Airbnb founder Brian Chesky explains his interview question “If you had a year left to live, would you still take this job?”

Airbnb’s mission is to “create a world where anyone can belong anywhere.”

In the clip below, founder Brian Chesky explains that, when he hires people, the first thing he looks for is someone who will champion that mission:

“We don’t want people here because they think we’ve got a great valuation, they like our office design, they need a job, or they think it’s hot. We want people to be here for the one thing that will never change, and that’s our mission… And you champion the mission by living the mission. Do you believe in it? Do you have stories about it? Have you used the product? Would you bleed for the product?”

Brian interviewed the first 300 employees of Airbnb and asked each of them a crazy interview question:

“If you had a year left to live, would you take this job?”

Realizing that this question was a little too crazy, he has since amended it to 10 years left to live, but his reasoning is as follows:

“If you knew you had 10 years left to live—whatever you would want to do in those last ten years, you should just do. And I really wanted people to think about that. That was enough time to do something you really cared about… And the answer doesn’t have to be this company. If what you’re meant to do is travel or start a company, you should just do that.”

Brian explains:

“There is a job, and then there is a calling. We want to hire people who aren’t just looking for jobs. They’re looking for a calling.”

And he shares a parable that highlights this:

“Two men are laying bricks. Somebody comes up to the first man and asks, ‘what are you doing?’ He says I’m building a wall. He then asks the other man, who says ‘I’m building a cathedral.’”

Full video: Y Combinator “Lecture 10 - Culture (Brian Chesky, Alfred Lin)” (Oct 2014)