From the Field  |  Andrey Ivanov

The One Question I Ask Every Applicant

Before anyone earns a roster number for the Spartan Challenge or the Spartan Executive Course, they talk to me.

They expect questions about fitness. Injuries. Schedules. Whether they can carry a ruck.

Those questions come. But they are not the ones that matter.

Somewhere in that conversation, I ask them this:

And then I wait.

The Answer Almost Everyone Gives First

You know what the most common response is?

“I’ve never been asked that question. That is deep.”

Yes, it is. That’s the point.

Because that question lets me look past the resume, past the accomplishments, past the gym numbers, and see whether this person has ever once pondered something bigger than their own scoreboard.

Has this person ever noticed the gross negligence of our society toward our most vulnerable? The indifference we show toward the people who are the most valuable among us? The disabled. The children we claim are our future, while we treat that future like it will just manifest itself. And then we wonder what happened when it doesn’t, and we blame the kids for being delinquent when it was always our responsibility to build them.

Some people have never thought about any of that. Not once. They’ve been too busy trying to impress someone with the newest invention, the biggest building, the biggest muscles, the best job title.

And some people, when they hear the question, come alive. Something in them has been waiting their whole life to be asked.

Why I Filter This Hard

Let me be clear about what this question is doing.

It’s a filter. A deliberate one.

We are looking for the doers and the builders. The people who can deliver a net positive to the world instead of just taking from it. We are not looking for the self-seeking title chasers. There is enough of that noise in the world. We don’t have room for it, and we don’t have time for it in our lifetime.

I’ll give you a real example. In just the last couple of weeks, more than eight fitness influencers have applied to the course. People with big followings, impressive physiques, plenty of hard events behind them.

Because when the conversation went past the photos and into purpose, there was nothing there. They were in it for recognition, and a course that ends with a certificate and a pat on the back has nothing to offer them.

I’m glad. That’s the filter working.

The Question Is Only Phase One

Here’s what most people don’t realize: answering well is not enough.

Anyone can say the right words on a phone call. “I’m all in. I’m not moved by titles and money.” Great. Noted.

Then comes phase two: we run you through.

Five days. 120 hours. And in that furnace, we get to see in real time whether you meant it. Whether you even understood what you were asked.

It shows up in small moments. When you’re exhausted and your teammate is falling behind, do you want to see your team win? Or do you just want to arrive first so you can look back at everyone else and feel superior again?

Because when you begin to see your team as an extension of yourself, when you care for their needs before your own, something changes. Trust grows. Selfishness dies. Resilience and adaptability grow, because now there is trust and cooperation. That is the making of a leader, and no medal has ever produced it.

Ask Yourself Before I Do

So here is my invitation. Sit with the question before you ever fill out an application.

All the resources in the world. Any suffering you could end. Any injustice you could eliminate.

What would you do?

If nothing comes, be honest about that. It doesn’t make you a bad person. It might just mean nobody ever asked you, and a part of you has been dormant so long you forgot it was there.

But if something rises up in you when you read that question, some ache you’ve been carrying quietly for years, then you already know why you found us.

Ready to answer the question in person?

— Andrey Ivanov