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On a commuter bus recently, a father and his teenage son sat in the seats immediately in front of me. Unavoidably able to hear their discussion about college applications and homework, it was easy to determine the father had a loving interest in his son’s scholastic achievements. The father began talking about his son’s grades on his most recent report card and then said, “You’re not living up to your potential. How do you expect to get into a good college?” Ouch! I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to hear the father call out his son for his “academic underperformance,” and I could tell this embarrassed the son.

The question, “Are you living up to your potential?” is typically posed to provoke individuals to do better. Yet, as often as it is posed as a question, teachers, family and employers use the phrase as a declarative, “You are not living up to your potential!” like the father said to his son on that bus.

To be clear – Everyone’s potential is unlimited! In life, there is always room to do and/or be a little bit more. Yes, for many professionals there comes a point in their career where they feel they have achieved all they can, or all they set out to do. They may have achieved a lot, but they haven’t reached their potential. And that’s perfectly okay because potential isn’t just about what you strive to accomplish in your professional life!

There is no set boundary on when “full potential” has been achieved. There is always room for more. You can’t see the “finish line of potential” off in the distance. In fact, even amongst the best and most successful, it is highly unlikely that an individual’s ....  (read more: https://hanklondon.com/living-up-to-your-potential/)

Every few weeks we pose a question you might get asked during an interview and a suggestion on how you might formulate your answer. 

This week’s question:

Explain your role as a group/team member?

At some point in your working life, it is very likely that you were part of a team or served as a group member. Maybe even before your work life. Did you play any team sports in school? Were you part of a scout troupe? Did you work on extra-curricula projects with other students? These, and similar activities can provide content for you to express your perspectives on working within a team, or within a group with an assigned task and common goal and projected results. Tell your inquisitor about how you participated with others to fulfill various responsibilities and achieved desired outcomes. If you were in a leadership position, say so. You can also mention how you encouraged and assisted others, and demonstrated initiative, along with identifying the skills you used collaboratively. And don’t forget to provide examples of how the results of your team’s efforts benefitted the team, group or company. And it won’t hurt to mention what you learned about yourself and working with others from the experience.

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To see previous installments of

Tough Interview Questions and Answers,

click here

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