I don’t plan on being in a situation where I hire employees again, but if I do find myself with a stack of applications or resumes in my hand and an afternoon of interviews booked, I now know the single most important question I can ask a potential hire. The question has nothing to do with the workplace, at least not on the surface.

Owning a small business presents many challenges, especially when your staff consists of a dozen people or less. Each position performs a critical component of the business and with that few people working so closely together the dynamic is very much like a family.

In my family, we fought each other at the drop of a hat inside the house, but once we were around anyone else we presented a united front. In other words, I may have just had the crap beaten out of me by my brother, but you won’t hear anything about it. If you do ask me, you’ll hear how he’s the greatest brother a guy could ever have, and heaven help you if you have anything to say to the contrary.

This is the same dynamic I’m looking for inside a business. I welcome your point of view about anything the business does even if it 180 degrees removed from mine. Argue it with a passion and call me every name in the book – as long as it’s all kept inside the company. Once you take it to our customers or our vendors, we’re going to have a problem. A problem where the solution finds you looking for another job because you sure don’t have this one anymore.

I may ask a hundred questions during job interviews going forward, but there’s going to be one where my radar will be tuned to maximum sensitivity. It may not even seem like an interview question – perhaps just slipped in with other idle conversation. To be honest, the question is a two-parter:

“Do you have any brothers or sisters? Tell me about them.”

I’ll be looking for a glowing report – I should feel a tinge of jealousy when they’re done describing them. With the first negative thing the prospective employee has to say about a sibling, only one word will pop into my head: Next!

Of course, if I was ever in a position to hire any of my siblings I wouldn’t waste time with an interview. I already know that Pat, Lori, and T.J. are terrific people and would make even better employees for anyone lucky enough to hire them. You can quote me on that.