Like most professionals passionate about their career endeavors, my first reaction is to analyze situations through the eyes of an Executive Recruiter/Headhunter. The goal is to gain insight and become more effective at predicting human behavior, while considering these consistent factors: environment, culture, and resources of our client companies.

• My curiosity was piqued and instincts supported in the book Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. The author's premise is that success is more predictable when considering the influences of heredity, environment, generation, and chance. Further, that these 4 factors have a much farther reaching influence as opposed to the concept of the rugged individual who has the ability to overcome whatever challenges are in front of them. The concepts and thoughts offered must be considered within the context that they are factors, but not absolutes, when predicting human behavior, but factors that I believe should be measured in every interview process. 

Heredity & Environment

At times defining the lines between heredity and environment can become clouded, as heredity can create the environment in many circumstances. I have long supported the "Dinner Table" influence. In some cases, what a professional learns over 18 years sitting at the family dinner table, through conversation topics with their parents and adult influences, can be more valuable than any Bachelors Degree. This point is heartily supported by Malcolm Gladwell. I too refuse to believe it is only by chance that many strong executives have successful aunts, uncles, parents, and grandparents in their lineage.

In discussing this notation with a long time friend, he shared an interesting story. His son, AJ, (named after AJ Foyt, a hint to this story's outcome) started racing in the local go cart circuit at 7 years old. He was the youngest driver in his first year of racing against older kids, some 14 and 16 years old. Even though they had more on-the-track racing experience, physical and mental maturity, AJ won his first 5 races. As is common in racing, he and his crew chief father, Del, were accused of cheating. Their opponents would take turns forcing the judges to tear down their engine, only to find every time that no rules had been broken. After the 5th win, followed by the next cheating accusation and engine tear down, his father offered the other parents a chance to stand next to him during and at the end of the race, to listen how they communicated. After the heat race, the 7 year old jumped out of his cart complaining to his crew chief father that "in turns 4 and 2 the car has a push going into apex and is loose coming off and if he wants him to win the next race the cart needs to be re-shimmed." The parents were shocked and had a very different view of AJ after that date, from which point the cheating accusations ended.

• The fact: AJ's grandfather, grandmother, uncles, and father all spent significant time racing cars.

The combined influences of heredity and environment were too great to overcome. The genetics combined with the lessons learned, while running down a wrench in the garage as a 5 year old, were major contributors to his success in racing at 7 years old and today.

More often than not, we find patterns in the most successful professionals' DNA and Environmental experiences. It may not be the same pattern, but several different ones uniquely combining the positive and negative influences along with DNA tendencies. These components are instrumental to everyone's development and offer key insight. If your intention is predicting human behavior, the questions should be asked and the information applied to increase the depth of your hiring process.