If I Gave You 50 Crore

So you want 50 crore? Well I am not exactly giving that out, but definitely telling you what to do when you are posed with this question.

A question that is often asked during interviews - "What would you do if I gave you 50 crore (or an "x" amount which is on the higher side)"


There are many ways to look at it & answer it. There is no right or wrong to this question. All that is required is your presence of mind. The way you answer this gives the interviewer an insight to your hidden personality, how responsible you are and where do you aim to land. It will tell him if you are a calculated risk taker who takes all the facts into consideration or just a simpleton who gets carried away by surprises. If you anticipate & how well are your equipped for the future. These are few of the qualities that every organisation looks at while hiring, specially at management levels. So after reading this am sure you know how to play your marbles. All the best and read on to see one perspective. Below is one of the ways I look at it and its worked wonders for me all the three times I have answered it in different interviews.


The natural & spontaneous thought that comes to a normal persons mind at that point is one of these:

1. I would sit and eat all my life.
2. Why would I work then.
3. I will invest all the money and earn interest and enjoy life.
4. I will go on a life long vacation
5. I would buy this office and interview you (i.e. the interviewer)

and many other such thoughts. If you didn't think of any of these you are not normal. :p Well, the fact is your interviewer is not looking for any of these answers.

Analyse

Didn't this strike you that if he had 50 crore "Why would HE give you?" Wouldn't he keep it for himself. Ok, so the argument for that is, come on its an hypothetical situation and the fact is if he is willing to give you 50 crore he has millions more for himself so don't ponder over it. Just accept it that he is willing to give you the amount, it may be his, his organisations or his father-in-laws. It just doesn't matter.

Now the next question - "Why would he give YOU?" Are you so handsome or a sexy siren that he would blow it all on you. No. Are you a blackmailer then. If that would have been the situation you wouldn't be sitting for an interview nor reading this. You would have many easier ways of getting money, may be even more than what is at stake.

Argue

One of the answers could be "I will INVEST it".Well this could be an apt answer. Now lets argue over it. Just invest would mean many things. Is it the stock exchange, business or something else. 

If your answer is the stock exchange then it shows that you are a lazy person and a nincompoop who hasn't considered the risk factors, which I need not tell you about.

If you say business it denotes that well you have that fire in you to work and toil and earn your bread and butter. This could be a nice answer but then putting all your eggs in the same basket would mean lack of foresight and planning. If the business is hit you are bankrupt and so are the people working below you. 

Now what? Well the next best answer would be "I would invest in a couple of business so as to ensure that if one bombs there are others on which I can fall on". That's a smart one but this shows your selfishness as you are just bothered about your well being and not bothered about your employees or team that slogs for you. There are many people dependent who will be laid off. This inhumane behavior and lack of concern for your team can go against you.

Answer

Well, in that case "I would distribute 4/5th of the amount in 4 different business i.e. 1/5th in each". This leaves you with 1/5th in your hand. This will raise suspicion at to why have you kept 1/5th aside. Are you gonna squander away 10 cr on your self. 

The most apt answer to this can be:

"I would invest 10 cr in 4 different business so as to ensure that all the eggs are not in one basket. The fact that I have kept 10 cr aside is because even though I have planned my actions, looking at the volatile nature of the market I might go wrong somewhere. And hence this sundry amount of 10 cr would help so that I can pump in this amount to revive the business that is getting affected."

Conclusion

The above reply shows that you are not lazy and would like to work, you have planned and are taking calculated risk by not putting all your eggs in one basket. You are not overconfident about never going wrong, hence you have anticipated & have a foresight because of which you have kept aside sufficient funds to pull it off when the need arises. Not to mention that this act of yours is selfless as you want to revive a business and not just run away from your responsibility and just shut it down.

If you have a better answer or an argument pen it down in the comments below. Let everyone benefit from it. Who knows even I could use it the next time and impress my interviewer further. ;)