There is definitely something important and often overlooked in what you're saying. "Framing," for lack of a better word, is the secret sauce in many interviews

There is definitely something important and often overlooked in what you're saying. "Framing," for lack of a better word, is the secret sauce in many interviews. Especially when you reach the point in your career where you're interviewing for mid- to senior-level roles. Nine tenths of the job, at least in the interview, is to "look the part," or to "command the room," by way of framing yourself as a confident, whip-smart, personable, executive presence. In fact, a very strong interview strategy often involves turning the interview around and subverting its premise a little bit -- launching right into enthusiastic questions about the product, or the roadmap, or the team, which demonstrate your strong knowledge about the product and the landscape in which it operates. Doing this, assuming you do it skillfully, can actually short-circuit some of the conventional screening script, and bump you over into the "What will it take to get you on board?" script. But here's the thing: you still have to know what you're talking about. Ellen's points about intense preparation are extremely important. As a mildly anxious and "Type A" personality, I can relate very profoundly to Ellen's point about deriving confidence from inside-and-out knowledge about the product. Confidence and poise come naturally to some people, whom I'd describe as socially gifted in much the same way that we'd describe high-IQ people as intellectually gifted. And some rare unicorns have both skills in abundance. But for the rest of us, deriving confidence from some tangible locus -- preparation, knowledge, etc. -- is just as valid. The trick is not letting your preparation slot you into a subordinate, obsequious frame of mind, but instead, letting it fuel your "I'm awesome, and I love this" frame of mind.