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What are the problems you are personally trying to solve? How do you like to make decisions? What do you believe is the purpose of a manager? What do you bel

What are the problems you are personally trying to solve? How do you like to make decisions? What do you believe is the purpose of a manager? What do you believe motivates employees at your company? From an employees perspective, what makes your company a unique place to work? How do you recognize major achievements? ... basically I like to dig into culture (which is always top down), and empathy. I want to know whether the CEO considers employees people or a resource.

jl2718 8y ago
These are important culture questions, but you will never get the truth from them. Everybody knows what you want to hear. If you ask a harder question, they will dislike you. Maybe the only real way to get at this is to ask about specific standards and procedures that define the culture. If you want to get right to it, culture is 99% defined by “who” is given power over hiring, firing, and promotion. If it’s your manager, you will be his personal assistant. If it’s your peers, you will be playing Survivor. If it’s a board, you will be fighting for a spot on the most glamorous projects.
- notjustanymike 8y ago
  I disagree with your points, and think there is no need to act so jaded. When asking these questions, you will sometimes get honest answers and sometimes get the pre-canned responses. How people choose to answer questions tells you a lot about the kind of person you're dealing with. I value the answers not just for their content, but also how the person chooses to interact with me. If a CEO only flatters me with sugary answers then he's likely lying to my face, which is a trait I dislike in leaders. Unfortunately, this behavior will trickle down to managers and peers (with occasional short lived exceptions). If he's honest about the issues they face then I can likely expect the same from others. Culture in a company extends far beyond hiring, firing, and promotion. Those are unique events that combined happen a couple days a year in a smaller company. Day to day culture is far more significant, and focuses on how we are expected treat each other. Honesty, acknowledgement of problems, and transparency are the things to look for.
  - spectramax 8y ago
    I disagree. You’re most likely going to get a “CEO answer”. The problem with asking these questions is - what is the criteria for a good vs bad response? What are red flags? These questions sound super handwavy and can be answered easily by polished talk. They’re useless mostly. Instead ask specific questions that can reveal deeper issues. If you’re asking about time, then ask - how many months until X? If they waggle around then follow up again - specifically, how many months or quarters do you think it’s going to take to do X?
    - notjustanymike 8y ago
      True, hard numbers get solid answers. But then what? Are you any closer to knowing what your day will be like? You can get those numbers from other people in the chain. This is your short chance to understand how the head of the company thinks; don't waste it on information you can get elsewhere.
timoth3y 8y ago
> How do you like to make decisions? > What do you believe is the purpose of a manager? I've run several startups and done a ton of hiring interviews. FWIW, these are terrible questions to ask a CEO. They are too vague and make it sound like you are trying to fake a challenging question. More than anything else, these questions would tell me "Here is an employee who will demand a lot of my time." If you want to ask something about decisions, ask something like "Do you favor consensus or autonomy in decision making?" or "How do junior team members influence team decisions?" or something like that. The manager question is kind of out of left field. It would be like someone interviewing for a developer position asking "So, what do you think is the purpose of a laptop?" Anyway, that's ny two cents. Use at your own risk.

jl2718 8y ago

These are important culture questions, but you will never get the truth from them. Everybody knows what you want to hear. If you ask a harder question, they will dislike you. Maybe the only real way to get at this is to ask about specific standards and procedures that define the culture. If you want to get right to it, culture is 99% defined by “who” is given power over hiring, firing, and promotion. If it’s your manager, you will be his personal assistant. If it’s your peers, you will be playing Survivor. If it’s a board, you will be fighting for a spot on the most glamorous projects.

notjustanymike 8y ago
I disagree with your points, and think there is no need to act so jaded. When asking these questions, you will sometimes get honest answers and sometimes get the pre-canned responses. How people choose to answer questions tells you a lot about the kind of person you're dealing with. I value the answers not just for their content, but also how the person chooses to interact with me. If a CEO only flatters me with sugary answers then he's likely lying to my face, which is a trait I dislike in leaders. Unfortunately, this behavior will trickle down to managers and peers (with occasional short lived exceptions). If he's honest about the issues they face then I can likely expect the same from others. Culture in a company extends far beyond hiring, firing, and promotion. Those are unique events that combined happen a couple days a year in a smaller company. Day to day culture is far more significant, and focuses on how we are expected treat each other. Honesty, acknowledgement of problems, and transparency are the things to look for.
- spectramax 8y ago
  I disagree. You’re most likely going to get a “CEO answer”. The problem with asking these questions is - what is the criteria for a good vs bad response? What are red flags? These questions sound super handwavy and can be answered easily by polished talk. They’re useless mostly. Instead ask specific questions that can reveal deeper issues. If you’re asking about time, then ask - how many months until X? If they waggle around then follow up again - specifically, how many months or quarters do you think it’s going to take to do X?
  - notjustanymike 8y ago
    True, hard numbers get solid answers. But then what? Are you any closer to knowing what your day will be like? You can get those numbers from other people in the chain. This is your short chance to understand how the head of the company thinks; don't waste it on information you can get elsewhere.

timoth3y 8y ago

> How do you like to make decisions? > What do you believe is the purpose of a manager? I've run several startups and done a ton of hiring interviews. FWIW, these are terrible questions to ask a CEO. They are too vague and make it sound like you are trying to fake a challenging question. More than anything else, these questions would tell me "Here is an employee who will demand a lot of my time." If you want to ask something about decisions, ask something like "Do you favor consensus or autonomy in decision making?" or "How do junior team members influence team decisions?" or something like that. The manager question is kind of out of left field. It would be like someone interviewing for a developer position asking "So, what do you think is the purpose of a laptop?" Anyway, that's ny two cents. Use at your own risk.