Vital Chief executive officer (CEO) Interview Preparation Guide

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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

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.

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.

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.

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.

☛ 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

To raise the bar hold yourself to higher standards next year than you did this year.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.