1. List a few coaching tips to stay skillful at the top of the heap?
These coaching assignments will help an executive avoid some of the pitfalls of the CEO job. They are simple, easy and will not take much time. They will help a CEO stay connected with workers, keep himself/herself humble and increase his/her learning while becoming more successful. The suggestions strive to be quick and easy to do, while still producing real results:
☛ Make space to practice these assignments
☛ Staying connected with the little people
☛ Staying humble
☛ Learning well
☛ Raise the bar
2. What is the other effective way to measure success of CEO?
The CEO's success at team-building can often be measured through the team. Teams usually know when they are effective. They can also rate their team using assessments that measure specific behaviors.
Example:
"I can trust my teammates." "My teammates deliver their part of the project on time." "Every member knows what is expected of them." Regular team self-assessments can help the CEO track the team's progress and hone his/her abilities to keep the team running smoothly.
3. Tell me how can a CEO become arrogant by externalizing blame?
Having no day to day accountability for his/her actions can also turn a CEO sour. When things go wrong, she can blame everyone around his/her without facing his/her own shortcomings. My employees just do not get it, proclaims the CEO, never thinking for a moment that she is the one who hired them. Did they hire incompetents? Or have they failed to communicate goals consistently and clearly? Market conditions have changed. They declare. A nice excuse but is not it the CEO's job to anticipate the market and position the company for success under a variety of scenarios? Without someone to keep his/her honest, he/she can gradually absolve himself/herself of all responsibility.
4. What makes you excited about mondays as a CEO?
Mondays can be a struggle for most professionals. However, when you love your job, Mondays can be positive. 66 percent of employers seek candidates who are self-motivated and 72 percent want to hire candidates with a positive attitude.
This is your opportunity to share why you are passionate about your career. Talk about what motivates you most in your career and how you will use that passion as inspiration during the work week.
5. Tell me why do you want to work in this industry as a CEO?
Share a story about the time when you first become interested in your career. It could be a story about your first internship or an experience that attracted you to this type of work. When you tell your story, be sure to highlight experiences that relate to the job for which you are interviewing.
6. How would you spend time learning about the fundamentals of a CEO's job?
☛ Setting strategy:
The strategy and vision for the company determine where everyone will focus their efforts. Find a vision and strategy and use it to align your entire company.
☛ Creating the corporate culture:
Your culture will determine what people do and do not try, who will stay, who will leave and how business will get done. Culture starts with you. Decide how you want people to act and start modeling the behavior publicly.
☛ Capital allocation:
Every dollar you raise and spend should produce more than $1 of return for the company or it is a waste of money. Learn how to make these judgments.
Hiring and Firing:
☛ The job of executives is primarily team and culture building. Hiring and firing are must-have skills. Read, take classes and review past hiring successes and mistakes. Do whatever you can to hone your abilities.
7. Tell me what do you value most about our culture and vision as a CEO?
Employers ask this question because they want to know if a candidate understands what their company is trying to accomplish. Employers already know you are going to research the company. Therefore, by asking this question, you are able to explain what you truly think about the company.
Focus your answer on what you have learned about the mission and values of the organization. You should also incorporate your personal values into your answer and how they will help you bring success to the organization.
8. Tell me how would your Director from your last job describe you as a CEO?
This can be a tricky question, especially if you left your job on a negative note. However, employers ask this question to learn about your personality.
This is a good opportunity to talk about your work ethic and how your personality fit into your previous position. If you had a negative experience at your last job, share what you learned from the position and how you turned it into a positive experience.
9. Could you tell me about a project that forced you to be innovative and creative as a CEO?
According to a survey, 21 percent of employers want to hire candidates with strong creative thinking. Chances are interviewers will ask candidates how they can push the envelope in their positions once hired.
Talk about a project where you were forced to think outside of the box and utilize your resourcefulness. This helps interviewers understand your willingness to take risks and try new things.
10. Could you please tell me about an accomplishment that shaped your career as a CEO?
Employers love hearing about accomplishment stories. Not only do they illustrate how you are qualified for the position but they also show what makes you unique as a candidate.
Share an accomplishment story from past experience that is applicable to the position for which you are applying.
11. Tell me what do you hope to accomplish within the next year as a CEO?
Tell the employer about your vision as an employee for their company. The interviewer already knows you are qualified for the position, now you need to explain how you will help their company reach the next level. Talk about a combination of your skills and strengths that will bring you success as an employee. You should also reference previous accomplishment stories that would support your vision for this job.
A CEO is hired to run the company and lead it into the future. Practically speaking, the game plan for the CEO will determine and direct the game plan for all other employees. Investigate the company before you attend the interview. Try to discern any gaps or problems and offer them as possibilities to the interviewer. Suggest time frames for improvement assuming normal parameters, which you will specify as well.
13. Tell me how long would you stay with us as a CEO?
The amount of time that an employee stays with an employer depends on various factors, and of course works both ways.
Example:
An employee remains with the only till he or she is confident and satisfied with their growth and an employer wishes the employee to stay with them as long as they are sure that the employer is productive and profitable.
The only answer, therefore, to this question is that you are looking for a long and productive career with the company. You would also have to reiterate that you have chosen to work with the company for various reasons such as reputation, quality that the company represents in the market as well as the future that the company aims toward.
14. Do you think you are over qualified or too experienced for this position of CEO?
The best approach is to speak about your wish to have a long and mutually satisfying working experience with the company. Point out how your qualifications and experience can create new vistas for the company. Also, observe that a company with a vast business would always want well qualified and strong staff, in a bid to increase their market presence. And it all hinges on the CEO. That is not the place for economizing.
15. Tell me how successful have you been so far as a CEO?
Exuding confidence and presenting a positive/realistic picture of your success stories are your best responses. You may state that you are satisfied with your career and the way it has been progressed according to your plans. Avoid arrogance, give credit you superiors and other role-models you have learnt from.
16. Tell me about the most important enticement that would attract you to join a company as a CEO?
Since you will be leading employees, yet are an employee yourself, this is a good time to emphasize the importance of employee retention. You will be setting up the structure of the firm in such a way that employees feel appreciated and retention rate is high. Of course, this will apply to you as well. Suggesting better pay, vacations and other spiffs may not reflect well on you, so mention them only with caution if at all. Politely weave into the conversation your desire to work for a company that is forward looking, substantially growing as well as committed towards offering their employees a better place to work in and their product partners a better product to offer.
Challenge yourself to learn to get more done with fewer hours and fewer resources while creating a more balanced life for yourself.
These are just a few of the things you can do to increase your chances for success as a senior executive. I also believe in working with a coach to identify and overcome blocks in your performance. Success can be had with many different skill sets. The more you learn about yourself and your capabilities, the better you will be able to shape a job that works for you. The more you learn about the capabilities of those around you, the better you will be able to build teams that produce spectacular results.
18. How would you raise the bar as a CEO?
To raise the bar hold yourself to higher standards next year than you did this year.
19. How would you study excellent CEOs for learning well as a CEO?
Call a CEO you admire and invite them to lunch. Exchange tips and adopt tactics that others have found useful. Read books like first, break all the rules, which are broad based studies of habits of top-performers. Adopt at least one new habit a month.
20. How would you create systems for gathering feedback for learning well as a CEO?
Interview customers, competitors, analysts and others in your industry to know how your company and products are perceived. Make sure you are gathering feedback that will not confirm your beliefs about the world, as much as confirms it.
Example:
If you think you are number 1 in your market, do not just ask customers why they like your products. Ask what other products they use and how your products fall short.
21. How would you be learning well as a CEO?
3 steps for learning well as a CEO:
☛ Study excellent CEOs
☛ Create systems for gathering feedback
☛ Spend time learning about the fundamentals of a CEO's job
22. How would you identify your limits to stay humble with workers as a CEO?
Ask, can someone else in the world do my job better than I am currently doing it? If the answer is yes, seek out that person and ask for their guidance in getting better. If the answer is No, validate that answer by asking your advisors, competitors, suppliers, customers and employees. Many companies have crashed and burn because they believe they were the best for no good reason but pride and ego.
23. Why would you videotape yourself receiving bad news as a CEO?
Watch the videotape and decide whether or not you would want to work for that person. If the answer is no, learn to chill when you hear bad news.
You can use a 360 degree feedback process or simply ask in an e-mail. It is a lot easier to hear feedback on your performance if you have explicitly asked for it.
Make sure people within the organization know your goals and know what you can be counted on to do. Hold yourselves accountable. If you do not meet your goals, withhold your bonus, take no raise and treat yourself exactly as you would treat an employee who missed their targets. It sends a powerful message to the company that you are serious about performance.
26. How would you get that it is all your responsibility to stay humble with workers as a CEO?
When things do not go the way you want, take responsibility whether or not it is your fault. The mindset of responsibility will put you in a much more powerful place than the mindset of blame. Regularly review circumstances asking, What could I do differently (or stop doing) to make a positive difference? Identify the action and then take it. You will be surprised how much more power you have over externalities, operating from responsibility rather than blame.
Sometimes a board of directors will give honest feedback but they are removed from your day to day behavior. Actively solicit feedback from third parties, friends, peers, associates. Share your issues and how you are handling them and ask for an honest assessment. Everyone in a company is accountable to someone for their behavior, except the CEO. Make yourself accountable as best you can.
28. Why would you stay humble with the workers to stay skillful as a CEO?
☛ Acknowledge.
☛ Get that it is all your responsibility.
☛ Gather honest advisors to hold you accountable for your behavior.
☛ Identify your limits.
☛ Create measurable performance criteria for your executive team, including yourself.
☛ Ask your direct reports, your board of directors and anyone else you work with for feedback a couple of times a year.
☛ Videotape yourself receiving bad news.
29. How would you acknowledge often to stay humble with workers as a CEO?
Without your employees, your dreams and plans would not amount to much. Take every available opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of those around you and give them credit, especially in public. Feedback is rare in most companies and positive feedback is rarest of all.
Pretend that your job is to make this person a success. Ask them how their job fits into the work the company does. If they do not know, take on the responsibility of helping them understand how their job links to the vision. Clarify any confusion they may have about where the company is going and ask them what you can do to help them succeed at doing their best. Then do it.
31. Why would you listen with an open mind and learn to get connected to the little people as a CEO?
Learn about their job. Ask what works for them and what does not. Above all, listen to their comments without judgment. Your goal is to connect with their experience of the world, not impose your own. Learn about their life. Find out what motivates them. Why did they come work for you instead of somewhere else? Simply by spending a few minutes under.standing their life, you can greatly increase your appreciation of how they are different and similar
The little people are the ones turning your vision into reality. Meditate on this for a few minutes and ask yourself whether you can their jobs as well as they can. If you can, then you are not hiring the right people, go change that. Otherwise, once a day, go talk to one of your low level employees someone more capable than you in their area of expertise and learn from them. Choose a different person each day. Get as close to the front line workers as possible.
33. How would you stay connected with the little people to stay skillful as a CEO?
Here are a few ways to stay connected with little people:
☛ Cultivate an attitude of respect, your respect for them
☛ Cultivate an attitude of respect, your respect for them
☛ Share your vision and job with them, from a position of service
34. How would you make space to practice your assignments to stay skillful as a CEO?
Set aside 5 to 10 minutes, daily, to developing as a leader and human being. This will be the time you think about the below topics and set your mind for the day. Schedule the time if necessary. Just make sure that you do what is right for your growth.
Pace yourself. Life is long. Adopt these suggestions one or two at a time, and practice until you make them your own. Then move on. Forcing will not help, this is about developing at your own natural rhythm. Do one assignment for a few weeks, then move on to another. Keep the ones that work for you and drop those that do not.
35. Tell me why do CEOs stop learning well?
Of course, once infallible, there is no more to learn and a CEO may quietly stop learning. Without daily oversight and high quality feedback on how he/she does his/her job, he/she can mistakenly believe his/her actions lead to success. In reality, he/she may be doing the wrong thing but his/her staff may be working around the clock to cover for him/her.
