I interviewed for a tenured position at a university last week. I yelled, cried, and said the interview was a circus.

I apologized and told the committee that I was emotional, and I hoped they understand that I was there as a daughter and a mom.

Surely I will get the job!

Absolutely, @CogSciGirlPhD! I told them that I am impartial, because I am a mixed-methods scholar. I use NVivo AND Spss! I harbour no ill will toward qualitative or quantitative scholars. I yelled a lot when I said that, so I am sure they heard me.
I repeatedly told them that this was my favourite drink. I drank it in grad school, and even now I still like it. My grad school friends attest to my affinity for Whiskey Sour Hour, though I have never submitted a subpar manuscript.
I also refused to answer questions. When I was asked if I ever cooked data or breached research ethics, I turned it right over to the committee and asked them if they had ever done that! I figure as a woman and having gone to a state school I could get away with that response.
I also mentioned my children and cried when I did that. It definitely made me more credible as a professional. It was so great because people on the committee didn’t want to ruin my career!
And what’s great is that in this job, I will then be able to control the rights and responsibilities of men everywhere. Some of my colleagues in Faculty Senate think that men’s rights are secure, though I know otherwise and will use my power accordingly.

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1/“What would need to be true for you to….X”

Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?

A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:


2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to

- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal

3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:

Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.

Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.

4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?

To get clarity.

You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.

It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.

5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”

Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.