How does it help, my husband, to make misfortune heavier by complaining about it? This is more fit for king—to seize your adversities head on. The more precarious his situation, the more imminent his fall from power, the more firmly he should be resolved to stand and fight. It isn’t manly to retreat from fortune.
—Seneca, Oedipus, 80
As the CEO of Charles Schwab, Walt Bettinger hires hundreds of people each year and interviews hundreds more. Over his lifetime, we can safely assume he’s had his share of hits, misses, and surprises when it comes to bringing people on board. But consider one technique he’s used as he’s gotten older: he takes a candidate to breakfast and asks the restaurant’s manager to purposely mess up the candidate’s breakfast order.
He’s testing to see how they react. Do they get upset? Do they act rudely? Do they let this little event spoil the meeting? Do they handle the inconvenience with grace and kindness?
How you handle even minor adversity might seem like nothing, but, in fact, it reveals everything.
* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman