Google’s SVP of HR, Lazlo Block, has revealed that the infamous Google interview questions were a bunch of hooey after all. Turns out when decide to play “stump the interviewee” you’re just stroking your own ego. Further, what type of leader are you when you spend your time trying to belittle people and pressure them with those types of questions?

Not somebody I’d ever work for, that’s for sure.

But more importantly, the trick questions are the wrong types of questions. You can prepare for those questions and answer them “correctly” by showing a plausible logical approach to the question. When asked, the candidate spews back out the right algorithm to solve the problem. That’s great. They can prepare and are pretty logical.

But it’s not enough.

Instead, ask them what will happen if their boss tells them to do something just slightly unethical. Or other questions that test their emotional quotient (EQ) instead of just their IQ. How do they react to other people and their feelings?

The biggest problem we have in many companies today is not that we can’t find enough smart people. It’s that we can’t find enough smart people who know how to work with people. Find leaders who realize this and you’ll have the chance to win.