How strong should your opinions be?

Just had an interesting ‘debate’ on how strong ones opinions should be in a job interview set up. My take on it was that if you have strong feelings about something it would be in your interest to express it if an opportunity avails itself. This doesn’t mean you rub the people with a contrary opinion the wrong way, but the things you strongly stand for are what determine how well you fit - in in a group or an organization or even that job. The other take on this issue was that one should present themselves as accommodating of other people’s opinions as possible. The argument is that too strong an opinion may present someone as not being a team player or not willing to accommodate differences. These two arguments to start with aren’t mutually exclusive but I believe there is a place and time one should sound accommodating and almost opinion-less and there are others where that hardnosed character should shine through.

Here is a scenario, you just completed college and are out to get your first job, how do you present yourself at the interview? Highly opinionated or laid back; and ready to form new opinions? It goes without saying that you can’t be too strongly opinionated as you operate at a lower power position to that of the organization that interviews you. This is due to the fact that the organization has more to offer you than you have to offer them.  But this is not to say you should be a push over; a real life ‘yesman’. Any attempt to contradict the things you stand for should illicit strong feelings and should be resisted. Work occupies so much of our lives that if what you do for a living contradicts what you stand for you will just lead a stinker of a life; you will end up a walking contradiction. Like the all famous Kaguthi (former head of NACADA), working for BAT or EABL, would that work bring him joy in his life and fulfillment as fighting drugs seemed to do or was his strong stand part of his job description at NACADA meaning he will dance to the tune of the one paying? I bet not. But on the other hand he probably would have taken a job from EABL as he left college and who knows may be he did.

Second scenario, what if you are being interviewed for a leadership position? How strong a stand/opinion should you take on things and to what extent should it show? Unfortunately, I have to say the extreme is required. A leader is gets to be one as a result of the certain values, beliefs and views that they hold as their guide. A leader is expected not to just have an opinion but to hold a strong one at that, referred to as his/her ‘stand on things’. If this lacks in a leader is viewed as being indecisive and that is where leadership stops. Kalonzo in Kenya is a classic example, he has shown the lack of a clear path charted by him, he is all over the place and doesn’t seem to have focus on where he is heading. For him it’s always ‘kati kati yao’ (in between them) as if to imply he first wait for others to set their path and then chooses to stride a path in between them like the proverbial hyena. Contrast this to the strong opinion/stand shown by our new Chief Justice. Justice Willy took a stand on a small inconsequential issue; a stud; and in so doing showed a glimpse of the kind of leader he is. He is no one’s puppet; we can conclude that much from his stand off on the stud. So even if he is headed the wrong way, at least he is confident it is the right way and people tend to follow those who seem to have a clear picture of where they are going and have a map to lead them there.

So next time you are in front of that panel and they question a belief you hold dear, please  ensure that there are things that you will not compromise on. If it’s distasteful question at the interview, a sexual overtone by a member of the panel or even some insults; take your stand, you don’t have to take ‘crap’.  Because at the interview you display the person you are and set the precedence for the person you are expected to be. So show the prospective employer who you really are and set the right precedence. You may think that employers look for a certain kind of person; but what they really want is the right kind of person, who fits in to the organization. SO LOOK FOR WHERE YOU FIT IN THE MOST.

WAZZAM!!!