Success·The Interview PlaybookLyft CEO uses a Jeff Bezos-inspired interview question to suss out potential new hires: ‘Customers are fickle, so you’ve got to innovate on their behalf every day’By Preston ForeBy Preston ForeStaff Writer, EducationPreston ForeStaff Writer, EducationPreston Fore is a reporter at Fortune, covering education and personal finance for the Success team.SEE FULL BIO Lyft CEO David Risher learned from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos that customers are “fickle”—and it inspired his curveball interview.Michaela Vatcheva/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesWith AI reshaping corporate workforces, landing a job in might feel trying to find a needle in a haystack—with some applicants sending hundreds or even thousands of applications before getting a bite.
But even if you make it to the interview stage, you might not be prepared for the curveball question Lyft CEO David Risher s to ask: “Design a car for a deaf person.” The mpt may sound unusual, but for Risher, it’s a quick way to “suss out” whether a candidate can put themselves in the shoes of a customer—the ultimate green flag he always looks for when making a hire.
“I want to see the candidate close their eyes and ears and imagine what that feels , then be able to describe the experience to me in detail, including what someone in that position might need,” Risher told the Wake-Up Call at Work .
“That’s how I know I’ve got someone who can build great customer-obsessed experiences.” From Harvard MBA grad to CEO Before he ever led a major company, Risher studied comparative literature at Princeton University and went on to earn an MBA from Harvard.
His early career path took him to Microsoft and later to Amazon, where his obsession with customer focus took root.
The now 60-year-old often credits his experience working directly with Jeff Bezos as pivotal in shaping his apach: “Jeff taught me to wake up every morning remembering that customers are fickle, so you’ve got to innovate on their behalf every day,” Risher said.
That philosophy remains crucial as Lyft faces fierce competition from ride-sharing rivals Uber. “To create a fitable ride , then, we’ve got to create enough ride volume to cover our costs.
Anything left over is fit,” Risher wrote in a letter to holders last year.
“The best way to do that is to create a ride network that is so amazing that people choose it millions of times every day—and even more in the future.
And there’s only one way to get there: customer obsession.” Fortune reached out to Risher for .
Expect the unexpected during your next job interview Risher isn’t the only chief executive who throws out unconventional questions to get a deeper read on applicants.
Many executives keep unique mpts in their back pocket—not to trip candidates up, but to reveal how they think, decide, and communicate.
For example, former Indeed CEO Chris Hyams swears by a deceptively simple one: “It might seem strange, but I ask everyone, ‘Do you have an iPhone or an Android, and why?’” Hyams told Fortune.
And while he admitted there’s not a right or wrong answer to the question—it’s more of an icebreaker than can help reveal the interthoughts of an applicant.
“I’m mostly curious how people make decisions,” Hyams explained.
“And it’s actually a long 15-minute series of back-and-forth on this, where I get to learn a little bit the human being, and how they make decisions.” Michael Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work, told Fortune he sometimes s to keep it casual and ask applicants simply what they to do on the weekends.
“Usually, that’s unexpected, and I want to learn something it,” he said.
“I want to see if they’re willing to be transparent and truthful, or if they’re going to be ing their s, feeling that they have a fear of being judged.” As the interview begins to wrap up, there’s one last thing you should ask before leaving the room, according to self-made millionaire Barbara Corcoran:“You look at the person interviewing you and you say to them: ‘Is there anything standing in the way of you hiring me?’” Were you asked a curveball question at your last job interview?
Or do you have an uncommon question you to ask candidates? it with preston.fore@fortune.com.Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh.
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