If Walt Bettinger ever invites you to breakfast for a job interview, don't sweat it if the food isn't quite what you were hoping for.

Walt Bettinger Charles Schwab President, Chief Executive Officer

That's one lesson to be gleaned from a recent interview Adam Bryan of the New York Times did with Bettinger, CEO of Charles Schwab [profile]. Bryan regularly interviews CEOs on leadership.

Here's the story, in Bettinger's own words behind one of his tactics when interviewing job candidates:

One thing I'll do sometimes is to meet someone for breakfast for the interview. I'll get there early, pull the manager of the restaurant aside, and say, "I want you to mess up the order of the person who's going to be joining me. It'll be O.K., and I'll give a good tip, but mess up their order."

I do that because I want to see how the person responds. That will help me understand how they deal with adversity ...

The interview also covers: Bettinger's upbringing (son of a chemistry professor and a stay-at-home mom in rural Ohio); a story about Bettinger's father; and the only test Bettinger ever failed, a single-question test at the end of his business strategy course in his senior year in college.

Business Insider also picked up on the interview. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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