sure not a single one can escape until you finished casting the net?”
The candidate who just answered silently bowed his head, unable to continue.
After a few minutes, a second candidate confidently responded: "I will burn a chemical producing anesthetic gas so that when it vaporizes upon the tree, the birds smelling it won’t be able to fly anymore, just waiting to be caught one by one."
The manager still shook his head, disagreeing with this approach: "Does the chemicals you burn pollute the air? Are you yourself not affected while the birds are?"
The second candidate continued: "I can use a gas mask...".
The manager continued to ask: "So how much does it cost? Can the amount of capital you need to spend ensure you the same profit?"
At this point, the second candidate could no longer continue.

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Finally, when it comes to the last person, she softly said: "I have another faster way, which is to take a picture of those 100 birds with my camera. So, they would be "caught" inside."
Immediately, the new way of thinking made the manager impressed and smiled.

The bottom line

So the question here is, is the final candidate’s answer a correct one? It is often difficult to answer, because we can always find different methods to solve a problem under any circumstances plus external influences, objective and subjective conditions. Just like a math problem, there is no rules to regulate that the problem can only have one solution.
What we learn in Mathematics is logical thinking. Similarly, in life, our own thinking should always aim to approach the problems from multiple aspects to find the most reasonable, effective and time-saving solution. This is the key factor in determining the difference in how successful each person is.
H/T: aboluowang.com