Leadership

# Ques on
Founda on

Tell me about a decision for which data and analysis weren't

1 Are Right A Lot su cient to provide the right course and you had to rely on
judgements and ins ncts? Have two examples ready

Tell me about a me you made a di cult decision and how you

2 Are Right A Lot knew it was the right solu on (probe on how they evaluated the
op ons, if they received input, what data they reviewed)

Give me an example of when you had to make an import decision in

3 Are Right A Lot
the absence of good data because there was not any.

Tell me about a me when you made a decision an dhte learning

4 Are Right A Lot from the experience enabled you to make a good decision later.
What di you learn that was applicable
Tell me about a me when you have been faced with a challenge
where the best way forward or strategy to adopt was not "clear cut"
5 Are Right A Lot
(i.e. there were a number of possible solu ons). How did you
decide the best way forward
Tell me about an error in judgment you made in the last year or
6 Are Right A Lot
two, what was it and what was the impact.

Tell me about a business model decision or key technology decision

Are Right A Lot- or other important strategic decision you had to make for which
7
Manager there was not enough data or benchmarks. In the absence of all the
data, what guided your hcoice and how did you make the call?

Are Right A Lot- What are the top strategic issues you've had to face in your current
8
Manager role? What decisions did you end up making?
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 Give me an example of a calculated risk that you have taken where
9 Bias for Ac on speed was cri cal. What was the situa on and how did you handle
it? What steps di you take to mi gate the risk?
Describe a situa on where you made an important business
10 Bias for Ac on decision without consul ng your maanger. What was the situa on
and how did it turn out?
Tell me about a me when you had to analyze facts quickl,y de ne
11 Bias for Ac on key issues, and respond immediately to a situa on. What was the
outcome
Tell me about a me when you have worked against ght deadliens
and didn’t have the me to consider all op ons before making a
12 Bias for Ac on
decision. How much me did you have? What apporach did you
take

Give an example of when you had to make an important decision

and had to decide between moving forward or gaterhing more
13 Bias for Ac on
informa on. What did you do. Hwat informa on is necessary for
you to have before ac ng?

Bias for Ac on- Tell me about where you felt your team was not moving to ac on
14
Manager quickly enough. What did you do?

Tell me about a me when you were able to remove a serious

Bias for Ac on-
15 roadblock/barrier preven ng your team from making progress?
Manager
How were you able to remove the barrier? What was the outcome?
Give me an example of a me you used customer feedback to rive
Customer
16 improvement or innova on. What was the sitatuino and what
Obsession
ac on did you take?

Customer Give me an example of your most di cult customer interac on and

17
Obsession how you worked through it. What was the outcome?

Customer Tell me about a me a customer wanted one thing, but you felt they
18
Obsession need something else
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 Customer Tell me about a me when you went above and beyond the call of
19
Obsession duty for a customer

Most of us at one mr oe another feel frustrated or impa ent when

Customer
20 dealing with customes. Can you tell about a me you felt this way
Obsession
and how you dealt with it? When is it appropriate to push back

Can you give me an example of when you've been able to see

Customer
21 around the corner to meet a customer need or delight a customer
Obsession
with solu on

Customer Tell me about a me when you overcommited yourself or your

22
Obsession company

Customer Tell me about a me when you had to balance the needs of the
23
Obsession customer vs. the needs of the business?

In your opinion what is the most e ec ve way to evaluate the

Customer
quality of ypur product or service to your internal/external
24 Obsession-
customer? Give an example of a me when you used these
Manager
measures to make a decision
Customer
What cahnges hav eyou implemented in your current department
25 Obsession-
to meet the needs of your customers? What has been the result?
Manager
Tell me about a me you were driving toward a goal and were more
than half way to the objec ve when you realized it may not be best
26 Deliver Results
or right goal or may have uninteded consequence what did you
do(tes ng for right result vs. blanket driving forward)
Tell me about a goal that you set that took a long me to achieve or
27 Deliver Results that you are s ll working towards. How do you keep focused on the
goal given other priori es
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 Tell me about a me where you not only met a goal but
28 Deliver Results considerably exceed expecta ons. How were you able to di it? What
challenges did you have to overcome?

Give me an example of a me when you were able to deliver an

29 Deliver Results important project under a ght deadline. What sacri ces did you
have to make ot meet the deadline?

Tell me about a me you had sign cant, unan cipated obstacles to

30 Deliver Results
overcome in achieving a key goal. Were you eventually successful?

Tell me about a me when you went above and beyond the call of
31 Deliver Results
duty in accomplishing an important goal.

Tell me about a me when you had to accomplish an important goal

32 Deliver Results
without much direc on or input from your boss.

How do you ensure you are focusing on the righ tdeliverables when
Deliver Results- you have several compe ng priori es? Tell me about a me when
33
Manager you did not e ec vely manage your projects and something fell
through the cracks

Wwhats your secret to success in se ng stretch goals for your team

Deliver Results-
34 that are cahllenging, yet achievable? Tell me about a tme you didn’t
Manager
hit the right balance? How did you adjust?

Give an example of a mission or goal you didn’t think was

Deliver Results-
35 achievalbe. What was it and how did you help your team try to
Manager
achieve it. Were you successful in the end?
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 Tell me about a me you were trying to understand a problem on
your team and you had to go down several layers to gure it out.
36 Dive Deep
Who did you and what informa on proved msot valuable? How did
u use to info to solve problem?
Tell me aobut a problem you had to solve that required in-depth
37 Dive Deep thought and analysis? How did you know you were focusing on the
right things?
Tell me aobut a me when you linked two or more problems
38 Dive Deep together and iden ed an underlying issue? Were you able to nd a
solu on?
Walk me through a big problem or issue in your organiza on that
39 Dive Deep you helped to solve. How did you become aware of it? What wa
smissing and how did you ll the gap?
Can you tell me about a speci c metric you have used to iden fy a
need for a change in your department? Did you create the metric or
40 Dive Deep
was it already available? How did this and other informa on
ifnluence change?

Give me a sitau on in which it took you asking why ve mes to get

41 Dive Deep
to a root cause?

As a manger, how do you stay connected to the details while

Dive Deep- focusing on the strategic, bigger picture issues? Tell me about a
42
Manager me when you were too far removed from a project one of your
employees was working on and you ended up missing a goal.

When your direct reports are presen ng a plan or issue to you, how
Dive Deep-
43 do you know if the underlying assump ons are the corect ones?
Manager
What ac ons do you take to validate assump ons or data?
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 Earn Trust of Describe a me when you signi canlty contributed to improving
44
Others morale and produc vi y on your team

Earn Trust of Give an example of a me where you were not able to meet a
45
Others commitment to a team member

Earn Trust of Tell me about how you have e ec viely built trus ng working
46
Others rela onships with others

Earn Trust of Describe a me when you need the coopera on of a peer or peers
47
Others who were resistant to what oyu were trying to do

Earn Trust of Tell me about a piece of direct feedback you recently gave a
48
Others colleague. How did they respond?

Tell me about a me you had to communicate a big change in

Earn Trust of
49 direc on for which you acn cpate people woul dhave a lto fo
Others
cocncern

Earn Trust of Telle me about a me your teams goals were out of alignment with
50
Others another team on which you relied to a ain a key resource

Earn Trust of Tell me about a me when it was necessary for you to take a
51
Others calculated risk.

Tell me about a m eyour team's goals were out of alignment with

Earn Trust of another team on which you relied to a ain a key resource. How did
52
Others-Manager you work with the other team? Were you able to achieve your
goals?
Give me an example of how you have helped save costs or eliminate
53 Frugality
waste within your opera on
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 Tell me about a me when you had to make tradeo s between
54 Frugality
quality and cost. How did you weight the op ons?

Tell me about a me you had to get soemthing done with half or twi
55 Frugality
thrids of the resources you thought you need

Tell me about a me you when you generated a crea ve solu on ot

56 Frugality
a problem withour requireing addi onal resources

Tell me about a me you didn’t have enough resources to do

57 Frugality
something
Give an example of a me when you challenged your team to come
58 Frugality- Manager up with more e cient solu on or process. What drove the request?
How did you help?
How do you determine when to award or ask for addi onal
59 Frugality- Manager
resources? What criteria do you use for making the call?

Tell me how you have created organiza on (or customer) value

60 Frugality- Manager through either increased revenue stream or lowering the cost
structure.

Disagree and Tell me about a me that you strongly disagreed with your manager
61
Commit on something you deemed to be very important

Disagree and Give me an example of when you took an unpopular stance in a

62
Commit mee ngor wre an outlier

Disagree and
63 When do you give in to group even if you disagree?
Commit

Disagree and Describe a me wher you felt really strongly about something but
64
Commit ul mately lsot the argument
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 Disagree and Give an example when you submi ed a good idea to your amanger
65
Commit and he/she did not take ac on

Disagree and Tell me about a me the business gained something because you
66
Commit persisted for a length of me

Disagree and Provide an example of a me whne have had to make a di cult

67
Commit deciison under pressure and then jus fy it

Disagree and
68 What is your signature accomplishment or key achievement?
Commit
Give an example of when you had had to support a business
Disagree and
69 ini a ve with which you didn’t necessarily agree. How did you
Commit-Manager
handle it?

Tell me about a me whe nyou pushed back against a decision that

Disagree and
70 nega vely impacted your team. What was the issue and how did it
Commit-Manager
turn out?

Tell me how you help your team members develop their careers.
Can you give me two to three examples of speci c people in whom
Hire and Develop
71 you invested and how you helped them develop their careers
The Best
including oen who wasn’t being successful but you saw poten l and
chose to invest?
Give me one example of a me when you provided feedback to
Hire and Develop
72 develop and leverage the strengths of someone on your team. Were
The Best
you able to pos ively impact that person's perfromance?

Insist on Highest
73
Standards
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 Give me an example of a goal you’ve had wher eyou wish you had
Insist on Highest
74 done be er. What was the goal and how could you have improved
Standards
on it?
Tell me about the most innova ve thing you've done and why you
Invent and
75 thought it was innova ve (they may probe that it was
Simplify
"evolu onary" vs. "revolu onary")

Invent and People o en say the simplest solu on is the best. Tell em about a
76
Simplify par cular complext problem solved with a simple solu on

Invent and Tell me about a me you were able to make something signi cantly
77
Simplify simpler for customers. What drove you to implement this change?

Desscribe a challenging problem or situa on in which the usual

Invent and
78 appraoch was not going to work. Why were you unable to take the
Simplify
usual appraoch? What alterna ve approach did u take

Give an example of a crea ve idea you had that proved really

Invent and
79 di cult to implement. What was the idea dn what made it di cult
Simplify
to implement?

Invent and Tell me about an out of the box idea you had or decision you made
80
Simplify that had a big impact

Give me an example of how you have changed the direc on or view

Invent and
81 of a speci c func on/deparment and helped them embrae the new
Simplify-Manager
way of thinking? Why was a change needed?

Invent and How do you draw new thinking and innova on out of your team?
82
Simplify-Manager Give an example of how your approach led to speci c innova on.

Invent and Tell me about a me when you have enbaled your team/ a team
83
Simplify-Manager member to implement a signi cant change or improvement
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 Tell me about a me when you took on something signi cant
84 Ownership
outside your area of responsibility. Why was it important?
Give me an example of a me when you didn’t think you were going
85 Ownership to meet the comitments you promised. How did you iden fy the
risk and communicate? What was outcome?
Tell me about a em you made a hard decision to sacri ce short
86 Ownership
term gain for a longer term goal.

Give an example of when you saw a peer strugglign and decided to

87 Ownership
step in and help. What was SBO?
What steps do you take to ensure projects you complete get
88 Ownership transi oned e ecitvely to new owners? Give an example of project
you chose to re-enagage a er delega ng. Why did you do it?
How do you ensure your team stays connected to the company
Ownership- vision and bigger picture? Give an example of when you felt a team
89
Manager or individual goal was in con ict with the company visiion. What did
you do?
Tell me about an ini a ve you undertook because you saw that it
Ownership- could bene t the whole company or your customers, but wasn’t
90
Manager within any groups individual responsibility so nothing was being
done.
Give me an example of a radical approach to a problem you
91 Think Big proposed. What was the problem and why did you feel it required a
completely di erent way of thinking about it?
How do you drive adop on for your vision/ideas? How do you know
92 Think Big how well your idea or vision has been adopted by other teams or
parterns?
Tell me about a me you were working on a ini a ve or goal and
93 Think Big saw an opportunity to do something much bigger than the ini al
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 Tell me about a me you looked at a key process that was working
well and ques oned whehter it was s ll the right one? What
94 Think Big
assumpions were you ques oning and why? Did you change the
process?

Tell me about a me you took a big risk- what was the risk, how did
95 Think Big
you decide to do it and what was the outcome?

Now tell me about a me you took a big risk and it failed. What did
96 Think Big
you learn?
Tell em about a me you came up with the vision for a team when
97 Think Big-Manager there wasn’t a guiding vision. What was it? How did you gain buy-in
and drive execu on?
Tell me about encouraging or enabling a member of your team to
take big risk. How did you balance the risk ot the business with
98 Think Big-Manager
possible posi ve outcome for the organiza on and opportunity for
learning for your direct report?
Tell me about a me you had to develop a product/business model
99 Think Big-Manager from scratch or when you drama cally changed one in a turnaround
situa on.

Give me an example of an idea you had that was strongly opposed?

100Vocally Self Cri cal
Why resistance? How did you handle feedback?

Give me an example of a signi cant professional failure. What did

101Vocally Self Cri cal
you learn from this situa on?

Tell me about a me where someone has openly challenged you.

102Vocally Self Cri cal
How did you handle this feedback?

Tell me about a me you made a signi cant mistake. What led to

103Vocally Self Cri cal you making the wrong decision? What would you have don
edi erently in retrospect?
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 Give an exmaple of a tough or cri cal piece of feedback you
104Vocally Self Cri cal
received. What wa it and what did you do about it?

Tell em about a me you received feedback with which you didn’t

105Vocally Self Cri cal
agree. How did you react?

Tell me about a em you had to learn something outside of your

106Vocally Self Cri cal comfort zone in order to drive results for your org or adapt to
change in market

Tell me about a me you uncovered a signi cant problem in your

107Vocally Self Cri cal
team.

Tell me about a me you uncovered a signi cant problem in your

Vocally Self
108 team. What was it and how did you communicate it to your
Cri cal-Manager
manager and to your peers or other stakeholders?
What feedback mechanisms have you created in your organiza on
Vocally Self to know if your team has been successful? Give me a speci c
109
Cri cal-Manager example of where you realized your team had not been as e ec ve
as it could have.
Vocally Self What three things are you working on to improve your overall
110
Cri cal-Manager e ec veness as a manager?
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