We are often more certain than the evidence really allows.
More quotes“Tell me something true that almost nobody agrees with you on.”
The candidate has heard this question before. Their prepared answer concerns a respectable controversy: bold enough to suggest independence, safe enough to avoid alarming the person with hiring power. They pause for exactly the right length of time.
So much for testing spontaneous courage.
The question remains revealing, although perhaps sideways. A rehearsed answer shows which kind of originality the candidate thinks authority rewards. Some offer fashionable contrarianism. Some choose an obscure technical claim and smother it in qualifications. One says, “Most interview questions test rehearsal,” then watches the interviewer decide whether insolence counts as insight.
Agreement is an awful proxy for truth. Disagreement is equally useless on its own. The interesting material lies in the evidential trail: what observation caused the split, which evidence survived attack and what would make the person abandon their position?
There is another social trick here. Asking for courage while controlling the job creates a peculiar experiment. The candidate bears the risk; the interviewer gets to admire openness. A genuinely unpopular belief may reveal prejudice, excellent judgement or a hobby horse that has eaten the rest of the stable.
After the answer, remove the glamour. Ask for the strongest opposing case. Ask what happened when the belief met reality. Ask where consensus was correct and the candidate was wrong.
Original thinkers change their minds as well as other people’s. The polished rebel often forgets that bit.