I just started reading this series from the New York Times titled How to Be a C.E.O., From a Decade’s Worth of Them. The interviews are intimate and very straight to the point. It's great because Adam Bryant, the author, has interviewed 525 chief executives from different industries. So you don't get the same old quotes from Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. You get an unfiltered dose of wisdom from very smart people.

In this one with Arkadi Kuhlmann, chairman and president of ING Direct USA, they play a little game. The CEO turns over to the interviewer and and ask him this question:

“There are five animals — a lion, a cow, a horse, a monkey and a rabbit. If you were asked to leave one behind, which one would you leave behind?”

The interviewer answers saying he would leave the rabbit behind because it's not a lot of use to him. Arkadi Kuhlmann answers back:

““Isn’t a lot of use. ...” O.K., so a utilitarian approach. Well, I would leave the cow behind because I thought I could ride the horse; the monkey would be on my back; the little rabbit, I would just stick in my jacket. But the one thing that was going to hold me up is the cow, which is slow. And the lion can forage out there. So now you know what I picked and I know what you picked.”

He then explains the game:

“So the lion represents pride, the horse represents work, the cow represents family, the monkey represents friends, and the rabbit represents love. In a stress situation that you and I’d be working in, I know the one thing that you would sacrifice would be love, and your story would be something like this: that you could sacrifice love with people because you could make it up to them later.”

It's supposed to be a Japanese personality test. I tried to find it online but the versions I found were not exactly the same. Anyways, here's the last bit of wisdom Arkadi shares about this test:

“So if you have to get something done on the weekend, you’d work all weekend. When push came to shove, you’d sacrifice love. So that teaches me quite a bit about you. If you picked the horse, the conversation would end. I wouldn’t hire you because we’re never leaving work behind. Those types of examples teach me quite a bit about you.”