Interview With A Board Member

I’m speaking with a lot of candidates going from a large tech company to a small one. 

The levels range from entry to VP/Head of Sales or Success.

Something that’s coming up often: interviews with a Board member. 

Sadly, there isn’t a ton of reading material on how to have these.

The biggest mistake candidates make when having these conversations: not going on offense.

Preparing for what you’ll be asked is crucial but don’t you dare miss your chance to ask questions. 

There are SO many ways you can go with this, but there’s a secret people should focus on.

You get a chance to ask someone who works with the CEO but doesn’t report to the CEO about the CEO (and leadership team). 

Not to mention the long list of questions you can ask about the board and company. 

For now, here’s a list of questions you can ask Board Members at early-stage companies specifically about how the C suite works together:

1. How does the CEO keep leaders accountable? 

2. How does the board keep the CEO accountable?

3. When there’s disagreement during a Board meeting, how does the CEO handle it? Can you provide an example?

4. When there’s disagreement about an action item between the Board/CEO, how is it handled? Can you provide an example? 

5. What are some of the things you’d like to see the CEO/leadership team improve on when working together?

6. What’s something you’re worried about for this leadership team that you’ve seen happen with others?

7. What’s the most recent example of something the leadership team tried and failed at? How was it resolved?

8. How does the team deal with two urgent projects with conflicting deadlines?

What’s the worst that can happen?

“Hey candidate, we can’t move forward with you because you asked a lot of really good questions that we couldn’t answer or preferred not to”.

Think about the questions you ask, who you’re asking them to, and the perspective they have access to. 

Pay attention to what they can or can’t answer.