Management as popularity contest

One of the unlikely areas in which data science has played a role is employee management. New York Times has an informative interview with Laszlo Bock, an SVP at Google. (link). Here's Bock on the famous brainteasers used in Google interviews: On the hiring side, we found that brainteasers are a complete waste of time. How many golf balls can you fit into an airplane? How many gas stations in Manhattan? A complete waste of time. They don’t predict anything. They serve primarily to make the interviewer feel smart. Many years ago, I joined a strategy consulting company after graduating...