Discovering the Person Behind the Résumé
How often do you enter a conversation already convinced you know how it will end?
We all approach conversations with expectations. Sometimes they’re based on experience. Other times they’re shaped by first impressions, past experiences, or the agenda we bring into the room. While those shortcuts may save time, they often prevent us from discovering the person sitting in front of us. Curiosity begins the moment we’re willing to suspend judgment long enough to truly understand another person.
One of the best decisions I made during my corporate career began with one of my worst assumptions.
I was interviewing candidates to fill several project management positions on a highly visible initiative with enormous implications for our company. Before the interviews even began, I had developed a mental checklist of what I believed the ideal candidate should look like. Experience topped the list.
As I reviewed the résumé of one candidate, I had already convinced myself they weren’t qualified. In my mind, the interview had become little more than a formality to confirm what I already believed.
Then something unexpected happened.
Within the first few minutes, their confidence, composure, and thought process caught my attention. Instead of continuing to evaluate them against my checklist, I became curious about the person behind the résumé. I began asking different questions—not to confirm my assumptions, but to discover their potential.
That decision changed everything.
They became one of the best project managers I ever hired.
The résumé hadn’t changed. The candidate hadn’t changed. Only my curiosity had changed.
Too often, leaders—including me—enter conversations focused on our own agenda. We listen for what we expect to hear, make quick judgments, and move on to the next task. Efficiency becomes more important than understanding. We become so focused on accomplishing our objective that we fail to discover the person sitting across from us.
Curiosity requires something different.
It asks us to slow down, suspend judgment, and become fully present. It reminds us that every person has experiences, perspectives, and potential that aren’t immediately obvious. When we take the time to discover those things, we often find opportunities that would have remained invisible had we simply trusted our first impression.
Today, choose one conversation where your only agenda is to better understand the other person.
You may discover far more than you expected.
Where have you already decided the outcome before the conversation even begins?
Who might surprise you if you replaced judgment with genuine curiosity?
What could change if your only agenda today was to better understand one person?
