I found this tale of a “tough question” both interesting and challenging.
It’s from an interview President Jimmy Carter had with Admiral Hyman Rickover when Carter was just a young man applying for the nuclear submarine program. Here's the story as described by Carter himself:
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It was the first time I met Admiral Rickover, and we sat in a large room by ourselves for more than two hours, and he let me choose any subjects I wished to discuss. Very carefully, I chose those about which I knew most at the time - current events, seamanship, music, literature, naval tactics, electronics, gunnery - and he began to ask me a series of questions of increasing difficulty. In each
instance, he soon proved that I knew relatively little about the subject I had chosen.
He always looked right into my eyes, and he never smiled. I was saturated with cold sweat. Finally, he asked a question and I thought I could redeem myself. He said, "How did you stand in your class at the Naval Academy?"
Since I had completed my sophomore year at Georgia Tech before entering Annapolis as a plebe, I had done very well, and I swelled my chest with pride and answered, " Sir, I stood fifty-ninth in a class of 820!" I sat back to wait for the congratulations – which never came. Instead, the question: "Did you do your best?"
I started to say, "Yes, sir," but I remembered who this was and recalled several of the many times at the Academy when I could have learned more about our allies, our enemies, weapons, strategy, and so forth. I was just human.
I finally gulped and said, "No sir, I didn't always do my best."
He looked at me for a long time, and then turned his chair around to end the interview. He asked one final question, which I have never been able to forget - or to answer.
He said, "Why not?"
I sat there for a while, shaken, and then slowly left the room.
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This story reaffirmed to me how important it is to always give 100% to everything you do – both at work and in life.
That’s the attitude we have across the board at The Wealth Advocate and we wouldn’t have it any other way – we place that high a value on serving you and helping you achieve your dreams, no matter how big or small. Give us a call at 610-695-8748 and let’s together craft a plan to support those dreams for many years to come.
